Is Pop Warner week really that bad? =[
We really do not have the luxury of putting off our trip to another time, I run a kennel here at our farm and we will be extremely busy before and after the times we are going. I am a little concerned after reading all the posts about Pop Warner. We are staying at the AKL though and it sounds like they are at the Pop resorts...
Does anyone have any other advice to stay out of their way? THanks!! 
Were going the 2nd-10th.. pop warner crowds anything like the brazilian tour groups??
I was a cheerleader for 14 years so cheering and having fun wont really affect me.. Im just wondering about crowds?!
Okay, i see a lot of concern about Pop Warner from a few of you- so sorry you moved your trip TruBlu! BUT, in my experience, everyone makes WAY too BIG of a deal about it. UNLESS you are staying in one of their resorts, you won't be affected by them hardly at all. If you are staying at the All Stars (or whatever value they select this year), then I would be concerned. If you are in a deluxe, or in the other 3 moderates or other values they are not at, then no worries. they truly don't affect the parks- the only place they affect is the resorts they are at.
In fact, i think it is sort of a plus- since they don't really go to the parks that much (they are so busy all day long and might spend a few hours in the evening), BUT they do book up a lot of rooms- it means crowds are actually maybe even a little lighter than you would expect. although the rooms/hotels appear to be booked solid, they aren't having a real impact on the park crowds. which is nice. If those hotels were filled with regular guests, those guests would be at the parks during the day, making it more crowded. so i see it sort of as a plus.
We were there a few years ago and stayed at POR, which was the overflow and moderate hotel for those that wanted mod. Pop only uses ONE moderate, so all the others are okay. I don't know which one it will be this year- but in the past, it has been POR. There were talks of it being CBR or CS even, but i don't know plans for 2010. You might be able to check their site and find out (or ask a CM when you call). So here was our experience:
- Airport- no effect at all- barely saw any
- Hotel- POR (overflow/mod POP hotel)- mornings at food court were crazy. they tend to be busiest in the am- before they head off to practice or competition/games. check in was a nightmare. this was before the days of online check in. I remember one girl sleeping on a couch in the lobby, taking up the whole darn couch, when there were elderly and kids standing looking for a place to sit. So check in was a bit crazy. DO online check in and avoid it!
- Food court- Either go to breakfast VERY early or very late. I am guessing they were all out of there at least by 10 if not earlier. lunch wasn't that bad. Dinner was busy sometimes too- but it seemed mornings were the worst. overall, still manageable, able to get food with a small wait and find a table most of the time. we didn't eat a ton in the food court anyhow- we brought breakfast items like granola bars and only went to fill our mugs each am.
- Pool- it was very busy on certain days as well. typically not until afternoon/after lunch though. so if you plan pool time, just know it could be busy and hard to find a seat. go early if you can- if you go in the am, you will avoid them for the most part.
- Noise/overall at hotel- we were at POR for 10 days in two separate rooms in AB near the parking lot (I think 14 or 15 building), bottom floor. The buses would always let off right outside our door. so request a room AWAY from the parking lot area. OUr doors literally looked out to the parking lot. So late at night, we would hear the bus backing up, beeping etc. Only one night out of the 10 did we experience a problem. I say that isn't bad odds given the sheer number of kids there. We had to call security as the girls were running around up and down the stairs after 11pm, waking our toddler with us on that trip. Security came around and corralled them. Only night we had an issue.
- Parks- i only saw some football players in the park once. never really saw any of the cheerleaders. remember, this is in 10 days worth of park hopping. they football players we ran into (in line at space mtn) were extremely well-behaved. we never heard chanting or cheering, but maybe we got lucky? i expected to run into a LOT more and we simply didn't. They do close HS down early one night for a private party event for the POP folks. it is typically on that wednesday. Looking at the calendar, it appears HS does close at 7pm that wednesday (and at 8pm the rest of the week), so that is probably their party night. which isn't too bad, we only lose an hour of park time. that would probably be the night you would be able to enjoy the pool at their hotel more, since most of them would be at the party!
- transportation- we rent a car, so avoided long bus waits. so not sure how they might have affected transportation. the one time we took a bus- after staying for late pm EMH at epcot, we saw 2 cheerleaders on the bus. that was it. they have their own transportation of course for getting to and from the wide world of sports facility etc.
so i hope that helps share my experience a bit, as someone that stayed at a moderate they were at. I am sure it is a little worse at the all stars they are at. but if you are NOT staying in their hotel, then you should be just fine. I would only consider changing my dates if I knew i was in a hotel they would be in. but with good planning and just knowing what you are getting into, even that is doable----by doing: online check in, eating breakfast in room, avoiding food court except for lunch (or do off times), rent a car or get up early or go late to parks to avoid transportation crunch time.
I made the mistake of telling DS we would be eating in the castle when we went to go see mickey, and now that's all he wants to do whenever he watches a Disney movie and sees the castle in the beginning.
oh no- well hopefully you can do some other surprises maybe? so cute though about eating in the castle! My DS asks almost daily if he can eat with Pooh Bear and he is 2.5.
We stayed at three different resorts last year. It was great! We got a taste of value, moderate, and deluxe resorts all in one trip.
So how was it- how long were you at each? how was the moving process? I've considered a split stay and might want to try it in the future- maybe for Oct 2011, especially maybe staying paying cash and getting FD or discount for a few nights at the poly or something, then moving back to a DVC resort using points.
That is the only reason I switched our trip.
Since this was a mommy/daughter trip, I wasn't sure how I would feel about going at 28weeks solo with a 2.5yr old. 
