Not impressed...just back

opsomyo

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 1, 2002
Messages
71
I do not want to prevent anyone from going, but I was not very impressed with the children's programming.
It was my DD5 and myself (mom). DD is Very outgoing & spent alot of time talking with other guests. So I was surprised she wouldn't go in the club by herself. I didn't mind because the vacation was about spending time just the two of us together.
I would go in the club & stay with her. They let you go in as visitors, you don't have to sign them in. We went for the family time once. Because I wa with her I was able to see the things they do with the kids. First off, the club is mostly computers. She has a million games & tons of computer time at home so she wasn't very interested in it.
We went to the "Island" show & got there early. They had the 5-7 yr olds there from the club. They were trying to keep them entertained while they waited. The one counselor had the do a "moose call". It consisted all these cross this finger, hold these to together, cross this one of that one etc........ these were little kids that are trying to follow this LONG list of directions, then you are suppose to blow throw your hands & do this moose call. All these kids are trying to do htis & the couselors moose call was "here mooseie moosie moosie moosie! My DD5 was like what? what now? It was just silly. Then they do this silly repeat after me song. It was like they were just making stupid stuff up to waste these kids time while their parents were off having fun.
At scuttles cove, the wackey noodle game was a hulahoop, some sand buckets then another hulahoop. You had to jump up & down 3x in the hulahoop, run around the buckets, turn 3x in the last hulahoop then grab a noodle put it between your legs &run back. DD5 did it once & said can we go back & swim in the Mickey pool? Which was closed ALOT of the time.
The pool & slide was her favorites, almost the only thing she enjoyed doing. We have a pool at home so I thought how silly is this? That is where we spent almost all of our time. :( Not what I wanted to do but she had fun.The slide is only open from 1:30-6:30. I think it should be opened alot longer, all the kids love it. Food- the lunch buffet the first day was unbelievable :) ummmm yummmy. I was surprised that the hot dog place & icrecream closes at 6:00p.m. You don't really have any choices for dinner, the resteraunt or room service. The buffet is closed for dinner. The day at castaway cay, DD had a scrape & the salt water hurt , she didn't like scuttles cove so we were on the ship. Nothing was open. I hope you like eating kids food ie.... hot dogs, pizza, chicken tenders, because that is ALot of the choices all the time. The restraunts were good, not alot of menu selection I didn't feel. All in all, I was disappointed. The children's programming leaves alot to be desired, at least for mine. They need to talk with some preschool teachers, there are alot of really cool simple things they could have done. Someone could be making things with them, with paint & paper & scissors & glue etc..nothing like that! They could learn to draw Mickey, way beyond my DD. Even the songs etc, were stupid & pointless. We went to the Mickey Mania, beyond her. The family dance party was good until they stoped the music & had the kids get on stage. Put your hands up, put them down, sit down, stand up, sit down, hands, up, hands down, sit down, stand up lye down, snore, who can snore the loudest. It was stupid, the kids were like why?DD was enjoying her self when they were playing music & dancing, then after they did all that she was like, can we go to the mickey pool? We did have our own fun, played ping pong, went on a horse & carraige ride in Nassau, Disney dreams was Great! we both enjoyed that. I just felt they had WAY more things for the adults to do than the kids & they could have done way simpler, WAY WAY better things with the kids. It was an experience, & I have tried not to be too disappointed but we will definately not be going back. I do hope everyoine else had the times of their lives. I don't want to discourage others from going but I didn't think it was worth th $$$$!
 
I'm sorry your daughter did not enjoy herself. Every child is different and will experience the clubs differently.

My daughter, on the other hand, absolutely loves the children's programming, and has experienced it from age 5 to now (8). She has participated in many fun activities, including making picture frames, making "flubber", making her own pillowcase, etc. etc. There were always arts and crafts activities in the box at the club each night that the kids had made.

Perhaps if your daughter had felt comfortable enough to take part in the activities alone her experience might have been different.

I hope your future vacations are more enjoyable. :D
 
All kids are different. But this will be the 3rd year we have taken our grandkids on the cruise. All they talk about is the clubs. One thing that we did was only let them go when there was a structured activity, which were many. I think the down time is when the kids get dressed up, watch movies and play on the computers. They are counting down the days until August, and are talking about what they will do again this year.
 
Oh bummer! Im sorry to hear you didnt have such a great time. When we cruised with our kids, oldest DS was 3.5 and he wouldnt go to the clubs at all. He was the same way as your DD that all the wanted to do was swim in the pool. I felt like we missed out on a lot that trip. I too agree that there is a limited variety on the menus, but since I found that out last time, I knew what to expect this time and I wasnt disappointed. Plus we skipped the restaurant we liked the least and went to Palo instead which helped to give us some variety. Oh, and we found nachos and chicken wings around the ship a couple times which was a nice change from burgers & pizza.
I also agree, that Disney Dreams was awesome(even the 2nd time around)!
Sorry the trip was so disappointing for you. Better luck next time.
 

opsomyo,

Thank you for posting. Although we all love to read the reports of wonderful vacations, it is important that we also hear reports from people who did not have the best time. . .either so we can adjust our expectations or so we can decide on how we can do things differently.

I know exactly what you mean though about it being disappointing that your DD wanted to spend all her time at the pool. When we went to WDW last year, my DD5 loved the hotel pool more than going to the theme parks and my DD1 just wanted to jump in the puddles left on the sidewalk.

Peg
 
Wow... I don't even know what to say. All the things you mentioned were the types of things that my DS (5 at the time we sailed) loved so much about the Oceaneer Club. But then, we're a silly pair, he and I, and love to have silly fun all the time. :) He loved the OC so much, the other DIS-ers on the cruise kept teasing me, saying they didn't believe I even had a son, since they never saw him. ;) He wouldn't leave the Club!! In fact, I told him that this next cruise, he is at least coming to dinner with me every night, whether he likes it or not... but in return, he made me promise that I'd let him go right back to the Club. :)

I'm sure sorry you and your daughter weren't happy... :( I guess it's just not for everyone!

-gina-
 
I know lots of other kids enjoy the club, I heard them raving about it. It just takes alot to keep her interested. We missed the dress up stuff she would have loved that. I also felt the counselors should maybe have tried to get her involved, since they knew she was apprehensive. I didn't care if she didn't stay in there by herself so I never asked them either, to their defense. I am sure if I would have suggested it they proboly would have tried. I don't want anyone to change their plans or anything, just give a heads up to those who might encounter the same things I did. I enjoyed myself and the time we spent together but no more than I would have anywhere else.
We do however have some Awesome pictures & can say we took a carraige ride in the Bahamas! How many peolple can sy that right? :) We didn't spend a ton of money which also made me happy. Also, Everyone that works on the ship is very polite and friendly. DD wore a cinderrella crown the whole time & they all said hello tho the "princess" which made her feel very special. It was also nice lying in bed together at night watching the Disney movies on T.V. I noticed they had some pg & pg 13 for the older kids & parents(nothing she would have wanted to watch but nothing I wouldn't have let her) which was nice but I was tooo tired to watch them after she fell asleep! We did have a good time, & Very much needed the mommy/daughter time together. Sice my DD2 got sick (cancer) 1 1/2 yrs ago, it has been rough. That is the only reason we went just the two of us. So, alll in all it served the purpose, just not my disney dream come true...................
 
I must say all kids are different. My 6 yr old DD walked into the club at night and saw only about 6-8 computers, mats on the floor for the movie and the dress up clothes and said to me "what is this pre school?" I did ask the manager to bump her up to 8-9 yr old program, she said fine but thought some of the activities there may frustrate a 6 yr old. It was the end of the cruise, so we kept her in 5-7 yr old. Which BTW shares the club at night with 3-4 yr olds.

Next year she will be 7 yrs old, so I will cross that bridge when I get to it. One thing I will do is put her in the clubs in the daytime, when there is planned activities as flubber making, etc. This last trip she was with us all day and she only went to the club after dinner, when all there was to do was watch the movie, play dress up and computer.
 
I have to agree with Peg, I do find posts like these help me to adjust my expectations. Thanks for being brave enough to post your viewpoint. I am definitely going better prepared because of this Dis board.
Thanks! :D
Laurie
 
I think you stated your problems fairly, and I'm glad you felt comfortable to do so. Everyone is going to have a different experience, and so it's good to hear all sides. I think the biggest problem we sometimes have is expectations way above where they should be!

My kids loved the clubs...never saw them unless I forced the issue! They would beg to stay until they closed and locked the doors...and then have a wake up call to head there right after breakfast! Goes to show that every kid is different!

Like you, Opsomyo, we had a rough year having suffered a double loss in our family, and I felt we needed some serious bonding/relaxing/rebuilding time together. Instead, they got a chance to not even think about family heartaches for awhile, and that was probably just as good.

Thanks for your honesty!
 
I tried not to expect too much. I always have expectations of myself that I couldn't possibly meet. So, yes it could be all me, but all in all I don't think I would go back. Maybe if we did 4 days in Disney first. I think if we all would have went & done disney first, then if the girls would go into the club, we could have relaxed after all the craziness of the parks. Then we could have done the adult stuff I didn't get to do when DD & I went. I just found out my sister is taking her to WDW in Jan. What a lucky girl! :) I am so happy for her. We plan on in about 2 years taking them. The little one will be five then. Hopefully we will get some help through the make a wish foundation. Regardless, we are going in about 2 years. I would love to go next year but want to make sure she is old enough to really enjoy it & will be able to remember going. What does everyone think she will turn 3 this fall. When would be the perfect age to take her to WDW?
Thanks everyone for your imput!
 
My personal opinion about taking children on vacations is just make sure that they have fun things to do. I never worry whether or not my children will remember it. For me, the vacation is about having fun together as a family. My son has been to Disney 3 times at ages 3.5 , 5.5, and 8. My daughter was 1.5 and 3.5. They both had a great time. This included going on rides and doing things that we didn't necessarily plan on doing. We have some great pictures of my daughter playing in the water fountain areas in Epcot and Magic Kingdom. She spent almost an hour in those play areas one day with a few other children while my wife and I took turns going to see things.

There are things that she remembers, but we plan on taking her back and we'll make new memories. Besides, we always have the pictures to jog her memory. I think that the perfect age to take a child is when things work for your family and you can all enjoy it. Remember, vacations never work out exactly as you plan. However, if you plan on being together and trying to have fun, that almost always works!!!
 
I don't think that there is ever a perfect age to go to disney. My dd3 has been blessed with growing up at WDW. At each age, it's a different experience for her. As she gets older she tries new things and still enjoys the old.
 
I think a lot depends on the kid and like sdoane said, its different at every age. We went on the cruise and to WDW when DS was 3.5. He whined and complained about everything(like I said before, all he wanted to do was swim). He had fun on Buzz Lightyear, then we were going on it again and he refused. :confused: He was at a very tough stage. However, we went again(just to WDW) 11 months later and he had the time of his life. It was the greatest trip for me because I saw how much he enjoyed it, the way it should be. He was a completely different kid. Everything we did, he really enjoyed and he wanted to do it again and again. So, not knowing the kid, its hard to say when is the perfect time to go, but when you do decide to go, good luck! :D
 
The perfect time is now. You never know what is going to happen next year. A lost job, a family emergency, even a promotion without the ability to take off for vacation, can detour future plans.

Waiting until a child is old enough to remember is overrated! You don't wait to take them to the playground, to buy them a special toy, to hold/hug/love them. The special times will make an impact on your child and your family, even if specific memories of the trip are forgotten.

Peg
 
Our DD (7.5) was 4.5 on her first trip to WDW/DCL. While some of that trip she doesn't remember very well, we just happened to find our video tapes of that visit/cruise about 3-4 weekends ago. She was spellbound as she watched herself at the Grand Floridian Character Dinner with Cinderella and the Mad Hatter. She really enjoyed hearing her little girl voice and watching herself react to all the different characters. We watched about 4 hours of tapes that weekend. For me, it was a joy the first time but even more so watching her experience it all over again.

I vote for going early and if I had it to do over again I would even go at 3 or 3.5. We just took it slow and always got up early and took long afternoon naps.
 
I agree with Peg2001 - We never know what is going to happen! Especially living in NY, I now live for today, I tell my family I love them today, I do things with them today. If you want to take your child and have the means to do it - GO:)

I have two kids DS8.5 and DD6 - They will both be on the 9/29 cruise. They have been hounding me since their first cruise 2/01 as to when are we going back!

My DD was 4 when she was on that cruise and she still talks about camp at least once a week! She literally had to be dragged out of their everynight. She loved it!!!! My DS was 6 and he too had the best time! He loved the computers, the science experiments and watching movies at night and having Goofy show up.

My best club experience was the show for the parents at the end of the week. Seeing the pictures of your kids and having them perform on stage with Mickey - Well, there wasn't alot of dry eyes among the moms!
 
opsomyo, Thank you so much for your honesty! I would have to agree with the other posters about setting our expectations. I wonder if my dd will like the clubs. I have heard so many good things about them and no bad things that I sorted wondered how it could true. You know like it was too good to be true. I really liked your prespective!

Thanks for your sharing. Also, it sounds like you and dd had a great time otherwise!
 
I appreciate your honesty and I think we all need to hear the good and bad. It helps us plan too. I am worried about my 4 1/2 year old in the kids clubs as well. I am so sorry to hear about the trauma and illness your family has been through and reading it made my heart ache. We are taking the cruise for the exact same reason, to have family time. I almost died from an anueysm last year that occured when I was 36 weeks pregnant. My 4 year old has been through a lot and on top of that DH is a Marine and was gone 9 months out of the last 12. On to the ages of taking children to WDW. We took my DS to WDW the first time when he was 2 years 3 months and he had a blast. Granted he is pretty easy going and loves everything and anything Disney. He still talks about the Buzz Lightyear ride. We rode it 100 times :). I agree with the other poster, you never know what tomorrow will bring. That is why we are going on the cruise and WDW in October. I am worried as the baby will only be 17 months old but my 4 year old needs it. Best of luck with your little ones health and your future travel plans :).
 
Hi!
My MIL insisted my DD(3 at the time) was too young to enjoy WDW. Boy, was she wrong!:p My DD's favorite ride was the Haunted House! She went two times in a row the first day and only once on the last day. It was hard getting her off it. She also loved the water sprays on Donald's boat, near Toon Town. She loved everything! Of course taking pictures helps her remember and a video camera would be even better.
I agree with the others, go when you can.
Good luck!:)
Laurie
 

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