My niece competed in one in March. I was waiting for other people to respond since my info is 2nd hand, but since you haven't gotten many replies, I'll throw it out there anyway.
I think it was an Americheer event. My SIL liked the competition itself. She said it was nice to see teams from other parts of the country/world and the competition itself was well-run. My niece had fun competing. However, she had some issues with the surrounding events that she was less than happy with. She's not sure if these were issues with the competition host, or her cheer gym. They really weren't Disney's fault.
They stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. She said that there were other cheer teams staying there, but the place wasn't overrun with cheerleaders or anything. My nephew and BIL went to the parks. They said it was really crowded (spring break) but that they didn't see a lot of cheerleaders. There were, however, apparently a lot of cheerleaders at DTD.
My SIL's complaints included:
-- They had been told that discount park tickets could be purchased for family members at competition check in. There were none. The family member tickets were full price at the gate. (Cheer gym and Americheer played the "blame game" with each other for the misunderstanding.)My daughter has cheered numerous times at DW. Disney offers a park hopper for the athletes for a ridiculously low price. I think our last one was around $100. I have never heard of Disney offering the parents a similar discount ticket. It really stinks when your child is performing in Hollywood Studios and you have to buy a 3 day ticket to watch their 2 1/2 minute routine. Our athletes are also not allowed to visit the parks (gym rule) during the competition, so those 3 day tickets get wasted.
We used to do UCA quite a bit, but our parents complained that it was just too expensive to have to buy park hoppers just to watch their children. Most of our teams will be in Orlando for either Worlds or the Summit, so going to Orlando a month earlier for UCA was cost prohibitive. I kind of miss it.
-- Athlete's package came with a 3-day park ticket. However, SIL's family was only there for a long weekend (due to school schedule -- it wasn't my niece's spring break) and they were not allowed to go to the parks on competition days I'm not sure if that was a gym rule, or a comp rule, but they were not able to use the tickets during their stay. They could not get a refund for them. They would not let them transfer them to another family member (BIL and nephew went to the parks). They were some kind of ticket that expired after the competition (not from first use) so they couldn't save them for a future trip, and they wouldn't let them add a "no expiration" option. The tickets were wasted. Again, the athlete ticket is ridiculously cheap. So, it is understandable that it is not transferable and that they expire at the end of the competition. They are meant for the athletes to be able to get into the venues in the parks if they are competing there, not for rides and vacations. If your gym does allow you in the parks, bonus to be able to use a 3 day, $100 park hopper.
Not being allowed into the parks during competition time is a gym decision. Some gyms allow the teams to visit the parks on their downtime, some gym hold the philosophy that you are down there for a competition and not a vacation, so downtime needs to be spent on homework (for our gym) and focusing on cheer. Vacation happens before and after.
-- Athlete's package came with a ticket to a private "Victory Party" at DHS, however parents/family members had to pay $40/each to attend. The party was confined to the Tower of Terror/Rock'n'Roller Coaster area (my niece won't ride either of those) and there was very little food. Again, I'm sure these are the features that the competition host paid to have (not Disney's fault), but SIL did not feel like it was a fun time or a good value. This was an event producer private party and had nothing to do with Disney. The EP set it up and then like any private party, arranged with Disney the location and the food.
So, apparently the competition itself was fine (even good), but the overall experience was so-so. SIL says she hopes if they ever go back, it's not for the same competition.
