So is Pop Warner week really that bad?

[princess sparkle p]

We will be in the world Dec 1-10. I recently found out this is also Pop Warner week. We are staying at ASMU in a family suite. How crazy will the parks and transportation be? Anyone???

 

[princess sparkle p]

Anyone?????????

 

[buffalogirl]

Hello Princess!

I've never actually experienced Pop Warner, but I'm going to Disney 11/29-

12/6 this year. From what I've read, it doesn't impact the crowd level at

parks except Friday at MGM. Some people were bothered by noise at the

value resorts and others said they weren't impacted at all.

The "Search" on DISbords seems to be working today, try checking out

previous threads on this topic.

 

[espana94]

Hi Princess,

I have never attended Pop Warner at DIS; but, I do have three DDs involved in competitive cheerleading. We travel quite a bit for the sport. You should expect some noise at the hotel. The girls can get a little loud when they are together as a group. If they are there to compete, the different teams will probably hold impromptu practices on the grounds of the hotel. (Actually, this can be fun to watch. Most of the cheerleaders are amazing tumblers and athletes!) Expect the food court to be busy early in the morning, usually the cheerleaders have an early start. Once they are gone, the hotel is usually blissfully quiet. Finally, don't be surprised to see girls running around at all hours of the day with curlers and "do-rags" in their hair. This "glamour don't" is how the cheerleaders get their very curly pony tails for competitions. (Take it from me, rolling hair for competitions is a pain in the...!)

I don't think you will be too inconvenienced by the cheerleaders. Just keep in mind, the kids that are down at Disney for Pop Warner earned the opportunity to participate in the trip. Their teams won bids to WDW at local competitions. They are representing their cheer program and their state. This is a big deal for them

 

[TeresaMc]

We were there for Pop Warner last year and I will avoid it next year!!! We didn't get our room that we booked at ASSp but got moved to ASMu because of Pop Warner. I had booked 11 months in advance, needless to say I wasn't to happy about being moved. ASMU had tons of cheerleaders everywhere, the food court was crazy and very loud. The parks were not effected much, only seen a group here and there. So if you are staying in a deluxe or maybe a mod (I hear some of them stay in mods)you should be fine. If you wish to stay in a value, I'd say think long and hard.

 

[mytwinklestar]

We had NO idea what Pop Warner was before our trip last December. We will NEVER return during that week. Our experience was NOT good. There were a number of unattended groups of kids running around the hotel grounds. On more than one occasion we heard foul language spew from these roving groups. And, the icing on the cake for us was a scuffle in the back of the bus on the way to the resort from one of the parks. We stayed at a value resort - which I hear is the worst during this event. Some of the kids were well behaved, polite, and entertaining (as mentioned in another response). However, due to what we experienced with the kids that were not supervised, we will NEVER return during that week.

 

[dsnymomof4]

I agree with the above posters - we will probably avoid going during that week in the future. We stayed only 2 days at ASSp and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I agree that there were some players/coaches/parents who were very polite and my DH talked to many of them, but the majority of the kids were unsupervised, took over the whole resort, were throwing footballs around with no regard to people trying to walk by. We didn't personally have any problems at the parks, but did hear stories of problems on buses and with line-cutting. I think whenever you get a large group of kids together with not that many chaperones, you are going to have some issues. It is a wonderful time of year to be there. But, if I were you I would, at the very least, try to change resorts.

 

[Cory's Gal]

We stayed at POR last year during the first weekend. There was a little bit of overflow of teams at the hotel but no problems there. The parks seemed fine as well. I think they mostly stay at ASSp, but I am sure the rest of the All-Stars are busy too. Just be prepared!! Getting up and out early might be a good idea when going to the parks, before the teams do. Good luck!

 

[WillCAD]

I have been to WDW during Pop Warner weekend for the last 3 years running (I am not involved in it, I go for MouseFest). The PW groups are not that bad, but you will notice them.

I most noticed them at ASSP, in teh food court at Pop, and on busses all over WDW property. The cheerleaders love to get on a bus in groups of 10-15 and chant Christmas songs at TOP VOLUME!!!! until the bus arrives at the destination. It's actually cute for the first 10 seconds, then it gets old real fast.

Aside from that, I rarely even noticed any of the groups in the parks. Fortunately I have not had any experiences as bad as mytwinklestar or dsnymomof4. Just keep in mind that ASSP is sort of the headquarters for these groups, and Pop gets a lot of them too, so if you stay there you may run into some of the bad behavior described here.

 

[F4disneyfan]

No pop warner week is not bad at all people make it out to be way worse than it really is we visit WDW every Dec while this is going on and have had only 1 issue and it was with a parent not even the kids don't worry about it they are hardly ever at the parks either.

 

[F4disneyfan]

We were there for Pop Warner last year and I will avoid it next year!!! We didn't get our room that we booked at ASSp but got moved to ASMu because of Pop Warner. I had booked 11 months in advance, needless to say I wasn't to happy about being moved. ASMU had tons of cheerleaders everywhere, the food court was crazy and very loud. The parks were not effected much, only seen a group here and there. So if you are staying in a deluxe or maybe a mod (I hear some of them stay in mods)you should be fine. If you wish to stay in a value, I'd say think long and hard.

They actually stay all over the resorts not just the values we see them at places like BW and CR and POR POFQ and CBR so they are all over the place not in one location but as I posted we have never had an issue with them in all our years going the first 2 weeks of Dec. We use to spend 2 weeks at ASMU and ASSP or movies and loved seeing all the kids around. We had them at OKW with us last year and BW the year before that.

 

[princess sparkle p]

Reservations are made and have been since April. I found out after booking that my trip is during PW week, got a great deal on airfare too!! I am glad to have this info to help me with my “strategies.” LOL!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Oh, dear! We are at Pop from Dec. 2-6 and I was hoping we would be able to avoid being on any buses with the Pop Warner darlings.

Can anyone explain exactly how the competition goes? Do all of the teams come in at the same time and play until they get eliminated? Are there more kids likely to be in the parks later in the week, or does everyone have an appointed day and time to compete and the rest of the time they are free to do whatever? Do most Pop Warner participants arrive a few days early or stay a few days after to do things at Disney, or do most of them just compete and go home?

We are planning to eat breakfast at the Pop food court every morning, so hopefully it won't be overrun with unsupervised kids! We looked at upgrading to a deluxe but this is supposed to be a budget trip. I guess if the Pop Warner crowds are too scary we can grab a light breakfast at the parks and eat a more substantial lunch.

 

[buffalogirl]

I'm not sure about availability , but from what I've heard Pop Warner does

not use Coronado Springs Resort. If you are able to get a room with the

discount it ends up being about $111. per night including taxes.

We had originally booked AS Sports but found out about Pop Warner through

DISbords and decided to look into an upgrade.


It's Disney, I'm sure you'll have a great vacation either way.

 

[EthansMom]

Also, Pop Warner doesn't use POFQ, but does sometimes have overflow in POR. We stayed at POFQ last year during Pop Warner week and never saw any Pop Warner kids at the resort... saw a few at the parks, but they weren't causing any problems.

Also, last year, MGM closed early on Friday for a party for the Pop Warner kids.

If it's possible, you might consider trying to change your reservation to one of the Mid-level resorts (except POR).

 

[Simba22]

we will also be in WDW from Dec 1 - 10....staying at the ASMo. I was a bit nervous when I found out that this is Pop Warner week but I'm holding out, hoping that it won't be as bad as I'm fearing. If we have trouble with them, we know for the future to avoid this week or stay somewhere else. We would never let them ruin our vacation though.

 

[WillCAD]

We are planning to eat breakfast at the Pop food court every morning, so hopefully it won't be overrun with unsupervised kids! We looked at upgrading to a deluxe but this is supposed to be a budget trip. I guess if the Pop Warner crowds are too scary we can grab a light breakfast at the parks and eat a more substantial lunch.

For MouseFest 2004 I stayed at Pop and didn't fid the food court to be full of the Pop Warner kids in teh morning at all. They all seem to be up and out very early for practice, so the food court was actually quite empty by the time I got in there at 8:30 or so.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

For MouseFest 2004 I stayed at Pop and didn't fid the food court to be full of the Pop Warner kids in teh morning at all. They all seem to be up and out very early for practice, so the food court was actually quite empty by the time I got in there at 8:30 or so.

We are usually on the bus by 8:30 (because I am a park commando and I am awake by about 5 AM every morning!) so I estimate being at the food court around 7:45 or so. The one advantage to the Pop food court over eating CS in the parks is that we can use the DDE at Pop. If we find the food court too crowded one day I guess we can go earlier or later the next day. Since DS will be 10 I just can't bear the thought of paying $18 for a buffet where he will eat a waffle and a handful of grapes!

Wish we were still going to be there for some of the MouseFest activities! Unfortunately DH has to go back to work and DS will be truant so we have to go home on Dec. 6.

 

[pugdog]

Oh, dear! We are at Pop from Dec. 2-6 and I was hoping we would be able to avoid being on any buses with the Pop Warner darlings.

Can anyone explain exactly how the competition goes? Do all of the teams come in at the same time and play until they get eliminated? Are there more kids likely to be in the parks later in the week, or does everyone have an appointed day and time to compete and the rest of the time they are free to do whatever? Do most Pop Warner participants arrive a few days early or stay a few days after to do things at Disney, or do most of them just compete and go home?

We are planning to eat breakfast at the Pop food court every morning, so hopefully it won't be overrun with unsupervised kids! We looked at upgrading to a deluxe but this is supposed to be a budget trip. I guess if the Pop Warner crowds are too scary we can grab a light breakfast at the parks and eat a more substantial lunch.

We have gone the begining of December for about 6 years now, Mousefest baby! And have never had a real bad experence. Yes they do get a little loud at times and on the buses and the food courts can be busier at meal times.
As far as times they have the compitition I'm not sure but they leave early in the AM and are gone till after dinner some time. They are requried to go to games so seeing them during the day is real rare.
The offical resorts from their website are AS Sp, AS Mo and POR. You will see some of the families stay at some of the other resorts.

The biggest disruption you will notice is on the friday of that week they close MGM early and they have that park to them selfs.

 

[Corky's Mom]

My daughters cheerleading squad was there last year for Pop Warner. If you go to "Nationals" Disney requires you to buy a package and you must stay at least 3 nights with a 4 day Hopper. Each age division competes on a different day, so girls are free to go to the parks on all the other days. I know the football is different because they play until they are eliminated. The package offers either an All Star Resort or POR. We chose POR. I am sorry that people have had horrible experiences with Pop Warner kids. I know our squad had a parent for every child! But there were other teams at POR that were running wild! The food court was PACKED every time we were there!