shovel and pail

[disneyfanzz]

When I was at Castaway Cay in 1999, Disney had shovels and pails that you could borrow and then return at the end of the day. Do they still do that or are there some to purchase? I'm leaving in a few weeks and with summer being over, I can't find any to buy.

We won't have a car, but we will have a grocery stop. Can you buy then at grocery stores in Florida?

Thanks!

 

[DisneyGator01]

Just about every convient store/ grocery store along the coast sell sand toys. You shouldn't have a problem finding them. Also they sell them at Castaway. I don't know if they loan them out, since I don't have any kids, and never had the need for sand toys.

 

[prymsu]

another thought is if you are going to order a basket from Shirley, she could also make sure that you have something like this for the kids delivered right to your stateroom.

 

[mmouse37]

They are quite costly at CC....I never heard of them loaning them out before, but I never had kids young enough for the kids club there.

We bought some at a Florida dollar store before boading for our friend's little boy.

MJ

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

I thought I read on a post a while ago that there was a bin at CC that you could borrow sand toys.

Anyone ???? Was I in my cruise dream again and not facing reality????

 

[pghmike]

In October we made the mistake of letting our kids pick out their sand toys at She Sells on CC. $46 later we walked away with 2 buckets, 2 shovels and some other little do-dads. Didn't want to go through the whole "that's too expensive" schtick with my 2 (they are only 5 and 3 and they were so good), but we had a serious case of sticker shock. The worst part was having to bring all of the sand toys (and everything else) back home with us (I wasn't going to toss $46 worth of sand toys). I suggest stopping at one of the convenience stores, or packing a small bucket and shovel, and bring them along.

Also, we didn't rent the floats, we brought our own. A pink ring for DD and a black ring for DS. The rings traveled well when deflated and we paid less than $5 for each. The real benefit came when I tried to find my kids in the water. I could pick out the pink ring and black ring instantly, so I always knew where they were and there was no "and then confusion happened" moment. The only bummer was deflating the rings on our way back to the ship.

 

[SandraLee]

Ok, don't laugh at me, but we use plastic cups and bottled water. I bring the cups from either my bag or left over drink cups from the ship. I 'save them up' in my room before we get to CC. I like to bring the bottled water because my DD has a problem with salt water -- it hurts her hands.

We make all kinds of cool sand castles using different size cups. And, you can throw them away when you are finished!

 

[Cheryl-Lynne]

Hi DISJAZZ

I don't remember seeing any sand toys for loan, and I recall someone posting that the purchase price was very high. I have some "cheap" sand toys packed away that I plan to leave for the next passenger.

 

[disneyfanzz]

Wow! $46 seems a bit pricey to me too. I have four kids so it would be closer to $100 for me.
BuzzBoyMom,
I really thought there was a bin too. I would pack some to bring if I could just find them. I wish I would have been smart enough to buy then this summer. Oh well. Maybe they'll have them at our grocery stop. My husband suggested bringing Fazoli buckets that we got when we bought some family fettucine but I think that might be a little strange.

 

[disneyfanzz]

Cheryl-Lynne,
Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get some that were left. That's a good idea.

 

[Cruisin]

SandraLee:
I was going to suggest the same thing, if you find something aboard the ship the you could use for sand toys why bring/buy any.
Plastic/paper drink cups, even the cardboard container they put chicken fingers and fries into on deck. Just make sure you pick up all of the stuff before you leave the beach.
You could even bring a few small plastic drinking cups from home if you wanted. Just pack them full with socks/undies etc and they don't take up as much room as a full sized pail would.

The blow up rings are a good idea, maybe I will bring one of those for me when I go this time . I love to float around and look for the fish.

 

[mmouse37]

Another option for toddlers to use while onboard up on deck 9.....I brought along for our friends kids a $1.00 pack of foam paintbrushes (about 2 inches wide at the dollar store). I got a cup of water and let the kids "paint" the deck with water...kept them busy for hours. It would dry immediately and they would paint some more!!!

MJ

 

[christinou]

We borrowed sand toys in August of this year, they had a full bin of them, and were very gracious about letting us borrow them.
My kids each piked a couple of buckets and had a great time. This time I will probably bring some, as we will go to the beach in St. Martin, or maybe I can just buy some there....

 

[ChattyKathy]

log onto www.toyrus.com or else www. kbtoys.com and see what they might have available to buy online...ya never know!
Maybe CC has a phone number that you can find to call or maybe even a website for questions to ask if there are borrowables... (is that a word, lol) Yikes, Kathy-get out the dictionary!






Kathy

 

[hydster]

We did the same thing you did BuzzBoy! Really ticked me off that they rob you so badly on that island for stuff like that! I mean mark them up a little bit but that high is just plain ridiculous! We carried all of our stuff home with us as well and will probably just repack it for this next cruise so we dont have to buy again!

The plastic cup idea is a great idea though...thanks for that you guys!!

Heidi

 

[rundogrun]

The other advantage besides cost if you bring your own from home is that you'll have them for any other beach day. They were great to have at Maegin's Bay on St. Thomas, as well as on Castaway.

 

[kajohn]

We stopped at Target on the way to the port and bought a bag and sand toys. We then took them to the beach at each stop, Great Bay beach on St. Maarten and Megan's Bay on St. Thomas. Then we had them on Castaway Cay. When were were packing up the last night, I placed all the washed off sand toys in a bag and gave them to our cabin steward. We asked him to pass them on to a family on the next sailing.

I didn't want to take them home, and I figured if he gave them to a family on the next sailing that he would probably get a bigger tip from them so it might have helped him out! Don't know if he did it or not, but it was better than just throwing them away.