Simba's or Never Land kid clubs?

[lenshanem]

I have some issues I have to decide on regarding my daughter and her peanut allergies, seems there are some pros and cons to each of these places, but I'd also like to know if anyone has had any experiences with either of these childcare programs and what did you think?

Did your children enjoy it? Did you feel it was a safe environment? Did it seem special to them?

My daughter really wants to do something on her own with her little sister and she's already done the Alice Tea Party. The Pirate Cruise didn't seem very safe in regard to her allergy when I called so I'm now looking at letting her go play for a couple hours at one of these clubs while hubby and I eat dinner at a restaurant within the resort. (I guess either Jiko's or Kona?)

Thoughts on these two clubs?

Thanks so much!

 

[Trish5768]

Both of my kids, DD8 and DS5 (at the time) loved Simba's. I practically had to drag them out of there. Its very secure, you have to be buzzed in and out and they give you something so that only you can pick your child up. They will feed the kids, I asked that they not feed mine as we were going to dinner (Boma) after I picked them up.

I was only gone 2 hours, but I was confident that they were being well cared for. They asked several times over the trip if they could go back. We also have some neat souviners that they made while they were there.

Have fun!

 

[carol1231]

Have not tried Simba's, my DD was not old enough when we stayed at AKL. Both of my kids (DS6 and DD4) have been to the Neverland Club at the Poly(summer 04). They were very happy with it. Generally we take them to the Sandcastle club at the BC, so this was a different place for them. The food was served as a buffet instead of ordering off of a menu, they were fine with that (don't know how that works with your allergies). DH and I had dinner at Ohanna's, that was our first time in the Poly. If you are not familiar with the Poly, the kids club is not around the lobby, you need to go thru the lobby and back outside, we had to ask.

Have a fun trip.

 

[lenshanem]

Thanks.

Is the Never Land club themed like Peter Pan? I think that is what interests my daughter.
I believe Simba's has a view of the animals, though?

I was told the Never Land buffet is peanut free, but I am concerned about it being in a different building than the restaurants. They will not administer her EpiPen if needed, I would be paged. At least at Simba's I'd be closer. Only thing is they do have PB&J on their menu.

 

[Harambe]

My kids have done both. They enjoyed Simba's, but it felt more like a daycare place to me. The Neverland Club was their favorite, with the cool themeing and better video games, etc (per DS!!!!!).

 

[carol1231]

I'm not sure about the view of the animals at Simba's.

Neverland did have a Peter Pan theme. I'm trying to remember, I think there was a ship type thing in there, but I'm not real sure. As far as being in another building and being concerned about getting there. We strolled over there after dinner (took our time) and it was only a couple of minutes. So I'm sure that if you got a page, you'd be there pretty quickly. But I think you are correct that Boma or Jiko would be closer over at the AKL. You can also call the Neverland club directly and get their thoughts (if you haven't already done that).

 

[Mom2RinJen]

My oldest went to the Neverland Club 3 years ago and still talks about it. She loved it! And she was only 4 at the time. She even asked her dad last night if he would take me out for a date and leave them there to play, so now we might be doing that too. WOO Hoo!! Couple hours without the kids...count me in.

Kim

 

[robinb]

There is no view of the animals from Simba's club. My DD has been to the Neverland Club, Simba's Club and Camp Dolphin. She prefers the Camp Dolphin in the Dolphin hands down. They have projects and free play and s had her face painted there twice. Last time they ate dinner at the Ice Cream shop in the Dolphin. Around 8:30 they go to the arcade and are given free tokens to play games. The best part of Camp Dolphin is that the first 2 hours are FREE if you eat at Shula's or Blue Zoo (and others in the Swan/DOolphin, but check to make sure which one).

 

[lenshanem]

I thought about Camp Dolphin cause of the two free hours, but they go to the ice cream shop? That freaks me out since she has a peanut allergy...

I called both Simba's and Never Land yesterday to get a feel about the allergy situation. Seems like there were pros and cons to each, but overall they both seemed like they deal with this often.

My daughters will be 7 and 4. I want to pick one they think will be really cool. My daughter thinks Never Land sounds cooler, but Simba's seemed more controlled to me and I would rather eat at Jiko's than Kona. BUT, it is all about my girls so if Never Land is cooler...

Passporter said Simba's had a savannah view so that is why I was wondering about that...


Thanks for all these replies!

Oh, if you are gone an hour and a half do they charge you for two hours? And when you make ressies do you pay a deposit? Guess there are no AP or DVC discounts?

 

[PlutoPony]

Oh, if you are gone an hour and a half do they charge you for two hours? And when you make ressies do you pay a deposit? Guess there are no AP or DVC discounts?

They rounded to the nearest quarter hour for us last summer at Neverland.
You do need to give them a credit card # when you make reservations, but they only charge it if you don't show or cancel w/i 24 hrs (think it's $10 chg.).
Don't know about any discounts, sorry!

 

[Jamesbyr]

Neverland Club was themed: the office was the Darlings' nursery. The kids entered the Club by climbing up on the (low) windowsill and .... well, you get the idea. My kids loved it, but that was a dozen years ago. They have eliminated both the character visits (Goofy used to drop by) and the live animal presentations from Discovery Island.