How bad was Pop Warner week this year?

[Kapp]

Just wondering as we may have to do that week next year. We have had one bad experience a few years ago (not with the players but with the cheerleaders and the parents) so am curious to know how it went the other week.

Thanks!

 

[cara76]

MGM was beyond packed on Friday, it wasn't even that packed Christmas week when we went in 97.

 

[cropper]

I just got back and only noticed they were there because of the matching outfits they wore to the parks. I stayed at OKW so I didn't see any of them there.

 

[poohangel]

We were in WDW Dec. 1-8, the parks were packed but we stayed at GF so was not affected there. Pooh was a 60minute wait and peter pan was a 50 minute wait.

 

[SandrA9810]

We were just there.
They were kinda scary cause there was a group of them cheering and chanting at epcot when we went in. Didn't know what it was all about till Kari saw another group wearing the pop warner shirts.
Didn't really notice them except when they were walking in big groups wearing crazy t-shirts and chanting along the way.
Although we were at MGM getting the stamp for the pin hunt at closing and they were all lined up to get in.

 

[never_enough_pooh]

We were there Dec 2nd-Dec 10th.

We saw the Pop Warner groups more at night, especially on 12/4 (Sunday), at the MGM EMH hours.

Still, I don't think they really affected the wait times that much. From anytime that I have gone to MK, I have always seen a 60 minute wait for Pooh or Peter Pan.

 

[Kitts21]

We were at Disney from 12/4-12/10. We were told that they don't affect the crowd levels. I would strongly disagree with that. We saw so many large groups of kids. I think it would have been much less busy with out them there. Some of them were really obnoxious. One group of girls almost knocked down my father to try to sneak to the front of the line at test track. Come to think about it most of the groups that were being crazy were the girls. I think we will try to avoid them next time.

 

[TheresaNY]

We stayed at All Stars and it was a nightmare !! It was an absolute zoo !! We would rather not have gone at all than dealt with so many unchaperoned kids. Even some of the "chaperones" left a lot to be desired. Eating in the resort was unbearable, the bus lines were ridiculous, and the parks were very crowded. Everytime we turned around there were people cutting in line on the rides, jumping into the fastpass lanes after the point where the CM takes the ticket, and cutting on the bus lines. We waited in line for a bus for 20 minutes in the rain with our kids then when the bus pulled up about 50 kids came running out of the store and cut to the front of the line where I guess their "coach" was waiting for them. They weren't even all from the same group. We didn't end up making it onto the bus !! Had I known, we would have gone to a park with a shorter line !!
In general, it was always noisy and extremely chaotic. If you do not want to be completely overrun by a hugh bunch of kids - avoid it entirely. I would never ever go again. There were some that were there that were well behaved and extremely polite. But they were so outnumbered that it is real easy to forget them.

 

[HayGan]

We really didn't have any problems with them at all. We did notice the groups and did run into a few loud groups a couple of times but we didn't find them to be troublesome. We found that we were able to walk on most rides and the longest wait we had one day was a little less than 20 minutes for IASW. We did utilize Fastpass and were able to ride everything that we wanted multiple times. DH and I both agreed that we will always go back in December and we will likely be there during Pop Warner week in 2006 as well.

 

[BonnieBell]

We came home from POR on the 5th, starting on Friday night it was a little loud at night, didn't notice how thin the walls were until then, but once I fell to sleep I was fine, I'm a sound sleeper. Didn't notice much in the parks though.

 

[Pocahontas1]

I just returned tonight and didn't really notice much of a difference. I think the longest we waited was about 20 minutes as well. We got to MK at 9am and rode most everything in Fantasy Land by 10:40am. We also used FP to avoid the long lines. We were at MGM on 12/5 and I didn't notice any groups, but since I have little kids, we weren't at RNR or ToT. The most annoying group I saw was running around in the Boneyard at AK. One girl almost knocked my 19 month old down on more than one occasion. We did see some chanting at various parks as well. Personally, I think that is inappropriate - save it for the competition.

We stayed at VWL and AK so they weren't affected at all.

All in all, not much worse than it was two years ago when I went at the same time.

 

[Mermaid02]

Going into MGM I was almost hit in the face by a cheer gone wrong- and then the cheerleaders about knocked over my 8 year old son. I'm afraid at that point I was pretty nasty to them. That was our only experience with them- never saw them in the parks (they didn't even go into MGM that day, just went to another bus stop). We stayed at CBR.

 

[jkfreeman33]

Been there......done that........ with the Pop Warner group.
Never again for me!
Dealing with huge bunches of screaming chanting girls is not enjoyable.
I check the boards to see when they will be there and avoid it like the plague.
We leave 12/14!

 

[boomhauer]

We stayed at All Stars and it was a nightmare !! It was an absolute zoo !! We would rather not have gone at all than dealt with so many unchaperoned kids. Even some of the "chaperones" left a lot to be desired. Eating in the resort was unbearable, the bus lines were ridiculous, and the parks were very crowded. Everytime we turned around there were people cutting in line on the rides, jumping into the fastpass lanes after the point where the CM takes the ticket, and cutting on the bus lines. We waited in line for a bus for 20 minutes in the rain with our kids then when the bus pulled up about 50 kids came running out of the store and cut to the front of the line where I guess their "coach" was waiting for them. They weren't even all from the same group. We didn't end up making it onto the bus !! Had I known, we would have gone to a park with a shorter line !!
In general, it was always noisy and extremely chaotic. If you do not want to be completely overrun by a hugh bunch of kids - avoid it entirely. I would never ever go again. There were some that were there that were well behaved and extremely polite. But they were so outnumbered that it is real easy to forget them.

I always say it, it's the chaperones. You know which ones? It's the ones that say "They're just kids, and my kid never acts that way."

Those are always the chaperones who are sitting at the bar or sitting on the bus with a dumb grin on their face, with their eyes closed, while their kids scream and chant on the bus as if any of the rest of the people care or want to hear it. Instead of telling them to shut up and be respectful of other people, they just laugh it off.

Complete ignorance.

 

[erikthewise]

We just got back (Dec 3-11) and once again had no problems with Pop Warner week. It depends on where you stay and where you are. Friday night they have an after-hours party at MGM so staying away from there Friday afternoon would have been a good idea. We did see a few identifiable small groups of Pop Warner kids/families, but we almost had to look for them.

 

[Tarheel Tink]

Oh yeah, they were a problem! DTD was pretty thick with them. We were at the RFC deck having dinner and a group with 3 worthless chaperones came in and caused chaos. They refused to take the table given to them, hollered for crayons and coloring paper, tried to order alcohol while the chaperones laughed, changed tables mid-stream so they could climb over the railing to smoke, etc. Our poor waiter had to wait on them and after about 20 minutes they still had not looked at the menu! We kept trying to read the name of the school on their jackets so we could write the school it was so bad but the hoods to the jackets hid the name. I feel bad for the "good groups" because these girls tainted the whole Pop Warner thing.

 

[boomhauer]

Oh yeah, they were a problem! DTD was pretty thick with them. We were at the RFC deck having dinner and a group with 3 worthless chaperones came in and caused chaos. They refused to take the table given to them, hollered for crayons and coloring paper, tried to order alcohol while the chaperones laughed, changed tables mid-stream so they could climb over the railing to smoke, etc. Our poor waiter had to wait on them and after about 20 minutes they still had not looked at the menu! We kept trying to read the name of the school on their jackets so we could write the school it was so bad but the hoods to the jackets hid the name. I feel bad for the "good groups" because these girls tainted the whole Pop Warner thing.

I'm so sorry this happened. I've seen this happen many times, which is why we avoid Pop Warner week. Like I said, it's the chaperones. Doggy see, doggy do. If the parents act like idiots, so will the kids. It's very sad and disturbing.

 

[DisneyWisher]

Definitely avoid any All-Star Resorts. Stupidly I thought we'd be ok at ASMu, my mistake. They close off the back parking lots for Pop. Luckily I am an early riser because they were practicing at about 7:30am. When we first checked in we were given a room in Country (the very back) we were the third from the last room. I called requested something closer to the lobby (yes, I had asked when checking in but was told there was nothing) they moved us to Jazz. I would have stayed in the first room if I was closer to my car but since they closed off the back parking lot it was quite a trek to the car. We drove everywhere didn't use any buses. We didn't eat at the food court, actually other than checking in we never went to the lobby the whole trip.
The crowd levels were not bad at all. Monday at MGM the waits were about 20 mins for RnR and ToT. At MK on Tuesday we walked onto almost everything though we did not go to Fantasyland. If we ever go Pop Warner week again we will definitely be staying anywhere except All-Stars.

 

[Lucky4me]

We were there the 2-7, in the parks 3,4,5 and 6th. I saw them here and there in small groups, but they were fine and didn't bother anyone around them. I will be going again next year that week as usual.

 

[dianemb]

We were there from Dec 4 to dec 10. Didn't notice them much at the begining of the week but did towards he end. Really didn't see the boys much. The girls did tend to be annoying with the LOUD cheering in the parks. They also had a tendency to get in line for autographs and then have friends join with them. Not really nice when your child is the one told the charecter is leaving now sorry!!!