Cm's suppose to stop group chanting

[oceanmarina]

They stopped it real quick when we were in line for the safari last week. That enclosed space is not fun with 50 people chanting.

Glad to hear that, hope this truly is the policy going forward.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Are these experiences from this year? I admit it was a few weeks ago but when I asked my daughter about these groups a few weeks ago she said she had only seen one group and they were well behaved.

Seriously though it does not matter how quiet a group is any large group is going to seem disruptive in a value hotel. At their scheduled meal time they come in backpacks cover the majority of the tables making it difficult to find a place to sit.

I was there a couple of weeks ago and the park was packed with tour groups. They were from many different South and Central American countries (they had the names of their countries on their shirts). In general we did not find them to be really disruptive, but there were some mildly annoying things. Once my daughter and I were headed to the bathroom and a group of about 50 swooped in in front of us. We had to find another bathroom because we were not going to wait for that many kids to use the few bathroom stalls in that bathroom (I don't understand how this is enjoyable for them, either). Once we parked our stroller and came back later to find that a group was lounging around the stroller parking area. Two males in the group were hanging all over our stroller. One of them was propping his feet on it. We were also photo-bombed once by a group when we were having our picture taken by a PhotoPass photographer at HS. We were posing and were suddenly surrounded by about 35 smiling young people who wanted their picture, made, too. It took the photographer a few minutes to explain that they could have their picture taken, too. Just not with us. When we were getting our annual passes activated at guest services we had to wait quite a while because an entire group was waiting in line at guest relations. CMs were trying to find out if they all needed something or if the CMs could just communicate with the leader. There seemed to be a lot of confusion. Finally a couple of CMs came over and herded them over to a different area to help them.

We definitely saw clapping and chanting. Once in line for Living with the Land. My daughter and I held back for a few boats after they finally got loaded because we didn't want our peaceful ride to be disrupted by chanting. I don't think they actually ended up chanting on the ride itself, but I didn't want to take that chance.

I understand how some people see the clapping and chanting as an unoffensive exhibition of enjoyment, but it really does negatively affect my enjoyment of the park because part of the joy of Walt Disney World is the music. I like to hear the joyful music being played over the speakers as I walk thru the different areas of the park. When I am at a sports arena, I expect to hear cheering fans. I really prefer not to hear that at Disney. Sometimes I feel like bursting out into a joyful rendition of Zip a Dee Doo Dah myself, but I refrain because I really do believe that would bother some other guests. Imagine if all 40,000 of us in Magic Kingdom began expressing our joy however we liked!

As to how Disney stops it, I really don't know. Civility in public places often depends on people policing themselves and adapting their behavior to cultural norms. When you have a society like we do today, where there are so many different cultures and few norms, there are naturally going to be some issues.

 

[JimmyV]

And to the argument about "no hotel is going to want empty rooms just to keep a group together" - well, yes and no. If the hotel is going to have empty rooms if they keep the group together, then they are going to have empty rooms if they don't.

At WDW, the "yes" part is true. The "no" part is not. Disney hotels have some unique features. Or, if not unique per se, exaggerated as compared to typical hotels. They don't get many one or two night reservations that serve as easy puzzle pieces to make the puzzle fit neatly. Your hotel had 40% short stays. Disney has disproportionally high weekend check ins and check outs. It also has rooms categorized by location or view. (Pool. Garden View.) And it has occupancy rates that are very high for the industry. I think it is now running around 15% or so higher than industry average. It isn't as easy to move the pieces around the chess board. If room 607 is in the row of rooms that you want for a group that is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, and the family in that room is scheduled to depart on Saturday, you either have to find a two night reservation to place there for Sunday and Monday so that the room frees up by Tuesday, or leave the room empty for those two nights. Since Disney doesn't get many two night stays, the first option may not exist. So you either leave the room empty or place a family in it who checks in on Sunday who plans to stay for a full week. Now, you could say: "Well, you shouldn't have placed a family in room 607 who was going to check out on Saturday. You should have put someone in there who was going to check out on Tuesday." But there are a few problems with that. First, Tuesday check outs are not common as common at WDW as they were at your hotel. And if the room was a "Pool View" room and the hotel was at 95% occupancy, there simply may not have been any other place to put them. So they got room 607 and departed on Saturday.

In the end, I don't think we are disagreeing as much as you might think. I am not suggesting that room blocking is impossible. I'm not even suggesting that it isn't easy. I am simply suggesting that some unique circumstances at WDW make it such that it cannot ever be foolproof. Does Disney try to separate out groups? Sure. But will there be times when a family who is not part of the group find that they are placed in the group's area? Yes. But as rare as those situations are, they always seem to find their way here on to this board with people complaining that Disney doesn't know what it is doing or isn't doing enough. If 2% of guests get stuck in group hallways, the complaints here will make it sound as if Disney is callously and randomly assigning guests to rooms with complete disregard for the sensitivity of the issue. And I'm fairly certain that you and I would agree that this is not the case. If anything I posted earlier came across as suggesting that Disney can't or doesn't try to keep groups together and place non-group guests in other areas, it was not intended as such. All I am saying is that there will be times when a family will find themselves closer to a group than they would like and the dynamics of Disney reservation patterns make this impossible to prevent.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

Why did Disney call you? Did you complain recently about this?

My wife filled out a survey when we got home and my wife sent them an email about our trip. The groups and my magic band issues were the complaints she had and they then called us about our experience. The cm I spoke to said cm's are now told they are to approach the group leader of any large group when they start chanting or cheering. However, looking at most cm's they don't look like the type who could or would approach a group and put a stop to this.

As for the amount of groups, we were there from the 10th-22nd and we counted at least 16 different groups.

 

[larryz]

How about the freeze ray! Lightweight, mobile, and highly effective

But a Universal Studios device won't work in a Disney park!

 

[larryz]

I find it surprising that all the Super Greeters are Brazilian-they need SGs from Argentina as well-the Brazil SGs have a very tough time "interacting" with the Argentina girls.

Yeah. WDW's a resort, not a soccer stadium.

That said, I'm guessing (and it's a big guess) that the Super Greeters are multilingual with English, Portuguese and Spanish.


But when I think of Super Greeters, this is the image I get...

 

[oceanmarina]

My wife filled out a survey when we got home and my wife sent them an email about our trip. The groups and my magic band issues were the complaints she had and they then called us about our experience. The cm I spoke to said cm's are now told they are to approach the group leader of any large group when they start chanting or cheering. However, looking at most cm's they don't look like the type who could or would approach a group and put a stop to this.

As for the amount of groups, we were there from the 10th-22nd and we counted at least 16 different groups.

I think any change needs to come as an administrative directive from the top down. If more people who encounter this type of behavior verbalize it to Disney (either the survey or a direct email to guest relations), I bet Disney would direct the CM's to be more aggressive in squashing this type of behavior.

 

[BrokeMack]

Yeah, but oftentimes peoples' grasp of the English language disappears as soon as a cast members says something we don't like. Reference the Philharmagic "Please move all the way to the end. Don't stop in the middle of the row".

 

[patrickpiteo]

Yeah, but oftentimes peoples' grasp of the English language disappears as soon as a cast members says something we don't like. Reference the Philharmagic "Please move all the way to the end. Don't stop in the middle of the row".

Most just go deaf when they are told that LOL

 

[Jeannie in NJ]

are the big tour groups in the parks the first week of Jan?

 

[LOL!]

But a Universal Studios device won't work in a Disney park!

The Fart Gun does.

 

[PetePanMan]

ok, these large groups are irritating, but let's focus on the real big issues like toddlers that melt down in shows, lines etc.These kids need to be given the boot! JK

 

[alvernon90]

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

So true! Like some people who refuse to see that just because the majority of the annoying groups are from out of the country, that does not mean they are annoying because they are from out of the country. They are annoying because they are being loud in an inappropriate venue, and that applies even if they are lily-white, super-sexy future pharmaceutical reps from southern colleges.

 

[quakechicago]

Not going to happen. I'll believe it when I see it.

That said we did see a CM call our security and throw out a group of jerks for making fun of a little boy in an Elsa dress. I'll take that 1000xs over worrying about the chanting groups not causing any actual hurt.

 

[WEDWDW]

That said, I'm guessing (and it's a big guess) that the Super Greeters are multilingual with English, Portuguese and Spanish.

No,they're all Brazilian.

They know some Spanish but definitely not fluent.

The thing is even if they were fluent in Spanish,it wouldn't help them in dealing with the Argentina girls because of the "dynamic" there.

 

[WEDWDW]

I have been down during weeks with cheer group competitions. You pit 50 cheerleaders from Tennessee against 50 from Alabama and they are all in line together for RnR, a friendly rivalry will break out and soon you have 100 loud girls chanting and singing.

As a regular July Guest at The Walt Disney World Resort,I can assure you that comparing Tennessee/Alabama or Auburn/Alabama or Ohio State/Michigan,etc. to Argentina v. Brazil is like comparing The Barnstormer to The Hulk!!!!!lol!!!!!

 

[Interpol]

Disney should just build a new 5000 room resort, call it "All Star Tour and Cheer Groups", and put all of them in there. Pit them against each other. Problem solved.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

ok, these large groups are irritating, but let's focus on the real big issues like toddlers that melt down in shows, lines etc.These kids need to be given the boot! JK

Back in the old days, we used to call this type of post "flame bait". Looks like I nibbled on the hook but didn't bite.

Or maybe it's humor?

 

[Davey Jones II]

Actually they WERE banned for a time in late '80's to early '90's-then the good ole first Gulf war brought overseas tourism to a screeching halt-and the big tour groups were allowed back in. I was on a CP during the first Gulf war and the regular CM's were dismayed that Disney allowed the groups back in-but the parks were DEAD without them-no OT, no 40+ hour weeks etc. My guess (hope??!) is that if tourism dollars are up again then Disney will get serious about corralling behavior. 'Course they are more noticeable now with EPCOT a shell of its former self and DHS basically dead in the water until Star Wars and Pixarland get up and running-harder to spread out very large tour groups...

The parks are packed now, so they don't need these tour groups anymore. And with these groups alienating more and more loyal guests, they may be more trouble than they're worth.

Definitely high time that Disney revisited its policies again...

 

[buyerbrad]

Interesting, but not surprising...

http://www.aol.ca/article/2015/06/1...rid7|canada-toshiba|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=663623