Best time in December 2020- trying to Pop Warner

[Tiggerlover48]

I am planning a trip in December 2020 and would like to avoid the crowd of leftover (no pun intended) Thanksgiving rush and also the Pop Warner crowds. Does any know the dates of the Pop Warner Tournaments? Thank you in advance.

 

[dansdad]

I am planning a trip in December 2020 and would like to avoid the crowd of leftover (no pun intended) Thanksgiving rush and also the Pop Warner crowds. Does any know the dates of the Pop Warner Tournaments? Thank you in advance.

Pop Warner Week always starts the 2nd Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. So in 2020, that would be December 5th.

 

[Victoriasponge]

Just our experience - we were there for 11 nights over exactly this time period this year (staying at POFQ) and we barely saw any of the Pop Warner groups, in the parks or anywhere else.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have been there during the POP Warner groups and honestly, the parks are nto impacted. The value and some of the moderate resorts may be, but not the parks.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I was at POP this year during pop Warner, and other than a few football players here and there at the resort and a couple cheer groups in the parks, hardly saw any sign of them. It wasn't near as bad as I expected. I wouldn't stay at AS resorts during that time though. You can look at their website and see who is assigned where. This year the football players were at pop for our dates and cheer at AS. I'd avoid staying where cheer stays.

 

[Disneyhanna]

We have been two years in a row at this time, arriving on the Friday night following Thanksgiving. The parks are quite "empty" starting on Sunday as the majority of the Thanksgiving crowds are leaving! Saturday in Epcot was fine both years but we made the mistake of going to HS briefly and it was a madhouse. Otherwise the crowds were great for the rest of the week, we had blue skies every day and on our AK day FoP averaged a 75 minute wait all day! Only go to MK on party nights (but plan on leaving by 5) because non-party nights are a zoo. We left right before Pop Warner but I hear that it does not really affect crowds, just your stay if you choose a value resort.

 

[evlaina]

To echo others, we were at WDW last year during Pop Warner (and knowing full well it was that week) and we're going back in 2020 but will overlap just a few days. Just avoid the Values, as well as Caribbean and Coronado and you will not know they're at WDW at all. We never heard cheer chanting, saw line cutting, anything.

 

[Tormania]

We have been two years in a row at this time, arriving on the Friday night following Thanksgiving. The parks are quite "empty" starting on Sunday as the majority of the Thanksgiving crowds are leaving! Saturday in Epcot was fine both years but we made the mistake of going to HS briefly and it was a madhouse. Otherwise the crowds were great for the rest of the week, we had blue skies every day and on our AK day FoP averaged a 75 minute wait all day! Only go to MK on party nights (but plan on leaving by 5) because non-party nights are a zoo. We left right before Pop Warner but I hear that it does not really affect crowds, just your stay if you choose a value resort.

Great to hear, this upcoming year that is the exact days we plan on getting to WDW, doing Universal W-F (over Thanksgiving) then heading over to AKL that Friday night for a full week at WDW. I know that first Sat will be crazy which is why we usually do our first day at AK and avoid MK and DHS until later in the week.

 

[Tiggerlover48]

Thank you to everyone for your replies. It looks like it doesn't matter what week I choose. Thank you again and I hope everyone has a blessed and magical New Year!!

 

[Timothy02359]

In our experience if you avoid the Value resorts during pop week you`ll be fine.

 

[Mabel67]

We were at POP the day before the Pop Warners checked in, and were booked the entirety of their event. We definitely had our stay negatively impacted, and ended up being switched to a AoA when we expressed our disappointment to Disney. I would never stay there again during this time. On the upside, we got to see AoA, which we loved and would not hesitate to stay there again.