Mickey Pool - Complete Chaos

[mickey0624]

We just got back from a great 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder. Everything was great. The only complaint that I had was that the Mickey pool was completely chaotic, especially the days at sea. I understand that the pool is going to be crowded with lots of kids and I have no problems with that. The problem that I did have was that there were quite a few kids that were too big and too old to be in that pool, and they were wrestling, jumping on one another, and knocking down little kids in the pool. These kids must have been 12 or 13 and the lifeguards just stood there and said nothing.

 

[Joan1]

The problem is that the goofy pool is too small and the slide is only at the Mickey pool. Anyone 64inches and shorter can go on the slide

I belive they go by size not age, I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong

Disney really needs to step up to the pool situation and hopefully they will on the new ships

 

[Alexander]

The problem is that the goofy pool is too small and the slide is only at the Mickey pool. Anyone 64inches and shorter can go on the slide

I belive they go by size not age, I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong

Disney really needs to step up to the pool situation and hopefully they will on the new ships

Honestly, I don't think any cruise ship has pool accomodations for 2-3000 people. On sea days pretty much all cruise line ships have very crowded pools and pool decks.

 

[mickey0624]

Honestly, I don't think any cruise ship has pool accomodations for 2-3000 people. On sea days pretty much all cruise line ships have very crowded pools and pool decks.

It wasn't the crowds that bothered me, it was the roughness of the older kids and the unwillingness of the cast members to say anything

 

[Joan1]

Honestly, I don't think any cruise ship has pool accomodations for 2-3000 people. On sea days pretty much all cruise line ships have very crowded pools and pool decks.

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

 

[tinkerone]

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

how does size of ship factor in for this? are they bigger ships with more passangers? i just don't know where they could put another pool and compared to some of the other ships there is not as many guests. and what about the children ratio. i would think that there would be more kids on a disney cruise.
anyone know?

 

[Empress Room]

It wasn't the crowds that bothered me, it was the roughness of the older kids and the unwillingness of the cast members to say anything

Did you ask a specific crew member or members to say something or otherwise rectify the situation? If you did, and they refused and otherwise failed to give you an explanation as to why they refused, then you have a legitimate gripe and should have spoken to an officer. If, however, you said nothing, it's quite possible that the crew didn't view the activities as being as rough or as dangerous as you viewed it. You may have perceived things a tad hypersensitively, particularly since the crew undoubtedly sees a lot of activity on a lot of cruises day after day.

 

[DCLLVR]

No flames please ... just stating my opinion.

There is only one person who I trust with my kids safety ... ME!

Sure, there are calculated risks I take every day in relation to my kids safety and well being, but they are calculated risks. I look at them carefully and decide for myself if I am willing to take that particular risk or not, or do something about the risk itself.

In other words, if there are big kids playing/rough housing in the little kids pool and with my one eye that is always on my kids, I notice that my kids are in some sort of danger (that is a continuous recalculation that goes on in my mind 100% of the time), than I either remove them from that situation or I resolve the situation. I (this is just me though) could get up off my relaxed sunbathing behind and walk up to, and strike up conversation with, the lifeguard/CM and ask him/her if he/she thought that "those kids might a bit too big or a bit too rough to be playing like that right next to my little 3 year old" ... etc.

I know, your expectation is that the CM or lifeguard is going to stop things before they get too out of hand, and most of the time I noticed that they did a pretty good job. But of course, depending on how big or small your child is, or how close to the "rough housing" your kids are, etc. .... remember you are continuously recalculating risk ... you may need to step in before the CM does.

Anyway, in my personal and humble opinion, especially when your kids are very little, this is always a problem at any public place where there is a wide range of kids. Kids will be kids .... parents need to be parents.

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

and therein lies the problem. Parents need to be parents. What a concept.

In my experience, the CMs have done a pretty good job at the Micky pool - not so at the Goofy pool. But, I would not hesitate to jump over sun loungers screaming to get their attention if they were ignoring big kids jumping on wee ones.

 

[mickey0624]

No flames please ... just stating my opinion.

There is only one person who I trust with my kids safety ... ME!

Sure, there are calculated risks I take every day in relation to my kids safety and well being, but they are calculated risks. I look at them carefully and decide for myself if I am willing to take that particular risk or not, or do something about the risk itself.

In other words, if there are big kids playing/rough housing in the little kids pool and with my one eye that is always on my kids, I notice that my kids are in some sort of danger (that is a continuous recalculation that goes on in my mind 100% of the time), than I either remove them from that situation or I resolve the situation. I (this is just me though) could get up off my relaxed sunbathing behind and walk up to, and strike up conversation with, the lifeguard/CM and ask him/her if he/she thought that "those kids might a bit too big or a bit too rough to be playing like that right next to my little 3 year old" ... etc.

I know, your expectation is that the CM or lifeguard is going to stop things before they get too out of hand, and most of the time I noticed that they did a pretty good job. But of course, depending on how big or small your child is, or how close to the "rough housing" your kids are, etc. .... remember you are continuously recalculating risk ... you may need to step in before the CM does.

Anyway, in my personal and humble opinion, especially when your kids are very little, this is always a problem at any public place where there is a wide range of kids. Kids will be kids .... parents need to be parents.

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?

 

[Jeanne B]

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.

I know at least as far as RCCL is concerned (since we haven't cruised Princess) this isn't really comparing apples to apples. Both the Explorer and the Freedom are MUCH bigger than the Wonder or Magic (I saw a picture the other day of the FOS docked next to the Magic and the Magic looked tiny in comparison). I believe the two new DCL ships are going to be about the size of the Explorer so I would expect DCL to have at least as many pools on their new ships as there is on the Explorer...if not, then there would be something to complain about.

 

[disneyfinatics]

I don't know if this applies to the ships, but this past January I learned how little the cast members can do in these situations. We stay at Saratoga Springs and one day the pool some kids were rough housing. On actually caused the other to get a bloody nose! They were grabbing each other by the neck and holding each other under water. I had my two boys and my sisters 4 at the pool. When the boys finally knocked into a toddler coming off the toddler slide I came unhinged. I asked the lifeguard if he was going to do anything and he just looked at me. I went to the front desk and recieved no help & then finally found someone to contact the pool manager. The pool manager was speaking to the lifeguard and I let him know I was the one to complain. He told me that Disney doesn't allow them to interfere unless they percieve it as a threat. If a person complains then they have to do somehting. Obviously I thought the situation was more dangerous than the lifeguard. The lifeguard said that the lifeguard on the otherside of the pool had corrected the kids, but I hadn't heard that. I apologized for losing my temper and now know if I'm uncomfortable with the behavior to go the lifeguard myself. We have 3 beaches in my neighborhood and if you horse around at any of them they toss you out. I would like to see Disney get a little stricter in this area. I personally think it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[RanCan]

No flames please ... just stating my opinion.

There is only one person who I trust with my kids safety ... ME!

Sure, there are calculated risks I take every day in relation to my kids safety and well being, but they are calculated risks. I look at them carefully and decide for myself if I am willing to take that particular risk or not, or do something about the risk itself.

In other words, if there are big kids playing/rough housing in the little kids pool and with my one eye that is always on my kids, I notice that my kids are in some sort of danger (that is a continuous recalculation that goes on in my mind 100% of the time), than I either remove them from that situation or I resolve the situation. I (this is just me though) could get up off my relaxed sunbathing behind and walk up to, and strike up conversation with, the lifeguard/CM and ask him/her if he/she thought that "those kids might a bit too big or a bit too rough to be playing like that right next to my little 3 year old" ... etc.

I know, your expectation is that the CM or lifeguard is going to stop things before they get too out of hand, and most of the time I noticed that they did a pretty good job. But of course, depending on how big or small your child is, or how close to the "rough housing" your kids are, etc. .... remember you are continuously recalculating risk ... you may need to step in before the CM does.

Anyway, in my personal and humble opinion, especially when your kids are very little, this is always a problem at any public place where there is a wide range of kids. Kids will be kids .... parents need to be parents.

Very well said
The parents should not leave it up to the CM's to "babysit" for them at the pools.
If you notice something that you don't like, tell them. They might not think it's as bad as you do. Maybe if you bring it to their attention, they'll do something about it. If they don't, then you can take it further and complain.
Remember, there are a lot of people for them to look out for, and just because parents are on vacation, doesn't mean they can stop being parents!

 

[RLccweems]

Very well said
The parents should not leave it up to the CM's to "babysit" for them at the pools.
If you notice something that you don't like, tell them. They might not think it's as bad as you do. Maybe if you bring it to their attention, they'll do something about it. If they don't, then you can take it further and complain.
Remember, there are a lot of people for them to look out for, and just because parents are on vacation, doesn't mean they can stop being parents!

I totally agree with you on this...

My kids have gotten to the point they just avoid the pool when it's crowded.

 

[crisi]

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?

That depends on the cast members jobs. There are no lifeguards at the pool. The CMs apparently do not believe it to be their job to correct the type of behavior you think should be corrected. So is it their job? Apparently not, because they don't do that sort of policing of behavior at the pools. Their job apparently is to take care of injuries and "accidents."

 

[beachblanket]

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

How dare you point out that some competitors do better at accomodating families than Disney! The "DCL-can-do-no-wrong" types will have your head shortly...

 

[Joan1]

How dare you point out that some competitors do better at accomodating families than Disney! The "DCL-can-do-no-wrong" types will have your head shortly...

 

[PrincessMom2002]

I totally agree with you on this...

My kids have gotten to the point they just avoid the pool when it's crowded.

This is what we did as well. I told my kids that they could swim in the morning or at night but there was no way we were swimming during the really busy times. We found plenty of other things to do during those times. We are hoping the pool situation on the new ships turns out better.

 

[Jestocost]

I know at least as far as RCCL is concerned (since we haven't cruised Princess) this isn't really comparing apples to apples. Both the Explorer and the Freedom are MUCH bigger than the Wonder or Magic (I saw a picture the other day of the FOS docked next to the Magic and the Magic looked tiny in comparison). I believe the two new DCL ships are going to be about the size of the Explorer so I would expect DCL to have at least as many pools on their new ships as there is on the Explorer...if not, then there would be something to complain about.

The RCCL Explorer class does carry about 20 percent more passengers than the current DCL ships and the freedom class is built for a 40 percent larger load, so those really aren't apples-to-apples. The Princess Grand class ships are build for 2,600 passenger capacity, however, so that's a fair comparison to the Magic and Wonder.

 

[dahuffy]

The problem is that the goofy pool is too small and the slide is only at the Mickey pool. Anyone 64inches and shorter can go on the slide

I belive they go by size not age, I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong

Disney really needs to step up to the pool situation and hopefully they will on the new ships

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