| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 140.1 | | PAPPAS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Sep 17 1989 17:29 | 45 |
| I called the childcare number at WDW today (407)5444. This is a
childcare contractor and I think it was Kindercare. They have both
in-room and drop-off care available. For in-room care, I was quoted:
1 child $6.00
2 children $7.00
3 children $8.00
There is a 3 1/2 hour minimum and they need 8-24 hours notice. I asked
if the same person could be used for several nights, and was told that
they prefer it and recommended that I give 5-7 days notice to allow
them time to set up a sitter.
They also have a drop-off center in Disney shopping village where they
charge $4.00/child. The center is open 6am - 9pm.
I will going to WDW in November/December, and since the park closes
early, and my children are young, I am interested in wearing the kids
out during the day and putting them to bed early to rest up for the
next. That will give my wife and I (and occasionally my oldest
daughter) time to catch some nice dinners and shows together.
When I was at Disneyland in California, the park was open from 8am - 1am
and we would catch the first monorail in the morning, go till about
noon, ride back to the hotel for a swim, nap till dinnertime, and go
back into the park till closing or when we got too tired. That worked
out well, so we didn't use babysitting too much. Two nights (out of
7) we did use babysitting, once was in-room and the other was at the
Mickey Mouse club. We were very satisfied with both, except the Mickey
club gets expensive since they do not give a multi-child discount.
I understand that the resort hotels in WDW have Mickey clubs as well.
I do not have any current information, but I remember reading that the
Contemporary and Grand Floridian have child care centers at $4.00/hour
for the first child, and $0.50 for each additional with a 4 hour
maximum. The Polynesian has a "Neverland" club at $6.00/hour per child
with a 3 hour minimum. I do not think the "Neverland club has a
multi-child discount so with 3 children, that would $18/hour and is
more than I would like to spend.
If you have any other information, or personal experience, I would be
happy to hear from you.
/Jim Pappas
|
| 140.2 | | INDMKT::GOLDBERG | Len --> �o� & ��� in 59 days | Mon Sep 18 1989 14:45 | 34 |
| Much of this information is covered in note 22, specifically 22.23. But
it is worthwhile to have a separate note for it anyway.
� They also have a drop-off center in Disney shopping village where they
� charge $4.00/child. The center is open 6 am - 9 pm.
Is that $4.00 /hour/child? How about multiple children? What do they
provide? Is lunch included?
� I understand that the resort hotels in WDW have Mickey clubs as well.
� I do not have any current information, but I remember reading that the
� Contemporary and Grand Floridian have child care centers at $4.00/hour
� for the first child, and $0.50 for each additional with a 4 hour
� maximum.
These are the prices I was quoted by the MKC Travel Center several
months ago. I believe they are still current. I seem to remember
seeing somewhere that there was a "Mouse House" at Pleasure Island. I
can't find the reference anywhere now. Can anyone confirm?
� The Polynesian has a "Neverland" club at $6.00/hour per child
� with a 3 hour minimum. I do not think the "Neverland club has a
� multi-child discount so with 3 children, that would $18/hour and is
� more than I would like to spend.
Neverland includes dinner, so it may be worth it. I suppose it depends
on how long you leave your kids. Neverland has a Peter Pan theme, and
from what I hear you enter the place by climbing through the Darling's
nursery window.
Since our trip is less than two months away, this topic is of
particular interest. I too would love to hear from anyone who has used
the various WDW child care facilities, as to cost, quality, and
convenience.
|
| 140.3 | | ORACLE::JIM | Jim Pappas | Mon Sep 18 1989 17:38 | 33 |
| re: .2 INDMKT::GOLDBERG "Len --> �o� & ��� in 59 days"
> Is that $4.00 /hour/child? How about multiple children? What do they
> provide? Is lunch included?
This is per child, I do not know if they provide any food.
> These are the prices I was quoted by the MKC Travel Center several
> months ago. I believe they are still current. I seem to remember
> seeing somewhere that there was a "Mouse House" at Pleasure Island. I
> can't find the reference anywhere now. Can anyone confirm?
It would be nice to have the "Mouse House" at Pleasure Island.
> Neverland includes dinner, so it may be worth it. I suppose it depends
> on how long you leave your kids. Neverland has a Peter Pan theme, and
> from what I hear you enter the place by climbing through the Darling's
> nursery window.
My kids are farily young, (3,5,7) and it would not be economical to keep them
in the Neverland club. They would prefer to eat PB&J or a hot dog on most
occasions. I'm not sure that I could enjoy myself if I knew I was paying
$18/hr for babysitting.
I think that we might try one of the Mouse House clubs at $5.00/hr ($4.00 +
2@ $0.50) but will usually use the in room babysitting @ $8.00/hr for the 3
children. I think it will be important for them to get their sleep.
On some nights we will be going out as a family. We are planning the Hoop De
Do Review one night and also plan to bring the whole clan to Japan. I think
the kids will enjoy the Teppan cooking. On those days, we will probably let
them nap in the afternoon to prevent them from loosing it later in the evening.
|
| 140.4 | | POCUS::VONROSENDAHL | | Fri Oct 20 1989 13:42 | 3 |
| Just wanted to add this. For children in diapers there is only one
option, in-room care.
|
| 140.5 | Options for Day Time? | INDMKT::GOLDBERG | Len --> �o� & ��� in 22 days | Wed Oct 25 1989 16:47 | 17 |
| > They also have a drop-off center in Disney shopping village where they
> charge $4.00/child. The center is open 6am - 9pm.
I spoke to Kindercare last week. The drop-off center can be used by
Guests on an as-available basis. At the time I spoke to them, they
had no space available.
My understanding is that it is a day care center used by Disney
employees, (and others I suppose), on an regular basis. If they have
any openings on a given day, they will accept children of Guests.
It would be nice to have a place where the kids and grown-ups could get
away from each other for at least part of a day. I for one would like
to take my time on the studio tour, and I think the kids will be bored.
I guess there's always in-room baby sitting. Can anyone suggest
another option?
|
| 140.6 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Dec 10 1989 22:24 | 17 |
| We used the in-room babysitting 5 nights and the mouse house in the
contemporary 1 night.
The rates are as I posted in an earlier reply except that for in-room
sitting, you pay an extra 1/2 hour for travel. Thus, if you request a
babysitter at 7:00, you are charged starting at 6:30. You only pay for
travel before, not after the babysitting.
We called in advance of our trip and requested that we get the same
sitter for the entire week. It worked out very well. She was always
on time, and didn't care how many hours we needed her. She was a
disney employee during the day and sitted at night for extra income.
For both in-room and mouse house sitting, you could charge the bill to
your room.
/Jim Pappas
|
| 140.7 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Mon Apr 16 1990 15:11 | 11 |
| I called Kinder-Care again today to discuss in-room babysitting. The rates
have gone up quite a bit. The current rates are:
$ 7.50/hr 1 child
$ 8.50/hr 2 children
$ 10.00/hr 3 children
Although I did not confirm, I assume the policy is still a 3 1/2 hr minimum
including the 1/2 hour travel.
/Jim Pappas
|
| 140.8 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Jul 15 1990 18:16 | 45 |
| We made our second WDW trip this June (6/14 through 7/5). For
the first week, we rented a condo in Kissimmee and my
mother-in-law stayed with us. She was happy to babysit for us
on the nights we were not in the parks late.
For the next two weeks, we were staying at the Caribbean Beach
Resort and used WDW babysitting a little. Four nights we
brought the kids to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the Grand
Floridian. This is fairly inexpensive at $5.00 hour for three
children ($4.00 for the first child, $0.50 each additional).
This is pretty close to what we pay at home. The kids liked
it there. They had a big screen TV, lots of Disney movies, an
Apple PC, books, stuffed animals etc. There is a 4 hour
maximum at the clubhouse. However, I was told that it is OK
to leave the kids longer. After being told this, we kept the
kids there for 5 hours once when Deb and I went to dinner
followed by a night at Pleasure Island one last time.
The only problem with the Grand Floridian is that self park
lots are far away from the entrance. It seems the GF is
optimized for valet parking. We always left the car right
under the overhang at the entrance. When the valet parking
attendants approached us we would just tell them we were
dropping off (or picking up) the kids and they didn't seem to
mind us keeping the car there for the 10 minutes or so.
On the night we were going to the Hoop-de-do Review, we gave
our youngest (Gregory age 4) the option of coming with us or
going to the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. He chose the
Neverland club. After seeing it, our other two kids were
crying because they were jealous. The Neverland club is
$6.00/hr for each child so it is much more expensive if you
have more than one child ($18/hr vs $5/hr for us).
We did not use the in-room babysitting this time at all. This
is because we would always take a nap in the afternoon and the
kids could stay up later as a result. We were planning to use
it the night we went to the Polynesian Review but we decided
to all go to show instead. We had requested the same
babysitter that we used in December (Pat Williams) since we
had personal experience with her, but Pat was on vacation.
That was part of our decision to bring the kids to the Luau,
we always feel uncomfortable the first time we use a mew
sitter.
|
| 140.9 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Jul 15 1990 18:22 | 7 |
| I think it is unforunate that they do not have a Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse at the Caribbean Beach Resort. I read that there
will be a babysitting center at the Yacht and Beach Club
Resort. I don't have any details but that will probably be
the most convenient to the CBR.
/Jim Pappas
|
| 140.10 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Jun 09 1991 23:10 | 117 |
| I just called WDW and some independent child care agencies for
the latest and greatest information. As of today:
Mouse House: (407)824-4321 for information.
Grand Floridian - $4.00/hr + $0.50/hr for additional
children. Ages 3-9 (No diapers). No meals. 5:00 -
midnight. 4 hour maximum.
Contemporary - $4.00/hr + $0.50/hr for additional children.
Ages 3-9 (no diapers). No meals. 4:30 - midnight. 4 hour
maximum.
Yacht & Beach Club - $4.00/hr + $2.00/hr for additional
children. 4 hour maximum unless you buy them a meal.
Polynesian Neverland Club - $6.00/hr per child. No
diapers. Themed after Peter Pan. Includes dinner and a
visit by a Disney character. 5:00 - midnight. 3 hour
minimum.
In room babysitters:
Kindercare (407)857-7447 - 3 hour minimum plus 1/2 hour
travel time. (As Len asked me, "why does travel cost
increase as you have more kids"?)
1 child - $ 7.50/hr
2 children - $ 8.50/hr
3 children - $10.00/hr
Super Sitters (407)740-5516 - 4 hour minimum plus $5.00
travel fee.
1 child - ???
2 children - $8.00/hr
3 children - $9.00/hr
Fairy Godmothers (407)277-3724 - 4 hour minimum plus $5.00
travel fee.
1, 2, or 3 children - $6.00/hour if all children are
from the same immediate family (she emphasized this).
Moms (407)857-7447 - 4 hour minimum, no travel fee.
1 child - $6.00/hr
2 children - $7.00/hr
3 children - $8.00/hr
Notes about in-room babysitting:
- Kindercare seems to be the "official" in-room baby
sitting service at WDW. This is the only one I was ever
told about when calling WDW information. However, as you
can see, they are not the cheapest.
- For children in diapers, in-room baby sitting is the
only option. (We are long past having this problem
anymore!)
- All of the above will send sitters to the Disney hotels.
From experience (1989), I know that Kindercare can be
charged to the room. I don't know about all of the
others. One of them (I cannot remember which) said cash
only (no checks or credit cards) payable to the sitter.
However, she also said that the front desk of the Disney
hotels will give the sitter the cash and charge the bill to
the rooms.
- All of the services said that their sitters were
licensed and bonded etc. All said that their current
sitters were all women with ages ranging from 18 to 60's
and that they would do their best to provide a sitter that
met the customer's request.
- All of them recommend that a reservation be made 8 - 24
hours in advance, but most said they can get a sitter with
as little as 2 hours notice most of the time. In the past,
I have given a notice of one week.
- When I asked about requesting the same sitter for
multiple nights, they said it was best to give a few days
notice but that it was possible and that they preferred to
use the same sitter since the kids get familiar with that
person.
I'm not sure if we will be using sitters very much on this
trip. My parents are joining us for the first week and they
won't mind giving Debbie and I a night out a few times.
During our second week, we will use a mouse house at least
once since we will be going out for our 15th anniversary. We
will probably want to use an in-room sitter once so that we
could go to Pleasure Island while the kids sleep.
My kids prefer the mouse house to in-room babysitting because
they have fun there. It is cheaper, but they generally do not
get any sleep. Also, there is a 4 hour maximum which could be
too short. Sometimes we were told that leaving them for more
than 4 hours was OK, but the official policy is 4 hours max
except for the Poly.
Since the Neverland Club does not have a multi-kid discount,
it is too steep for us ($18/hour!). If you only have 1 child,
or if you have deep pockets, then this place is the best.
Last year we gave my youngest son the choice of the Neverland
Club or the Hoop-de-do review and he chose the Neverland Club.
After seeing the Neverland Club, his older sisters (6 & 8 at
the time) were jealous and cried all the way to the Hoop-de-do
review. They got over it once we were there.
|
| 140.11 | FWIW | EXIT26::SNODGRASS | Yoikes and Away!! | Mon Jun 10 1991 15:15 | 15 |
|
Jim,
I know with only one child we could more easily justify the Neverclub
at the Poly, but I think the array of things for kids to do, meal,
make-your own sunday, live animal show and a free pass for Discovery
Island it weren't all that bad. Our feeling was it was our big night
out so why not let him have one big night out too. After all you never
can tell when you'll be back.
just my 2 cents
steve
|
| 140.12 | Another vote for Neverland | CSC32::J_HANLON | JOEY | Tue Jun 11 1991 11:13 | 12 |
| We also left our son for an evening at "Neverland". If you ask him what his
favorite things were about vacation, he always starts with "Neverland". His
favorite character (Goofy) dropped by for part of the evening and Brent got his
picture taken with him. He got to hold a snake and touch a baby alligator,
and he also learned something during the animal show. They also have a room
of video games there that they can play without quarters. All the cast
members there were older grandmotherly types the night our son was there.
He felt comfortable immediately (he was 4 at the time) and loved the attention
he got. All the kids got a lot of attention. We watched for awhile to make
sure he was going to be ok. It is pricey, but it was worth it to us. He
asks if he will get to go back there sometime, and he's never been excited
about babysitters...
|
| 140.13 | | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Tue Jun 11 1991 20:44 | 28 |
| RE: -1
>We also left our son for an evening at "Neverland". If you ask him what his
>favorite things were about vacation, he always starts with "Neverland". His
>favorite character (Goofy) dropped by for part of the evening and Brent got his
>picture taken with him. He got to hold a snake and touch a baby alligator,
>and he also learned something during the animal show. They also have a room
>of video games there that they can play without quarters. All the cast
>members there were older grandmotherly types the night our son was there.
>He felt comfortable immediately (he was 4 at the time) and loved the attention
>he got. All the kids got a lot of attention. We watched for awhile to make
>sure he was going to be ok.
My son feels similar to yours. This is the best of the
babysitting places that I have seen.
>It is pricey, but it was worth it to us. He
>asks if he will get to go back there sometime, and he's never been excited
>about babysitters...
The price is not too bad if you you only have one child, but
with 3 kids, it is out of our league unless we are only
dropping off one child. When we use babysitters, we usually
go out for 4 - 5 hours. The Grand Floridian Mouseketeer house
runs us about $20 - $25. If we were to use the Neverland
Club, it would cost us $72 - $90. I wish the Neverland Club
had a multi-child discount like the others.
|
| 140.14 | | FDCV06::KING | And just when you thought it was safe......... | Wed Jun 12 1991 09:46 | 4 |
| If you are not staying at WDW, can you use the baby-sitting services
listed in here?
REK
|
| 140.15 | | PAPPAS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Wed Jun 12 1991 14:32 | 10 |
| RE: -1
I know that you can use the in-room babysitting since they are
all independent. I don't know if you can use the Mousketeer
houses at the GF, Poly, Contemporary or Y&BC. I recommend
calling the WDW information number (407)824-4321 for more
info. If you call, let us know.
/Jim Pappas
|
| 140.16 | Please forgive my insensativity!!! | CSC32::J_HANLON | JOEY | Wed Jun 12 1991 22:04 | 17 |
| RE: .13
> The price is not too bad if you you only have one child, but
> with 3 kids, it is out of our league unless we are only
> dropping off one child. When we use babysitters, we usually
> go out for 4 - 5 hours. The Grand Floridian Mouseketeer house
> runs us about $20 - $25. If we were to use the Neverland
> Club, it would cost us $72 - $90. I wish the Neverland Club
> had a multi-child discount like the others.
And I thought it was overly expensive for one child!!! Ouch!!!
Please forgive me if my previous reply sounded insensative...I
was just trying to say that it is a good place, if someone was
considering putting their child there... I naively assumed
they had a multi-child discount... What a fool I am!!! :-)
|
| 140.17 | Changes in babysitting centers at WDW resorts | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Sep 08 1991 19:22 | 42 |
| During this trip, we used quite a few of the babysitting
services at WDW. We used the Contemporary once, the Grand
Floridian once, and the Y&BC twice. We also had an in-room
sitter through Fairy Godmothers 3 nights and my folks (who had
a connecting room) watched them twice after we returned from
the parks and put them to bed.
This time we often put the kids into the sitters for just an
hour or so while we had dinner. Then we would pick them up
and go into the parks.
Between the time I called for babysitting information, and I
arrived, there were several changes in the "Mouse House" type
centers in the WDW resort hotels (Contemporary, GF, and Y&BC).
First, the Contemporary has removed their multi-child
discount. It used to cost $4.00/hr for the first child, and
$0.50/hr for additional kids. It now cost $4.00/hr for each
child. Since I had been quoted the old rate, they honored it.
It certainly is not worth the $12/hour I would have to pay and
let them know that I would not use that center any more.
The Grand Floridian still has the old price rate of $4.00/hr
for the first child, $0.50/hr for additional children.
However, their new policy states that they no longer accept
reservations unless you are staying at the GF. They do accept
walk-ins on a space available basis. If you call, they will
probably not ask if you are staying at the GF and you can
probably still get a reservation. That is what we did. The
kids stayed here for about 1� hours while the adults ate
dinner at Narcoossees. It only cost $6.25 for the sitter while
we ate dinner, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot more than if the
kids were with us. We bought some hamburgers next door for
them to eat while in the Mouse House.
The Sand Castle Club at the Y&BC (it is on the Beach Club
side) is much nicer than either of the above (but not as nice
as the Neverland Club). It is much larger and has a lot more
to do. The rate is $4.00/hr for the first child and $2.00/hr
for additional children. Unlike the GF and Contemporary, the
Sand Castle Club no longer has a 4 hour maximum (this changed
during our trip). This was the kid's favorite place to stay.
|
| 140.18 | Fairy Godmothers in-room sitters | TECRUS::JIM | Jim Pappas | Sun Sep 08 1991 19:49 | 21 |
| During this trip, we used an in-room sitter 3 nights. Because
of the difference in rates, we tried using Fairy Godmothers
this time and we were very pleased.
Kindercare is now $7.50/$8.50/$10.00 for 1/2/3 children
respectively. By contrast, Fairy Godmothers charges $6.00/hr
for up to 3 children in the same family. Since we have 3
children, it is a big difference in cost. Kindercare charges
1/2 hour of travel ($5.00 for us) and Fairy Godmothers charges
a flat $5.00 for travel.
We requested the same babysitter for all 3 nights and we also
wanted someone who had been with the agency for at least 10
years. They said that would not be a problem. We had
Marguerite and we thought she was great. In the future we
will ask for her again. She was real good with the kids and
brought toys for them to play with.
The only negative about using Fairy Godmothers was that you
must pay cash, and cannot charge the sitting to your room. It
is not a big deal, but a little bit of an inconvenience.
|
| 140.19 | Anyone have a in-room sitter recently? | WNRWHO::WOODS | | Tue Sep 10 1996 13:00 | 6 |
| Has anyone used the in-room babysitting lately? We are thinking about
getting a babysitter one night for our 2 kids (2 1/2 and 6 months) and
I am interested in any recent experiences.
Thanks,
Karen
|
| 140.20 | Fairy Godmother Service | CSLALL::PERLA | | Thu Sep 12 1996 09:05 | 15 |
| Karen,
I was down there last month & used the Fairy Godmother Service
twice. My boys are a bit older, 7 & 8 and they loved her. The woman
who owns the service was the one who came. Her name is Gertrude &
she's really sweet. She seems very caring & grandmother like. The
cost is $8 hr for the 2 kids & a $5 travel fee. I thought she was very
nice. She brings age appropriate toys for the kids to play with &
keeps them entertained very well. She will also stay for as long as
you need(meaning there's no curfue). The number is 407-277-3724. I
would suggest you call now & make reservations.
Have fun!
Lisa
|