We just got back from a POP Century weekend a few hours ago, and the place was packed with them, both English and non-English speaking ones. For the most part they seemed like nice enough kids, but there were definitely some issues. There were a lot of the several or more people blocking a whole sidewalk off thing, and coming into an elevator before letting people off; basically some of them needed a few lessons in manners.
More irritating to me was a series of crank phone calls from young girls yesterday afternoon and evening, mostly to my 77-year-old mom, who had stayed in the room because she didn't feel well.
They did it again when I got back to the room; first my daughter picked up and got mad, hung up. They did it again, and I picked up and stopped it! I was traveling with my 16 year old daughter (and 15 year-old nephew who had NO problem with them being everywhere!
Well, except when it came to rides, see below...), and anyone who has teenaged girls knows there's always that silly female judging thing going on, and there were a few looks and giggles behind hands that got her fuming, and that's
never fun!
There was a lot more running around and shouting and 'kid' noises than there usually are at night while we were trying to get to sleep.
Yes, you could probably avoid most of this by staying at the deluxes and most of the mods, but not everyone can afford that - the only reason we usually do is because I'm a DVC member. I can't afford $200 and up for one night most of the time - I'm a single parent and caregiver with a fairly decent job, but just decent! At the very least, I would think Disney could let you know what you're getting into if booking at x-resort for xyz days, cause I definitely would've looked into a different weekend or resort.
Also, I've seen a few people post that it doesn't effect the parks, but it seemed the wait times were definitely higher and attendance was more dense this weekend than it's ever been on my past visits. I understand there's always something going on, but nothing like this - they were
everywhere. Maybe I've lucked out in the past - I've seen large groups that took over a ride for a bit, but nothing like this. I'd rather see them give over a ride completely - and let people know about it! - for an hour or so, just large groups, and then let the groups know outside of that time, they'll need to break up into smaller groups of 5 or 6 and let non-group people feed in between those smaller groups. My mom and I waited almost 2 hours for my daughter and nephew to get off Test Track, and there were at least 4 large groups that came out during that time.
I guess I wish there was some kind of calendar available for the normal visitor to check before we book and spend (and in some instances really
waste) our time and money. Maybe even something showing when the groups will be at the parks instead of at ESPN, some thought given to those who aren't part of these groups. I understand everyone deserves to be at Disney and have a great time, but these huge groups' pleasure shouldn't mean the rest of us don't get to go to the resorts or parks and enjoy them as well.
And I do apologize if this 'rant' steps on someone's toes, but I was really aggravated about my mom being pranked and the number of rides my kids had to pass up or wait forever on because of this.