May Cheerleading Competition?

My DD just found out that there is a cheerleading competition going on at WDW the week of our trip (May 8 - 15). :frowning_face: Does anyone have experience with how much this will affect crowds? Has TP taken this event into consideration with the crowd calendar?

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I wouldn’t be too worried. The parks are still at limited capacity with reservations. TP takes many factors into account. Just use a TP and optimize through the day.

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I have always heard that it doesn’t affect crowds at the parks that much. It’s like ~20,000 people, many of which are practicing, competing or spectating much of the time. 20,000 people is not that much over the whole property, and they purposely schedule the comps for slower times (in the past) to get people there. We’ve been there before during comps and didn’t notice much, some groups in the parks but that’s about it. It’s at the resorts that most people have “problems.” If they are at your resort - this year I believe they will be at Pop, ASMo, and CS - you will notice them and might have some negative experiences with big groups, noise, etc. In the past when I’ve been there, if they are in large groups they have their own transportation (like if the whole team is going somewhere). In my experience, most of the “it’s going to be crazy!” comments come from the cheer/dance people themselves, who, I don’t know, maybe think it’s a bigger deal than the rest of us I guess.

With the reduced capacity, most of the parks are going to be at capacity from here on out, I’m afraid. That means while you might notice more of them because they are a bigger proportion of the guests than normal, they won’t affect crowds at the parks overall. They don’t get extra access or anything, they had to/have to reserve parks just like everyone else.

I’d be concerned personally if I was going to be at CS during that time and hoped to use the pool(s), but that is a circumstance of Covid and then not adding a pool when they built the tower. Otherwise I wouldn’t worry.

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We were at CS in 2019 for the cheer/dance World’s. You’re correct that it had little to no impact at the parks. Coronado was hell. Hour+ waits to get into food court, crowded pool, noise late at night and early in the morning.
The worst offenders weren’t even the kids. It was the parents! Lots of parents volunteer to be chaperones for a vacation, I guess? So many drunk rude parents.
I’ve only ever complained at Disney twice in my life - just recently with the wheelchair issues, and this trip. Management at Coronado admitted it was chaos. We got 5 1 day PH from him, as well as basket of toys/treats for DS whose birthday (on our first day) was a mess bc we couldn’t even get near the food court to get him dinner until 9 PM.
Much like Principal Tinker with AKL, it’s given me a bad taste about Coronado, and I’m not sure I’ll ever stay there again, even though management tried their best to fix it.

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Oh they’re not chaperones. They’re there to “support”. Just like Dance Moms…but more caffeinated. LOL.

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FIFY :rofl:

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I would be concerned if I was staying at their resorts… just from stories I’ve read. Are you?

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Haha! Probably both!

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No. Thank goodness! :smile:

I wouldn’t worry too much then, sounds like biggest issue is at the hotels.

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