Visiting Disney is often portrayed as a significant reward for winning sports teams in media and entertainment. But this “reward” is given out so often to cheerleading teams that some have started to abuse it.
Whether broken rules or broken etiquette, the bad behavior of cheer teams and their parents has frequently disrupted other guests’ vacations and poisoned the atmosphere at Disney Parks.
Why You Frequently See Packs of Cheerleaders At Disney
Cheerleading teams going to Disneyland after winning their “national” competitions has been a tradition since the 1980s. Since then, Disneyland has been a sponsor of the National Cheerleaders Association, and the park provides a special celebration for the winning teams.
This tradition has extended to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and is a popular way for winning cheerleaders to celebrate.
Related: Is The Pandemic To Blame For an Increase In Bad Guest Behavior?
The truth is that “nationals” also aren’t so national. There are 60+ high school cheer “national” competitions every year…and it seems like they ALL either compete or celebrate at Disney.
These Disney Cheerleaders are the Worst of the Worst
In 2023, two cheerleading mothers from Perfect Storm Athletics in Edmonton, Canada, broke Disney’s policy.
Dressed in matching purple shirts for the team Cheerleading Worlds 2023 competition, the women completely immersed themselves in an EPCOT fountain. Not only is this explicitly against Disney rules, but it’s also just really bad form. The guests were really furious.
Related: Cheerleading Team Bullied Online and Reportedly Disqualified After Viral EPCOT Video
Also, in March 2023, a team decided to have a cheer battle while waiting in a busy ride queue. A video shows two groups of girls shouting across the line at each other over the crowd.
Their chaperones film them happily instead of asking their team to be considerate. Disney fans were fed up and called it embarrassing.
Perhaps most unsettling is the story of the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District of Texas, whose drill team performed at Disney World‘s Magic Kingdom park. The girls, called The Indianettes, were dressed in Native American designs and fringe.
Their performance included a chant, “Scalp ’em Indians, scalp ’em,” as well as a stereotypical Native American dance, where they placed one hand over their circled mouths and made “tribal” noises. It was offensive to some Disney Park guests.
Related: Disney Implements Resort Guest “Quiet Hours,” What You Need to Know
Some cheerleaders who refused to stop doing stunts in Hollywood Studios accidentally hit and injured other guests!
Will 2024 Have Repeat Issues?
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is hosting cheerleading competitions in the coming months. Starting April 24 to 26, 2024, the ICU Cheerleading World Championship takes center stage, drawing cheer teams from across the globe to showcase their skills.
While guests may hope this is a one-weekend event, another cheer competition falls shortly behind this one. April 26 to 29 is the US All-Star Federation Cheerleading and Dance Worlds. Then, from May 3 to 5, the spotlight shifts to The Summit-Varsity All-Stars Cheerleading and Dance Championship.
Related: Disney Guests Sneaks in Prohibited Item, Go Viral for Illegal Behavior
One single cheerleading event can easily bring in close to 90,000 Disney Park visitors.
We hope that this year, cheerleaders will show good behavior and respect Disney’s policies and its guests.
Not All Cheerleading Teams Are the Same
Certainly, not all cheerleading teams cause incidents at Disney, but in 2023, the number of issues was relatively high. Guests often dread seeing massive groups of, often unchaperoned, kids in cheerleader uniforms because they don’t trust them to uphold the standards of the Disney Parks experience.
Have you ever experienced issues with cheerleaders in the Parks or at the Resorts? Let us know in the comments.
I used to go on December. Usually while the Pop Warner Middle school cheerleading championship was going on. They were cute and sparkly and well behaved. I guess they get more obnoxious in high school
It’s bad enough in the parks, but the cheerleading teams also take over the resorts!!! I was staying a Coronado Springs during one major cheerleading event & they even had RESERVED PARKING — whole areas of certain parking lots were “off limits” to “regular guests”, which forced me to walk twice as far just to reach my room!!! In addition to that, several times during my stay, I was disrupted by “cheers” being performed outside my room while I was attempting to “sleep in” on a weekend day, & they were rowdy on top of that!!!
I’m glad Disney supports various school sporting events, but I’m sick & tired of the “athletes” that don’t understand that they are NOT THE ONLY INDIVIDUALS ON THE PLANET. They SHOULD act like they have some common courtesy towards others, but that doesn’t seem to be the case & their chaperones are just as bad for not correcting their lack of decency!!!
My 8 year old son and I were trampled by cheer leaders on Guardians of the Galaxy. We were pulled apart and knocked to the ground after the final doors opened to get in the line. Then when we were almost boarding our ride car at least 20 cheerleaders cut the line saying their friends were ahead in line.
We were there during the collegiate Championships in January a few years ago. We were staying at All Star Movies. There were several groups there. Every night we would ask them nicely at 11pm to turn down their music. We wound up calling the front desk and was told that they had been getting complaints from people not even in our building about how loud they were. The police were then actually called. Not all groups are rude, and not all students in these groups are. Even when we walked down to ask rhem to turn the music down and to stop being so loud a couple apologized, but were quickly fussed at by their teammates. Maybe Disney should try putting them all at the same resort and not spreading them all over the hotel complexes to cause such disruptions.
I have learned to try to stay away from the parks during ‘Cheerleading/Dance Competition Season’. We did run into couple large groups of girls recently at MK. I believe they were in a dance competition. Ride, pushy, LOUD are just a few things they were. I know not all cheerleaders are like that.
I don’t know what is worse….Brazilian Tour Groups (BTG) or cheerleaders/dance competitions
There was a “cheer dad” who decided he was going to do a scavenger hunt for his daughter’s cheerleading team at Disneyland. Other guest saw him hiding things and called security, which caused the land to be closed for hours. Dad had no remorse for what he did.
Yes!!!! Most of them have zero consideration!!!!
I was there a few weeks ago during a “cheer” event. The cheerleaders were in the park. There were two standing in front of us for Tron. It took is 90 minutes to get through the line after our number was called. Those two cheerleaders repeatedly let other cheerleaders cut in line with them. In front of older people, disabled people and families. It was disgusting. No honor among these people.
I always groan when i see the cheerleaders in the park. Loud, obnoxious and completely inconsiderate of other people. Cutting in lines, screaming at each other across the way. I don’t understand why Disney allows this kind of behavior from them but would never allowing from a regular guest.
I experienced this phenomenon in Feb at DHS, where thousands filled the park! For reasons I cannot explain, I willingly stood in line for the ToT for over an hour while the girls casually cut through the line to join their friends, chanted their cheers at ear-splittibg levels, yacked their heads off and even walked along the walls! I guess I must admit enjoying the sight of these young ladies in their short dresses. BUT, after this experience I know what HEAVEN and HELL are like!!!
As a special needs cheerleader who’s going to summit and been to worlds. I have to remind people that They make a lot from cheerleaders sooo. For people who don’t know but we have to pay our way for tickets and entry fee which cost over 1,0000 dollars.
All this seems very hypocritical and targeting to me. Like cheerleaders, who worked incredibly hard all season, competed in numerous grueling competitions to EARN the right to come and compete here, are the ONLY groups to have a few bad actors in their midst. My daughter is a cheerleader that has had the privilege to compete at the Summit competition the last few years and I can tell you from first hand experience that bad actors (who are not cheerleaders or cheer families) are every where! Just recently a woman walking through the water on one of the rides made national news! My daughter and I were trampled by a family there for a family reunion (they all had the same shirt) trying to get on Kilimanjaro Safaris because they thought they had preferential treatment because they were a big group. I could go on with other non-cheer related bad behavior that I have seen over the years. Further, it’s posted in the calendar of events that Disney puts out when the cheerleaders will be there, just like the runners, baseball teams, football teams, soccer teams, dapper dans, conferences, etc. If these groups of CHILDREN are so offensive to you and your delicate sensibilities, choose another date! But to blanket the entire sport and all its athletes as rude, disrespectful, and the many other colorful adjectives that I saw in these comments and the article without even looking into the sport, what these competitions are and the incredible amount of work these kids do to get here is what I consider rude, disrespectful, shortsighted and downright insulting. Shame on you for vilifying these kids for being kids and targeted them as a whole completely ignorant of what it took to get there. Next time before you publicly shame, ask a question or two, research a little, and think before you go on blast.