Dance teams going to Disney?

[N&B'smom]

My DD is a part of a dance team that MIGHT be going to Disney. Anyone have experience with this? Can you tell me about it??

 

[goofy!]

My DD is a part of a dance team that MIGHT be going to Disney. Anyone have experience with this? Can you tell me about it??

DD has competed in allstar cheer in Disney.

I think everybody's experience is going to be different depending on your gym or studio and what rules they have.

We have a very strict gym. Behavior and sportsmanship is as important as the competition, so our kids might have different rules than other teams.

For instance, we have to be there by a certain time on Thursday. At that time the kids are considered on "cheer time." Starting then, at no time are the cheerleaders allowed in Disney except on the bus to the venue to compete. It is not a vacation, so no rides nor running around the parks. That is for your parent to take you either before or after the cheer weekend. You will never see our cheerleaders running around the parks in groups.

We have to have a parent in every single room, absolutely no rooms with just cheerleaders. You are required to chaperone your own child or make arrangements with another parent. But the room still has to have at least parent in it, so no parent can chaperone a large group. Our kids are never allowed to go anywhere without a chaperone in tow - even the seniors. Everybody has to stay in the same hotel, in the same room block and there are bed checks every night by the coaches. You get caught practicing or hanging outside in the common areas after lights out and you just might find yourself on a plane home.

Therefore, our experience will be completely different than a gym or studio that doesn't have to be there till Friday evening or even Saturday before you compete, you make your own hotel arrangements or use Disney competition packages, parents don't have to be there and have different rules for downtime. (And FWIW, we love the rules and the emphasis on behavior and sportsmanship although I am sure many of you would say they would never be part of a gym that couldn't go into Disney during your downtime)

That said, for us parents the competitions at Disney can be a logistical nightmare if you have more than one child competing. Since the competition stages can be spread around in different places, ie; Indiana Jones in DHS and the Milkhouse, some of our parents just couldn't physically make it to all their kid's performances.

It can also get very expensive compared to other competitions as a park hopper is necessary to get into the parks to watch your child compete if they are competing in the parks.

 

[N&B'smom]

Thanks for the info! Thankfully I only have one child that is participating and I have a feeling they wouldn't have issue with them going into the parks on their down time. Who knows though, I will have to wait and see.

 

[goofy!]

Thanks for the info! Thankfully I only have one child that is participating and I have a feeling they wouldn't have issue with them going into the parks on their down time. Who knows though, I will have to wait and see.

No matter what, it still is Disney and is a blast.

Our gym travels with over 600 people to competitions, so the rules are necessary to keep it from complete chaos.

The UCA Cheer and Dance competition that we have been to are some of our most fun, especially since you can make a vacation out of it.

 

[N&B'smom]

I can imagine a group that size would need some SERIOUS rules. This is a smaller sized dance studio, probably 40 girls at the most!

And yep, it's still Disney!!!