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

[phinz]

Yeah, I don't personally get this reasoning. Kids can't always get what they want.

Agreed. 100% agreed. But you and I both know that there is a large proportion of kids that don't *care* that they can't always get what they want and will do everything they possibly can to make anybody and everybody miserable until they do get what they want, and there is a large population of parents who will drop everything to make sure there is peace, thereby giving their little prince or princess exactly what they want at their own expense.

 

[jenf22]

Everyone is always in a rush to make their kid grow up.

I've never understood this. We were only able to have the one kiddo due to a cruel Mother Nature and I want him to be my baby as long as possible. Why rush life?

We've been on 3 Disney cruises and I like the Open Houses. As an only our son doesn't really like going to the clubs without us (though we did force the issue a couple of times for Palo brunch and dinner and he was fine with it, though he never asked to go back). And I guess I must be missing the "millions of places" on the ship where a kid can play. In our experience there weren't many activities at times that worked for us. On our Alaskan cruise, they must have shown The Help a dozen times. It was a great movie, but not really appropriate for a 5-year old.

 

[cgolf]

So hearing this, does this mean that my now 18 year old can hang out in the funnel club on the Magic if they have an open house? That would make her really happy, as she is not looking forward to being an 'adult' on our next cruise. So for her, I hope they have a cruise with lots of open houses.

 

[squirrel]

So hearing this, does this mean that my now 18 year old can hang out in the funnel club on the Magic if they have an open house? That would make her really happy, as she is not looking forward to being an 'adult' on our next cruise. So for her, I hope they have a cruise with lots of open houses.

Yes, but I believe that it's the Club and Lab that other posters were saying had a lot of open house hours. Not sure if the Edge and Vibe have more open houses.

 

[cgolf]

Yes, but I believe that it's the Club and Lab that other posters were saying had a lot of open house hours. Not sure if the Edge and Vibe have more open houses.

I guess I was assuming a bit, but I do hope for her sake the Edge and Vibe are included in this. By the time we cruise she will have some college in, so by then she may be more ready for the adult areas, we shall see.

 

[GooniesAndy]

I guess I was assuming a bit, but I do hope for her sake the Edge and Vibe are included in this. By the time we cruise she will have some college in, so by then she may be more ready for the adult areas, we shall see.

The Edge and Vibe both had daily open houses. On the Wonder Vibe was open daily 10am-12pm and 4-6pm.

 

[mab2012]

After years on the boards, I think the root of this thread rests in the decision to blur Club/Lab ages. Without a doubt, the CLub space was designed for play needs of younger children...and the Lab designed to focus on the interests of older children. I clearly remember the debates on these boards when age cutoffs for the spaces were enforced...so many parents were unhappy for a variety of reasons (mainly keeping siblings together). So, Disney opened the spaces to mix ages...while I don't think this approach serves the developmental play needs of children (my opinion is irrelevant), it was a consistent demand from passengers... now, moving children from one space to another when open house hours take effect is a natural extension and consequence of the decision to blur age groupings...
just my opinion

This was my thought exactly. Though while I agree that it doesn't best serve the developmental needs of children, I still specifically chose Disney for my kids' first cruise exactly because they could go to the clubs together. They are three years apart, and I couldn't find a single other cruise line that would allow them to stay together at that particular age. For them, at that time, being together (at least initially) was more important than being with kids their own ages.

Luckily, there are many, many other cruise options available. If Disney's kids' clubs aren't meeting a particular family's needs, why not try another cruise line? Alternatively, if you choose Disney despite being unhappy with certain aspects of their service, then you are of course welcome to provide your feedback. If enough others are like-minded, no doubt policies will be changed. But ultimately they will do whatever they think best serves their bottom line. If offering more open house time brings in new clients without outright driving away those who would prefer fewer open houses, that's what they'll do.

 

[GooniesAndy]

The primary function of these spaces as laid out by DCL's website is to be a place for children to have fun. It doesn't call it daycare or babysitting. Certainly it can serve that function, however its purpose is to be a fun space for children and therefore having open houses allows them to provide that to all children, regardless of personality or ability. Ceasing to have open houses excludes mainly special needs children and suggesting it seems particularly selfish to me. One 3-12 space always remains secure to take care of your babysitting needs. There are always plenty of other children there to play with, so they can come up with their own fun if they aren't happy with the scheduled activities. What happened to using your imagination? When I was a kid you could throw us into an empty room and we would just make up a game. Worst case, in the Lab they had a movie corner where they could sit quietly in bean bag chairs.

If your child refuses to go, that is an issue to take up with your child, not Disney. My in-some-ways-mature 9-year-old got a taste of Edge during open house and then decided that the Lab and Club were too babyish. He told me he didn't want to go to them anymore. I told him that was fine. He could stay with me all the time, other than the night I had a Palo reservation. I was still going to have some activities I wanted to do, so he would have to come along. If he refused to go during my reservation and kicked up a fuss that would cause them to exclude him from the Lab at that time, it would show that he obviously is not mature enough for Edge and he would not be going to any more open houses there. In the end it was a couple hours of pouting about babies in the clubs, then going to the Lab while I was at Palo, followed by resuming his normal Lab/Club activities and attending some of the Edge open house time.

A note: the counselors in Edge were still present and very attuned to the room during the open house times. I went in for a few minutes with my son the first time he was there, and popped in to pick him up a couple of times. There was always a counselor nearby who was scanning the room. One of them even overheard me tell Elliott to go to the Lab when open house ended. A little while later friends invited him to go to the pool with them (via me - I told them he was in Edge and gave them his room key so he could get his suit) and they wouldn't let him go with them since they had heard me tell him to go to the Lab. The only adults I saw in the space were parents hanging out with their children playing video games, and there weren't many of those. No clue about Vibe, but it's not like kids in that age range aren't moving around the ship surrounded by people who are over 18. There's no more inherent danger in being in the Vibe at that time than there is in any other space on the ship.

 

[momof2n2]

Wow - this thread got busy...

I'll say the same thing I did pages ago: if one side is almost always available and one side is in open house mode, isn't that win-win? Those parents that "need a break" from their kids have an option, and those parents that want to enjoy the space with their kids have an option.

I have six kids and have been homeschooling 11 years. I have yet to feel like I need a break from them... They were welcome to hang in their clubs, and they did a little each day. But mostly we hung together and they LOVED me getting to come bake cookies with them. Some of our funniest photos are from that activity. DCL has the perfect medium IMO.

 

[EvieBug]

Wow - this thread got busy...

I'll say the same thing I did pages ago: if one side is almost always available and one side is in open house mode, isn't that win-win? Those parents that "need a break" from their kids have an option, and those parents that want to enjoy the space with their kids have an option.

I have six kids and have been homeschooling 11 years. I have yet to feel like I need a break from them... They were welcome to hang in their clubs, and they did a little each day. But mostly we hung together and they LOVED me getting to come bake cookies with them. Some of our funniest photos are from that activity. DCL has the perfect medium IMO.

To be fair, not all of us are saying we need a break from our kids. Some of us are just trying to convey that time with our spouse is a welcome thing. Now, when the thread first started I heard "open house" and took that to me I had to hang with my kids because adults were required/would be in the room. It has been clarified that one side always remains secure for the kids while one is open, which solves my problem of not having a place for my kids to go so I can spend time with my spouse.

No longer directed at the person I replied to - this is to the thread at large: I think there are a lot of emotions jumping around in here - it's okay to want lots of family time and have fun with the kids, and it's also okay to want the kids in a safe space so the grown ups can do some grown up stuff. I don't think the family time wanters are ruining it for the parents who want grown up time, and I don't think the folks who want adult time are annoyed and need a break from their kids.

 

[bumbershoot]

We were only able to have the one kiddo due to a cruel Mother Nature

MN is awful sometimes. I empathize with you 100%.

And I guess I must be missing the "millions of places" on the ship where a kid can play.

Agreed, actually. On Dream there's shuffleboard and DH and DS like playing that. And DS does like just hanging out. And there was minigolf. But to play? Hmm.

I guess I was assuming a bit, but I do hope for her sake the Edge and Vibe are included in this. By the time we cruise she will have some college in, so by then she may be more ready for the adult areas, we shall see.

I was 17 for college and a young 17, and I was freaked out by the idea of college (especially since I was moving 2 states away then my mom was getting remarried and moving all the way x-country!), but yes, once I got a few months into it, hanging out with HS kids was NOT what I wanted to do.

I have yet to feel like I need a break from them.

Lucky!

Maybe it's the ONE KID thing? I get NO breaks from my one child. He's a fabulous dude, if the one is all I get I'm tremendously glad it's him, and he's endlessly awesome...but he's ONE person. And I'm one person. And I'm THE parent half the year thanks to DH's travel. And there are ZERO grandparents who are here, living, sane, healthy enough in any way, or trustworthy. And the local friends are childfree and have no interest in watching him for hours on end. And now he has thrust me into the word of being a "dance mom" (oh help me please). So yeah, we need a break from each other. And I don't think it's a bad thing! The absolute LAST thing he would want would be for me to hang out with him in the Lab, LOL. He's off with dad right now and I can't ask him, but I have a feeling there would be a horrified look and a strong "uh, NO" if I asked him about it.

 

[cruisingtwins]

I guess they do read those comment cards. We found very little to do with our toddlers and wrote that it would be awesome to have a space like the kids clubs where parents could attend with their kids. We did not find the open house hours to be enough. They always seemed to coincide with nap time or were after bedtime.

 

[Crystal O_o]

I always wondered why Disney didn't have a playground open 24/7 for parents and children. Like a simple playground, seemed pretty obviously needed for the younger kids.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

I felt like last summer more often than not when we tried to drop our kids off at the Lab, there was an open house. I wasn't a fan, but was told it was so parents could come hang out with their kids. I understand that and when my kids were much younger, I would have liked it better. However, now that they aren't, they would only be heading to the clubs if we needed them to (Palo), or if there was a scheduled activity they wanted to do. I thought it was a little excessive, but that's just my opinion!

 

[DahliaRW]

I always wondered why Disney didn't have a playground open 24/7 for parents and children. Like a simple playground, seemed pretty obviously needed for the younger kids.

Well, a playground type playground (like you'd find at a park) could be problematic on ship when it comes to safety from movement of the ship. In the clubs, the only "climbing" area is Toy Story, and there are tons of railings and such and it really is quite small (one set of stairs and a slide, on the Magic anyways, on the Fantasy I don't think they have that at all).

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I felt like last summer more often than not when we tried to drop our kids off at the Lab, there was an open house. I wasn't a fan, but was told it was so parents could come hang out with their kids. I understand that and when my kids were much younger, I would have liked it better. However, now that they aren't, they would only be heading to the clubs if we needed them to (Palo), or if there was a scheduled activity they wanted to do. I thought it was a little excessive, but that's just my opinion!

Did DCL not stick to the open house times listed in the Navigator?

I have seen several comments like this on this thread (where the person arrived to the desired club and discovered there was an open house), and I have been wondering if (a) DCL is not sticking to the times advertised as open houses on the Navigator or (b) people aren't bothering to check the Navigator before going.

I guess I could understand B, though, if people decided on the fly that they wanted to go rather than planning ahead to correspond with a scheduled adult activity.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Well, a playground type playground (like you'd find at a park) could be problematic on ship when it comes to safety from movement of the ship. In the clubs, the only "climbing" area is Toy Story, and there are tons of railings and such and it really is quite small (one set of stairs and a slide, on the Magic anyways, on the Fantasy I don't think they have that at all).

I assumed the PP was using the term playground loosely to mean something enclosed and safe like the kids' clubs rather than monkey bars and swings and such.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Did DCL not stick to the open house times listed in the Navigator?

I have seen several comments like this on this thread (where the person arrived to the desired club and discovered there was an open house), and I have been wondering if (a) DCL is not sticking to the times advertised as open houses on the Navigator or (b) people aren't bothering to check the Navigator before going.

I guess I could understand B, though, if people decided on the fly that they wanted to go rather than planning ahead to correspond with a scheduled adult activity.

We didn't look at first because we didn't expect the open houses. The navigators were accurate and we ended up figuring it out and tried to avoid them, but it was hard since there were so many!

 

[lbgraves]

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?

DD was 3 on our first cruise and didn't like going to preschool, so we never expected her to go to the club much. She surprised us the second night and went with DS for an hour, but didn't want anything to do with it after that. We found lots to do back in 2003 and were only in our stateroom to sleep...shuffleboard, walking the decks and exploring, the Mickey 100, meeting characters, pool time, movies. There always seemed to be something going on somewhere and we had a wonderful cruise. DS5 didn't want to leave the club, so DH and I got to spend a lot of quality time with DD3.

 

[Crystal O_o]

I assumed the PP was using the term playground loosely to mean something enclosed and safe like the kids' clubs rather than monkey bars and swings and such.

Yes this!