What's up with excessive amount of open houses at the kid's clubs?

[SleepyV]

My 17 DD is looking forward to the open houses to go to Oceaneer's Club to experience the Marvel Avengers Academy.

I agree with mylittlebuttercup that the times are not too bad as some co-incide with dining / show times.
The open house sessions allow children to share with their parents what they have been doing in their youth activities and prepare them for what they might expect next time they are on ship if they change age groups.

 

[JEJ]

We've noticed that the open houses have increased exponentially since our first cruise in 2010. It stinks, IMO. The kids' clubs are for kids, not for families. If parents (or kids) want family time there are any number of other places onboard to find it. Really decreases the utility of the clubs.

 

[elephant98]

I can't speak as to how the current open house hours in the Club/Lab compare with the open house hours on our September 2012-2014 sailings on the Disney Fantasy. But, I will say that even though there seemed to be a lot of open house hours back then our experience was generally positive. I'm guessing this has a lot to do with the age of the children you are travelling with. In our case, our son was only 3 on his first sailing and 5 on his third sailing. Given the large age disparity in the Disney kids club relative to other cruise lines, our son was understandably shy around the older kids when he was 3. (The activities can get so frenetic in there at times that it looks like controlled chaos. Lol.) Consequently, despite the fact that he was desperate to play in the club, he didn't want to be there by himself. (If only he had an older sibling or a friend with him, it probably would have been different.) So, the only time he spent in the Club were during open house. When our son was 4, it was much the same as the last cruise. Then, halfway through the cruise he suddenly decided that he was ready to go it alone and absolutely loved it. When he was 5, he wanted to spend every waking moment in the Club and was bummed when he had to go to the Lab for secured programming during open house hours in the Club.

Our experience may only apply to a select group of cruisers traveling with an only child, shy/young child, etc. That being said, the open house hours (in the Club, at least) did seem to be set at times that could best accommodate these families with the least amount of inconvenience to everyone else. The Club had open house hours in the early morning, with the obligatory character appearances and activities that were generally targeted towards younger children anyway. And, the Club had another open house for a couple of hours in the late afternoon/early evening before main seating for dinner. A great opportunity for my son to run off some steam before being asked to sit an extended period of time for dinner and a show. After dinner, I think it was all secured programming in the Club/Lab.

 

[sabrecmc]

I don't mind having some open house hours so that families can try some activities together. There are a number of unique things in the Club/Lab. That being said, I do wish they would limit them a bit more to early mornings or something. Right now, my daughter is 9, so is able to swing pretty easily between the Club and Lab activities, but I can see that at 12, she would not want to be in the Club if the Lab was having Open House. I foresee a lot of roaming around the ship by then.

 

[SwimMom2]

As I said, I felt it was a lot. I probably was more cognizant of it because after day 1, my kids only liked the clubs when they were secured. My 3 year old is really outgoing, though. If not I may feel differently- I am only speaking to my personal experience, as a parent with 2 kids who can go to club/lab alone. There were at most 4 times over a 7 day cruise that my kids wanted to go to Oceaneers and the open houses deterred them.

Disney does an amazing job catering to all types of people. I saw lots of people on our cruise with special needs- a much higher percentage than the general population. Since Disney will only provide care for kids who don't require one-on-one attention, this extra open house time seems like a reasonable accommodation. When you are on a boat with 2700 other people, you have to expect to compromise.

SleepyV, you will have several chances to do Marvel Avengers Academy during Open House with your daughter. I know this was offered at least 3 times during our Magic cruise.

 

[SleepyV]

SleepyV, you will have several chances to do Marvel Avengers Academy during Open House with your daughter. I know this was offered at least 3 times during our Magic cruise.

Thanks she and DH are really looking forward to that!

 

[Quellman]

As with anything, if Disney isn't meeting your expectations you need to make your voice heard. Not just on the comment cards, but directly with DCL via their website when you get home. We only have a small fry under 3 so we make use of the Nursery open houses but don't go to the others. I think I can see both sides of the argument but fall on the side of fewer open houses. My argument is that there are tons of activities across the ship each day designed for family time. There does not need to be tons of times for open houses.

 

[Pens Fan]

Well, the teenager finally roused himself this morning and I asked him about Vibe open houses on cruises we had been on before (our last one being 2013). He said that they usually had one early in the day on most days, but it typically was only the 18-20 age group that showed up, looking for something to do. That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. For my son, being 17, he would much rather spend time with that age group than be "invaded" by a bunch of young kids. I'm pretty confident in his judgment to handle that situation, so it wouldn't bother me that much (at least for now - subject to change in a few days ). If you have a 14 year old, you might think very differently about that age group hanging out in Vibe every day.

While there is no way to please everyone, I still contend that two open houses a day in Vibe (that looks like what they did recently on a few Navigators I checked out), is excessive. One a day, fine. But other than that I believe the youth spaces should be for the age group that was originally intended and for which DCL advertises extensively.

 

[mcd2745]

I wonder if it's a cost-cutting move. Perhaps they can eliminate a cast member or two if they have fewer cast members working during the open house times. Regardless of the reason for the increased open houses though, it's disappointing and I hope the trend reverses.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

The open houses are in large part for families who want their kids to experience the clubs but do not want them to be there without a parent, adult guardian or caretaker. This is because no adults other than DCL youth counselors are permitted to attend closed (secure) programming. A special needs child who could not attend without an adult caretaker thus has the open houses to accommodate their needs, especially since DCL cannot provide specialized, one-on-one care for disabled or special needs children who require it (and I doubt they will, because it would require specialized cast members prepared to deal with any eventuality). Years ago they would allow the adults into secured programming, but they have tightened up security and that is no longer permitted.

I wonder why they would be increasing open house hours though...are guests demanding more of them so they can bring smaller kids in to play or just stay with their children?

 

[3Down1Up]

I agree that the number of Open Houses has been increasing and I don't like the trend. I was looking at Navigators for the May 2-day cruise to nowhere out of San Diego - 48 hours on the ship, and they had Open Houses morning and evening on the one day at sea. That's totally unnecessary - it's a short cruise, so use the clubs the way they are meant to be used - as a secure drop-off location. Based on what I saw on our April Dream cruise, and the comments already stated, it seems the trend is towards morning and evening Open Houses. It defeats the purpose of a kids club. I'm not comfortable leaving my kids at an unsecured location, and quite honestly, I'm not interested in staying with my kids while they run around. We have Chuck E. Cheese at home LOL. On a DCL cruise, the kids club is supposed to serve a different purpose.

 

[Saamh]

On the EBTA they added more and more open houses as the cruise went along. They said it had to do with the child per counselor ratio. They were keeping all the clubs open with a lot of staff but there weren't many children using the secured programming. So, I think they use some analysis on usage and adjust open house time accordingly. Maybe in Alaska and N. Europe there aren't as many kids or as many kids using the spaces to warrant staffing them fully.

 

[Ofinn]

I just did a quick look at the Navigator (day 2) for the first Alaska cruise. Yikes! Vibe had Open House from 10:00am-12:00noon and again from 4:00-6:00pm. Edge - 9:00-11:00am and 6:00-8:00pm. Oceaneer's Club - 9:00-10:00am and 6:00-7:15pm and 11:00pm-midnight.

That's just day 2.

Seems like a lot of Open House time.

 

[Ofinn]

I just did a quick look at the Navigator (day 2) for the first Alaska cruise. Yikes! Vibe had Open House from 10:00am-12:00noon and again from 4:00-6:00pm. Edge - 9:00-11:00am and 6:00-8:00pm. Oceaneer's Club - 9:00-10:00am and 6:00-7:15pm and 11:00pm-midnight.

That's just day 2.

Seems like a lot of Open House time.

It's normal for the Edge to open house in the morning and one in the early evening. I don't know about the rest of the clubs, but this doesn't seem any different than any other cruise we've been on.

 

[Julylady]

I also think it has to do with parents wanting to stay with their kids. When we last sailed with kids, they did not like going during open house hours.

 

[bjakmom]

So am I understanding this right - on the alaska navigator nights I've seen the Edge and Vibe are listed for open house either from 4-6 or 6-8 pm. Does this mean that my DGrD11 and DNiece14 will be in the clubs at those times with anyone from the entire ship that wants to hang out there during those hours? 18+ year olds are hanging with the 14-17 year olds during those hours? I did not know that was even a daily option. I thought the clubs were always age segregated except for open houses on the first day so families can check them out. Hmmmm unless I'm misunderstanding something I am not comfortable with that and am glad for this post so I can limit the girls visits during those hours.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So am I understanding this right - on the alaska navigator nights I've seen the Edge and Vibe are listed for open house either from 4-6 or 6-8 pm. Does this mean that my DGrD11 and DNiece14 will be in the clubs at those times with anyone from the entire ship that wants to hang out there during those hours? 18+ year olds are hanging with the 14-17 year olds during those hours? I did not know that was even a daily option. I thought the clubs were always age segregated except for open houses on the first day so families can check them out. Hmmmm unless I'm misunderstanding something I am not comfortable with that and am glad for this post so I can limit the girls visits during those hours.

Yes, Open House means anyone can access the club currently having the Open House.

 

[DahliaRW]

I literally booked our first cruise last night and being able to drop off my kids someplace SECURE where they would have lots of activities was a huge selling point of a cruise (as opposed to a disney trip) -- I hope this "loads of open house" thing is temporary and is gone by the time we cruise.

After embarkation day, in which both the club/lab have open house all afternoon and don't go to secure programming until the evening, at least one of the areas (club or lab) was secured while the other was in open house mode. So there is always somewhere. But dd would be disappointed if the club was having open house and she wanted to go to Andy's room, etc, and it seemed to be more often than not.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We've noticed that the open houses have increased exponentially since our first cruise in 2010. It stinks, IMO. The kids' clubs are for kids, not for families. If parents (or kids) want family time there are any number of other places onboard to find it. Really decreases the utility of the clubs.

So a kid who can't (or won't) go in there by themselves shouldn't be allowed a couple of hours of play time a day? Where are all these other places that you suggest families go? Would you suggest they just play in their stateroom? Or in a lounge area where there isn't anything fun for kids unless there is a program being run?

And not to be too controversial here, but if someone's kid wants to go to the one of the clubs that is open for open house, why not make it a family thing and have more time together?

 

[GooniesAndy]

We were on the Wonder for two weeks and we had zero problems with the open house hours. The kids could switch or be picked up when the area they were in went into open house. And my 9-year-old spent some time in Edge during its open house hours. Considering how many people post on here asking if their 13-year-old can go to the Lab with their younger sibling, or if their 2-year-old can age-up into the Club six months before their birthday, I would imagine that has something to do with it. If your kids don't want to hang out in the Club/Lab/Edge/Vibe when there's an open house there, just have some family time.