Hi, I was in the Associates office this morning to register my two kids. The older one got into the weeks I needed, and my rising K is waitlisted.

I am staff but didn't make in to work yesterday to register but apparently many camps were sold out on Wednesday when registration was only open to those who had contributed $300.

I asked about waitlisted movement and was told there is a lot of shuffling and that chances are pretty good to get off the waitlist. Folks have up until a month before the camp starts to forfeit (with 25% cancellation fee).

Much better to register in person if you can, it seems!

I am heartsick because I forgot to get on this morning to register, and only ended up with one week of camp for my rising third grader. Does anyone know if the wait lists actually move?

We have the exact same issue, either just a busy signal, or once you pressed one it would disconnect you, or you just eventually got an error message saying there was a system error. Awful.

I was on hold for 3 hours (multiple times--the phone system kept glitching and hanging up on me). I did tell them I want my $300 back and will stop payment on my credit card. This is the third year their system has had major technical problems. (We've been going to Smithsonian camps since about 2010.). It's totally unacceptable.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how I could get the $300 back. It's technically a donation to the SA and supposedly comes with other benefits besides early camp registration, but I doubt we'll use them. And I just couldn't stomach sitting through that interminable hold queue again just to ask for my money back. Would it be unethical to stop the payment on my credit card?

Sorry to hear about it. I called in at around 9 and was lucky enouhg to get my 4th grader in for all the sessions we wanted.

You should hold off for a week and call back. Once the frenzy dies down, you should be able to get hold of someone much quicker.

And, yes it would be unethical to stop payment.

I wonder how I could get the $300 back. It's technically a donation to the SA and supposedly comes with other benefits besides early camp registration, but I doubt we'll use them. And I just couldn't stomach sitting through that interminable hold queue again just to ask for my money back. Would it be unethical to stop the payment on my credit card?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2016 update: Paid the $300 to gain "early access" to registration for Smithsonian Camp. Spent three hours with both phones on simultaneous hold this morning before we reached a human. Every single camp for kindergartners is sold out. Reading this thread makes me feel a little better about what we have apparently missed.

DC will be doing immersion camp at WIS instead.

I would ask for my $300 back.

Seriously. What a racket!

Anonymous wrote:2016 update: Paid the $300 to gain "early access" to registration for Smithsonian Camp. Spent three hours with both phones on simultaneous hold this morning before we reached a human. Every single camp for kindergartners is sold out. Reading this thread makes me feel a little better about what we have apparently missed.

DC will be doing immersion camp at WIS instead.

I would ask for my $300 back.

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that the K level camps are sold out already. They open registration to staff tomorrow and Inwas planning to register both my kids but sounds like my little guy might be out of luck...

FWIW, based on what I saw last summer, the camps did look a little "loose." The kids seemed like have a lot of unstructured down time. I guess you get what you pay for...

2016 update: Paid the $300 to gain "early access" to registration for Smithsonian Camp. Spent three hours with both phones on simultaneous hold this morning before we reached a human. Every single camp for kindergartners is sold out. Reading this thread makes me feel a little better about what we have apparently missed.

DC will be doing immersion camp at WIS instead.

Anonymous wrote:We've done a bunch of Smithsonian camps te last three years and the quality varies depending on the instructors and topics. When the instructor is good, the camps are great.

OP: Yes, that was what I suspected. Sounds like we didn't pick the best ones this year.

We've done a bunch of Smithsonian camps te last three years and the quality varies depending on the instructors and topics. When the instructor is good, the camps are great.

Probably not related to the camp, but years ago I signed up DH and me for a cooking seminar run by the Smithsonian. It was quite expensive and I had high expectations. The whole thing was run by a bunch of hacks and not all of the invited chefs showed up which made me think they were volunteering their time. I wonder if the camp has the same kind of organizers.

I have the same feelings about CASA camp. We tried it this week and it's such a let down. Maybe it's because it's late in the summer but the mood there just isn't as "go camp!" as I'd like. And then I find out YESTERDAY that on Friday camp ends at 1 pm, rather than 3 pm, requiring me to take off work. This was never disclosed when I registered my child for this very expensive camp. We won't be back.

Expected much more thoughtful and challenging curriculum, museum visits linked to the topic of the camp. Also thought a half hour lunch followed by an hour long recess was excessive. Did two weeks for an older elementary boy. One week was definitely better than the other but really neither were as good as other camps he's tried over the years including Zoo camp which is really well done. Guess it's planned by different staff. It wasn't terrible but certainly not worth the logistical hassle for us.