Pop Warner Questions

[mush747]

The more I read, the more I want to avoid this!!

We are currently planning a two day trip in early December with our 3 and 5 year olds. We'll spend both days at Magic Kingdom and hopefully stay at the Polynesean.

Help!?!

 

[Bob P]

Hi and welcome to the DIS!

It's December 4-9, 2005.

Bob

 

[mush747]

Oh dear, that is right when we were thinking about going.

Are these kids all over MK?? Should we hold off a week? I was hoping to go that week and get in before the weather gets chancy. We live in Tampa and it seems to me that things tend to hold, weather-wise, though early December and then get erratic.

Opinions, anyone??

Thanks!

 

[mapmakerj]

The pop warner kids are participating in activites at the Wide World of sports almost every day so they rarely affect daytime park crowds. They do however affect the All star resorts. We were there last year from Dec 4 - 12 and saw no problems in the parks at all. If we saw any kids it was very small groups (maybe 4-5 at a time with chaperones) and they were not a problem. We stayed at AKL and had no problems. If you stay deluxe you will not see them at the resort. They stay only at the values and a few may overflow into a moderate or two. The only thing that happens in the parks is that they close MGM early on the last friday of POP Warner for a private party. We did MGM that day and didn't have any crowds until an hr or 2 before closing.

 

[Colinsmom]

Pop Warner had a HUGE effect on the crowds at MK when we were there in early Dec. 2004. Don't know which day we went to MK, but something like Dec 8 or 9. The first hour was fine, and then the lines were generally pushing the half hour plus mark (the line for Mickey at Toontown was over an hour), so we ended up leaving and going to another park. The other parks were quite empty, in contrast!

I've gone to WDW several times in early December, and this was by far the most crowded I've seen MK in a long, long time!

Since you want to spend both days at MK, I would recommend going after Pop Warner rather than taking the chance of hitting heavier crowds!

 

[WDWorBUST]

I have also witnessed some behavior from these kids I wouldn't want a 3 or 5 year old witnessing. They are just typical pre-teens to teenagers without enough supervision....but it is a family park. I personally would wait until it was over.

 

[mapmakerj]

Pop Warner had a HUGE effect on the crowds at MK when we were there in early Dec. 2004. Don't know which day we went to MK, but something like Dec 8 or 9. The first hour was fine, and then the lines were generally pushing the half hour plus mark (the line for Mickey at Toontown was over an hour), so we ended up leaving and going to another park. The other parks were quite empty, in contrast!

I've gone to WDW several times in early December, and this was by far the most crowded I've seen MK in a long, long time!

Since you want to spend both days at MK, I would recommend going after Pop Warner rather than taking the chance of hitting heavier crowds!

Wow, I find that strange! We went to MK on Tuesday the 7th all day and Friday the 10th until noon and the only long line we had was for Mickey on the 7th. Nothing else over 15 minutes the rest of the time. (We just walked on Pirates, Philharmagic, and HM.) You poor thing must have just hit it at the wrong time .
As far as behavior of the kids, we never, not even once in seven days had a single problem with language or any bad behavior. If you do a search for pop warner you will see that most problems occur at the value resorts. I did a lot of research before our Dec. 04 trip for DS's 5th bd because I heard some negative things about Pop Warner. I read all the different threads before I felt reassured that it would be ok. (Which it was and we had a blast!) I would check out the other threads before making a final decision. Good Luck!

 

[WDWorBUST]

I concur with mapmakerj - most of the issues we had were at the resort and not so much at the park. We have went twice during Pop Warner week at a value resort and after this last trip we won't be going again that week unless we stay moderate or deluxe. If you are staying at the Polynesian and visiting the parks you really should probably be okay if that's the best time for you. (sorry I didn't read your OP well enough). This last trip 12/04 during Pop Warner week really soured me on the organization as a whole. But it was due largely to experiences at the resort (Pop Century).

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We have been there during that week and have not really had any issues at all. Crowds are low but not the lowest we have seen. Lines rarely over 20 minutes. We saw a lot of the pop kids and never saw anyone that was rude or out of control. Some of the cheer leaders were a little loud but in no way ugly. The only problems we saw were horrible lines for the buses to the value resorts. We were at a deluxe and had not problems but would have hated to have been at a value!

Jordan's mom