Ques re Simba's Club for almost 5 year old (and feedback on kids' clubs in general)

[ewasilau]

Hi all,

We're headed to Disney at the end of the month (first family trip) - me, DH, MIL and 3 kids ages almost 5, 2 and 1/2 and almost 1. My MIL has promised DH and I one night to ourselves and we were thinking about reserving a spot for our daughter, who's almost 5, at Simba's Club at AKL (which is where we're staying) for that night, partly to help out MIL (who will babysit the little ones) but mostly because we think she'll have fun with other kids after spending several days with just her family. I know that the ages for the club is 4-12. Any feedback as to how that club is with the younger end of the spectrum? How are the staff? Or what about Disney's kids clubs in general? Do 4-5 year olds usually like it or is it more suited for older kids. By way of background, she goes to full-day preschool/daycare 3 days/week and has always been fine in drop-off type classes (swimming, ballet, etc) but did not like being left in the IKEA play area . . . .
I'd love any feedback! Thanks!

[thejens]

Last year our kids 2 boys aged 9 & 4 and one girl aged 6 tried out several kids clubs. I do not think we did the Simba one however. They really liked the club at Beach Club and the Neverland Club. The Grand Floridian Club was the worst and smallest with the least friendly staff surprisingly to me. What I observed is that most kids seemed tired after a day in the parks and required very little stimulation. My oldest, who really wasn't into going at first, was thrilled to veg out playing video games. My niece did same with videos. The youngest did some craft type activity. They appear to have a little of everything for each age group. The kids had a little dinner and mostly just relaxed I think. We always gave them a choice re. dining with us grownups (and having to behave for a long meal) or going to the club and they always chose the club!