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

[Lando1]

We just got off of the Disney Wonder and we were rather dismayed with the new trend in open houses at the youth centers (including the Vibe and Edge). When we were on the Fantasy two years ago, each club understandably had an open house on the day of embarkation so that parents could tour the areas with their kids. The areas were then exclusively reserved and secured for the kids for the rest of the cruise.
On this last cruise, each kid's club had a 3-7 hour open house every single day. I'm not sure if they were very short staffed or if this is happening on all the ships now. If the kid's wanted to play during these open houses, I was told that they could leave of their own free will. Now granted, they would try to keep the other club secure but my kids would usually have their mind made up and wouldn't leave the open house.
I finally asked the cast members about this new trend and they basically said that this allowed the parents to have another area to play with their kids and spend time with them. I personally am of the opinion that there are plenty of other areas and ways that families can spend time together. Our navigators were jam packed with family crafts and games. I'm hoping this was just an isolated Alaska cruise experience and the kid's clubs on the other ships have stayed the same.

 

[lanejudy]

Open House has has typically been scheduled approximately an hour or two per day in each kids' space. These are times that children of different ages are allowed, as well as parents who wish to be with their kids, and children with special needs who require more supervision than the clubs offer. But I haven't seen it at 3-7 hours (except at Castaway Cay where secured programming moves to the island for the day). I wonder if this is something they are trying on the Alaska cruises?

I hope you otherwise enjoyed your cruise!

 

[Lando1]

We really enjoyed our cruise and fortunately our kids are old enough to know not to wander off; if they were younger I would just ensure that they were either with us or in the sister club.

 

[sunryzez]

There were alot of open houses in the club. My kids were not happy about it since they prefer the club over the lab. I agree it is new. I never remember so many. I just kept them with me during these times. It was still an amazing cruise though

 

[PrincessShmoo]

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.

 

[Kenny1113]

I will have to look back at our navigators from our spring break cruise, but yes it seemed like there was a lot of open house time on the wonder then too.
My kids prefer more structured activities and didn't hang out during those times.

After our cruise I got a survey regarding the kids clubs one of the questions asked if there was too much structured time or not enough...I'm interested to know what the majority feels. Wish they would make those public - just for my own curiosity.

 

[DahliaRW]

There were a lot of open houses on our Norwegian cruise too. But they tended to be longer on port days, shorter on sea days. Fortunately it was only one "side" at a time. I can't speak for Edge or Vibe, but I do remember seeing open house times listed for them nearly daily if not daily, but not sure on the length or how many per day.

 

[Lando1]

On the second day of our cruise, we opted to take the kids to the lab because there was an open house in the club. When we went to pick them up an hour later, it seemed like every kid on the ship was in there. My son had a smaller boy sitting in his lap playing a video game...lol. None of the parents wanted to leave their kids in the club so that was why the lab was so crowded. My kids didn't seem to mind and I wasn't bothered by it at the time but there is an unintended consequence of the extended open house hours. After that, my kids preferred the less chaotic club even when there was an open house going on in it. Hmmm...I wonder if Disney will mail me a survey. Everything, besides this, was top notch

 

[aggiedog]

I noticed this on the Baltic cruise as well. I wonder if it's in response to all the "my younger son wants to hang out with his older brother" etc requests?

 

[my2princessgirls]

Yep. We noticed it as well in May. There were many (MANY) more open houses than our previous cruises (most recent 2013). it was frustrating because if they were in the lab, they would have to go to the club side or check themselves out. If there was something fun scheduled at the lab during the open house, they could not stay unless a parent came with them, which we couldn't do if we were in a class or at the spa, etc. They spent a lot less time in the kids area because of all the open houses. Definitely a bummer.

 

[lorimay]

My grandson made grandpa sit with him for a couple hours, he loved having grandpa in there with him.
I think grandpa enjoyed it too.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

To present an opposing opinion, I am personally glad there are a lot of open houses. We will be on a cruise with a two year old this summer, and he can only go with us during open house times. Considering that the nursery costs money (other than during open house) and they don't have another play area other than the Nemo's Reef splash area, I think it is great to have one of the clubs available.

 

[caitlinS9]

I am prepared to be flamed for this, but from reading these boards, I believe that the increase in Kids Club Open houses has a lot to do with parents complaining they don't want to leave their kids alone without them (because they can't fathom being away from little johnny, little johnny has never been away from them before, etc). We got stuck opening an open house and there were 3 other families there. This was on the Fantasy. 3K people and only 4 families total doesn't seem like there is actually a demand for the open houses. (I do agree there should be one on the first day to show the kids the club/lab, but after that no). And why you would need an open house at edge/vibe is beyond my comprehension. I can see the argument for special needs, but i'd join those parents arguments that Disney should have some way that an adult (or cast member) can attend with them to give them one-on-one attention.

 

[SwimMom2]

I just looked at the Navigator from the last sea day of our 7 day cruise. During the cruise I felt like there were way too many open houses, especially toward the end of the cruise. After day one, my 3 year old always asked to go alone, so I think he agreed.

The crowding in the other club was terrible too at that time. My kids didn't want to go unless there were no open houses in club or lab.

Vibe: 10:30-11:30, 6-7:30
Edge: 10-11, 7:30-9
Lab: 2-4
Club: 9-10:30, 6-7.

I agree that it is likely a chance for those who cannot check in to enjoy the space together. Also I saw the staff use it as a chance to set up for organized activities. (I know club 9-10:30 was used for this, and 2 structured actives were offered during this time) Staff were still present during open house times and working. At times they were still caring for kids with otherwise occupied caregivers.

Our cruise was very light on kids, according to our servers. I can't imagine how this will be on our Fantasy cruise! We will just not go to the clubs during that time.

 

[EvieBug]

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.

 

[michellekcm]

To present an opposing opinion, I am personally glad there are a lot of open houses. We will be on a cruise with a two year old this summer, and he can only go with us during open house times. Considering that the nursery costs money (other than during open house) and they don't have another play area other than the Nemo's Reef splash area, I think it is great to have one of the clubs available.

On the transatlantic they had a toddler play area set up in a corner of the Promenade Lounge, which was awesome. It disappeared for the next cruise. When we asked the CD why it had gone (cos we were very sad it was
no longer there), he said that all the ships have been trialling different places to put a toddler play area as a permanent space. So hopefully these are coming sooner rather than later to all the ships.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

On the transatlantic they had a toddler play area set up in a corner of the Promenade Lounge, which was awesome. It disappeared for the next cruise. When we asked the CD why it had gone (cos we were very sad it was
no longer there), he said that all the ships have been trialling different places to put a toddler play area as a permanent space. So hopefully these are coming sooner rather than later to all the ships.

That would be an excellent idea. Since non-potty trained kids can't use the pools and under threes can't go to the clubs' secured programming, it does somewhat limit their options compared to older kids. I know they have a toddler time for like a half an hour each day, but it would be great if they expanded offerings for this age group!

 

[Pens Fan]

We set sail on Monday and I can say, for sure, that my son will be very unhappy about multiple open houses in Vibe. The whole concept of Vibe and Edge is to give the teens some breathing space, if you will. At that age the last thing they want is to be surrounded by a bunch of little kids (or a bunch of parents either ) Allowing multiple times a cruise when "their" space is invaded, pretty much negates the whole point of the teen areas in my opinion. Our son has never been one to spend hours on end at the clubs, as he does enjoy family time, but when he's had enough of us old folk he really enjoys his time away in Vibe. This will be his last chance to be in Vibe (he's 17), so I really hope this isn't going to be a big factor.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I just looked at the Navigator from the last sea day of our 7 day cruise. During the cruise I felt like there were way too many open houses, especially toward the end of the cruise. After day one, my 3 year old always asked to go alone, so I think he agreed.

The crowding in the other club was terrible too at that time. My kids didn't want to go unless there were no open houses in club or lab.

Vibe: 10:30-11:30, 6-7:30
Edge: 10-11, 7:30-9
Lab: 2-4
Club: 9-10:30, 6-7.

I agree that it is likely a chance for those who cannot check in to enjoy the space together. Also I saw the staff use it as a chance to set up for organized activities. (I know club 9-10:30 was used for this, and 2 structured actives were offered during this time) Staff were still present during open house times and working. At times they were still caring for kids with otherwise occupied caregivers.

Our cruise was very light on kids, according to our servers. I can't imagine how this will be on our Fantasy cruise! We will just not go to the clubs during that time.

I don't think the times listed above are too bad. There are huge stretches of time when the club is secured programming.

 

[tup1830]

I'm happy with the open houses. Like previous posters, my daughter is 2 and is too young for the clubs and wasn't potty trained yet. She has an option to run around the splash pad (which only lasted 30 min) and then what? A movie? A show? Shopping? The open house let us have somewhere to go and play with her so that she can use her energy. I can see the viewpoint of others that have older kids, but for those with kids too young for the clubs, open house is actually a lot of fun and good for us.