Do I really need to avoid Pop Warner next year?

[barefootMom]

I keep reading conflicting info. on the crowds the first week of Dec. I currently have the first week of Dec. '06 booked and just don't know if I am going to regret it due to Pop Warner week. What do people think? Should I try to push my trip out a week? I will be staying at WL so I know they dont affect the hotel so I am really talking about park crowds. thanks!!

 

[helenk]

You should not have any trouble. We stayed at the Poly during Pop Warner this year and while we saw some small groups in the parks we did not see any big groups and they did not cause a problem for us at all.

 

[Dooda]

We were at the World 12/3 - 12/10 and although we didn't stay on site, the parks were great! There were quite a few walk on rides and those that weren't, we used fast passes with usually a 1 hour return time.
The most crowds we saw were at Epcot and few to none were from the Pop Warner group. I say go and enjoy!

 

[glass slipper girl]

We were there 12/3 - 12/11 and had no problems with the Pop Warner kids. Now, we stayed at the GF and AKL so we weren't in the same resorts they were but in the parks, we had no problem! We saw groups of them off and on but it was like a group of 10-15 kids so nothing that affected crowd volume.

I will say this...there are trip reports from the same week we were there saying it was really crowded. I disagree. Reading those reports we were vacationing the same days but we weren't in the same parks the same days. We used TourGuideMike and followed his advice on least crowded parks for each day and we walked on to probably 60-70% of the things we rode. Weather had a big factor in one day at the MK where it rained most of the day so we didn't wait for ANYTHING but the rest of the week we had little to no lines. I've used TGM 5 times now and it has yet to let me down. We had one day where circumstance made it where we had to be at a park on a day he had it listed as more crowded and it was a MARKED difference between the parks on days listed as least crowded. We didn't even use the touring plans but we did use his advice on best time of day for each attraction and built our own plan and the longest line we waited in was 15 minutes for Test Track with a fast pass (that was @ Epcot on it's crowded day and they stopped the ride for a few minutes too). Other than that, for a good bit of things we waited less than 5 minutes. Total different experience than some people have come back reporting.

I wouldn't hesitate to go that same week again next year (in fact, we are sort of planning on that now!).

 

[exwdwcm]

If you stayed at a deluxe, you probably had no problems. POP didn't affect the parks too badly from what we saw. The big negative impact for us was at the resort- we stayed at a moderate- POR and it was overrun with them at checkin, even on 12/3. By midweek we were avoiding the food court and pool at all costs. There were drunken chaperons with wild cheerleaders screaming and running at all hours of the night. We even had to call security on them at one point.

If you do go during pop week, just stay at a deluxe or off site. I would not stay at the values (which are even more overrun than the moderates) or the moderates. The impact htey made was in the hotels, not in the parks. and from my experience, it wasn't a good impact.

 

[exwdwcm]

and I agree with glass slipper girl on the crowds too- we didn't have a problem with any until our last day (saturday, 12/11). The rest of the time, we walked on or had 5 minute and under waits for everything. We were in epcot the day it rained all day and we did everything we wanted. We used FP for soarin and waited about 10 minutes. Really the crowds weren't bad for us this year, except for when we tried to see osborne lights for a second time on 12/11, a saturday, after it had been closed down the previous two nights. i didn't think we would make it out- it was wall to wall people in there on the backlot area, scary in fact. that was the only crowd we ever dealt with.

 

[johde]

I've been to WDW 3 times during Pop Warner and never had any troubles but didn't stay at the Value resorts. As long as you watch what resort you stay in it should be any trouble.

 

[MichelleVW]

We didn't wait for many rides and we were there from Dec 4-8th, BUT I did notice heavier crowds and a LOT of cheerleaders in the parks. We were smart about our touring and did everything we wanted to do, but I know there were a bunch of people that stood in lines because they didn't do their Disney "how to avoid the lines" homework!!

If I had known that the Pop Warner's would be there, I would have waited until the next week to go....

 

[dreamalittledream]

We used TourGuideMike and followed his advice on least crowded parks for each day and we walked on to probably 60-70% of the things we rode. Weather had a big factor in one day at the MK where it rained most of the day so we didn't wait for ANYTHING but the rest of the week we had little to no lines. I've used TGM 5 times now and it has yet to let me down. QUOTE]

I am planning next year at this time and have just subscribed to TGM as well. Did he give any specific POP Warner week advice? I have not found it on the site and wanted to email him to ask but have not yet b/c I have not read the entire site yet. thanks!

 

[barefootMom]

thanks for all the input....so I guess I can assume that it is fine to go if we are staying in deluxe...that the crowds will still be rather low at the parks for the most part? we went the first week in Oct. this year and I thought the parks were very busy (except for very early mornings) so was hoping for fewer crowds. However, now that I am reading people's trip reports for the 2nd week in Dec. it sound like that week may be very busy and we should stick with Pop Warner week anyway? Wat is MTG? I have never heard --is it a website you pay to subscribe to? does it really help more than all the books and their touring plans? is it different?

 

[snyderla]

I voted avoid it, but not because the kids were that horrible. It was the crowds. It wasn't as bad as summer, but more crowded than I thought. There were a few times when the kids were kind of obnoxious, like kids can be. When we go back for the Holiday celebrations next time we will probably wait until they are gone. We went 12/01 thru 12/09 and there was a noticeable difference in crowd levels beginning on 12/05. And a couple of incidents where the kids weren't behaving very well. Once a group of boys, once a group of the cheerleaders, even though there were adults with them. I'm still glad we went, but arrival of 12/10 probably would have been better. JMO, so take it for what it's worth!
PS: We didn't stay at a value resort, stayed at Swan and SSR. And early in the day wasn't as bad, of course. It wasn't just the kids that contributed to the crowds, maybe their families, too??? I don't know, but it was kind of crowded especially in the evenings.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I voted avoid it. We won't go back during Pop week. We ran into the pop crowds everywhere and also hopped parks several times during the day to avoid them and low and behold there were more. Exactly when do they have thier events? We saw them in the mornings, mid day and at night. EMH they were there, MVMCP they were there, etc. We were starting to think the events were just a cover for a trip to Disney! Only time we didn't see them was the Fri night they were at MGM. We stayed at POFQ, but didn't see alot of Pop people there, mostly when the buses trekked over to Riverside. Saw alot of couples and couples with young children at POFQ. They weren't really bad or anything, the worse part was the cell phones. They were always on them, ringing, talking, texting, taking pictures, and playing with them in dark rides. We witnessed several instances on the buses, in line, and actually in shows when the kids (and adults) were calling other people in the same line, show, etc and talking to them. Annoying? YES, unbearable, not really, would I voluntarily put up with it again...no way, jose!

Another observation about the crowds during pop week. To us it was semi- crowded. We have been told over and over that this week was comparable to sept and low crowds could be expected. It was nothing like Sept crowds. I guess with the popularity of christmas time and the promos disney ran, it really upped thier attendance. Of course it was no where near peak season I would imagine (i'm not brave enough to do summer!) The crowds were mostly in the shops, walking the streets, or at eatieries. Most attraction waits were very bearable. Posted 15-20 min was the usual for most rides (with the exception of soarin 50-80 min), but it was usually much shorter.

 

[barefootMom]

OK, so now it seems like 50/50 for people who would avoid that week. Do people think the week after would be better? I don't think I would mind the kids but I did hope for low crowds.

 

[dreamalittledream]

TGM is Tour Guide Mike, do a search, there are alot of threads about it, pro and con. It was worth it for me to subscribe since I have a year of info and entertainment value from it.

We are going Pop week and I can't move my time due to several factors. I also would like to be at home for the week before Christmas, too much to do. So it is Pop week for us. I think since we are at CR for 10 days and have little ones who get up early, we should be fine and be able to do what we want to get done.
I'm not going to sweat it, if it weren't for DIS we would never have known about the possibility of it being a "bad" week, but now that we do, we can plan accordingly.

 

[RF536]

We were there 12/6-12/13 and didn't have any problems with them. We were even at MGM on Friday when it closed early for the Pop Warner party. We still were able to walk on to most rides and with the longest wait being for the movie ride right before the park closed was 10 min. We did not follow any touring plans and just went to which ever park we wanted when we wanted and walked on to most rides with the longest waits being 10 mins for the more popular attactions.
That said we did avoid MK for most of the day on Sat. 12/10, but we did go in for the evening and to watch Spectro and Wishes. On Sat. evening we rode Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Magic Carpet, and watched The country bears and Tiki Room all without waiting.

Regina

 

[Tabetha]

We split our stay between AKL and Ft Wilderness.
The AKL was very busy, but that didn't seem to translate to wall-to-wall people at the parks. We encountered light to moderate crowds most days except for Saturday the 11th, when we just tried to stay ahead of the masses by park hopping.

As far as the Pop Warner kids go, yes we noticed them, but it wasn't "bad".

Hey, who knows, they may choose a different week next year...

 

[Mickey Fliers]

The problem here is perception. We just returned (12/3-12/10) and thought the crowds were very manageable. Was it empty like November 2003? NO. But we didn't wait for any ride (also used TGM, third time now). There are going to be crowds of people walking through the parks at almost every time of year. I just hate to see when people get all worked up over crowd levels. We have been Memorial day weekend, end of June, mid-July, end of November (Jersey Week, Veteran's day and Super Soap weekend), beginning of December (Pop Warner) and beginning of May (start of Happiest Celebration on Earth) and every time people get all crazy about the crowds. I say, stop worrying, it is vacation. Go with a touring plan and enjoy yourself. You can't change when other people are going to go. Have a great time.