On July 31st, 2018, Walt Disney World will close their Children’s Activity Centers at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts. Disney is citing fewer guests using the services for the closures.
After July 31st, 2018, guest are advised to use Kid’s Nite Out services for babysitting. Disney says they will take some time to pause and explore other childcare options in the future.
All existing reservations at these facilities will be honored through July 31st.
This is a huge disappointment! Our kids are finally old enough and they loved it. I am not comfortable having a stranger come to my hotel room. Loved using the kid clubs. It was also full the night we went! Why close ALL of them?
Will the one close at the dolphin too? I love these places, and would be happy to pay more for the service. Babysitting just isn’t the same, my kids have such a great time here! We have used the Poly and Beach club. Hoping they keep at least one open.
I think Disney has gotten way to greedy and they are over Thierry heads with high on the horse. I feel everyone should not go to disney find a different family vacation to do this year.
I agree, its greed.
I’ll give that a shot if you work on writing coherent sentences and using spell-check.
Even though our daughters have aged out of the clubs, this news make me feel very sad. I have such fond memories of our girls having an absolute blast at the Sandcastle Club at the Beach Club. It is a shame these fun, safe clubs will no longer be available for kiddos.
very racist Liz smh
WTF???? What is it with older people wanting to blame people in their 20’s for everything? You do realize it’s not just Haitian millennials that work for Disney?
I can understand the disappointment on this situation but at the same time if you go to disney for a family vacation it is what it is a “family vacation”. I honestly think it should be up to parents to find things to do with their children not look for someone else to entertain their kids. Tired of seeing people here on their phones paying 100 dollors or more for each family member to enter these parks so they can ignore their kids. If you want to be there with your better half then take a seperate vaca alone so you can have that time .
Nailed it Gregg!!!
I disagree. 95% of the vacation is still a family vacation when kids clubs are used. But it was nice to have a safe, fun, place for the kids to have a blast while the adults get to have a date night. In the stress of the rest of life, it is nice to have a few hours to have a dinner out with your spouse while on vacation. Between work, school, and kids activities, we don’t get to have date nights at home. I still classify my trip as a family vacation, even though I got to have a nice dinner with my husband one night (and watch fireworks too, which my kids don’t like to do).
Exactly!!
Wanting one dinner out during a week-long vacation isn’t unreasonable and it isn’t ignoring your kids. Please.
Bravo! Finally someone who puts their kids before their selfishness. You are on vacation with your kids. Go out on your dates when you’re home. If you can’t handle being with your kids , doing kids things for a week then stop having kids.
Disney is a huge corporation. They can have some facilities operating at a deficit for years, without it affecting them. But when it comes down to it…they are still a business. Smart businesses cut losses so that they can put energies into better projects and programming. Most likely childcare facilities were a great function to have and Disney would have been so happy to offer those accommodations, but if not enough people utilized them it just wouldn’t make sense. I have small children also, and believe me, the idea of a service like this is great, but i’ve never used it on my many trips to Disney parks. I’m excited to see the plans they have coming in the next few years.
Well this went to a dark place quickly.
Our family is crushed by the closures. The clubs were a highlight of our yearly vacation because our boy enjoyed the clubs so much. They were so much fun we used them as a treat not babysitting. It makes me angry that they will disappoint children
You got ALOT of dam nerve lady!!!!! It’s NOT the hard working Haitians its DISNEYS GREEDY ASS EXEC!!!!! I worked for Disney and I’m a WHITE single mother…Disney doesn’t PAY people enough to live off of….and trust if they took care of their employees who are the ones who make that dam place the so called Happiest Place on Earth the employees would work harder than they already do. Take your racist remarks and shove them in your happiest place on earth!!!!!!
This is extremely disappointing! We had planned to utilize this service on our next trip now that our son is old enough! We just wanted one evening for my husband and I to go to dinner. I’m not at all comfortable with the in-room babysitting and it seems unfair to the the kids sit in the room bored while mom and dad go out. I’ve always heard the kids had a blast at these centers. I really hope this is reconsidered! Even if there is just one center left open. This actually may affect our travel plans and cause us to shorten our trip.
What’s the point in the childcare service anyway? Disney is for children! If less adults who pretend they are kids would go to adult places, then there wouldn’t be the long lines in the parks. It’s frustrating to go to Disney and children have to wait an hour or two to get on a ride because standing in front of them are 4 times as many adults! SMH
You’re kidding right? Disney is not just for children it’s for everyone! Young and old! For families and single people just alike.
That’s what I say. Not very nice!!
That’s not really fair!! Disney is for everyone?! Also if adults didn’t go you wouldn’t be able to afford it. They charge us 3-4 times the price if your Grandkids are 9 or over. They are considered an adult!! I could have bought a new SUV for what I paid to take my family 2 yrs ago to Disney World. We had three children one 10, 11 and 16. Plus 5 adults.
Why are you even on this site then? If you go to Disney purely for your kids, then why do you have nothing better to do than comment on a Disney news site?
Why would anyone use this when the whole point of being at WDW is to be with your KIDS on holiday?
Why do you care what others do? Maybe you need a hobby.
Totally agree Zoe! If you’re going to take a vacation with your kids, then spend the vacation WITH your kids. And there are some people claiming that “it’s one dinner without our kids on one night”. OK, if that’s the case, then not having the Kids Club for 2 hours on one night really isn’t a big deal.
They were hard to staff sometimes. I was pulled after my 8 hour shift in another area to work it. Maybe they will go towards an Autie’s Beach House model with STEM classes like at Aulani?