Walt Disney World crowds are most impacted by college breaks. That is hardly stop-the-presses information. It’s patently apparent given the core demographic for Magic Kingdom, which is households with youngsters. There’s a cause why the weeks of Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New 12 months’s Eve, and different breaks are among the many busiest weeks of the 12 months.
Much less apparent is how “sneaky” weeks with regional college breaks trigger spikes in attendance. The 2 we’ve mentioned at size on this weblog are Ski Week and Jersey Week. To the uninitiated, it in all probability appears counterintuitive that individuals would go to one of many hottest locations in the USA for a break devoted to snow sports activities. Jersey Week makes much more sense given the ubiquity of Spirit Jerseys amongst Disney followers…however that’s probably not what it’s about.
The purpose is that breaks for under a subset of college districts can have an outsized impression on crowd ranges at Walt Disney World. Jersey Week is simply a break for a single state, however roughly 71% of households from the Backyard State flock to Florida throughout that week each November. Narrowing issues even additional, there are the “breaks” that aren’t actually breaks however draw large numbers of school-aged youngsters: youth sporting occasions.
Traditionally, there have been huge youth sporting occasions hosted on the ESPN Huge World of Sports activities within the late winter and spring, and once more in November and December. Mainly, the months of the 12 months when Central Florida is comfy for outside athletic competitions (or “shut sufficient” to comfy). The schedules comply with an identical cadence to runDisney races, which equally skip the summer season months.
The phrases “Pop Warner” little question ship chills down the backbone of longtime Walt Disney World trip planners. For the longest time, this was a giant purple flag throughout the Christmas season, particularly on the Worth Resorts. Pop Warner was so notorious amongst Walt Disney World followers and we acquired so many complaints from first-timers that we included warnings about it in numerous posts, and actively really useful avoiding the All Stars throughout Pop Warner. Fortunately, issues have modified in more moderen years, and we’ll circle again to that in a bit. For now, the massive announcement.
In a transfer that underscores its dedication to delivering premier youth sports activities experiences, Pop Warner Little Students, the nation’s main youth soccer and cheerleading group, has introduced that its extremely anticipated 2025 and 2026 Pop Warner Tremendous Bowl and Cheer & Dance Nationals will happen in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The transfer marks the first time since 1995 that Pop Warner Nationwide Championships will not be held in Orlando, Florida.
The Pop Warner Tremendous Bowl is scheduled for December 6-13, 2025 on the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex. The Pop Warner Cheer & Dance Nationals will probably be held December 8-11, 2025 on the 600,000 square-foot Charlotte Conference Heart.
Annually, the Pop Warner Tremendous Bowl and Cheer & Dance Nationals carry collectively 10,000 student-athletes and their households from throughout the nation.
There are extra particulars to the announcement, however I’m guessing most Walt Disney World followers don’t care concerning the cutting-edge options at these venues, or listening to quotes from the president of Pop Warner or head of Go to Charlotte. The underside line is that that is nice information for Walt Disney World visitors…and, I assume, dangerous information for many who had plans for peaceable visits to Charlotte that week in December.
It’s value noting that this isn’t a sudden shift away from Walt Disney World. You will have missed it since that complete time was a blur, however Pop Warner really “briefly” moved away from the ESPN Huge World of Sports activities throughout the phased reopening. Right here was the announcement at the moment:
“We proceed to have an incredible relationship with Disney and are positive households will go to the parks that week. Whereas Disney has performed host to our Pop Warner Tremendous Bowl and Nationwide Cheer & Dance Championships for years, our partnership concerning championship week got here to a pause when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
We have been placing closing touches on a brand new settlement when Disney was abruptly tasked with internet hosting and making a bubble for skilled leagues just like the MLS and NBA at their ESPN Huge World of Sports activities advanced. With a lot uncertainty it was tough for Disney to decide to the long run and since our first precedence is our Pop Warner members, we determined to start out looking for a brand new location to make sure our groups had a first-class Championship dwelling.”
Consequently, the Florida Citrus Sports activities reached an settlement to host the Pop Warner Tremendous Bowl and Cheer & Dance Nationwide Championships. The occasions could be performed at Tenting World Stadium with Common Orlando Resort accommodations internet hosting households. There was nonetheless the expectation that Pop Warner would return to Walt Disney World finally, as soon as issues acquired again to regular. That by no means occurred.
In our youthful and extra weak years, we had the misfortune of staying at All Star Sports activities throughout Pop Warner. Suffice to say, there’s a cause it as soon as topped our record of 10 Issues We’ll By no means Do Once more at Walt Disney World. For the reason that shift to Common, I’ve stayed on the All Stars twice that week, and it was downright blissful by comparability. So for a number of years already, Pop Warner relocating to Common had an enormous, optimistic impression on the related resorts at Walt Disney World.
Nonetheless, Pop Warner did proceed to supply ticket packages to Walt Disney World even when the occasions have been hosted at Common Orlando Resort. That is another excuse why Walt Disney World followers would possibly’ve not seen that Pop Warner already moved–as a result of attendees have been nonetheless visiting the parks.
Presumably not in as excessive of numbers, however they have been coming. It was nonetheless attainable to have the unfortunate expertise of being caught in the identical Haunted Mansion Stretching Room with a gaggle of dozens of “high-octane” youngsters. And that’s the type of factor that sticks with you, and makes an outsized impression. (Ask me how I do know!)
The writing has been on the wall for an entire transfer away from Walt Disney World and Orlando since final summer season. Right here’s an illuminating (I believed) weblog submit by Pop Warner on its enterprise mannequin and among the challenges it has confronted. In pertinent half:
“Our occasion was considered one of Disney’s largest exterior occasion for years, as Walt Disney World generally noticed unprecedented progress. Many people have witnessed firsthand the explosive progress of Disney and the rise in guests for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. Nonetheless, that progress got here with a price.
Early on in our partnership with Disney, we supplied a whole lot of room nights and theme park attendance throughout a time of 12 months – between Thanksgiving and Christmas – that was mentioned to be the slowest stretch for the resort. In 2019, the ultimate 12 months of our most up-to-date settlement, Disney was reportedly at 97% capability regularly throughout that point interval, with the aptitude to e-book and safe reservations properly prematurely. Sadly, Pop Warner was now not the magic wand it was many years prior.”
A complete part of that Pop Warner submit additionally mentioned trimming prices, and the group eradicating the requirement of buying theme park tickets. Additionally they talked about that this was being completed regardless of a survey indicating that the overwhelming majority of attendees valued the theme park expertise and reported “excessive utilization of tickets, plus a excessive variety of a number of visits per particular person to the parks.” Therefore the crowds Walt Disney World was persevering with to see throughout Pop Warner even after the occasion relocated from ESPN Huge World of Sports activities.
There’s an fascinating dialogue in that submit that’s little question occurring amongst different occasions which are nonetheless held at Walt Disney World (for now). Pop Warner isn’t the one group that’s listening to from mother and father about ballooning prices and the necessity to trim bills. That is one thing we’ve additionally seen at Disneyland with Grad Nites, that are nonetheless fairly fashionable (for now) however the top-tier tickets have skyrocketed over the past ~5 years and cheaper packages have been created consequently. Even so, a number of college districts have already moved to totally different venues attributable to excessive prices.
As of 2025, there are nonetheless main youth sporting occasions hosted on the ESPN Huge World of Sports activities, together with cheer and dance nationwide/world championships within the winter and spring months. It appears inevitable that a few of these organizations will comply with an identical path as Pop Warner attributable to increased prices as soon as their contracts come up for renewal. First perhaps they’ll transfer elsewhere in Orlando, then out of state utterly. However that’s down the street, and purely speculative on my half at this level.
Truthfully, that’s unlucky. Regardless that Pop Warner was an notorious occasion for Walt Disney World followers, it was undoubtedly a optimistic expertise for them and their households–a lot of whom wouldn’t have visited however for the sporting occasion and it’s discounted packages. Walt Disney World pricing out the center class and needing to do extra to cater to households has been a sizzling matter right here, and these youth sporting occasions are a type of methods. The members may very well be obnoxious typically, positive–however we’ve all been pre-teens and teenagers. It comes with the territory. That makes this information a bit bittersweet–like the top of an period.
In any case, Pop Warner transferring away from Orlando utterly ought to end in barely decrease crowd ranges at Walt Disney World for December 6-13, 2025.
When making preliminary crowd predictions for 2025, we have been beneath the idea that Pop Warner would nonetheless be in Central Florida and would have a point of spillover at Walt Disney World. Robust emphasis on a point. The transferring of this huge occasion that attracts 10,000 folks to Orlando will not be going to have an enormous impression on crowd ranges.
Frankly, it could actually’t. Crowd ranges have already been low to reasonable for the second week in December for the previous few years. Just about since Pop Warner moved to Common, not so coincidentally. However with the occasion gone utterly, we do anticipate additional incremental enchancment.
That is what that is actually about. Our record of the 10 Finest and 10 Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2025 & 2026 already recognized each of the primary two weeks of December as among the many better of your entire 12 months. And as you is likely to be conscious, the week beginning proper after Thanksgiving is our #1 week of your entire 12 months.
With Pop Warner gone, that second week may now dethrone the primary week as #1. On the very least, they are going to be equal to 1 one other, so anybody who has the liberty to go to throughout both week can select on the idea of cheaper airfare, higher reductions, resort availability, and even their most well-liked Candlelight Processional narrator.
Actually, we at the moment are leaning in the direction of doing our annual household trip in that second week. If all else is equal, we’d in all probability reasonably not take care of the vacation journey rush. Transferring our journey away from Thanksgiving can be good, because it makes issues much less hectic. I’m additionally going to exit on a limb and assume costs will probably be decrease on all the things–from airfare to Lightning Lane Multi-Cross (which has a nasty behavior of staying elevated after Thanksgiving even after crowds depart).
Resort availability and reductions are additionally a giant one. It’s fascinating that Pop Warner talked about Walt Disney World’s 97% occupancy stage throughout this timeframe. I assume somebody at Disney Occasions instructed them this throughout negotiations for the reason that firm doesn’t publicly share occupancy numbers.
In any case, it tracks with what we’ve seen. November and December are sometimes booked up–and early. Usually, availability is slim pickins’ earlier than reductions are launched. To the purpose that we hear from readers who’re anxious that crowd calendars are all flawed and attendance will probably be heavy throughout their journeys.
A bit tangential to the purpose of this submit, however they gained’t. On-site occupancy will not be essentially indicative of crowds. Walt Disney World nearly all the time has excessive occupancy stats (particularly on the DVC facet–by design). Regardless of tens of 1000’s of rooms, it’s nonetheless true that almost all of visitors come from off-site, in order that’s what actually strikes the needle. 12 months after 12 months, accommodations have booked up within the first half of December…just for crowd ranges and wait occasions to be on the decrease facet of reasonable.
The underside line is that Pop Warner transferring away from Central Florida provides us increased confidence within the second week of December being one of many absolute better of your entire 12 months at Walt Disney World from each a quantitative and qualitative perspective. It was already possible that wait occasions could be within the decrease to reasonable vary, at worst, however now this dramatically decreases the probability of being caught behind hordes of under-chaperoned cheerleaders and soccer gamers, and that’s a useful assurance on the qualitative facet of the ledger.
It’s not an enormous pendulum swing from one of many worst weeks to the most effective, however it’s a huge win for flexibility throughout the vacation season. Now you don’t “want” to hurry to Walt Disney World earlier than the leftovers are even completed. Should you’d want, you possibly can go to (just about) midway between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and nonetheless have what’s prone to be the optimum Walt Disney World expertise. There’s now not a single #1 week throughout the vacation season–there are two of them. To every their very own, however that’s large to me as a fan of this time of 12 months!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider the Pop Warner Championships relocating from Central Florida? Anticipate there to be any impression on crowds that second week of December? Unhappy about this being the ‘finish of an period’ for considered one of Walt Disney World’s most notorious occasions? Do you agree or disagree with something in our crowd forecast for the primary half of December 2025? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!