Brazil Tour Groups!!

[The Princess]

Not a good thing then!

 

[oobidoo]

I think it's way past time for Disney to institute some sort of single rider rules AND fast pass rules for large groups (large being 20+). We have pulled up to a fast past queue at 10:30 in the morning behind one of these groups that already had a return time of 4-5 oclock in the afternoon (in January!). Of course, you could get a fast past and come back at that time if you were willing to stand in line for another hour waiting to get to the kiosk.

I don't have anything against anyone that wants to have fun on their vacation no matter where they're from, but I have to draw the line with this. My family would never behave that way in our own country, let alone a foreign land. Of course, in another country they wouldn't put up with it anyway. I am very tired of horrible behavior being excused away with the "it's their culture" argument also. When this "culture" causes my child to be in fear that our bus is going to flip over on our Disney vacation that we worked hard for from their jumping and rocking, I won't be made to feel bad for being angry.

 

[Shir Kahn]

What if they are adhering to social norms? What if the way they are acting is perfectly acceptable in Brazil? How is this any different that complaining about "fat" or "lazy" people who look "perfectly fine" using ECV's and not knowing how to drive them? I am not sure why, but threads about these tour groups seem to be some of the most blatantly racist threads on these boards.

Here are some simple truths:
(1) any large group of people traveling together can cause issues within a theme park (lines, waits, etc.
Yes, if they don't use courtesy and break up the groups.
(2) take ANY group of teenagers and put them together away from home and they are going to act obnoxious to some degree.
Yes, and is that acceptable?
(3) chanting in a line is far less annoying that people talking through rides or taking flash pictures during dark rides.
In your opinion maybe. I can't stand the chanting.
(4) anyone that has issues with large numbers of people may find that WDW is not the most magical place to vacation.
It's not the numbers so much as the attitude of those numbers.

A good plan and some flexibilty is all that is needed to avoid drama associated with any tour group.

I don't care if it is the accepted norm for behavior in Brazil. Florida is not Brazil. You should modify your behavior to fit the place you are in. Cheering is acceptable at a sporting event, however it is not acceptable at a library. There is also no excuse for these groups to be under-chaperoned. More chaperones that actual did their job would make these threads go away pretty quickly. I not sure I'm seeing the racism you seem to be seeing in these threads.

 

[drgnfly30]

When this "culture" causes my child to be in fear that our bus is going to flip over on our Disney vacation that we worked hard for from their jumping and rocking, I won't be made to feel bad for being angry.

Sadly I'm afraid only something like that will prompt them to do anything.

To me it's obvious, these kids area under age correct? Disney could easily say that there must be one adult chaperone for every say, 8 (or 10) whatever # of) kids. Hell, even our schools have to abide by those types of rules! It's a safety issue.

That would also allow smaller groups to break off when touring the parks and disperse the crowds a bit, and with it, the propensity to create that 'mob type' behavior.

 

[Eddie75]

On one of our trips in July they jumped infront of us while trying to get on the bus with our 18 month old daughter. They were loud & rude! Hopefully there will be no groups when we are there August 18th thru 29th.

 

[manning]

Unfortunately it's going to take someone(s) getting seriously hurt and Disney being successfully sued for failure to take reasonable steps to protect their guests before they are willing to do anything about it.

 

[snowy76]

Our older DS was at IoA last summer with friends when a tour group came through the line for Harry Potter. They were chanting and chanting... until finally DS got his group and a whole bunch of strangers around them to sing the Star Spangled Banner back at them as loudly as they could. The look on the Brazilians' face was priceless, according to DS.

We're going to Orlando in 3 weeks and DS is tuning up

I also miss the times as a kid that some of these antics would start and my dad would turn around and scold them in Portuguese (he grew up in Sao Paulo). That all being said, I have a ton of family in Brazil and they would never act this way - it gives Brazilians such a bad rap.

 

[Kona65]

Unfortunately it's going to take someone(s) getting seriously hurt and Disney being successfully sued for failure to take reasonable steps to protect their guests before they are willing to do anything about it.

All Disney see's anymore is dollar signs. Your right, until Disney is hit hard in the pocket book, nothing will be done about this type of behavior.

 

[disney junky]

I just got back and they have been horrible. I was hit twice with signs that resulted in actual deep cuts in my legs from them spinning those stupid things around. I saw a group of 4 males RUN full force into a worker and then laugh and run away. My mom was run into and actually pushed out of the way by a small group of guys/girls running to catch the group.

While at a MK parade they actually overpowered the noise from the parade with Chanting! Why do they have to chant during events?

The poor behavior is just saddening. How ever I did encounter several friendly groups several times while in lines for food. Limited English but we could still speak to one another.

I guess that's my beef. We were waiting for Wishes, and two of them started a light saber fight in front of us. Next thing you know, they have hit my daughter. Don't misunderstand, my daughter is 25 and married, but she's little. I looked the kid straight in the eye and told him the appropriate response would be to say "I'm sorry." It's common courtesy that is lacking.

Some started chanting in Lion King, and the CM was on it in a flash. It stopped.

 

[jiminyfan]

while in EPCOT, I saw two Disney Cast Members with Green polos with Brazilian flags on the left chest and their name tags on the right with walkie talkies. I approached them to ask them if they were there to assist the groups, both smiled at me and kept walking never replying to my questions and headed straight backstage ASAP.

This signaled to me that not only does Disney not mind them they go out of their way to ensure they have Brazilian Cast Members on hand to assist them in whatever they need.

Does anyone know about these liaisons? Or anyone else seen them and got any information from them.

I too know we will NEVER go back in July again. We have gone in early July for the 4th many times, but never this late. We decided it was not worth the headaches and hassles. We noticed that the leaders in many cases were worse than the kids. We also wondered why teenagers were being forced to stay in packs. I do not think that many of the teens I know would want to do that.

And like others we tried to avoid them by park hopping, but there were just too many groups to escape them. Each park had 5 or more each day.

My only complaint is they swarm the FP lines way after their times and not just one group and this makes the FP you have been holding useless for the specified time period.

The way we look at it, Disney is going to lose our money now as we decided to start taking vacations elsewhere. To pay that much for admission and not be able to get on a lot of the attractions is just like throwing money away.

At least, we have seen they do not eat at the Signature dining establishments, so we could still enjoy our meals.

 

[toxa]

Brazilian here

Blame the Brazilian tour operators. In order to maximize profits, they hire too few, mostly young chaperones (that are in semi-vacation mood themselves), for such large groups. In these circumstances, nationals of ANY country will cause trouble.

Disney could address this issue somewhat easily/cheaply, by subsidizing some extra chaperones per operator, or perhaps hiring a team of Brazilian CMs to assist them on parks. Having many dissatisfied American customers back to the parks in July would certainly cover the costs.

Cultural differences play a role of course, but then I think people must chill out and accept WDW is an international destination, a happy place where people show of their happiness in a variety of ways

 

[jiminyfan]

I have mentioned this in other threads. We were caught in the middle of a miserable, rude South American tour group in the single rider line at RNR. Their group leader instructed (keep in mind she was giving these instructions in English) them on locking arms and refusing to be separated. When the poor CM tried to separate them to send them into the ride the girls cried and of course didn't understand what he was saying. Oh sure, they don't understand English when it helps them scam. This practically shut down the single rider line. At one point the CM had to send for someone to come help him. We were in the middle of all of this because the group was huge and they did not all enter the line together. Some young lovers appeared to be more interested in making out than keeping up. The tour group leader kept trying to pull kids from the back up to a group in front so that they could be together. It was my opinion that you are riding as single riders so there should be no need to jump ahead of others. They actually linked hands through my family and tried to pull people ahead of us.

What gets me is that everytime my family entered a single rider line we were stopped and questioned if we were aware that we would be separated. I had older teens and believe me we really didn't need to ride together and don't expect to when we enter the single rider line. I didn't see anyone stopping the tour groups before they got in line. This is just another way that Disney lets these groups scam and bully their way through the parks.

We too witnessed and experienced this on Saturday at RnR. In fact, they did shut the single rider line down for others because of the three tour groups that entered all at once.

Thankfully, I had FPs for our ride.

 

[disney junky]

We too witnessed and experienced this on Saturday at RnR. In fact, they did shut the single rider line down for others because of the three tour groups that entered all at once.

Thankfully, I had FPs for our ride.

I live in Palmyra. This is weird. We were there from the 10th to the 17th.

 

[jiminyfan]

Brazilian here

Blame the Brazilian tour operators. In order to maximize profits, they hire too few, mostly young chaperones (that are in semi-vacation mood themselves), for such large groups. In these circumstances, nationals of ANY country will cause trouble.

Disney could address this issue somewhat easily/cheaply, by subsidizing some extra chaperones per operator, or perhaps hiring a team of Brazilian CMs to assist them on parks. Having many dissatisfied American customers back to the parks in July would certainly cover the costs.

Cultural differences play a role of course, but then I think people must chill out and accept WDW is an international destination, a happy place where people show of their happiness in a variety of ways

I did see Disney CMs with Green Brazilian Flag polos on and they would not answer my questions of what their jobs were. The tour operators are out to make a profit, thus why they do not care. I just know that I have raised my son to act differently than what we have witnessed over the past two weeks at WDW. Sorry, but you cannot blame cultural differences over just plain rudeness and lack of morals and decent behavior. Guess that is the biggest difference, I taught my son to RESPECT others and the rules.

I have seen other nationalities have large groups as well, but none of them act the way the South American groups do.

My hope is that Disney's next new venture is to build a Resort in Brazil.

 

[jiminyfan]

I live in Palmyra. This is weird. We were there from the 10th to the 17th.

Well, maybe not the timing of this one trip!

 

[Art 1]

Brazilian here

Blame the Brazilian tour operators. In order to maximize profits, they hire too few, mostly young chaperones (that are in semi-vacation mood themselves), for such large groups. In these circumstances, nationals of ANY country will cause trouble.

Disney could address this issue somewhat easily/cheaply, by subsidizing some extra chaperones per operator, or perhaps hiring a team of Brazilian CMs to assist them on parks. Having many dissatisfied American customers back to the parks in July would certainly cover the costs.

Cultural differences play a role of course, but then I think people must chill out and accept WDW is an international destination, a happy place where people show of their happiness in a variety of ways

An international destination that is in the USA.

 

[Teacher Princess]

I believed that some "people" easily forget when they go over for spring break to Cancun and other beaches and touristics destinations,behave like savages, brake down hotels rooms, the drinking ( under age,remember) ? and the in famous wet t- shirts contests.. Seriously and IMHO all teenagers are discruptives and just rude, DONT MATTER WHICH COUNTRY they come from..... Its soo easy always to blame other nationalities and other people for the everything,, such a a small minded thinking....
I do understand that its not an acceptable behaviour and it has to stop. But we can not live in denial and accept the fact that the pop warner groups that comes in December are as annoying, rude,loud and discruptive as well. WDW need to adress this issues and planed ahead, together with their chaperones.. and fyi I brought to your attention " the spring breakers" in the beaches ,because I used to worked in the hotel industry in my hometown ( P.Rico) and they were not angels at all..:.
WDW its a worlwide touristic place and people from around the world will visit.. Have any of you have seen the movie " Walt and El Grupo"? In this movie Walt Disney travles to South America and I can tell in his face that he really enjoyed their people, their costumes and specially, they are FULL OF LIVE..We can learn from the teacher to be humble and to feel empathy from people aroud the world..
I do not think there is need to closed minded and hateful to others.. we are in the 21st century and I believed that we can all get along..

Thank you.. Puertorrican lady and Proud Army Wife.

P.S. I will be in WDW this next December and you will hear my lovely puertorrican mom talking spanish..

 

[tarheel618]

Question: Do the groups usually do the Early morning hours? We are going next week and plan our scheduled to hit the parks offering EMH. I am hoping they like sleeping in and by the time they get to the park we will be ready to head to the hotel for swimming.

 

[humboldthny]

Cultural differences play a role of course, but then I think people must chill out and accept WDW is an international destination, a happy place where people show of their happiness in a variety of ways

I totally disagree...if tour group behavior is so bad that it is actually driving away other guests (as many have noted they will not ever return to WDW during July in order to avoid BTGs) and endangering the safety of other guests, I don't think "chilling out" is an appropriate response.

And saying that the behavior is due mostly to too few chaperones is not true - I've seen plenty of large groups in the park with a single chaperone who seem to have no trouble behaving in a courteous manner (even, in my experience, Pop Warner has nothing on the BTGs - we've never had a problem with PW when they were in the parks)...rude is rude no matter where you are from. If you are traveling in a foreign country the responsibility is yours to behave in a manner befitting your destination, not expect everyone else there to put up with your "showing of their happiness in a variety of ways".

 

[Wadecool]

I totally disagree...if tour group behavior is so bad that it is actually driving away other guests (as many have noted they will not ever return to WDW during July in order to avoid BTGs) and endangering the safety of other guests, I don't think "chilling out" is an appropriate response.

And saying that the behavior is due mostly to too few chaperones is not true - I've seen plenty of large groups in the park with a single chaperone who seem to have no trouble behaving in a courteous manner (even, in my experience, Pop Warner has nothing on the BTGs - we've never had a problem with PW when they were in the parks)...rude is rude no matter where you are from. If you are traveling in a foreign country the responsibility is yours to behave in a manner befitting your destination, not expect everyone else there to put up with your "showing of their happiness in a variety of ways".

Well said!