Ugh, Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done the half day soccer camp at Kenmore before? We live nearby and only need half day the week we enrolled. It is a big open field with no trees though - not sure how that'll go for 3 hours in late August...

We did it last year second week of august (which was very hot).

5 and year old 8 old were fine but flushed after class. They took a lot of breaks and there are some trees at one end of the fields.

I think the full day kids were inside most days in the afternoon (and afternoon was cancelled one day when they didn’t have access to gym).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how to take yourself OFF waitlist? It doesn’t matter for us, but might help someone else. (We gave up on 1-2-3rd options)

I think you unenroll as if you were in. I just signed up for a second camp the weeks we were waitlisted. That’s why the waitlists actually end up moving quite a bit.

Thank you. One less kid in fairlington spy camp line. (Bummer)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done the half day soccer camp at Kenmore before? We live nearby and only need half day the week we enrolled. It is a big open field with no trees though - not sure how that'll go for 3 hours in late August...

We did it last year second week of august (which was very hot).

5 and year old 8 old were fine but flushed after class. They took a lot of breaks and there are some trees at one end of the fields.

I think the full day kids were inside most days in the afternoon (and afternoon was cancelled one day when they didn’t have access to gym).

Thanks. Did they have an okay time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are trying to get into gymnastics there shouldn’t be an issue. Pre-covid most sports camps had slots until the week of the camp. The county classic camps fill up but not on the day of. Everyone can probably chill.

DGAF sports. And you are wrong.

No I’m not. I have a 20 year old— I’ve been doing this since 2008. Only camp I’ve ever seen fill up the day of is the gymnastics.

Not this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question--why doesn't the county, instead of trying to beef it up more and more every year (which doesn't work), have a queue system I've used for countless other popular sign ups (like Hamilton tix). Whoever is logged on at 7 a.m. gets assigned a random number in the queue, and they only let a certain number of people into the site at one time. You don't have to sit there for 2 hrs, because they email you when you're getting close to your turn to register. I bet it would be faster than the current system. And more fair, since it's randomized.

Agree. But not just that. Why are there so many steps to get enrolled? For example I use quick enroll. I put in the camp number. I then have to wait for it to come up. Then I have to click on it. When I click on it, it doesn’t add it directly to my cart. Instead I have to wait until “add to cart” shows up at the bottom. What’s the point of the first click then? If I make it to that stage I then have to check which kids I want to enroll. Now if u only have one kid this step needs to be elongated. But I have two. Why is it when I click on their names, I am taken to a separate page for kid number one about payment, and then another page for kid number 2. Why not all on one page? Or why not have the payment choice there when you check the child’s name? Now if I make it past all of that I am then again taken to another page to enter the payment info? Why all these steps??? And this is with quick enroll. It makes absolutely no sense.

[Anonymous]

Folks - I am going to suggest something radical here. Next election, don’t vote for the Dem party line candidate unless they promise to fix this mess. We put plenty of money at parks & rec, and the summer camps are where the need is. They need to start putting the resources where the demand is.

Stop letting them get away with mediocrity year over year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks - I am going to suggest something radical here. Next election, don’t vote for the Dem party line candidate unless they promise to fix this mess. We put plenty of money at parks & rec, and the summer camps are where the need is. They need to start putting the resources where the demand is.

Stop letting them get away with mediocrity year over year.

It's the other programming too. They built a brand new swim facility and moved all of the swim lessons there instead of continuing to offer sessions in the existing pools. Why?! Shouldn't there be more capacity now instead of the mad rush to get your kid into swim lessons on the day registration opens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question--why doesn't the county, instead of trying to beef it up more and more every year (which doesn't work), have a queue system I've used for countless other popular sign ups (like Hamilton tix). Whoever is logged on at 7 a.m. gets assigned a random number in the queue, and they only let a certain number of people into the site at one time. You don't have to sit there for 2 hrs, because they email you when you're getting close to your turn to register. I bet it would be faster than the current system. And more fair, since it's randomized.

Agree. But not just that. Why are there so many steps to get enrolled? For example I use quick enroll. I put in the camp number. I then have to wait for it to come up. Then I have to click on it. When I click on it, it doesn’t add it directly to my cart. Instead I have to wait until “add to cart” shows up at the bottom. What’s the point of the first click then? If I make it to that stage I then have to check which kids I want to enroll. Now if u only have one kid this step needs to be elongated. But I have two. Why is it when I click on their names, I am taken to a separate page for kid number one about payment, and then another page for kid number 2. Why not all on one page? Or why not have the payment choice there when you check the child’s name? Now if I make it past all of that I am then again taken to another page to enter the payment info? Why all these steps??? And this is with quick enroll. It makes absolutely no sense.

Agreed. I registered for a Fairfax ParkTakes camp back in January when they opened, and it was so much easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks - I am going to suggest something radical here. Next election, don’t vote for the Dem party line candidate unless they promise to fix this mess. We put plenty of money at parks & rec, and the summer camps are where the need is. They need to start putting the resources where the demand is.

Stop letting them get away with mediocrity year over year.

It's the other programming too. They built a brand new swim facility and moved all of the swim lessons there instead of continuing to offer sessions in the existing pools. Why?! Shouldn't there be more capacity now instead of the mad rush to get your kid into swim lessons on the day registration opens?

It's always been a mad rush for swim lessons. But I do think it's ridiculous that they now only do swim lessons at Long Bridge, instead of continuing to offer classes in multiple locations. If they're only offering at Long Bridge, that surely means a decrease in the number of classes offered? The part of Long Bridge where lessons are held is about the same size as any one of the HS pools previously used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks - I am going to suggest something radical here. Next election, don’t vote for the Dem party line candidate unless they promise to fix this mess. We put plenty of money at parks & rec, and the summer camps are where the need is. They need to start putting the resources where the demand is.

Stop letting them get away with mediocrity year over year.

It's the other programming too. They built a brand new swim facility and moved all of the swim lessons there instead of continuing to offer sessions in the existing pools. Why?! Shouldn't there be more capacity now instead of the mad rush to get your kid into swim lessons on the day registration opens?

It's always been a mad rush for swim lessons. But I do think it's ridiculous that they now only do swim lessons at Long Bridge, instead of continuing to offer classes in multiple locations. If they're only offering at Long Bridge, that surely means a decrease in the number of classes offered? The part of Long Bridge where lessons are held is about the same size as any one of the HS pools previously used.

Maybe there aren't enough teachers? I agree, I'm confused about this too. WL is way more convenient to get to than LB for us.

[Anonymous]

I was able to get registered TODAY (Thursday) for some crafts and chess camps.
Several spots in the sports camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was able to get registered TODAY (Thursday) for some crafts and chess camps.
Several spots in the sports camps.

It’s so variable in weeks needed and ages as to what fits. I wish some of the specialty camps repeated. Trying to register for critical weeks under pressure was rough.

Glad you found spots!

[Anonymous]

What other places are folks using for camps for the weeks you waitlisted? Might be helpful to have a list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What other places are folks using for camps for the weeks you waitlisted? Might be helpful to have a list

Falls Church City appears to still have space in many of their camps. I’ve also heard good things about Baroody Camp at Grace Episcopal in Alexandria.