Mickey Pool - Complete Chaos

[GatheringNoMoss]

Hmm,I'm only 63" tall and I'm 50.....cool!

Nah won't work; you've got to be 14 or under too. Takes away all of us short peoples fun!

 

[oddman]

I think the Mickey pool does get out of hand, and yes the staff do pretend not to see it.

I will not rant on , but DCL could not walk away from a lawsuit by claiming it is not the staffs job, in fact policing the ship is DCL's job. No waiver will remove that responsibility

just my point of view

 

[tparbs]

hmm...well, if it's their job to take care of "injuries and accidents" only, perhaps it should be in their job description to try to keep those same injuries and accidents from happening in the first place.

Having said that, I agree that parents need to be parents. But as the mother of an 8 yr old son (who happens to be autistic), this is a whole new worry I hadn't realized was one to be added to be list.

 

[crisi]

hmm...well, if it's their job to take care of "injuries and accidents" only, perhaps it should be in their job description to try to keep those same injuries and accidents from happening in the first place.

Having said that, I agree that parents need to be parents. But as the mother of an 8 yr old son (who happens to be autistic), this is a whole new worry I hadn't realized was one to be added to be list.

Seriously, its really easy not to worry. Get to the pool in the morning - swim until about 11 - you'll have the pool to yourself for most of that time. Get out of the pool. Have lunch. See a movie. Get some ice cream. See the matinée show. Spend some time in the club. Go back to the pool around 4:30 (or if you have early seating, after dinner) - nearly empty again. Even if all the kids are well behaved, the pool gets very crowded mid afternoon.

We had to remove our kids once last trip, for twenty minutes - and all we said is "hey guys, lets get some ice cream" - they got out, by the time we got back to the pool, the troublemakers had moved on.

The other thing to do is to recognize that you shouldn't cruise to swim. Make sure you have other things to do. All the pools are small and only the adult pool lacks crowds (and even that, mid day, has plenty of people, just not the frenetic crowds of the other pools). We make sure our kids get in swimming at Castaway Cay, at the hotel pre-cruise, in the mornings, in the evenings - and then if we have to pull them out midday, they aren't quite so cranky about it.

Oh "accidents" are potty accidents - the other thing is that the Mickey Pool is often closed midday while they clean up after someone's non-potty trained kid who shouldn't be in the pool otherwise. The CMs will remove a kid in swim diapers.

 

[tparbs]

Crisy....thanks for posting! Excellent ideas!!

Okay...no worries...............36 days and counting!

 

[flexsmom]

hmm...well, if it's their job to take care of "injuries and accidents" only, perhaps it should be in their job description to try to keep those same injuries and accidents from happening in the first place.

Having said that, I agree that parents need to be parents. But as the mother of an 8 yr old son (who happens to be autistic), this is a whole new worry I hadn't realized was one to be added to be list.

First - I've only noticed that there are only CMs out there when the slide is open, so I don't know that their job is to take care of "injuries and accidents" only. One is at the top, and one is at the bottom - otherwise, I've not seen any other CMs. I do know that there are signs posted that there aren't lifeguards, so whenever I've seen them, I've considered it to be a benefit. Now that I think about it, I have noticed them speak to parents of infants/toddlers when they've seen them bring in kids in diapers - but beyond that, I've only seen them monitor the slide activity. I also don't believe there's any age limit for children playing in the Mickey pool. I have also witnessed frustrating situations with kids getting out of hand there with no one intervening - and this was in the 6-8 year range! (In fact, I watched the mom of one boy literally manhandle another little boy because he had been mean to her son! I think about 4 or 5 other adults just about leaped into that one before the offenders mom got there because it was so totally inappropriate what the mom of the "victim" was doing. (There weren't any CMs there at the time since we had just returned from CC and the slide was closed, so I can't say it's an example of them standing idly by while an adult assaulted a child, sorry.)

Second - I'm finding it interesting that these days when there is a complaint on these boards, anyone who tries to point out something about how/why certain decisions seem to be made about what CMs do or do not do, or what DCL does or does not do, is dismissed as a "DCL apologist" and snide comments from a group of posters begin.

The OP posted a complaint - some people responded by suggesting that the CMs may have instructions NOT to interfere in this kind of scenario - and yet they are subsequently chided and ridiculed about doing so (including by the OP.) I don't get it? Why ask for input/opinions or post your experience on the boards if the various responses are going to be dismissed if they smack of "excusing" DCL?

 

[Jeanne B]

The other thing to do is to recognize that you shouldn't cruise to swim.

DH, DD14 and I have been on five cruises and we're yet to get in a pool on a cruiseship!!

 

[disneyfool_1202]

hmm...well, if it's their job to take care of "injuries and accidents" only, perhaps it should be in their job description to try to keep those same injuries and accidents from happening in the first place.

Having said that, I agree that parents need to be parents. But as the mother of an 8 yr old son (who happens to be autistic), this is a whole new worry I hadn't realized was one to be added to be list.

I completely agree and my son is also autistic- and only 4 - so I have a tendency to be that overbearing overprotective mother that all the other parents hate. If the CM did nothing and I perceived it a risk to any child not just my own I'd speak up. If nothing was done or the behavior didn't change, then I'd speak up myself and tell the older kids to knock it off. I'm the mom who goes head to head with the other parents when necessary (not saying "you're kid is a jerk" but more saying "my child has special needs and I'm concerned for his safety, could we keep the rough housing to a minimum). I've never had a problem.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

The other thing to do is to recognize that you shouldn't cruise to swim.

THANK YOU! Glad someone said it. I'm reading through this and I'm thinking "Am I the only one who doesn't want to go in the pool? Or at least if I don't end up in the pool it's no big deal? I'm being taken to fantastic beaches, and there's tons of stuff to do on the ship."

Maybe if you all are swimming, that will increase our odds at bingo hmmm? oops, dont want to start another hot topic debate.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Oh "accidents" are potty accidents - the other thing is that the Mickey Pool is often closed midday while they clean up after someone's non-potty trained kid who shouldn't be in the pool otherwise. The CMs will remove a kid in swim diapers.

Now that was funny.... As one DISer says here, I can't remember who and they have yet to claim the quote, "the toddlers" in the "fecal tea bags".

Now on our March 1st cruise where everyone was STUCK on the ship, (no CC swimming for us), the CM did not pull out the "Fecal tea bag" kids, I guess this was to prevent a riot... So I have seen them turn the head the other way. To the older boys defense, maybe they were stuck in the Mickey pool because a younger sibling was in there and that is the only pool the younger kids can to. Now does this give them a right to act like a "Warner Brother" kids instead of a "Disney" kids ; no, but maybe they did not think of it as being bad horse play... Most boys don't.

 

[wwwosie]

From my personal point of view, if any of you saw my kid roughhousing or otherwise being unruly and you got up from your chair and told him to knock it off two things would happen:
1.- He'd knock it off
2.- I'd back you up, make him/her apologize and thank you...

My kids know that adults need to be respected and listened to (within the normal common sensical boundaries of safety). I do agree that some of us might see roughhousing in a different light than other parents, but if someone is not being safe, we need to step in, sometimes it's as easy as calling your child over to go grab you a hot dog :

CM's (or anyone watching children) are human and they can only look in one direction at the time. We as parents, need to get involved, in the playground, at school, in the local pool. Unfortunately, a lot of parents don't like anyone else correcting their children and since we are all on vacation sometimes we all relax a bit too much.

I agree, there are a ton of things to do on a cruise ship and swimming isn't a high priority, but I also respect the fact that a lot of folks don't get an opportunity to do so often and swimming on a cruise ship is kind of special.

Sorry if this is long and I don't mean to flame anyone... we all have different parenting styles but it is ALWAYS our job to make sure our kids and those around our kids are safe, and if someone points out that our DD or DS are not behaving up to par, let's not get offended right away... after all, we might have been a little too immersed in the latest mystery by the pool...

 

[PizzieDuster]

True but some other ships have more then 2 small pools for anyone of any age can use

Princess Grand Class ships have 3 pools plus 1 adult pool plus a baby splash area
RCCL Explorer and Freedom class ships have 3 pools plus an adult only pool
The freedom class also has a water spray and play area

Also the above pools are larger then what Disney's pools are - most of them are the size of Disney's adult pool. With having more pools each one doesn't seem as crowded and the older kids tend to stay away from the pools for the little kids because they have other options

Just some examples

Just responding to Joan's post and the post below questioning the difference. The H20 Zone is absolutely the best thing we've experienced in our past 5 cruises. The deck space and chair availability was plenty.

In my signature I have a video link that shows the pools on The Freedom of the Seas. It's not my video but I love that it shows. The H20 Zone and the Flowrider were the best place on the ship. There was no slide, but also, there was no problem with bigger kids either place. The lazy circle was so fun, I was so surprised by how well it worked! We sat front row and just be prepared to be sprayed! It's hot anyway and we loved it!

Well, I just wanted to show everyone the difference of the pool sizes and pool areas between two ships. Carry on...

 

[DCLLVR]

Uh - oh the parent police is out. another self righteous person on the boards that believe because it's Disney they can do no wrong. I was constantly watching the kids. I guess it's too much to ask cast members to do their jobs, huh?

Not "parent police" and certainly not "self righteous", just common sense. All I was trying to say is, whether I think a particular CM/Lifeguard is "doing their job" at any particular moment in time or not, I'm not going to leave it up to them to decide when my child is in danger .... because "danger" make look different depending on who you are talking to, or your particular kids situation. I think the CM's do a pretty good job with as many kids that can be in the pools sometimes, do they do a great job 100% of the time, no, and I don't think I said that ..... but I'm also not going to simply sit on my behind and complain about it later, with some sort of false expectation that someone else (anyone else, no matter how much I'm paying) is going to watch over my kids with the same care as I am.

When my kids were little, I agree, big kids "playing" close by would get me worried, now that my kids are older (and bigger), I keep a close eye on them to keep them from doing the rough housing near youger (and little) kids.

It's not "self righteous" to say that it is the parents job to do the parenting. I certainly do have high expectations of the CM's on DCL, and most of the time they do a good job, they keep things just under the limitations of dangerous. I was not there during your episode, and it was not my kids, so it would be difficult for me to say yes, your kids were in danger and any kid that goes on DCL will also be in danger.

It simply has not been my experience that my kids were in any danger on DCL after 3 cruises, in my opinion, the CM's have always seemed to step in before things got out of hand. If that means I think "Disney can do no wrong", well, you have your opinion, I have mine.

 

[DCLLVR]

Seriously, its really easy not to worry. Get to the pool in the morning - swim until about 11 - you'll have the pool to yourself for most of that time. Get out of the pool. Have lunch. See a movie. Get some ice cream. See the matinée show. Spend some time in the club. Go back to the pool around 4:30 (or if you have early seating, after dinner) - nearly empty again. Even if all the kids are well behaved, the pool gets very crowded mid afternoon.

We had to remove our kids once last trip, for twenty minutes - and all we said is "hey guys, lets get some ice cream" - they got out, by the time we got back to the pool, the troublemakers had moved on.

The other thing to do is to recognize that you shouldn't cruise to swim. Make sure you have other things to do. All the pools are small and only the adult pool lacks crowds (and even that, mid day, has plenty of people, just not the frenetic crowds of the other pools). We make sure our kids get in swimming at Castaway Cay, at the hotel pre-cruise, in the mornings, in the evenings - and then if we have to pull them out midday, they aren't quite so cranky about it.

Oh "accidents" are potty accidents - the other thing is that the Mickey Pool is often closed midday while they clean up after someone's non-potty trained kid who shouldn't be in the pool otherwise. The CMs will remove a kid in swim diapers.

I agree 100%

.... here's the Goofy Pool before it gets "dangerous". ... Uh oh, mickey0624, my DD is climbing up on my shoulders, where's the CM/Lifeguard to tell us to "knock it off" before someone gets hurt?

 

[HiddenMickeys]

where's the CM/Lifeguard to tell us to "knock it off" before someone gets hurt?

I would suspect they aren't coming since I can see 3 different signs that say so.

It would appear (*gasp*) that you must take care of your own child and make sure they are safe. Sorry for the inconvenience ol' chap.

I don't know. I think it all comes back to parents. Ok so if no parents are around, and the kids are acting up and cant be reasoned with, then, well sometimes the only way to fight ignorance and stupidity is with ignorance and stupidity. If unsupervised older kids were jumping on the little ones, and wont listen to anyone (cm's, other parents or otherwise), then I guess it's time for the "bigger kids" (parents of the wee ones) to start jumping on those starting the trouble. Seems to me those missing parents would "magically" appear in nanoseconds. Then, we could have a civilized discussion about the rough play.

 

[crisi]

THANK YOU! Glad someone said it. I'm reading through this and I'm thinking "Am I the only one who doesn't want to go in the pool? Or at least if I don't end up in the pool it's no big deal? I'm being taken to fantastic beaches, and there's tons of stuff to do on the ship."

Maybe if you all are swimming, that will increase our odds at bingo hmmm? oops, dont want to start another hot topic debate.

I think a lot of people imagine cruising to be sitting by the pool with a frosty drink in their hands watching their kids swim every afternoon. And the problem is - that is exactly what it is for a lot of cruisers - too many of them to actually fit around and in the pool and not have issues. Most of the kids not in the clubs are in the pool. And many of the parents sitting around the pool have different levels of tolerance for horseplay for their children than you do. (And while there are certainly kids exceeding my level of tolerance for horseplay, I've also seen parents have fits because a child splashed their child - its a crowded pool - get real. Even if your kid has special needs, 200 kids in the Mickey Pool are not suddenly all going to stop splashing.)

If you are looking for a pool vacation, there are way better choices than cruising. Have a resorts only vacation at WDW. Book an all-inclusive in Mexico.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

.Funny, I was just talking to my DD10 last night about how she should plan on spending much time in the pool and the look of shock on her face was hysterical. It was like putting an ice cream sundae in front of her and saying "Don't eat it” If there is a pool, they expect to be in it, and so we'll plan on spending at least SOME time there.

I've been on other cruise ships and DCL has not only had smaller pools but a far smaller percentage of chairs and area around the pools which makes it seem much more crowded.

I agree with the OP. As a neutral 3rd party the CM's need to keep an eye on the rough housing. It is dangerous and there is no way I would get involved in policing the situation myself. I would never allow my DD's to witness a "scene" with another parent. In fact, the parents that would allow such a behavior would be very unlikely to accept "parenting advice" from the self-righteous among us. They wouldn't be very likely to accept "tattling" gracefully either.

If things got out of hand, I would elimanate the risk and remove my DD's from a potentially dangerous situation.

 

[DCLLVR]

I would suspect they aren't coming since I can see 3 different signs that say so.

It would appear (*gasp*) that you must take care of your own child and make sure they are safe. Sorry for the inconvenience ol' chap.

I don't know. I think it all comes back to parents. Ok so if no parents are around, and the kids are acting up and cant be reasoned with, then, well sometimes the only way to fight ignorance and stupidity is with ignorance and stupidity. If unsupervised older kids were jumping on the little ones, and wont listen to anyone (cm's, other parents or otherwise), then I guess it's time for the "bigger kids" (parents of the wee ones) to start jumping on those starting the trouble. Seems to me those missing parents would "magically" appear in nanoseconds. Then, we could have a civilized discussion about the rough play.

Good point! But even with the "no lifeguard on duty" signs, there was usually a CM wandering around when there were more than a few kids in the pool, just to make sure there were no "jumpers" or "divers".

 

[mickey0624]

Good point! But even with the "no lifeguard on duty" signs, there was usually a CM wandering around when there were more than a few kids in the pool, just to make sure there were no "jumpers" or "divers".

The reason I originally posted this was not to start a debate about "good parenting". In my opinion, that argument is absurd. 99.9% of us are going to do what's best for our kids. That's what I meant about the parent police and being self-righteous. We live in New York, so this was really our first opportunity to go swimming since August. My kids are 3 and 4 and absolutely love to swim. That is all they talked about before the cruise. I understand some people don't "cruise to swim", but for my kids it is a big deal. I did not walk away and leave my children. My wife and I sat on the side the entire time each watching one of them. there was a CM watching the pools the entire time. Ifn fact one did not leave until another arrived. Again we were in the Mickey pool, not the Goofy pool. I'm not sure what the sign says about lifeguards at the Mickey pool. My complaint was that there were some very large and older kids who were very physical and it was endangering other kids. In my opinion, it is the CM's job to step in and at least calm them down. Again, i understand the pools are going to be crowded. That was NOT my complaint. My complaint was that the CM's did nothing. Do I beleive my children were at serious risk? No, of course not or I would have pulled the kids out of the pool. But it did make for a more restrictive atmosphere. Maybe you see it differently, but that's my two cents.

 

[crisi]

The Mickey Pool sign says the same thing. Here is the issue, its YOUR OPINION that its the CMs job to step in. In fact, that isn't their job unless there is serious risk. And, as you said, it wasn't serious risk or you would have removed your kids from the pool - as we did when the hooligans on our cruise started jumping into a packed Goofy Pool. (By the way, I think the Goofy Pool is MUCH WORSE, which is why you get bigger kids in the Mickey Pool. If the Mickey Pool is small, I've been in hotels where the hot tub is bigger than the Goofy pool. And the Goofy Pool gets the rambucous fifteen year olds - which scares the parents of the roughhousing ten year olds over to the Mickey Pool scare the parents of the four year olds.

I'm sorry you were disappointed in the experience. But it is what it is - some cruises are better and some are worse depending on the guests, but the CMs pretty much behave the same way each cruise - and have for years despite numerous suggestions from guests that they police the pool differently. Every cruise there are eight and ten year olds (and older kids) in the Mickey pool with the three and four year olds, splashing, jumping and "diving" in way that is going to make any preschoolers parent nervous.

You can write DCL Guest Relations, they will file your complaint with the many others on this topic and maybe, someday, they will take action. You can also tell people that this is the way it is - which is what you are doing - and that they should make a decision to cruise based on very little policing of very crowded pools. But saying "it should be different" here isn't going to change anything. It isn't different. Its never been different. Its unlikely to be different.