Poll...Who's hired a babysitter at Disney...

[highland3]

and if so...here's a little poll that I hope will ease my mind.

We're planning our first trip to disney. DH and I get very little time alone so we were hoping to get a night out and hire one of the babysitting services at Disney. We are staying at the POR and our kids are almost 5 and 8 1/2

1. Which service did you use?

2. Was there a particular sitter you would recommend?

3. Were you happy with them?

4. Was there any problems?

5. Did you tip them over and above the hourly rate?

6. Did the kids seem happy and have fun?

7. Would you do it again?

Thanks so much for any advise you can offer!

 

[Bellefan66]

Not much help here.... I did this YEARS ago, in DL. I remember it was thru the Disney Land Hotel, they had a list of sitters. She was older, I was 22 so she was probably 50 ish. We did it so we could visit the park at night. I remember she read to him,changed him and put him to bed. DS was 2. I was nervous, I won't lie....but she was fantastic. Don't remember how much, I do remember tipping her. I think the clincher for me was knowing Disney wouldn't put their name on the line with just ANYBODY,so this lady had to be good! Good luck!

 

[jenjersnap]

1. Which service did you use? We used Kids Nite Out

2. Was there a particular sitter you would recommend? We had Eva. Picked her based on recommendations from others here on the DIS board. She's a grandma-type. Her English isn't great, if that is an issue for anyone. Wasn't for us. She brought coloring books and other little activities.

3. Were you happy with them? Overall, YES definitely

4. Was there any problems? Very small ones: We were over-billed slightly (about 1/2 an hour) which I didn't notice until after she was gone. I made dinner for the boys and told Eva that they could have some cereal as a snack - came home and they hadn't touched the dinner but the whole box of cereal was gone. Oh well, it was their vacation too and I don't think my directions were clear enough

5. Did you tip them over and above the hourly rate? Yes, but I can't remember how much extra - maybe $15?

6. Did the kids seem happy and have fun? My older DS (4) had an absolute blast. Our younger (16 months) had a few minutes of adjustment but actually fell asleep for her. Amazing! Our date was early - 5pm to 8:30pm on purpose because we figured I needed to be there to put him down but he was okay.

7. Would you do it again? In a heartbeat.

 

[mkutch]

We used the fairy godmothers service and they were great. We had a 2 yr old, 5 year old and 7 month old.
No problems - I think she may have let them watch TV till they fell asleep -whatever - they were safe, and fast asleep when we walked in. They were very happy with her. Definite grandma type. We did tip her, maybe an extra 5 dollars.
Definitely would use them again.

 

[Scoootch]

I haven't used them yet but do plan to in the future, but what I think I'll try is one of the kids clubs at the resorts. BC has the Sandcastle club,GF has the Mouseketeer club,the Poly has the Neverland club ...there's plenty to choose from. They take kids age 4-12 and are open from I think 4:30pm until midnight and would get to play with other kids. They include dinner as well. My 4 yr old would love it I'm sure. I just need my 16 month old to reach 4 first But anyway, it may be something to check into. You don't have to be staying at the resort at which club you use (i.e. you can stay at POR and use the Sandcastle club at BC) You just need to call a day before or so to make a reservation for your child.

HTH's

 

[BevS97]

given the age of your kids, I would look at a kids club - we used one when dd was 4 and she really enjoyed it, and I felt more comfortable with the group setting rather than an individual (just a personal preference for me). We used the one at the Boardwalk, or maybe the Y & B, I can't remember, but we went to MGM for the evening, and then later we used the one at the AKL and went to Jiko for dinner.

 

[FWCamper]

My DD loved the kids club. They keep them busy and feed them dinner. She always wants to go back everytime we go. She would go every night if we let her. It is $10/hour. I am never quite sure if you are suppose to tip at the kids club or not. She has been to the BW, WL (her fav.), and GF.