Which Value is Best for Avoiding Large Tour Groups in January?

[jsmla]

I currently have a reservation at All Star Music but recently have read several reviews complaining of large under supervised teen groups here in January. I now see that Music standard/preferred rooms are fully booked for this week so I'm getting nervous.

I've stayed in all of the Values and could change to either Pop or Sports. I don't want AoA and a Moderate is out of budget for this solo trip. Movies would be fine but there's no AP discount available for my week. We always stayed at Sports for DD's dance competitions and I REALLY would like to avoid that kind of environment on this trip.

Thanks!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I've stayed at Pop twice during MLK weekend and did not encounter large tour groups.

 

[tiggerguy2000]

Don't get stressed out.... January is not that busy.I only see the marathon going on in the 2nd week.

 

[jsmla]

Thanks for the replies! I'm not worried about crowds in general, just rowdy crowds of teens at the resort. I stayed here at the same time of year in 2010 and it was fine but the resort was far from full. I'm concerned because www.disneyworld.com shows the ASMu as sold out (even at rack rate) except for the family suites and I've read about large tour groups booking here in January.

Back in the days when I had no choice but to stay at ASSp I HATED it! There were kids running wild at all hours of the day and night, screaming and banging on the doors and such. This was during cheer/dance competitions at WWoS and is why I avoided booking Sports this trip.

Any idea why Music would be fully booked at this slow time of year?

 

[Disney38Girl]

I know that when I went on my high school band trip in 2009, we stayed at ASMu. I think thats pretty standard; sports groups in AS Sports, chorus/band groups in ASMu etc. But we went in late April, early May. I'm not sure about January for this type of thing. What I do know is that the groups don't always stay at the values. When I worked at Old Port Royale at CBR on my DCP, and we had PLENTY of cheer groups stay with us. I believe that was in Feb. sometime though. I think its hit or miss with them honestly

 

[minnie mum]

I understand your concerns about staying at the values during the winter. Even though overall crowds are low and the marathon is only for one weekend midmonth, there are certainly other considerations.

All star resorts (AS sports in particular, but all of them are vulnerable) are the resorts where the large youth groups competing in various sports, cheerleading and dance stay. They are also where many of the BTGs stay, and January is one of the big months for BTGs at WDW. We refuse to stay there again after an awful experience when our stay coincided with a cheer/dance competition.

I believe that you would be pretty risk free staying at Pop or AoA (although I see that you don't want to stay at AoA either.)

Many of these groups (of whatever origin) will also have the option to stay at one of the mod resorts. Last year they were at CBR. In previous years (before the latest refurb) they were often at POR. I've never heard of them staying at a deluxe (at least not en masse).

 

[spiceycat]

Pop Century

 

[jsmla]

Thanks all! Although I wanted to try one of the All Stars again for a change I think I'll switch to a preferred room at Pop.

minnie mum: I spent two nights at AoA in September before my husband arrived and we moved to Coronado Springs Resort for the "real" vacation. I loved, loved, loved the theming and food court at AoA but my room in the Little Mermaid section was waaaaay to far from the food court for me. I think I used my mug once!

Our daughter competed in dance and they were always put at Sports. It was so bad our first time there that for the rest of those trips DH towed our travel trailer down and the rest of the family stayed at Ft Wilderness!

Thanks again!

 

[nycbutterfly0923]

What week are you staying At All Star Music? I ask because I will be staying there from Jan. 6-12. After reading your post I am concerned. I may have to see about changing my resort, though I hate to do that because I got a good deal. But it may be worth it.

 

[spiceycat]

Thanks all! Although I wanted to try one of the All Stars again for a change I think I'll switch to a preferred room at Pop.

!

if you want quiet go for a standard view facing the lake - I like 50's building 3 - Tramp!!!

 

[cvjw]

We were at Disney the 1st week of January last year, and the parks were full of Brazilian tour groups. I don't know if they stay onsite or not, but they were the only groups that we encountered last January, besides the marathon runners of course, who stay at all of the Disney resorts.

 

[dalgal101]

I have been two times to Sports both times. We never experienced any problems with crowds or noise. We will be going again in January and staying at sports again. We have two boys and they like it fine but I have considered staying at a Moderate since we wouldn't have to upgrade the dining plan. But it doesn't seem to have the theming they would expect.

 

[JeannieKY]

We are booked at the All Star Sports January 2-5. I noticed on the ESPN site that there is a soccer event from the end of December-January 3rd. Due to a horrible stay a few years ago at the All Star Movies with large groups of cheerleaders(nothing against cheerleaders in general as my daughter is one but the large groups were out of control), I am worried there will be large groups of soccer players at the Sports resort. No one at Disney can give me any information on the resort where they may be staying.(Talked to Disney reservations, Sports Resort, and Group reservations people. Tried to find info on ESPN site.) Would the Pop Century be safer? We try to stay at a different resort each time and we have not yet stayed at AoA(fully booked) or Sports. We are trying to keep costs down by staying at a value resort with the room discount for this trip. Any thoughts on the large soccer groups at the beginning of January? We love the Pop but just wanted to try the Sports.

 

[jsmla]

My daughter is 24 so it's been a while but for UDA/UCA nationals (dance and cheer) week they always were at Sports. I believe it's the week of 2/2-2/10 next year. The actual competitions were over the weekend but everyone we knew went for the whole week with a package. That's the group that I had the bad experiences with but, since we were booked through UDA, we could only chose the level of the resort, not a specific one. I'm sure most of the girls behaved but a few poorly chaperoned groups can make a LOT of noise. DD spent every night at Sports but I only stayed when it was my turn to chaperone and went back to our nice, quiet camper the other nights. We had to have one chaperone per room but I can't remember if that was just our dance team or if it's Disney policy.

We were put at Music when they did the Magic Music Days but that's not a massive event like UDA and I don't remember any major problems there.

I'm kinda ashamed of myself but I had a nosey around the internet and it looks like the BTG head back to school in early February. I decided to switch to Pop, probably an over reaction but.....

 

[JeannieKY]

I've read reviews of people staying at the POP in July who got moved due to the large BTG groups(Trip Advisor or All Ears reviews), so I'm not convinced they won't be there in January as well.(I have no personal bad experiences with any groups except with the out of control cheer groups at the Movies in I believe it was Feb or March 2010.) When I did some digging on the ESPN site, the travel agencies working with the soccer teams listed the Pop Century as well as off site hotels. Since I stayed at the Pop in July with my daughter, we are going to stick with the Sports and hope for the best. Fingers crossed!

P.S. We stayed at the All Stars Music(Broadway section) for NYE and a few days into January last year. We had no large groups and enjoyed our stay, but I would still say I liked the Pop better. Pop is my favorite so far except for Wilderness Lodge, but I want to try all the resorts.

 

[dillydilly]

We just got back from a stay at Pop. There were several Pop Warner groups there (sports and dance). A CM said that they try to isolate the groups to one area (i.e, 90's). She also said that it seems that they will have more groups in the coming future that they did not have in the past (I got the impression she was not thrilled about this). The kids were moderately loud but did quiet down in my area at around 11 pm. I know my trip was in November, but wanted to offer some insight based on my experience.

 

[jsmla]

The key thing for me was that Music was sold out of non-suite rooms, even at rack rates. Sports had availability for both preferred and standard rooms at the Passholder rate for my usual late January/early February week. I usually try to make a solo trip this time of year and I've never seen a resort book fully up like that! In 2010 they were practically giving away rooms at Music, I think my rate was $49/night and the place was half empty.

I considered Sports but, in the end went back to my comfort zone at Pop. I do feel like a sour old grump but I chaperoned those infamous cheer/dance groups for years. It wasn't only at WDW, either. I'm guessing we were also pretty darn annoying in New York, LA, Myrtle Beach and even Sydney, Australia, of all places. I would REALLY prefer to give them a miss now that my own rampaging teen is all grown up and has decided to abandon her 12 year old dream of becoming a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader in favor of med school ;-)