Kids Club Concerns

[professorandmom]

As someone who has been on the boards for a long time, many DISers strongly and loudly supported the change to mixed age groups and open house programming...I saw the evidence that may have driven Disney to change...and am very confident these decisions will not be reversed

 

[rantnnravin]

As someone who has been on the boards for a long time, many DISers strongly and loudly supported the change to mixed age groups and open house programming...I saw the evidence that may have driven Disney to change...and am very confident these decisions will not be reversed

IOW - They demanded that DCL "fix" what wasn't broken and now seeing the damage left in its wake (pun intended), DCL will stubbornly keep a system that clearly isn't working (or developmentally appropriate) as a means to say "I told you so"?

I would hope, that in the interest of doing what is right for children - and returning the DCL Kids' Clubs to the best in the industry - they would do what is necessary to return the clubs to developmentally appropriate group spaces.

 

[professorandmom]

I would hope, that in the interest of doing what is right for children - and returning the DCL Kids' Clubs to the best in the industry - they would do what is necessary to return the clubs to developmentally appropriate group spaces.

Children don't pay for cruises, parents do...if most parents are happy with kids activities (whether developmentally appropriate or not), the arrangements will remain

 

[professorandmom]

IOW - They demanded that DCL "fix" what wasn't broken

But parents did feel the old arrangements were "broken" - siblings were separated based on age and parents were separated from their children...

 

[rantnnravin]

Children don't pay for cruises, parents do...if most parents are happy with kids activities (whether developmentally appropriate or not), the arrangements will remain

sounds to me, from reading the majority of these posts, that parents aren't so happy...

But parents did feel the old arrangements were "broken" - siblings were separated based on age and parents were separated from their children...

...and now they they think the current system is broken.

I'll stick to my original interpretation - DCL Children's programming was the best of the best until they veered off the path of offering developmentally appropriate activities and age groupings in order to placate a minority of vocal protestations. Most parents see only through the lens of what works for them, their own children, or their own families. Few will appreciate the research and psychology involved in providing a robust program for such a wide span of ages - and the necessity for separation of same.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'll stick to my original interpretation - DCL Children's programming was the best of the best until they veered off the path of offering developmentally appropriate activities and age groupings in order to placate a minority of vocal protestations. Most parents see only through the lens of what works for them, their own children, or their own families. Few will appreciate the research and psychology involved in providing a robust program for such a wide span of ages - and the necessity for separation of same.

Great insight!

 

[KT2038]

I never realised Open House times were such an issue

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I never realised Open House times were such an issue

Maybe because a number of us know it's no good to complain to the rank & file CMs? We just had to work with what we had.

 

[FigmentSpark]

In an ideal world, there would be a club for the 3-7s and one for the 8-12s and then another club for 3-12, so everyone is happy. Yeah, I know... not going to happen.

 

[klbrow11]

So I have a one year old who will be 2 in October. This fall we will not have to worry because we will have a grandparent with us and she isn't eligible anyway. But are planning a cruise for 2018 so will be an old 3 going on 4. She is an only child and stays at home with me outside of scheduled play dates with kids her age. I was completely on team they need to split the ages. Until we went to the zoo splash park today in our area. There were kids of all ages and sizes and ours being on the small side. She did not want to stay in the baby splash area but wanted to be with the big kids. The park was FULL. We were on the sidelines watching. The big Kids didn't bother her. She found a little girl her size and started playing. She did get knocked over hard by a big kid but it was an accident. They both weren't watching where they were going. My first instinct was to hug her and hold her but I resisted and just said ohh you fell, let's get back up
She did not cry and she got up and played. This assured me she will be okay in the clubs. Will she get knocked down? Probably. Will she have fun and make friends? You bet! She was way more resilient than I thought. So I am less worried.

 

[bbel]

No not hating you at all, I know this all too well. DS would love more than anything to go to Palo and Remy but it is an adult area for adults to enjoy so he can't. I have waited almost a decade to go back to Victoria & Alberts, and I can't wait to go back next year when he is 10. He will love it no doubt, and he will love Palo and Remy when he is 18 too.
So while I completely sympathize and understand your point, it is an adult area, much the same the Youth Clubs are Children's areas.
A scheduled time in the AM and PM is great for parent bonding, and yes I say scheduled because it should be so that we can schedule adult dining etc.. accordingly. We shouldn't have to be rescheduling due to OH times once onboard.

Why would you have to reschedule though? There's always one space for drop off from 9am (if not earlier) until midnight

 

[Hundredacre]

Children don't pay for cruises, parents do...if most parents are happy with kids activities (whether developmentally appropriate or not), the arrangements will remain

I wonder if this is true. Did DCL announce why they changed their policy? Maybe they changed it because it was easier and cheaper to put the kids all together. But one thing is definitely true, the open houses are exacerbating the situation. The age group thing doesn't really bother me. What I do not like is that the kids do not always have enough space to go off and find kids with similar interests. When they are all on one side and I go pick up the kids it is a bit of a madhouse. Much calmer when the kids have full access to both clubs in secured programming. I could see dcl changing open house policy in the near future.

 

[bbel]

KT, thanks so much for starting this thread. We are taking our first cruise as a family this fall. I have a few questions.

What are the requirements for hiring and screening the CMs in the clubs?
Is it allowed to tip or give gifts to CMs with whom your child bonds?

As a parent of a 1,3 and 5 yr old (w/o actual experience) it does make me nervous that 11-12 year olds will be sprinting around my (25#) 3 yr old. She can hold her own, but not if she gets run over. It seems to me that siblings that are school aged and preschool aged are used to being separated at school, church, scouts, gymnastics, dance because its appropriate for their age. And if sibs want to hang out together they can do it at the open house.

If open house needs to stay as often as it is (idk) then CMs should try to split the group into ages to protect the small and let the big ones have their "big kid time"

I also would like to see the option of dinner pick up at early dining

And something describing what happens at the various activities- like a catalog.

Thanks for doing what you do.

When I applied they asked for a high level qualification and at least two years full time experience working with children. Before we came a lot of us were teacher, social workers, nurses...

You can give gifts to CM, we have to let our managers know but it's approved, any tips however go to fund our 'team builders' and any extra fun things we do/get as a team.

Kids won't be 'sprinting' around as we don't allow running around the spaces and a lot of us are very hot on it. But kids tend to branch off to do things that interest them, which means although they might not be with the exact same age group, they're with children hey feel comfortable with.

If I'm honest, as a CM I don't know how comfortable id feel doing dine and play at the early seating. There's a lot more kids, and when you only get a few it can be pretty stressful making to the other side of the ship all together going agains the flow of the theatre audience...

And as for a catalogue of events just ask a CM (catch us in open house...) were the experts haha. But they can vary quite a lot between ships and even depending on which counsellor or host is running it, but we can give you a basic run down. Let us know what your kids are into and we can make suggestions as to what they might like to try too...

Hope that helps.

 

[bbel]

What is the reason that Friendship Rocks is only on the Classic ships? We've only sailed the Classics, and our kids absolutely love Friendship Rocks...as do we . I'm just thinking that those on the Fantasy 7-night cruises would also love it.

Safety. Pretty much just due to the size difference and from what I've heard the accessibility to the theatre from the kids clubs...

 

[TestingH2O]

Why would you have to reschedule though? There's always one space for drop off from 9am (if not earlier) until midnight

I assume the two reasons that have been cited several times:

• A child only likes the lab/club and it's in open house.
• The atmosphere with all the kids crammed on one side is too chaotic for the child and/or parent to feel comfortable.

 

[bbel]

Yesterday was a sea day. I worked 11 hours with a 30 minute break. I work with a big team and we all worked the same hours.
But I'm sorry that there were still three sessions of open house.

But I thought I'd share with you some of the beautiful things that I saw while the kids were not in 'developmentally appropriate age groups'...

I was sitting chatting to a 10 year old boy who was building something fancy with Jenga blocks, when a three year old girl came and sat next to us. She asked him what he was doing and he showed her. They ended up building towers together for a good ten minutes until dinner was announced.

While that was going a group of older boys were playing with a four year old boy and his toy plane that he had with him. This four year old could get the older boys to do pretty much anything he wanted and all four boys were loving life, laughing an rolling around the floor.

Just behind me a couple of older girls were trying (and I think failing) to teach a three younger girls how to play spot it.

All this happened in a 5ft radius of me within 10-15 minutes. While at the same time there was a massive game of tower defender going with kids of all ages involved. A lot of craft and drawing and of course the computers...

I just wanted you to hear about some of the magic that your own kids create for each other, complete strangers, that they probably don't think to tell you about and that you don't see. Whilst the age groups might not be ideal, Kids on these cruises get life lessons that they'll never learn anywhere else. Where else will they get to play with kids of different ages from literally all over the world.


I just wanted to put some positivity back into this thread. Have a good day all!

 

[rantnnravin]

hi Everyone,

If you have a comment or concern about any of the youth spaces, please share them. I will do my best to help you or pass things on to management if needed. We can't push for change if we don't know what you guys think!

Thanks for your time,

KT

... I just wanted to put some positivity back into this thread. Have a good day all!

 

[5Texans]

When I applied they asked for a high level qualification and at least two years full time experience working with children. Before we came a lot of us were teacher, social workers, nurses...

You can give gifts to CM, we have to let our managers know but it's approved, any tips however go to fund our 'team builders' and any extra fun things we do/get as a team.

Kids won't be 'sprinting' around as we don't allow running around the spaces and a lot of us are very hot on it. But kids tend to branch off to do things that interest them, which means although they might not be with the exact same age group, they're with children hey feel comfortable with.

If I'm honest, as a CM I don't know how comfortable id feel doing dine and play at the early seating. There's a lot more kids, and when you only get a few it can be pretty stressful making to the other side of the ship all together going agains the flow of the theatre audience...

And as for a catalogue of events just ask a CM (catch us in open house...) were the experts haha. But they can vary quite a lot between ships and even depending on which counsellor or host is running it, but we can give you a basic run down. Let us know what your kids are into and we can make suggestions as to what they might like to try too...

Hope that helps.

Thanks! This is reassuring to hear. Sounds as if you guys do a better job policing than some parents. I'll just chat with the CM at check in.

Because DD is so small most big kids treat her like a doll or a baby, but she's good at telling them if they're bothering her. A lot of big kids try to pick her up though and she HATES it.

 

[michellekcm]

Safety. Pretty much just due to the size difference and from what I've heard the accessibility to the theatre from the kids clubs...

Thanks

 

[minorthr]

We were on the Magic for 20 nights last summer on a B2B and my DS7 (now 8) was in the kids club every single day. The open houses and adult-only hours did not affect us in the least. There was always a club open for him and he always found something to do and someone to play with. There was an amazing variety of activities for him to enjoy from hands-on crafts to movement activities, science and cooking projects, computers, art, plus just general free play with the friends he made or a movie to watch. We had been on cruises before (when he was 3 and 6), but this was the first time he was comfortable going into the club alone, which was actually a shock to us as he has ASD and a language disorder and didn't think he would go in at all. On our first day he went in, I checked on him after an hour and he basically kicked me out and that was the end of that! Prior to the B2B's, the only time he would go into the club was when an adult from our party was with him. I hope those on here who are complaining about open houses will understand that there are many children of all ages who vacation on DCL who for, whatever reason - are shy, have a disability, etc. - cannot go into the clubs without some extra support from an adult in their vacationing party (as DCL does not offer individualized support in the kids clubs). DCL is not creating these open houses to be an inconvenience to you. DCL is offering them, IMHO, at least in part, to accommodate those children who could not enjoy these spaces otherwise.

My suggestion to DCL would be to have some CM's who are trained to work with children with developmental disabilities (1 in 7 children in the US have developmental disabilities - that's 15% of all kids in the US!) and offer smaller group options (1 CM to 4 kids and even 1-to-1 supervision) for children who need it. You could offer this at an additional cost, like you do with the nursery and parents could sign up for it prior to the cruise (like we do with other cruise activities). I know firsthand of SO many families with ASD and ADHD children who desperately want to go on vacations , but need extra support on the trips. These families would happily pay Disney for this service!

This times 1000. I would pay $100 or more for this service. I they don't want to do this then work with organizations to provide the service. We are going next month with a group that specializes in autism travel and Disney really limits what their people can do and the activities they can run compared to other cruise lines.