When to go in December?? What is PW?

[Epcot Mom]

We're planning a trip for next holiday season basically just to see the decorations and enjoy the alleged small crowds. I keep reading about Pop Warner but can't find out what it is and what it does to the parks? We will be staying at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, which I believe is not one of the resorts the PW folks use. We were thinking of going the Monday after Thanksgiving at the earliest. What would you holiday season experts say is the best time to go??? Should we wait a week? How concerned do we need to be about PW?

Thanks!

 

[snyderla]

Hi,

Pop Warner kids are football players and cheerleaders that compete at WDW the first full week of December. This year they were they 12/04-12/09 I believe. We were there 12/01 thru 12/09 and mostly saw them at night at the parks. They stay at Value and moderate resorts, not sure which mods. The crowd levels are a little higher while they are there and the kids, as you may know, can be a little rowdy. I wouldn't cancel a trip because they are there, but next time we will go the week after they are there. Just because we want fewer people. It isn't like summer, but it is fuller than Sept.
Lori

 

[4lilpoohs]

We were there 12/8-12/12. The only time we noticed them was at Fantasmic. When people were doing the wave before it started the cheerleaders were cheering. We didn't have any problems with PW people.

 

[WaltD4Me]

PW is Pop Warner, which is a VERY large cheerleading and football competition. They are getting bigger and bigger with more teams going to WDW every year. They are usually at the Value resorts, but when we were there in December 2004, there were alot of teams at Port Orleans Riverside and a few at Port Orleans French Quarter, which is where stayed and one of the teams staying there got kicked out of the hotel.

Not sure what their dates are for 2006, but I would highly recommend avoiding going the exact same week, if your days overlap a little, like Epcot Mom's, a day or two probably won't be a big thing, but being there with them the whole week they are might be a bit much for you, even staying at a Deluxe.

 

[travelin' tigger]

Not sure what their dates are for 2006

I believe the dates for 2006 are Dec. 3-9.

 

[widget]

Is PW only held in December?

 

[hockey mom]

We just got back from going the 10th to the 17th and it was fabulous. We had no more than a 10 min. wait(the really popular rides), and were walking right on to almost everything.

Also if you plan on going to Universal their "Grinchmas" celebration starts on the 9th and is excellent.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

The week before Christmas was great!! From the posts on here, I would bet that we experienced lower crowds during this time than others did earlier in the month. What a pleasant surprise!

 

[vicceja]

Hi!

We stayed at AKL on Dec 8th - 14th and didn't see them at all. PW is usually the first week of December so this is why I chose the dates we picked and it was perfect. The parks were not crowded and we literally walked on everything except for TestTrack which we fastpassed. We did notice one of those International School Groups but they weren't obnoxious like I have experienced in June/July. It is a great time to go - ENJOY!

 

[hockeygirl]

I was there a couple of weeks ago during PW week, and we didn't really notice them at all. We stayed at the Boardwalk and had a great time. We did notice some groups around during the day, but experienced no problems from any of them. It is a great time of year to go!!

 

[MICKEEP]

We were there last week from 12/17 thru 12/26 and I have to say the crowds where much less than I was anticipating. Except for Christmas day we never waited longer than 20 minutes for anything and even that was rare. Of course we used Fastpass extensively and never went on Soarin' in the standby line, which always had a very long waiting time. I did notice that many of the posted waiting times were much higher than the actual wait. We noticed a 50 minute wait for Rock & Roller coaster. In actuallity we were on the ride in less than 20 minutes.

The week before and up to Christmas is a really great time to go. But I wish the weather was warmer

 

[CarolinaBlue]

We were there the same dates as Mickeep and the crowds were better than I expected. We used fastpass for anything with more than a 20 minute wait. We had about a 15 minute wait for Soarin', but it was so worth it! Everything else was either walk-on or a 5-10 minute wait. We did notice the crowd increase on Christmas Eve. We stayed out of the park on Christmas Day, but we did go to 1900 Park Fare that morning, so we saw the huge crowd trying to get in to the Magic Kingdom. It finally warmed up at the end of the week. I would love to go back in December again.

 

[blessedby3]

Glad to hear the crowds werent too bad the week before Christmas because that is when we are going next year. I was thinking that things would be gridlock type crowded. I hope next year it will be light. We are going the 16-23.

 

[HayGan]

We were there during Pop Warner this year and didn't have a problem with them at all. We will likely go again the same week in 2006

 

[bobbiwoz]

We overlapped PW one night, and the pool was very noisy up to and even after 11PM. We stayed at ASMu, it was OK for 1 night. We were at Epcot day/night and didn't notice any problems.

Bobbi

 

[TDS373X]

We were there from 12/10 thru 12/15 didn't really wait long for anything 10 mins maybe. Our DME driver ,who was wonderful, told us when he picked us up at the airport told us we were lucky because on that day they had 20,000 people checking out of the resorts. Don't know if the number he gave was exact but I know when we landed at 10am at MCO there were what seemed to be a million people waiting to go thru security and when checking in at ASMo I did not have to wait because there was no line to check in. The line for the airport check in was HUGE. We had a fab trip. Later in the week there was a wrestling thing going on because we kept running into what looked like high school wrestling teams going to the parks after they were done for the day.

 

[conwaym98]

We were at POR from 11/30-12/4. There were several Pop Warner groups that arrived on 12/2-3. I didn't notice much of a difference with the crowds in the parks toward the end of th eweek. We mostly saw them in the food court in the morning and in the evening. They were a bit on the rowdy side and a little inconsiderate in the food court. It definitely impacted the wait times for ordering meals, but other than that it wasn't a problem. You should be too affected at a deluxe. Most of the teams stay at the values, POR/POFQ and maybe one of the other moderates.

As for the parks, most of the wait times were under 15 mintues. THe exceptions for us were, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Thunder Mountain (all between 20-40 minutes), Test Track (1 hour, used fast pass with a return time for 50 minutes later, waited in line for 10 minutes) and Soarin' (170 minutes stand by, fast passes were gone we we got to EPCOt AT 3). We took advantage of teh EMH hours and were able to do alot during those times with minimal waits (Atro ORbiter was 5 minutes, Adventures of Pooh was 10, Dumbo during morning EMH was 10). The beginning of December is also MouseFest (big informal convention of various discussion boards/web sites). THis can also increase attendance at the beginning of the month.

 

[jaysmom4285]

We've been twice in recent years during PW week. As has been noted, their impact on park attendance is minimal - for the most part they are otherwise occupied for much of the time. MGM did close at 6 PM the Friday of that week for their personal use. The people who have the most issues with the PW kids are those who stay at the same resorts with the kids - there are many reports of the kids being loud and rowdy and crowding the pools and food courts. For our two trips, we were at a deluxe one time and a moderate (CBR) and barely even noticed that the PW kids were around. We just saw a few random small groups in the parks. If you can stay where they are not, you should be fine.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I went 11/28 (monday after Thanksgiving) to 12/3 (Sat.) and it was the BEST time to go (in my opinion). I only waited 10 minutes for Space Mountain and everything else was a walkon. I also stayed at Pop Century and it was very quiet. After hearing about the POP Warner kids, I would avoid staying then. I have nothing against them and I think that they should be able to enjoy their time in WDW, but I would prefer to have a quieter hotel stay than I've heard others mention during POP Warner week. If only I could afford a Deluxe!

 

[Epcot Mom]

Thanks for all the awesome responses!! Now we just have to wait our 11 months!!! The DVC people told me this morning that the pre-Christmas time is becoming very popular, who knows what the crowds will be like in a few years!

Thanks again everyone!
Epcot Mom