Dance Comp. affect crowds majorly??

[Lyndye]

We are planning a trip for Feb 1-5. I read on Intercot that there is a National Dance Competition during the first weekend of the 1-3. Has anyone been during this time? Does it make the parks super crowded? Or does it mainly affect the Magic Kingdom?

 

[BraveMom3]

I don't know about the first of February, but we will be there for February 27 - March 2 (competition on Friday, 2/29) for Disney's Contest of Champions Dance Competition. It will be our first time for this event, so I'm curious how the crowds will be.

 

[Shmily1]

I've been for Twirlmania which would usually be around the 14-18 of February, which is already a holiday weekend. It wasn't too bad. I stayed at CSR and it seemed we were the only ones in that area of the resort. I saw the mousekeeper a couple times in the halls, but that was about it. The busses weren't crowded and the parks weren't crowded. The only place that was crowded was the ESPN Club at WWOS since that's where the competition was held. The rest was very easy to navigate.... unless you were in the building with the competition.

 

[Schmeck]

Dance competitions tend to be long and involved - kids don't have a lot of free time during the competition - so the parks shouldn't feel any effect during the day of a competition. But at night, or the day after the competition is over, depending on the size of the competition, it could be busier than usual. Of course, there is always something going on at WDW - conventions, sporting events, competitions, so one competition isn't going to affect it too much, IMO.

We just participated in a sold-out dance convention in Boston, at the same time a high school mock U.N. was being held in the same facility. Now that was crowded!

 

[jess20k]

We have gone the first week of Feb for the past two years and the dance comps were going on. They really do not effect the park crowds much at all. If they are staying at your resort you will notice them more, especially on the buses, but honestly we never had any problems or noticed any crowd level increase due to the dance teams.

 

[jenjersnap]

We were there in '05 for this competition. We did see them around quite a bit but they weren't really a nuisance ... except for the group using LTT's lobby to perform their routine which was a migraine-inducer. The heaviest concentration was at MGM but that was because they used the Indy Jones Stunt theatre for the finals. If they are doing that again, I might avoid MGM that weekend.

We'll be there too again this year.

 

[heimlichfan]

DH and I were also there in 2006 the first weekend of February which was during the time of some of the dance championships. I was quite worried when we booked but it turned out just fine!

We saw dancers while at MGM, since that's where some of the competition was, but we experienced none of the horror stories some people have shared when it comes to dancers and cheerleaders at WDW.

The only funny thing was the dance troupe from our local high school was there competing. I am a teacher in the district and had taken sick days to go to WDW. I was all paranoid about seeing families from school but ended up seeing no one. Anyway, the Friday following our trip I wore one of my new Disney shirts to school. One of my students, whose sister was part of the dance troupe, said to me, " I love your shirt! My sister just got the exact same one in WDW last weekend!"

 

[jsmla]

We went to many of these when DD was young. Most of the dancers stayed in one of the All Stars so those tended to be a bit hectic with participants practicing in the open areas. The food court was a zoo. I agree that the Studios are the most affected. We used either the Indy or the Beauty and the Beast stages so those shows may be restricted. We usually used the stages early and the event was over by lunchtime.

Our girls didn't spend much time in the parks. They were either practicing, sleeping or competing most of the time. The competitions we attended were mostly nationals and our studio took them very seriously.

Hope this helps!

Jennifer