Late April/ Early May 2020

We plan to go for our next Disney visit April 25-May 2, after booking I noticed that there will be Cheerleading competitions during that time. We will be staying at AKL. For those who have been during this time, how much of an effect do these competitions have on the park’s crowd levels?

I’ve been during that time and there was little impact. Crowds are pretty low and usually it’s not too hot yet so that’s a great time to go!

1 Like

I went this year April 26th - 29th. It was busy, but not crazy. Most rides had about a 30 minute wait without FPP, except for marquee attractions like Space Mt, SDD, FoP - those still had 1 hour+

1 Like

Thanks and do you agree that the weather was pretty nice?

We went that week this year and crowds were 2-4. They were manageable. It was definitely hot but not too humid by Florida standards and manageable heat.

I don’t think competitions or conventions impact crowds too much since they spend the bulk of the time at the event or practicing and usually only hit the parks for a day or 2.

1 Like

It was surprisingly hot!! Mid 90s + add 5 - 10 degrees for all the asphalt. (I live in TN and am used to the heat, but had hoped for better Spring time weather.) Also, be ready for Love Bug season!! They are everywhere… they are harmless. However, my teen hates bugs and wouldn’t stop fussing about it. In case you don’t know about them…

We’re in WDW that time of year every year. You won’t really notice the cheer kids a lot since you’re not in a Value resort (which is where the vast majority stay). There aren’t enough of them to affect how crowded the parks feel; many of them tend to have cheer related activities during the day anyway. Weather is usually nice and warm, but not too humid. This year it was a bit warmer than usual, and higher humidity too. It was also a bit busier than previous years, but I think that’s down to an overall increase in attendance. No such thing as a truly slow season anymore.

It’s one of our favorite times of year to go because of crowds, weather and the Flower & Garden Festival (because…food booths!). Hopefully you’ll love it as much as we do! :slight_smile:

3 Likes

We went during cheer competitions in 2018 (first full week of May). We saw cheerleaders in the park, but there wasn’t really an impact on crowd levels. We were at POR and there definitely was an impact there. I was surprised, as POR was not listed as one of the resort options on the ESPN site. They weren’t noisy, but they definitely filled up the food court for breakfast and dinner.

And we didn’t see one love bug while we were there.

2 Likes

I’ve also never noticed giant swarms of competition kids, and was even pretty surprised to find out from a mom on the monorail that the PopWarner Superbowl and cheer & dance championships were going on while we were there. It was a total non-issue in the parks.

2 Likes

Ugh, the love bugs! We were there the first weekend of May 2019. They were more of a nuisance than anything, but definitely memorable. At one point we tried to sit down on seating in Fantasyland but there wasn’t a single space that wasn’t taken up by love bugs. DS still talks about it.

1 Like