Has anyone ever used any of the childcare or kids clubs while at Disney? Tell me about your experience?:confused:

i can't wait until my youngest is old enouph to do "pinnochio's workshop" at the grand cal hotel. current ages are 5-10(?) it looks like a lot of fun....i've also heard that some of the hotels offer babysitters but i'm not so sure i like the idea of someone we don't know being alone with the kids in the hotel room....no matter how many credentials they show.

Originally posted by mamamage
i can't wait until my youngest is old enouph to do "pinnochio's workshop" at the grand cal hotel. current ages are 5-10(?) it looks like a lot of fun....i've also heard that some of the hotels offer babysitters but i'm not so sure i like the idea of someone we don't know being alone with the kids in the hotel room....no matter how many credentials they show.

Boy do you have a point there. I don't care who they are and who they work for.... You just never know these days.... It's sad really.

We used "the workshop" when we were at the Grand in December. It's terrific! No minimum time stay-unlike in WDW. Think it's about $8-9 an hour-a bit more than we pay our babysitter, but not outrageous. Our son is 10-and he has autism. We were initially told that they couldn't accomodate our son. I knew that sounded wrong-ADA anyone??-(and kudos to AVP and AK for helping me with this). Bottom line, he got to go and had a wonderful time, while his parents enjoyed a nice dinner alone. Lots of things to play with-computers, videos, toys, they served him dinner(good "kids" stuff like macaroni, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc.) as we requested. There's mats and blankets if they get tired. The director was super. I highly recommend this service.

Hi all!
I need your help! My son has high functioning autism. We are renting a house near Disney b/c I feel this would be best for our situation. I wanted to know if anybody could help me out with my options for babysitting. My son is obsessed with Disney (and so are we) and we are taking him to Disney for the first time. We can't wait! We are going Nov.2002. Does anyone know of babysitting companies that can help us with watching our son(he is 5). He loves computers, arts and crafts,etc. ANY ADVICE would be very much appreciated!!!!!!!

Lauren

Lauren,

Just an idea, but why not bring your own babysitter along? My husband and I did this when we had an infant and older child with us and it worked so great. Really we had her along to "help" us out here and there and we got to ride a few rides 'together'. She was young (11) so she was a mother's helper more than a sitter. Most kids would be thrilled to come along and you'd pay for them to be there and give them some spending money on top if that.

I am really considering letting The Boy visit "the workshop" during our trip so that we can go window shopping. Both the hubby and I love to window shop and last year was hard to truly explore the stores in DTD with a 5 yr old doing the "I want it Now" song from Willy Wonka. (not that he was, but that is the way he was behaving)