Cheerleaders: Respect the Guests! Rah-Rah-Rah!

[boomhauer]

I agree with you all about how annoying these girls can be. And I also agree that the chaperones are just a joke. I HATE when they start their cheers and the "cheer-moms" just sit there smiling, talking with the other "cheer-moms".

However, you know who is most to blame for this behavior - Disney. They need to set rules in place when these groups make reservations.

Brazilian Tour Groups - This is America. We wait in lines. And no singing and chanting through the parks and resorts.

Cheerleaders - No cheering in the parks, resorts or buses.

Sadly, Disney cares more about the money they make from these groups than they do about the families who don't want to be subjected to their behavior.

 

[Karnak]

I think they need to do for Pop Warner what they do for major conventions ... open the parks specifically for them AFTER hours. That might lower the number of packs running through the parks.

Well written post, angey77. And I especially agree with your final point (quoted above). If Pop Warner money is that important to Disney, resort management might want to act on your advice, so that the rest of us can enjoy a visit to WDW without the unnecessary rudeness and noise throughout the property caused by these brats and their "chaperones."

Well put.

 

[maddhatir]

How irritating.

Are they mostly there for the entire month of December?

It is usually the first week- week and a half of Dec.

 

[always quiet]

I actually started the "Never again in Dec" post. If you notice, I mention contacting the Pop Warner company. Let's face it, these kids acting like hoodlums does not reflect positively on the company. I called this morning and got their voice mail. They are "out of the office until Dec. 13th, attending the competitions in Disney World" (tell me something I DON'T know! ). I intend on calling them back...maybe even emailing them the link to this post and the one I started. If anyone else would like to contact them, just go to www.popwarner.com, and click the contact us icon. They are located out of Langhorne PA....no more than 5 min. from my home! Maybe if a lot of contact them, they will take the "need for RESPONSIBLE chaperones" more seriously.

I have also contacted Disney. I am not sure what the answer is here...maybe allowing them access to the parks after it closes to the rest of us. Maybe telling the CMs to step up and handle problems before they seem to spiral out of control.

 

[Poohbear123]

Sadly I don't think they would care. I am supposted to be going next Dec but this I making me think twice about it.

Me too, think I will skip it! I am going in Feb. and I am sure they will be there than!

 

[Ilovemyprincesses]

Honestly I think the adults that are supposted to be watching thses kids are not because they are considering it a vacation ofr themself. Would you really want to spend a week with unruly teens? NO They don't either.

I am shocked that Disney would say there is nothing they can do at 3am. They really don't know how many people they are offending and how many $$$ they are loosing by letting these kids run wild.

 

[Bill From PA]

To those reading this thread and fearing going to WDW at the same time as a cheerleading event, my experiences are different than many listed here. The last several trips we stayed at Swan twice and Dolphin once and there were large cheerleader groups there for competitions. Other than seeing the girls buzzing around in their uniforms, my wife called them 'Molecules', we encountered none of the horrors mentioned here. Now, my neutral experience does not invalidate anyone else's bad experience. I accept that they all happened and I would be just as put out as those telling the tales were. My point is that these incidents are not a given during these events.

Perhaps the festive nature of a Value Resort loosens one's inhibitions where the look and feel of a Deluxe puts a crimp on the exuberance, I don't know. Regardless, there's no excuse for ill manners. FWIW, no one in my family is or ever has been a cheerleader or the member of any group touring WDW. I have no agenda, I'm simply stating that on 3 trips totalling 30 park days during which these competitions were taking place we managed to miss the bad experiences noted here.

Bill From PA

 

[trypnotic]

Hah! I emailed superbowl@popwarner.com and got a server response back, "User mailbox exceeds allowed size" whoops - perhaps we over did it some?

 

[always quiet]

Hah! I emailed superbowl@popwarner.com and got a server response back, "User mailbox exceeds allowed size" whoops - perhaps we over did it some?

You know...there is a phone #!! They are getting back into the office tomorrow and trust me...email just wouldn't handle this conversation I am about to have!!!

 

[bytheblood]

It is such a shame so many had such an awful experience while visiting WDW during this time. We are visiting next year from the 7th-14th and I have now been persuaded to stay at WL or ALK, though it is a little out of my budget.



Robo, I applaud you for being vocal and speaking out for all who were on the bus at the same time.

And I'm sorry - the guests at WDW need to respect the loud obnoxious children?? That was a joke, right?





A gentleman from my office who was there until Saturday with his family and experienced the same disrespectful behavior. They stayed at POR. He mentioned it was at every counter and table service restaurant, the parks and his resort. He told me that his wife sent an email to Pop Warner and sent it to every email address listed on their website. He also mentioned that she got a bounce-back email from 2 of them that the mailbox exceeded the size limit. He was thinking that everybody who was at Disney was sending emails complaining. He said his wife is calling tomorrow. Sadly, this was his first trip to Disney in 8 years and he said he would never go back because his experience was so awful.

 

[drag n' fly]

After reading this thread this is what I feel. You know that feeling of hoping to go somewhere great and driving down the road and finally getting there because you have this awful feeling something isnt right? Well that would about describe me right now. We are going to WDW for the first time in February. Coming from Calgary is no cheap feat either. After reading this I am astounded that disney would allow this behaviour to continue. This will not change until enough people complain and staff are instructed on how to properly deal with these groups. While I am there this is what is happening.There is a dance competition going on from the 1st through the 7th, and then a cheerleading event from the 9th to the 13th. Complacency only allows the behaviour to continue. What can I do to properly prepare myself for what appears to be the worst vacation...EVER?

 

[Robo]

After reading this thread this is what I feel. You know that feeling of hoping to go somewhere great and driving down the road and finally getting there because you have this awful feeling something isnt right? Well that would about describe me right now. We are going to WDW for the first time in February. Coming from Calgary is no cheap feat either. After reading this I am astounded that disney would allow this behaviour to continue. This will not change until enough people complain and staff are instructed on how to properly deal with these groups. While I am there this is what is happening.There is a dance competition going on from the 1st through the 7th, and then a cheerleading event from the 9th to the 13th. Complacency only allows the behaviour to continue. What can I do to properly prepare myself for what appears to be the worst vacation...EVER?

Think of it this way.

If you only read the posts complaining about something, you'll assume that it will be the same terrible experience for YOU.
(Likewise, based on a visit to the hospital, you'd think nearly EVERYONE must be ill.)

We only had the one bus incident.

Others have described separate incidents that happened to them.

The point of this thread is that in a place that is otherwise WONDERFUL... allowing unruly urchins to disrupt the "normal" flow seems inexcusable.

Just go and enjoy WDW. It has so much to offer.
And, yes, you will likely encounter things that will bother you in some way, but your overall experience will likely be fantastic.

 

[PrincessTiff]

We have been many times while the cheerleaders are there and found:
NOT ALL but a large majority of them are

spoiled
ignorrent
have no respect for anyone but themselves and tend to ruin other
peoples vacations.

Sorry those of you that will stand up for them but look in the
mirror-do you see what we see?

Let them cheer at there contest=but keep them quiet when not
Stop them from making crank phone calls at all hours of the night
Stop them from throwing their empty PIZZA boses over the railings
Stop them from throwing stuff in the pools
anyone else want to add to this?

Do they really do all that? I'm glad i've always opted not to go during pop warner week. They sound like a bunch of obnoxious, stuck-up snobs. During the summer, all I have to worry about are the self-absorbed Brazilian tour groups.

 

[dwaters]

What can I do to properly prepare myself for what appears to be the worst vacation...EVER?

You don't really know how it's going to be until you get there.
I wouldn't let the stories scare you away. The four parks are HUGE places designed to hold tens of thousands of guests. Even if you encounter loud groups, you can alway go to a different area. Use Fastpass to avoid getting stuck in long lines with the loud cheerleaders.

The hotel is a little trickier. If they won't deal with noisemaking kids at 3 Am, then I don't know how much help they will be.

Best of luck. You'll have to go to Canada in Epcot if you're feeling homesick.

 

[kikipug]

What we ought to do is send letters of complaint to Pop Warner.

Or, better yet, why not volunteer with your local Pop Warner organization so that YOU can have a positive influence on the lives of these kids.

Oh wait... that would take more than the 5 minutes it takes to write a letter.

I mention contacting the Pop Warner company.

It might help more if you understand that Pop Warner is not a "company" but rather a 501(c)3 organization just like Little League Baseball, AAU Basketball, etc... run by volunteers and well-meaning parents who are trying to get their kids involved in a positive athletic experience.

I agree that some of these kids need to be reminded of how to properly conduct themselves in the parks and resorts... but the generalizations that its ALL of them is a gross exageration.

 

[esclibster]

where can you find out when the cheerleaders and the football groups are at WDW. We are planning on being there Nov 18th to Dec 1st 2007.

 

[cabanafrau]

The sick part of it all is, these self-entitled kids and their equally self-absorbed parents have zero insight into the fact that the rest of the life forms on this planet have rights to anything that might in any way impede as much as a molecule of what the self-important demand 24/7. Raising kids in any way approaching empathy, compassion, self-respect, respect for others and the desire to contribute anything in return for all we are privileged to have is absolutely exhausting today.

 

[Ilovemyprincesses]

As a parent I would die if I heard my kids were acting like these kids were BUT I teach my kids how to act and trust me they would NOT act like that.

If I had the kids acting up at the pool at 3 am and the hotel refused to do anything about maybe a call to the police is in order? Surly they have some kind of noise ordinance in FL and maybe the police could find the adults that were supposed to be watching these kids.

 

[CheshireVal]

Or, better yet, why not volunteer with your local Pop Warner organization so that YOU can have a positive influence on the lives of these kids.

Oh wait... that would take more than the 5 minutes it takes to write a letter.

It might help more if you understand that Pop Warner is not a "company" but rather a 501(c)3 organization just like Little League Baseball, AAU Basketball, etc... run by volunteers and well-meaning parents who are trying to get their kids involved in a positive athletic experience.

I agree that some of these kids need to be reminded of how to properly conduct themselves in the parks and resorts... but the generalizations that its ALL of them is a gross exageration.

So what, we're not allowed to gripe about a company/organization's practices without actually trying to work there and change it ourselves?

If I get bad service at Applebee's, am I supposed to get a second job there as a waitress before complaining to management?

I think Pop Warner needs to know about the problems with their groups, and Disney needs to know about the problems these groups bring to the park. I'm not optimistic about anything changing, but it's a nice thought!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Not to defend or accuse anyone but it is not just the cheerleaders. DH and I were on a bus and there was 2 moms, 2 dads, Grandma and about 6 kids and they sat in the back of the bus. They were singing Christmas carols over and over again and not very quiet either....it was annoying but what are you going to do??