Okay, I'm a little concerned...

dj1028

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 24, 2005
I am days away from booking a 7-day cruise on the Disney Magic for May 2006, but I've just read some reviews that have me worried. I have a 3-year-old daughter who's really small and a bit shy. I've seen more than one review of the DCL that says that many kids just run wild on the ship with little or no parental supervision and that the Disney staff doesn't do anything to make kids follow the rules (not that they should...the parents should!) I can get really annoyed when parents who ignore it when their kids get out of control. I think there's a difference between letting children have fun and blow off a little steam, and just letting them run amok totally unsupervised by anyone. For example, I'm concerned that we will never get to use the Mickey pool because bigger kids will be running and jumping all over the place. I don't want to come off sounding like some self-righteous perfect parent whose child behaves all the time - not true! But when she misbehaves, I do something about it. I just wonder if this will be too much for her (and me!)

So any reassuring words from you DCL veterans before we book (or don't!)

Thanks

Donna
 
Actually the Mickey pool was alright when we were there in May...there were kids running and jumping but not horrible....its the Goofy pool that is dangerous. The only problem with the Mickey pool was the parent who let their non toilet trained kids in there and they poop....they then close the whole pool down for hours to clean it!! Other than that I never encountered any area of the ship where kids were running amuk.
 
I have to agree... the Mickey pool was fine (a little crowded, but fine) As far as I could tell the only ones running amuk were some of the pushy parents trying to fight for a hair braiding resi or saving extra pool lounges for people who clearly, had no intention of using them. The children I saw were happy and for the most part well behaved. :flower:
 
there's a stat in customer service that says 9 out of 10 people will complain when something negatively impacts their experience, but only 1 out of 10 people will compliment when something positive happens.

i think you've seen that played out in the complaints about kids running wild. you don't hear stories about the well behaved kids, or about the kids having fun but being respectful, only the bad apples. it happens, but it's not like it's a problem exclusive to dcl. it could happen on any cruise, but it doesn't mean you should limit yourself from cruising. it could happen at wdw or dl or at your local mall.

no one can promise you won't encounter wild kids on your cruise, but hopefully many of those kids will be in the programs and will have more structured activities to get their energies out. don't let it stop you from booking this cruise.
 


I thought that the cruise was going to be many kids running around unsupervised & basically being kids. I was surprised that even with the number of kids on board, I really did not notice any out-of-control kids or anything disturbing. Yes the Goofy pool can get pretty crowded & the accidents in the Mickey pool are annoying. The pool was only closed for a few hours one morning on our cruise. The Mickey pool is very shallow , so big kids usually don't hang out there. They are down at the Goofy pool. I never saw any kids jumping in/out of it while we were there & a CM was always standing around to keep things safe.

I would definitly not let a few reports of kids-gone-wild stop you from trying DCL, you may run into a few bad apples, but dont let it ruin your magical vacation.

Keep us posted on if you book & what cruise you decide on.
 
We cruised in May with two teenage boys. I was hesitant about Disney, simply because they were older and I, too thought the ship would be overrun with hyperactive kids. I was pleasantly surprised. My boys had more fun than they've ever had on vacation and both DH and I found the children to be very well-behaved and well-monitored. Granted, we did not spend time at either the Mickey or Goofy(or as my boys called it, Poopy Pool as it, too had to be closed due to accidents). But even if you don't use those pools, you must walk past them to get to Topsiders or Scoops and it didn't appear to me to be a free-for-all. When the children were with the counselors, they were definitely kept under tight watch. It's interesting to watch the counselors when you see them with a group of children. They may be singing a song as they are walking them to whereever but....they have their hand up in the air and are counting heads, constantly. Please, go in open-minded and give Disney a try. You won't regret it!
 
Gosh...you all are so reassuring! This was my first post to the board and I feel so much better now. I guess I let a few people who aren't fond of being around a lot of kids kind of spook me about taking this trip. We're definitely going to go now!

Another quick question...do you think a kind of shy 4-year-old (which is how old she will be next summer) will have any problems staying alone for awhile at the kid's club? I know I will want to spend the vast majority of my time with her, but a few hours to myself would be nice too (I'm a single mom!)

We're planning on taking the 7-day Eastern Carribean cruise on May 16. It would be me, my mother and my daughter...it's a year away, but we're counting the days already!

Thanks again,

Donna
 


one quick comment, back to the rowdy kids thing, hopefully the number of kids won't be really high because many kids are still in school mid may. that might mitigate things.

everything i've heard about the kids club seem to make it sound like the kids won't want to leave! ;-) we're going on a cruise at the end of the summer, and our near-4 year old is pretty shy, but we'll see if we can't pull her away from the club. i think if you choose a time where they have a structured activity (like they have a tea party with wendy, i think) she'll have fun, but not just to drop her off during free times if she hasn't previously been and hadn't made any friends yet. just my opinion.
 
dj1028 said:
Gosh...you all are so reassuring! This was my first post to the board and I feel so much better now. I guess I let a few people who aren't fond of being around a lot of kids kind of spook me about taking this trip. We're definitely going to go now!

Another quick question...do you think a kind of shy 4-year-old (which is how old she will be next summer) will have any problems staying alone for awhile at the kid's club? I know I will want to spend the vast majority of my time with her, but a few hours to myself would be nice too (I'm a single mom!)

We're planning on taking the 7-day Eastern Carribean cruise on May 16. It would be me, my mother and my daughter...it's a year away, but we're counting the days already!

Thanks again,

Donna

You know you child best, so difficult to answer if she will stay in the clubs.
Our kids enjoyed the clubs and most kids do, but sometimes you never know!

You should double-check that date, because no cruise is offered May 16, 2006....
 
Oops, you're right, it's May 13, 2006...no wonder the one leaving on May 16th was so much cheaper (HAHA!)

Donna
 
My not very shy daughter was 4 on our first cruise and was not comfortable staying alone in the kids club with out me. I think it was hard for her because she was in a strange environment(cruise ship) and there were LOTS of kids crammed in there. She did enjoy many of the special activities , but we attended them together when I realized how apprehensive she was to be without me. My recommendation is to try and leave your child there for maybe an hour on the first day, and see how she reacts. The staff there is great, but the whole situation can be overwhelming for some kids. :earsgirl:
 
dj1028 said:
Oops, you're right, it's May 13, 2006...no wonder the one leaving on May 16th was so much cheaper (HAHA!)

Donna

That is the cruise we are on... I setup a yahoo group for anyone on this cruise to exchange info on. We did this last year & it worked out really well for getting to know each other before the cruise.. Feel free to join us if you would like:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DisMay2006
 
I was on the May7,2005 Magic cruise. There were over 1,000 kids. I have a 7 year old. I didn't see any kids running around. The counselors are very good with the kids. First of all the counselors don't take kids to the pools. I sat in the day care one night waiting for my DD to come back fron extreme sports on deck 11 with the counselors. While waiting there I watched the CW's with the younger kids. They were wonderful. I don't know how they do it so well but they do. One Conselor carried a 5 year old around on her hip because the child did not want to be put down.It was atleast a half hour. They never complained about any child. My DD didn't want to leave the Lab to come with me. I would never be afraid to leave my kids there. The DCL will be the best cruise you'll ever do. Your daughter will have a ball.


:wave2:
 
Hello,

We are booked on our 3rd DC for 7/23/05. I have a DD8 who will be going with us. She was 4 the first time we brought her. She did overall pretty well at the Kids Club. We were only on a 3 night. The first day, we did get paged as she wanted to be picked up but by the 2nd day, she was just fine. Since then, we have taken 4 additional cruises (various lines) and I can not get her out of the clubs! When we are having dinner or a family activity, she wants to know how long before she can go back and be with her friends.

As for kids running wild, I did not see that on either of my previous DC. The counselors are excellent with the kids. The only "crazy" area is the pools and that woule be the same if it was a day at the beach.

Definitely go with the cruise. One thing you may want to do in advance is read the activities for your daughter's age group. Talk them up to your daughter and get her excited. My DD and I still read over the activites and she can't wait for the cruise.

Have a great day!
 
Make sure you take your DD to the Kids Club the first night. You can stay with her but try to let her interact with the first night's activity and just spot you in the distance for security (sit out of the way of the group but within spotting distance). That first night is when the kids meet new friends (none of them knows anyone!). Then as the week goes on, they start to look for particular kids - their new buddies.

Our shy DD ws 5 on our first cruise. For the first couple of visits, she would page us but when we arrived (quickly) she soon new that all was well and we REALLY WOULD be there pretty quickly if she paged! After that, it was tough to even get her to eat a meal with us!

Have a fantastic cruise!
 
I haven't read the other replies, but I think alot of what you think of kids running wild is blown way out of proportion! First off, when I was on teh 7 day cruise, I didn't see kids running wild everywhere. There were a few 10 year olds who would be walking around by themselves, but they weren't acting wild. Only once did I see the Mickey Pool being crowded, but I wasn't concern for my 4 year old's safety. Just keep an eye on your own child, and don't be afraid to speak up if another child is putting him/her in danger. But I hardly saw anything that was out of control. Dont' let what some people say negative on this board about the cruise spoil your fun and planning.
 
We will be on the 5/13/2006 cruise with our 2 DS's: 5 and turning 9 (5/13) by then. We went this past February on a 4 day Wonder and they bothed loved the kid's clubs. I agree that they are great and very efficiently run. We ordered the free Disney Cruise planning DVD from the Disney Cruise web site and showed the boys the oceaneer's club on several occassions to make them aware of what it would be like. We only left them in the club a few hours a day...we reviewed the navigator's together and they picked a few activities each they'd like to attend. My husband and I ended up watching them half the time they were in there, just to see the fun they were having and to take pictures. Our youngest (he turned 4 on the cruise) started pre school last year, so I told him it would sort of be like that. Our oldest is the shyest child I've ever met, and he didn't want to leave the club every time we picked him up.
As for the pools, they were crowded on our trip, but just like I wouldn't let them out of my sight in an uncrowded pool at home, I just kept a close eye on them. They didn't care how crowded it was...they just thought it was cool to be in a pool on a ship in the middle of the ocean. We didn't see any kids running around out of control at any time.
Hope to see you there!
 
We don't even have kids but have cruised with Disney 4 times so far because we figure that it's just a fact of life that people take their kids with them on vacation nowadays and we'd rather be on a cruise line that keeps them busy than one that doesn't. We have never experienced "rowdy" kids except for one idiot parent who showed up at the quiet pool with his son and decided because it was so empty that was a place to do canonballs.... but a CM straightened them out pretty quickly (they were even talking about how they didn't care that it was over 18 only, this cruise cost so much they were going to use the pool. eesh). There are rude people everywhere and if you want to avoid completely them you'd better not leave your house!
 
Looks like we'll have quite a groupb! We will also plan to be on the May 13, 2006 cruise with a very shy 4.5 year old DS....
 

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