Kids Club Age Change

[KrzyKtty101]

FWIW- I got my almost 12 year old daughter the bitty baby doll set for her American Girl doll. She LOVED her Bitty Baby forever so when I saw this…. I had to get it for her. She refuses to give up her Barbie house and still plays dolls to decompress. I know it’s winding down… but it’s still something she loves. She’s also calling everyone dude, is obsessed with her friends and is dabbling with makeup. I trust her to walk to the grocery store or McDonalds and back- not terribly far, but on the main road. So she’s independent and ready… but still loves those dolls! She’d probably still do a BBB makeover without the dress in a heartbeat. She loved the Edge at 10.75.

Ty. You don't know genuinely how much this post helped.

 

[Mags2002]

Honestly, Edge is vastly to boring for her. Without the art stations, Marvel make believe, star wars and the like, she would have 0 interest in Edge.

That being said I would never say that Edge isn't age appropriate. I just knew from 5 seconds of googling at pictures that it wasn't appropriate for her.

I would encourage you to give Edge a try. She may find something she really loves to do, a Counselor she really connects with or even some friends!

 

[KrzyKtty101]

I do agree with DCLMP on the immature does not equal not being able to follow basic rules. It can be part of it but doesn't mean it's an inherent part to it.

Your 10 1/2 year old playing with Barbies does not make them immature. Have you heard of Bratz dolls which has a line specifically for tweens and teens? I think it's great your child still has that great imagination for play but if they are still playing with them longer than their specific peers it doesn't make them immature because of it.

The way people are describing their children when they say immature, at least the way it's reading to me, is as an issue with either trust, being able to follow what parents have said, being able to listen to directions of the employees, not to go off with older kids (part of trust really), easily led by others and more. Quite frankly I was pretty startled by the poster bringing up her daughter's beauty as a reason they struggle with their maturity level.

I would encourage you to give Edge a try. She may find something she really loves to do, a Counselor she really connects with or even some friends!

At this cruise she will be 6 months too young. That being said. I let her lead. When she is 11, if we go again, I have no problem letting her go. I don't think she will be entertained. But am willing to let her try as much as she wants.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

I do agree with DCLMP on the immature does not equal not being able to follow basic rules. It can be part of it but doesn't mean it's an inherent part to it.

Your 10 1/2 year old playing with Barbies does not make them immature. Have you heard of Bratz dolls which has a line specifically for tweens and teens? I think it's great your child still has that great imagination for play but if they are still playing with them longer than their specific peers it doesn't make them immature because of it.

The way people are describing their children when they say immature, at least the way it's reading to me, is as an issue with either trust, being able to follow what parents have said, being able to listen to directions of the employees, not to go off with older kids (part of trust really), easily led by others and more. Quite frankly I was pretty startled by the poster bringing up her daughter's beauty as a reason they struggle with their maturity level.

Things may be different based in area. I have a son that just left middle school so I know what school my daughter is walking into. Around me, you may be astounded by how 6th graders dress and act. I am glad to hear how that is not normal everywhere, but here, full makeup, dress code violation outfits, and such are normal in 6th.

Not judging, but the difference between how girls in our 6th grade middle school act and my daughter is astounding...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Things may be different based in area. I have a son that just left middle school so I know what school my daughter is walking into. Around me, you may be astounded by how 6th graders dress and act. I am glad to hear how that is not normal everywhere, but here, full makeup, dress code violation outfits, and such are normal in 6th.

Not judging, but the difference between how girls in our 6th grade middle school act and my daughter is astounding...

Her peers may stop earlier or later than her but that's case with so many parts of childhood and for many years it's been this way across all geographic areas. I just wouldn't sell your daughter short here and assign a label just based on what you described.

Of course you can withhold your permission to allow her to go to kid's club but I personally don't see a correlation here.

 

[Marthasor]

It's okay if you disagree with my viewpoint but laughing at it well we're all able to convey are thoughts and opinions without laughing at one another I would think.

There's conflating two different points being talked about. I'm specifically speaking towards parents who say their child is immature and DCL is responsible for that because of the policy change. The policy change affects people differently for sure but if your child is immature whatever age the club is set up for isn't the issue. People are looking at it from their kid that happens to fall within the age affected or they are upset that 11 and 12 year olds are now being added to Edge. That's just rotten luck. But that's not the true issue if the problem someone mentions over and over that their child is immature for their age.

Do I think the PP should have cancelled their cruise and lost their money? IDK that would have been up to the PP on weighing the pros and cons.

I have never disagreed with people on finding fault with DCL just throwing this at people (I've now said that several times) and don't think it's right. I said quite pointedly that DCL did people dirty. I just objected to people saying their kid was immature and this change is DCL's fault.

I didn't say the OP should hire a nanny and I specifically said it's not something that I would say is common on DCL. You have put words in my mouth now several times and would politely ask you to stop. Deficient where are you getting that from? Poster's are describing their own children as immature. Again please stop.

Let's agree to disagree shall we and move on

Oh lord, literally no one is blaming DCL for the maturity level of their child. We completely agree. DCL is at fault for not giving parents ample notice on a major policy change so they can make the right vacation decision for their own families. The emphasis is really on the parents making the decision - not anonymous random people on the disboards . . .

I will kindly ask you to stop. You have posted several times, berating and questioning people's parenting skills, sitting in judgement and dictating whether or not families should cruise or what dolls their children should play with. I will very gladly ignore all of your content moving forward. Have a healthful, happy New Year.

 

[KrzyKtty101]

Her peers may stop earlier or later than her but that's case with so many parts of childhood and for many years it's been this way across all geographic areas. I just wouldn't sell your daughter short here and assign a label just based on what you described.

Of course you can withhold your permission to allow her to go to kid's club but I personally don't see a correlation here.

Nah, I wouldn't hold permission per say. I am all for her exploring new things, I just really don't think she would have much of an interest in that area compared to the other right now. She will be too young for edge when we go on this cruise. If we go on another one in the future, it will be a different story for her by then.

 

[AZMermaid]

Things may be different based in area. I have a son that just left middle school so I know what school my daughter is walking into. Around me, you may be astounded by how 6th graders dress and act. I am glad to hear how that is not normal everywhere, but here, full makeup, dress code violation outfits, and such are normal in 6th.

Not judging, but the difference between how girls in our 6th grade middle school act and my daughter is astounding...

Oh I hear you there! I’m in AZ and that’s how our middle school is too. Even 5th to some extent. Before we really went on full no phone enforcement, tik toks in the bathroom was a frequent thing for the 5th grade girls. The middle school has also gone full no phones out ever this year and I think it’s helped.

 

[DCLMP]

I would encourage you to give Edge a try. She may find something she really loves to do, a Counselor she really connects with or even some friends!

For my kids, it was always about making friends the activities were secondary.

 

[CamillaF]

I am recently off a DCL cruise and joined because I feel like people should know what is truly going on on-board the ships before making decisions about their cruises. Shoreside guest assistance is giving out incorrect information and there seems to be a lack of communication or clear guideline regarding this change.

For context, this was our 6th DCL cruise, but first since the pandemic. Our children are 16, 13, and 11. We planned this cruise, at this time specifically because they are all VERY different and we wanted them to have their own space and own activities. I have spent years telling people that DCL is the best because there is something for all ages, AND you can also have quality family time. Our youngest is an 11 year old immature boy who was completely happy that he could still go to Oceaneers, and his sisters were thrilled to have their own spaces. He does not have a phone yet, and there are no longer wave phones on board, so there is no way to communicate. And he needs to still have some supervision.

Several weeks before the cruise, my son asked about some Edge activities, and we emailed to see if he could be in both Oceaneers and Edge. We were told he did not have to commit to one club and could do whichever activities he wanted. We talked to him about going to Edge only for short periods of time, but going to Oceaneers for longer periods (like when we would be at Palo brunch) so we would know where he was. This was our plan at the time we received an email about the change, which was less than a week before we cruised. It was too late to cancel or change, so we emailed again, attaching the response from the original email. We were told there was no longer any flexibility, but that Edge would offer secure programming, similar to Oceaneers.

This was a complete lie, and we only found out when we boarded. There is no secure programming for Edge, they can come and go as they please. The CMs said they would watch him and message us when he left and where he was going, but they rarely followed through. On the second night of our cruise, they told us he left, and when we went to find him, Edge was closed and locked with no note posted. We went to Oceaneers to look for him because it was listed on the Navigator and were not allowed in because it was secured programming. We searched the ship and finally ended up at Guest services for help. It was 10 at night, everything was shutting down on deck and youth activities CMs that we spoke with would not help us out. Guest services tried calling all the kids clubs and was told he wasn't there. Concierge also started calling the youth activity CMs, but no one would answer their phones. It was over an hour and security had been called and was searching for him when someone finally answered concierge and they found him. He had left Edge, but come back and they went to take over Oceaneers, but no one notified us or even let us in to search for him. He says he asked them to message us that he was back, but there was no follow through. All they had to do was answer their phones or at least send a message through the app. I truly felt terrified and like no one cared about my son or my family. I was asked so many times if he had a phone, and even told that he shouldn't go to Edge without a phone. That should not be a requirement for an 11 year. There seems to be no guidelines on how to supervise the younger tweens who don't have a way to communicate with family.

Obviously this affected the rest of our cruise. I didn't want to let him go back at all, but that didn't seem fair to him. He is immature, but was able to follow some ground rules that we came up with so we would know where he was. We cancelled some adult only activites because we constantly had to be checking in to be sure we knew where he was. I never really got the relaxing vacation I was hoping for. If we had known ahead of time, we could have had time to make a plan or reschedule. I truly never would have booked this cruise if I had known he would not go to Oceaneers. I pay a premium for Disney to know that my kids are safe and happy. That was definitly not the case.

In addition, my 13 year old felt pushed out of Edge because of the amount of younger kids there. She tried doing ice breakers the first night, but felt out of place. We signed a wavier for her to go to Vibe, but she felt out of place there as well. There is a trickle down effect of pushing so many younger/immature kids into the Edge space. I'm also not sure why I can sign a waiver for my younger child to go to an older club, but can't sign a waiver to send one the other direction.

There were many other ramifications from this whole situation, but that was the start of our problems. Honestly, if anyone is on the fence about sailing with an 11/12 year old, just don't do it, especially if they are a bit immature. Disney has failed this age group. I understand if there needs to be changes, but this was pushed through with no notice and no planning. Not all kids can handle the freedom. There is a huge range of normal development in tweens and parents know their kids the best. And at minimum, parents should know that they can depend on the services that are offered at the time they book the cruise. Disney took our money and then changed things at the last moment with no apologies.

Thank you for posting! I am very sorry that you had to go through this. DCL handled this poorly. I am lucky enough that my PIF date is not for a while and I was able to cancel and make other plans. I wish you had this same notice. It has been frustrating that DCL has not given me notice of the change and I only found out about it here.

 

[gotomu212]

One simple thing I’d love would be for the Edge and Vibe to get is an iPad at the door that kids could use to text their parents in the app when they come/go if needed. This would be a benefit even to those of us who loved Edge for our kids, were fine with checkouts, and had kids with phones (my son didn’t always want to be carrying his phone around, especially when wearing swim trunks). Calling the stateroom and leaving a vm was always an option but I’m not sitting around my room and don’t want to go back randomly to see if my kids had left the Edge.

This was needed in my opinion before this change, but is something relatively easy to implement to help with the transition.

 

[CamillaF]

As previously stated it is not as a result of a lawsuit

If you say you have sources that say it was not a lawsuit, then I believe you. However I think NOT having a lawsuit requiring a quick response makes DCL look MUCH worse. They made a rash decision for NO reason that required them to work quickly. If they had made the decision and had it go into effect in 90 days (After paid in full). This would have given them time to change the website and message people booked. This would have been a reasonable way to make such a big change. The majority of people who are really upset, understand that DCL can make changes to the kids club. There are upset on how they did it. I don't think anyone really thinks they did this well. If they were not required to do this fast then someone in Management needs to be held accountable.

 

[Mags2002]

If you say you have sources that say it was not a lawsuit, then I believe you. However I think NOT having a lawsuit requiring a quick response makes DCL look MUCH worse. They made a rash decision for NO reason that required them to work quickly. If they had made the decision and had it go into effect in 90 days (After paid in full). This would have given them time to change the website and message people booked. This would have been a reasonable way to make such a big change. The majority of people who are really upset, understand that DCL can make changes to the kids club. There are upset on how they did it. I don't think anyone really thinks they did this well. If they were not required to do this fast then someone in Management needs to be held accountable.

The crew are with you. The YA CMs don’t think this was done well either and unfortunately are the ones in the firing line

 

[starlite_]

Oh lord, literally no one is blaming DCL for the maturity level of their child. We completely agree. DCL is at fault for not giving parents ample notice on a major policy change so they can make the right vacation decision for their own families. The emphasis is really on the parents making the decision - not anonymous random people on the disboards . . .

I will kindly ask you to stop. You have posted several times, berating and questioning people's parenting skills, sitting in judgement and dictating whether or not families should cruise or what dolls their children should play with. I will very gladly ignore all of your content moving forward. Have a healthful, happy New Year.

Nothing you are saying here is something Mackenzie said. I suggest you take a break from the computer cause your reading comprehension is suffering a bit.

 

[CamillaF]

This is a pretty typical scenario for DCL making changes. Rarely are changes announced far in advance, rarely is notification sent out, rarely does the website exactly match up -- as is evidenced by other things that aren't accurate.

My hope is that guests complain loudly enough that DCL will not make changes like this again. Changes this big should be done in advance, notification should be given, and the website should match up..... If this is a typical DCL scenario then it needs to change. I am hoping questions come up at the annual share holder meeting. This screams liability issue and if it is not should not have been done this way. I don't think most people think that if they scream loud enough the policy will change. DCL has ever right to make this change. However they also have an obligation to treat their guests with an open and honest policy changes and they did not.

 

[lanejudy]

If they had made the decision and had it go into effect in 90 days (After paid in full). This would have given them time to change the website and message people booked. This would have been a reasonable way to make such a big change.

I don’t disagree that this would have been much better for the guest. However I suspect it was a business decision to have it start without advanced notice, likely based on a cost/benefit analysis of the extra efforts of allowing an extended announcement even considering some full refunds. With a 90-day announcement that puts them at spring break cruises (so still hitting lots of families who planned far in advance just like the holidays), likely many reservations looking to push to an earlier date but upset prices have increased for the new date, or many unable to change the date so they ask for an exception (likely as the current situation had), and those who decide to cancel, etc. Instead of 30 or so days of headache before things settle down to a "new normal" it becomes 90+ days of headache on the customer service side. Therefore they opted for the shorter "rip the band-aid" implementation. It's not the customer-friendly method but it may be less disruptive to business. I'm not defending it as much as saying there's 2 sides and from a different perspective the quick implementation may be better for the company in the long run.

I am hoping questions come up at the annual share holder meeting.

Maybe. But DCL as a business unit is actually a relatively small unit of DIS stock.


I fully agree that the website should be updated and shoreside should never have suggested wrong info to those who called concerned. DCL can definitely do better with getting info out to both shoreside and onboard CMs about changes to avoid that disconnect.

 

[DisneyKatie1]

Wow, just wow. So, with less than a week's notice, it is now YOUR responsibility to get your 11 year old a phone so he can go to the Edge? I completely feel for you as my DS was also on the immature side when he was 11 and I can completely relate to your story. If this had been sprung on us the way it was sprung on you, I would have wanted to cancel my cruise, but, of course, you didn't have that option - just really bad customer service on DCL's part.


I know you are trying to be helpful, but guests should not have to bear the brunt of or be the experimental guinea pigs to iron out DCL's kids' club teething problems. DCL is 25 years old - they should know how to run a kids' club by now.

Even though I am still not happy with this change, I guess @Mags2002 is correct as with any change there is likely to be problems that occur and figured out as time goes on

 

[CamillaF]

How are the Castaway kids clubs being handled? Do the 11-12 year olds go to scuttles cove with the younger kids? Are they now allowed in the teen beach? Or is something else being done?

​

 

[Mags2002]

How are the Castaway kids clubs being handled? Do the 11-12 year olds go to scuttles cove with the younger kids? Are they now allowed in the teen beach? Or is something else being done?

​

Edge has always done activities around the island and also invaded the teen space at some point during the day. There is no dedicated space for Edge. 11-12 year olds will not be allowed in Scuttles Cove

 

[DCLMP]

I don’t disagree that this would have been much better for the guest. However I suspect it was a business decision to have it start without advanced notice, likely based on a cost/benefit analysis of the extra efforts of allowing an extended announcement even considering some full refunds. With a 90-day announcement that puts them at spring break cruises (so still hitting lots of families who planned far in advance just like the holidays), likely many reservations looking to push to an earlier date but upset prices have increased for the new date, or many unable to change the date so they ask for an exception (likely as the current situation had), and those who decide to cancel, etc. Instead of 30 or so days of headache before things settle down to a "new normal" it becomes 90+ days of headache on the customer service side. Therefore they opted for the shorter "rip the band-aid" implementation. It's not the customer-friendly method but it may be less disruptive to business. I'm not defending it as much as saying there's 2 sides and from a different perspective the quick implementation may be better for the company in the long run.


Maybe. But DCL as a business unit is actually a relatively small unit of DIS stock.


I fully agree that the website should be updated and shoreside should never have suggested wrong info to those who called concerned. DCL can definitely do better with getting info out to both shoreside and onboard CMs about changes to avoid that disconnect.

I just checked the website and it has been updated. A little late, but anyone familiar with Disney's websites shouldn't be surprised.