Parents Presidential Classic

[kitkat]

Our club is looking at this meet this year.

I did do a search before I posted on presidential and presidential classic and nothing came up..which I thought was odd...

Have you been? Good meet? Which hotel did you stay at? They are saying All Star, Caribbean or Wilderness are choices. Just interested in the meet itself.

Thanks Kat.

 

[Mish]

We went last year. Unfortunately 2 girls (my daughter included) were hurt and could not compete. Everything was already paid for, so we went anyway (Live in NY). The venue was cool, seemed to be well run. So many sessions, but each session was small and ran quickly. Varied from really tough competition to average. A girl got a 10 while we were there, but we also saw 7s. Overall, the meet was in a cool place, but did not really feel like anything different from your regular meets. Hope that helps. We stayed in a private timeshare about 5 min away. Some of the other girls from our gym stayed at the same hotel and they really had a blast. I think that type of trip is more about team bonding than the actual meet itself. Hope that helped.

 

[amiandjim]

I haven't been to the meet, but have been to Disney several times. I personally would choose Wilderness Lodge of those 3, if it's in the budget. The All-Stars are fine but the rooms are very small and I can't sleep in a double bed! Caribbean Beach is a step up, but they are doing a ton of construction at that resort, which has closed the main restaurant, etc..

 

[BachFlyer]

We've stayed at All-Star a few times. I like it because it's self-contained; the kids (mine are older) can run around, go to the cafeteria on their own, pool, game room. Rooms are smaller but less expensive, and we're never in the room anyway! Shuttle to the meet & other Disney properties and from airport makes it possible to travel without renting a car. I thought that the meet has been pretty well run, same as any other meet. Seating is good, bleachers which I prefer, as opposed to chairs all at the same height. Admission is expensive. They have 3 different gyms I think, and if I remember correctly two are in one building and one in another. Scoring can be vastly different by level due to different judges. I guess that's true for anywhere, but it seemed obvious here. Twice we've experienced our L8s (for example) having consistently lower scores, and the L7s having amazing scores comparatively across the board. The fun of the meet in my opinion is simply because of all of the other attractions of the area. I think I actually prefer the Sand Dollar meet as opposed to the Presidential...same venue, same everything, except their medals are way cooler LOL!

 

[M2Abi]

We went a couple years ago and got a 3 bedroom condo for about what we would have paid for a hotel room. I would look for a condo unless you're set on staying onsite at Disney. We had a day at Magic Kingdom with a couple of teammates and dd loved it. I think the meet was well run, scores were a little higher than we were used to. DD was Level 3 at this point. We had a good time, but I decided I prefer vacations and meets to be separate.

 

[skschlag]

We went to Presidential a couple of years ago (and have been in Orlando for multiple meets recently.) We always stay at Orange Lake. Great resort lots to do, and I think even wtih a rental car, it comes out cheaper than staying on property (and I love having a car).

Here is the website for it:
https://usacompetitions.com/presidential-classic/

 

[Ali'sMom]

We were there this past year. Although the meet sucked for my DD, it was a nice meet. Pretty big (3 sessions at a time), but seemed pretty organized. And although it's big, you can easily be near your gymmie on all events.

We used points and stayed at Gaylord Palms for the fun aspect (DD says that was the only good part of that weekend- LOL)

There are quite a few places to stay that are cheaper and definitely better if you're bringing the whole family.

 

[Texasmomof3]

We went this past year. I thought it was a huge waste of money, but then, we are not a Disney family and would never choose to vacation at Disney. Fees, travel for just dd and me, hotel, park ticket, admission, food was around $1500 for just dd and me.

We stayed at the Caribbean and the rooms were meh. The food is horrible. It is crowded, expensive, and everything takes twice as long as it should.

As to the meet, at ESPN there are no signs, so good luck knowing which building houses what and where to go. As for the meet itself, the scores were pretty generous. They medal out all gymnasts at all places, which I'd never seen before, and even announce the scores. So my dd, who was injured and only competed two events, was announced for 12th AA with an 18.something. She even got a trophy, and she was mortified.

It was one of the poorer executed meets I've attended. Half way through medals they determined the groups were wrong and made girls give them back and do it over again, causing massive confusion. As if it wasn't long enough announcing all the way out, they then re-did it, still getting it wrong.

To me, the value is being able to say you competed at WDW and ESPN. But the actual meet was pretty sub par.

 

[3rd_time_around]

https://usacompetitions.com/presidential-classic/

 

[Texasmomof3]

Fees, travel for just dd and me, hotel, park ticket, admission, food was around $1500 for just dd and me.

Should have said $2500, not $1500. $2500 for two people for two nights.

 

[Ali'sMom]

As to the meet, at ESPN there are no signs, so good luck knowing which building houses what and where to go. As for the meet itself, the scores were pretty generous. They medal out all gymnasts at all places, which I'd never seen before, and even announce the scores. So my dd, who was injured and only competed two events, was announced for 12th AA with an 18.something. She even got a trophy, and she was mortified.

It is very common down here for events to medal out 50% +1, and AA to medal out all the way. We were watching when one girl was laughing hysterically when she was called last (not a common reaction....) and her score was 8.9 or something. That's when we realized she only competed one event. Then we laughed, too

 

[Natasha]

We've rented houses or condos through Home Away in Orlando during meet season for really inexpensive. There are a couple of neighborhoods very close to the parks. Once we rented a large 6 bedroom house with a game room and pool and shared with team mates. It was a lot of fun and very cheap- I think our portion was less than $150 for 3 nights. We also saved on food as we cooked some of our own meals.
I like the layout of Presidential classic for viewing. At least for 2 of the gym set ups, they set up length wise along the bleachers so all 4 events are close up and there was room to move to watch each event. And the walkway is above the bleachers, so you don't have people walking in front of you throughout the meet. I was actually able to get good videos. The awards were in a tent in a completely different area, and as poster above said, there aren't many signs anywhere. Oh, and parking....be prepared to park way way way away...as there are tons of other activities going on in the complex.

 

[kitkat]

Thank you everyone for the reply. Its a team event so we will be expected to stay wherever the whole team stays. Hopefully we will do some pre-fundraising before so we can try and keep the costs down.
If the costs are too high - Alex and I won't be going. Our HC strongly encourages us to attend but in the end its optionals so we will make the final decision.
Lots of really great feedback and I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Enjoy your summer everyone.... Worlds are only 3 months away.... so pumped....

 

[3rd_time_around]

Thank you everyone for the reply. Its a team event so we will be expected to stay wherever the whole team stays. Hopefully we will do some pre-fundraising before so we can try and keep the costs down.
If the costs are too high - Alex and I won't be going. Our HC strongly encourages us to attend but in the end its optionals so we will make the final decision.
Lots of really great feedback and I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Enjoy your summer everyone.... Worlds are only 3 months away.... so pumped....

We went to meets as a team, but we rarely stayed at the more expensive host hotel. We just met up with the team before the meet.

 

[skschlag]

I would definitely tell them to look at Orange Lake. Lots of pools, arcades, water slides, and you can do 3,2,1 bedroom condos. We used to share a 3 bedroom condo with 2 other mom/boy combo and save a ton of money!