Kids Clubs Safety and Security Measures?

[jsm715]

We are considering booking our first Disney cruise, and I was wondering if anyone can tell me about the safety and security measures Disney has in place for the kids clubs. What is to keep an unauthorized adult from picking up someone else's child, and what keeps a child from wandering off? Any information anyone has regarding these questions and any other safety/security measures for the kids club would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Magic3forme]

Children are given an id bracelet. It is scanned when they enter the club. When they go to leave, their bracelet is scanned and the person picking them up gives the CM their KTTW card and on the screen it says who is authorized to pick the child up. also you have to give the CM a password. (that your family picks.) Parents have to be buzzed into the actual kids area. (people cant just wander in).
Parents are given a pager too, so if your child wants picked up, it was say so and so wants picked up.

 

[luvmyprincess]

Children are given an id bracelet. It is scanned when they enter the club. When they go to leave, their bracelet is scanned and the person picking them up gives the CM their KTTW card and on the screen it says who is authorized to pick the child up. also you have to give the CM a password. (that your family picks.) Parents have to be buzzed into the actual kids area. (people cant just wander in).
Parents are given a pager too, so if your child wants picked up, it was say so and so wants picked up.

But that is not the case for children 10 (?)and older .....is that correct? l

 

[sshaw10060]

We did the 12 day Baltic this summer and our 3yo lived in the club since there were not a lot of kids on the cruise and it was so long we were on a first name basis with the staff within a few days. Despite that we were asked for the password every time we took him out of the club. I about it once and the staff member said that failure to ask for a password would result in immediate termination. Disney takes this stuff very seriously.

 

[Meghatron]

But that is not the case for children 10 (?)and older .....is that correct? l

All kids get a wristband. I believe that kids 8 and over are allowed to check themselves in and out, although I'm not sure about that and it's possible parents can "deauthorize" that option in some way. I also remember reading somewhere that the wristbands have RFID tracking chips in them, but that's a vague memory that I can't corroborate. Anyone know for sure?

 

[tink too]

Our DD turned 9 on our last cruise and I opted out of the "self-checkout" option that is available for parents with kids 8 y.o. or over. This meant that she couldn't leave the club/lab without us being paged to go and collect her.

 

[Mommb]

All kids get a wristband. I believe that kids 8 and over are allowed to check themselves in and out, although I'm not sure about that and it's possible parents can "deauthorize" that option in some way. I also remember reading somewhere that the wristbands have RFID tracking chips in them, but that's a vague memory that I can't corroborate. Anyone know for sure?

There is an age range when parents have the option of giving kids signout privileges or not (I think it's 8-10 or 8-12 -- it may vary by ship) and an age above which kids don't get wristbands and automatically have the ability to sign themselves out.

When we last cruised in January, the kids' club wristbands did have RFID chips. When I went to the Club or Lab to pick up my daughter, castmembers were able to scan my Key to the World card and tell me whether she was in the Club or the Lab if I didn't see her right away.

Kids are able to move between the spaces, accompanied by a cast member, using a hallway accessible only to the kids' programming staff. If they do move to other areas of the ship (such as the sports deck), several castmembers move with them watching for stragglers, and they do counts before they leave and when they arrive at the destination. Parents are not allowed to sign out kids while the group is in transit so the counts don't get messed up.

When programming moves to Castaway Cay, the same security measures are in place. Scuttle's Cove has an entry/exit area with a castmember checking KTTW cards and passwords.

 

[jsm715]

Thank you, everyone, for your input! I feel much more comfortable taking a cruise knowing how secure the children's activities are. Didn't want to spend my vacation worried over my kids' whereabouts.

 

[eelderm1]

We just got back from our first cruise and I thought I would be worried about my 8 yo the whole time. After the first time I dropped her off at the kids club I felt fine. They are great with the kids. And you are not getting out with a kid unless you are the right person. My daughter loved the club and lab. I had to drag her out everyday. She never wanted to leave. She also really enjoyed being in Friendship Rocks. We also used Scuttles Cove on Castatway Cay and she enjoyed that as well. I want to go back. I would love to sail on the Dream. You will have a great time!

 

[farah]

So when kids and parents are given the option to have their child sign out by themselves, does that mean that they can go around the ship alone or does that mean, they are accompanied by a counselor to an activity? I don't want my 10 year old wandering a ship alone.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

So when kids and parents are given the option to have their child sign out by themselves, does that mean that they can go around the ship alone or does that mean, they are accompanied by a counselor to an activity? I don't want my 10 year old wandering a ship alone.

If your child has sign-in/out privileges, they are allowed to come and go as they please without any escort. The only rules would be whatever you tell them. There's a ton of threads out there on the subject of rules to give your kids. At a certain age they are also granted this privilege automatically. Don't recall if its 10 or 12. Someone else can chime in on that.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Once your child is old enough for Ocean Quest, which I believe is 11, possible 12, then there is no check-in/check-out process for parents. The kiddos just show up and leave when they wish. Anything in the lab or the club is very controlled, but by the time the kids are tweens, they aren't controlled in that way, however, that's not to say that there is pandemonium in the halls with roving gangs of tweens, all of the CMs are keeping an eye out for possible trouble and nipping it in the bud.

Even in OceanQuest and the Stack, there is less obtrusive supervision, they both have organized activities and events, and especially for the Stack, there is always chaperonage...

 

[farah]

Thank you! So I am glad that my oldest is 10...dont want her wandering around ( i know she wouldnt get in trouble) just glad to know..
Thanks

 

[thomprod]

The information on the wristband also can be used to reunite a child with their parent/guardian(s) in the unlikely event of them getting lost or separated. We haven't cruised since they started using the bands with RFID chips, but the older ones had codes printed on them that would give a crew member the child's stateroom number, name and muster station, just in case that information was necessary to reunite a young, ill or otherwise uncooperative passenger with their guardian(s).

As for the possibility of an unauthorized adult trying to check out a child from the Club/Lab: An adult in our party (who was not listed in the computer) tried to check our daughter out one night with our permission. She was not allowed to do so, because her name was not on the list, and we were paged to come to the Club in person.

DCL has the system down to a science. No worries!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Thank you! So I am glad that my oldest is 10...dont want her wandering around ( i know she wouldnt get in trouble) just glad to know..
Thanks

We let our DD (9) do some limited check-out for herself. Basically to run upstairs to change clothes for dinner one night and one day to get some pizza because she'd missed lunch and she did awesome. I will admit the first time I hid around the corner and peeked to make sure she went directly from A to B and back which she did, so you can also use it on a limited basis, as in "Meet me at the room at such and such time" and then check up to make sure she leaves and goes directly there. You can give or take away her ability to sign in and out as you desire, and as many times as you want so you completely control it, she can't change it on her own, we figured it was a good way to give her just a little bit of responsibility in a controlled environment to see how she did and, Thankfully, she did great, but yeah, we didn't let her roam the ship willy-nilly.