Can you upgrade a cheerleading competition worlds ticket?

wendyt_ca

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
A friend of mine is taking her daughter to Disney for the first time as part of a cheerleading competition in March. She is asking me for advice on the trip. And I am wondering if the 3 day park hopper pass they get can be upgraded to add more days? Currently she has a package booked with tickets on that as well. But I am thinking if she can upgrade that pass it would save her money.
 
A friend of mine is taking her daughter to Disney for the first time as part of a cheerleading competition in March. She is asking me for advice on the trip. And I am wondering if the 3 day park hopper pass they get can be upgraded to add more days? Currently she has a package booked with tickets on that as well. But I am thinking if she can upgrade that pass it would save her money.
I haven't done cheerleading, but I did a soccer trip in December. The fine print on the tickets said they couldn't be upgraded. I'm assuming at this point the cheerleading tickets are probably the same.

If she wants to add days, why not call/email the travel agency handling the group and modify the tickets for more days?
 
Yeah that's what I am thinking but wanted to double check.
She's just been getting the info and I am meeting her tonight so it's something I planned on mentioning
 
A friend of mine is taking her daughter to Disney for the first time as part of a cheerleading competition in March. She is asking me for advice on the trip. And I am wondering if the 3 day park hopper pass they get can be upgraded to add more days? Currently she has a package booked with tickets on that as well. But I am thinking if she can upgrade that pass it would save her money.
My guess is she is going to the UCA Nationals in the beginning of March? It might depend on the package that UCA offers, but most likely her park hoppers are not upgradeable through normal Disney Channels. Worlds is actually at the end of April and Summit the first week in May. The only reason I mention this is because UCA (UCA) and Worlds (USASF) are put on by different Event Producers (EPs), so their policies may be a bit different. Worlds and Summit are my experiene, so my answers might not pertain completely to the UCA Nationals. However, the Disney packages are usually pretty much all the same between the different EPs. I did look on the UCA website to see if there was any housing info, but it is not up yet.

When we went to Worlds this past April, our tickets through the USASF were heavily discounted, so no opportunity to upgrade through normal channels. But, we could add days on through the USASF. If you purchased an onsite package, the number of days on the park hopper were based on how many days you purchased for the hotel package. For instance, if you purchased a 3 day package at All Star Sports, your athlete received a 3 day park hopper. If you purchased a 4 day package, you got a 4 day park hopper. You could add a day to the 4 day parkhoppers for $30. The main thing to remember is that the EP park hoppers include the daily entrance to WWOS ($40 a day at Worlds) which regular park hoppers through Disney do not include.

Additionally, spectator park hopper passes were available, which also included the WWOS entrance, a huge savings at $40 each day into WWOS. A 3 day was $280, 4 day was $310, and 5 day was $340. Discounted Water Park tickets were also available to add at $45 per day. ticket.

All park hoppers were limited to use during the 3 weeks between Worlds and Summit. You didn't have to use the days consecutively, but they were a use them or lose them during the 3 week time frame.

If they are on a commuter package and going through a travel agent, then your friend would need to speak to their gym to see if they can upgrade through the TA.

So, to make a long story short, she probably cannot upgrade the tickets through Disney. But she may be able to add days on through the EP. And we have done the math over the years of attending Worlds and Summit. There really is not a cheaper option than getting your park hoppers through the EP mainly due to the WWOS entrance addition. Her best bet is to talk to her gym to see what options for adding park hopper days are available. There has to be a way to do it as we had numerous families that had one kid competing at Worlds and another at Summit, so they just stayed the week in between. So, they would definitely need more than 5 days on their park hoppers.
 
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One thing to remember about going to a cheer comp at Disney, is that first and foremost, you are at a cheer comp. The kids are there to compete. My kids have always treated it as a business trip, meaning cheer comes first and if there's time for the parks, great. If not, oh well. I know quite a few kids who never even make it into the parks over the course of 4 or 5 days. There might not be tons of down time to enjoy the parks as one would if they were on a vacation. I tell my husband every year, we are here for cheer and it just happens to be at Disney. We are not here for Disney. Depending on her gym, she may be expected to watch the other teams at her gym compete. She may have practice the day she arrives. She may have practice after competing on Saturday depending upon how the team did. Depending on her gym's attendance rules, it may not be possible to tack on more than a day on either end of the trip. Before adding extra days, she should check with the coaches and/or owners to see what the expectations are.
 
One thing to remember about going to a cheer comp at Disney, is that first and foremost, you are at a cheer comp. The kids are there to compete. My kids have always treated it as a business trip, meaning cheer comes first and if there's time for the parks, great. If not, oh well. I know quite a few kids who never even make it into the parks over the course of 4 or 5 days. There might not be tons of down time to enjoy the parks as one would if they were on a vacation. I tell my husband every year, we are here for cheer and it just happens to be at Disney. We are not here for Disney. Depending on her gym, she may be expected to watch the other teams at her gym compete. She may have practice the day she arrives. She may have practice after competing on Saturday depending upon how the team did. Depending on her gym's attendance rules, it may not be possible to tack on more than a day on either end of the trip. Before adding extra days, she should check with the coaches and/or owners to see what the expectations are.

Dd was there over Thanksgiving for soccer and this was our line of thinking.

We did Disney Springs on Thanksgiving day until about noon as dd had an evening game and we wanted her to rest. The team's day off was Friday, so we went to EPCOT on a one day ticket we had left over. That was all the Disney we had time for from Tuesday to Sunday.
 
We were just there last week for a volleyball tournament. We flew in a day early, so we could squeeze in a day at MK. And one day we did an evening AK, and a couple hours at Disney Springs. That was all of the Disney time we had, because we were so tournament focused. I know some of the families added on two or three days extra to get some park time in. But, competitions came first on play days.
 


One thing to remember about going to a cheer comp at Disney, is that first and foremost, you are at a cheer comp. The kids are there to compete. My kids have always treated it as a business trip, meaning cheer comes first and if there's time for the parks, great. If not, oh well. I know quite a few kids who never even make it into the parks over the course of 4 or 5 days. There might not be tons of down time to enjoy the parks as one would if they were on a vacation. I tell my husband every year, we are here for cheer and it just happens to be at Disney. We are not here for Disney. Depending on her gym, she may be expected to watch the other teams at her gym compete. She may have practice the day she arrives. She may have practice after competing on Saturday depending upon how the team did. Depending on her gym's attendance rules, it may not be possible to tack on more than a day on either end of the trip. Before adding extra days, she should check with the coaches and/or owners to see what the expectations are.
This is so true. Our gym is one of the ones that emphasizes that the athletes are there to compete not to vacation. Our kids are not allowed to use the pools in the hotels or step foot in the parks from a day before through the end of the competition. Any time not spent supporting other teams, practicing, team meetings and bondings, or actually competing, is expected to be spent working on school work or quietly resting. Vacation can be taken before or after the competition as long as the athlete doesn't miss a practice before the comp and is back in town for their next practice. They have a 0 absence tolerance for anything that is not on very small excused list.
 
Yes it is the cheer competition in March. Where we are from they are pretty lax on what they do. She said at the cheer competitions they only have to be there for their sets.
She has never been to Disney before and likely wouldn't be able to take her daughter another time. Her daughter has been through some very traumatic experiences over the past few years so she is going down early and staying for 12 days so that they can do the parks before the cheer competition. That's why I was trying to figure out if she can upgrade the cheer ones. She isn't doing a room package through them so she would be buying her daughter 2 sets of tickets.
I don't think they can be upgraded from everything mentioned though.
 
Yes it is the cheer competition in March. Where we are from they are pretty lax on what they do. She said at the cheer competitions they only have to be there for their sets.
She has never been to Disney before and likely wouldn't be able to take her daughter another time. Her daughter has been through some very traumatic experiences over the past few years so she is going down early and staying for 12 days so that they can do the parks before the cheer competition. That's why I was trying to figure out if she can upgrade the cheer ones. She isn't doing a room package through them so she would be buying her daughter 2 sets of tickets.
I don't think they can be upgraded from everything mentioned though.
Is she absolutely sure she can get away for 10 days pre-competition? She may want to run that by the gym again before she books anything.

I cannot imagine any gym who is expecting their families to spend money to compete at a National competition in Disney would be ok with one of the athletes missing practices for almost 2 weeks before the competition. That is when gyms do final cleanups for nationals. If it is ok, then they are lax, really, really lax.

I know for me, I would not be happy to have to spend that kind of money to compete at a big national competition knowing there is no way in the world the team would place well because cheerleaders are gone for the practices before.

We live in the land of where cheer is almost as sacred as church and football, so maybe it is just a regional thing :flower1:
 
Yep she's 100% sure. Cheer is not like that around here at all. If your kid isn't in it then no one is even interested.
The parents are paying for the trip and it is from Canada so it is far from home.The cost of sending her daughter down is something that is a really big expense for a lot of people around here so they understand them wanting to go before.
Apparently a few of the other people going do the same. She is only 12 so it may be a bit different with younger girls.
She can't go after the cheer competition because a few days after they get home they have another competition locally.
 
Found this thread via searching for the same subject. We're going to UCA in March (also from Canada) and we are going for 2 weeks (the week before the comp - our last practice is Sat so we are leaving right after practice so we have the week before the comp and the week after for Disney - the week after is March Break and the gym is closed that week so we won't miss any practices) I am going to get a 7 day base ticket for my HB and my two boys. I'm not sure what I should do about my ticket and my daughters. We are staying offsite. I am thinking the 3 day hopper that comes with the competition fee and then buying a 4 day base ticket with the CDN discount? We want to do 7 days at Disney overall plus 2 days at Universal and one at Disney Springs.

While we are there for a cheer comp, we postponed a planned Sept vacation to make this comp into a vacation so we'll focus on the cheer comp for the Fri-Sun but the rest is about our family vacation.
 
Found this thread via searching for the same subject. We're going to UCA in March (also from Canada) and we are going for 2 weeks (the week before the comp - our last practice is Sat so we are leaving right after practice so we have the week before the comp and the week after for Disney - the week after is March Break and the gym is closed that week so we won't miss any practices) I am going to get a 7 day base ticket for my HB and my two boys. I'm not sure what I should do about my ticket and my daughters. We are staying offsite. I am thinking the 3 day hopper that comes with the competition fee and then buying a 4 day base ticket with the CDN discount? We want to do 7 days at Disney overall plus 2 days at Universal and one at Disney Springs.

While we are there for a cheer comp, we postponed a planned Sept vacation to make this comp into a vacation so we'll focus on the cheer comp for the Fri-Sun but the rest is about our family vacation.

I just did the math for her the other day on the tickets. Her daughter also gets the 3 day hopper. From what I have been able to find out she can't add days onto it. So when I did the math the best option for her was to buy a shorter pass to combine the 2 for her daughter and to just buy herself a pass for the full amount of days through undercover tourist (discounted tickets),
 
I just did the math for her the other day on the tickets. Her daughter also gets the 3 day hopper. From what I have been able to find out she can't add days onto it. So when I did the math the best option for her was to buy a shorter pass to combine the 2 for her daughter and to just buy herself a pass for the full amount of days through undercover tourist (discounted tickets),
Did you include the $40 per day entrance into WWOS? The parkhoppers through UCA include entrance to WWOS, the regular passes don't. So, you will need to add another $120 to buy WWOS tickets separately if she wants to watch her children.

Here are the tickets available through UCA:
https://www.varsity.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/19_uca_championships_iasc_extraticketorder.pdf
 
Yes I priced her pass with the 9 day park hopper with WWOS and it saves her quite a bit as opposed to buying a 6 day pass then the discounted 3 day pass through them.
 
Yes I priced her pass with the 9 day park hopper with WWOS and it saves her quite a bit as opposed to buying a 6 day pass then the discounted 3 day pass through them.

Just be sure that the competition days are not "blackout days" for ESPN. When my daughter's team was at Worlds last April, some of the families had purchased the Park Hopper Plus tickets that included ESPN admissions. However, those tickets DID NOT allow them access to ESPN on the days they needed it. They had to buy an additional $30-$40 US$ ticket for each person for each day that our girls were competing.
 
Just be sure that the competition days are not "blackout days" for ESPN. When my daughter's team was at Worlds last April, some of the families had purchased the Park Hopper Plus tickets that included ESPN admissions. However, those tickets DID NOT allow them access to ESPN on the days they needed it. They had to buy an additional $30-$40 US$ ticket for each person for each day that our girls were competing.

Great tip! That's good to know! They don't actually plan to hop so if she bought non hoppers and paid for each day at ESPN it would be about the same. But it's good to know so she gets the correct tickets thanks!
Everything else I know inside and out it's just the stuff related to the competition and ESPN I have no experience with!
 

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