Brazil Tour Groups!!

[smidgy]

I am SO annoyed at disney for putting up with these groups.


I am also SO ANNOYED at people who think those of us who are annoyed are being racist profiling, etc.
rules are rules are rules.
you cannot cutinline. you cannot sprawl over the path. you cannot chant.. not in line, not on the ride, not on th ebus,, not EVER!!!!!

 

[smidgy]

I honestly don't understand why people get so bent out of shape about the big tour groups in the parks. I just came back from an 8 day trip yesterday and there were TONS of big tour groups. Yes they were loud, chanted alot, and walked together. So what? You are in disney world and the parks are playgrounds. It's going to be loud. I actually enjoy the chants because it's fun to see others having such a great time. That is what disney is all about. I would rather hear chanting Brazilians than screaming children lol (not that I let either bother me because both are simply part of the reality of disney world). I can't understand why so many people would let others affect the quality of your vacation. If you don't let it bother you it won't. If you want a nice quiet vacation go to the beach.

On the other hand the tour groups being loud in the hotels during sleeping hours is a different story.

and, apparently, you, luckily, did not experience this.

try having the whole bus on the way back tio the resort ,, SCREAMING!!!! the whole time! and the whole resort, the "quiet" pool, having the soccer coacehs trying to FIght with your hubby for smoknj gin the dsa, and having soccer balls kicked into you window at 1 am, when you have to leave at 6 am....
and having an INEFFICIENT CM on a segway, telling YOU tha t YOU should be POLITE to OUR Brazialian guests. (like WE asre the hosts, THEY are the guests.. umm I think I Paid for this vaCATION???)
then , at 1 AM hearing a security guard telling a braziilan mom that they can see "Both" SIDES OF THE ISSUE '" what "both sides" the side 0f the brazilian soccer coach, trying to punch my hubby for smokiing in the dsa? the annoyning teens who refused to move while we were trying to get our luggage to our room ,a dn they were standing in the sidewald, andrefused to move?

or the annoying boys who, as soon as we left our luongers to go to the dsa or wwim in the pool, took our towels and books, etc, and put the in a heap at the side of the pool.


yeah, these are great children! great chaperones! Disney REALLY needs to to deal with these groups.. for the most part.. they are NOT polite!!!! they are out for everything they can get.

 

[Sammie]

There is just something about the pack mentality. Honestly makes no difference if it Brazilian teens, or Pop Warner or even yes.................
Snowbirds.

We went the last of Feb and early March and everywhere we went were huge groups of Snowbirds. Now for granted they were not chanting, but they were all on scooters and one particularly vicious group had this one woman as the leader and she would get them all in a very large V and with her as the leader and they would just mow everyone down at Epcot that got in her way and her horn.

It was horrible. We finally figured out to just let them get in their formation and follow behind them as they mowed down everyone else.

 

[dairyqueenmom]

We have been the 1st, 2nd, and now the 3rd week of August and the tour groups are gone. I have never seen huge groups like those except in July and Jan/Feb. They have been coming in July for at least 16 years, that's when I vowed to never go in July.

 

[tardin1964]

We returned from a Grand Gathering week at Dinsey which was the last week in June. There were 10 of us. Since I've never been to Disney other than in Aug. and Nov. I never gave a thought to these groups. I now have a lot of thoughts on them...most negative... and here are two examples why...

As other posters have said, they are just kids trying to have a good time. But when they are grouped together like these tour groups are it's easy to forget that.

I blame most of the problems associated with these groups on the adults running them. From what I saw there would be a few adults in the front of a group...one of course holding the flag...but I didn't see many others. They seemed to lead these groups with no real control or care of anything going on behind them.

Here are two examples of issues we had....

Getting into line at POTC a tour group was just ahead of us and was entering before us. Ok...no big deal. It was only around 10:30am and it wasn't very crowded yet. When first entering POTC there are two lines you can choose from so you can go left or right. About half the group went left, the other half went right. Our group of 10 decided to go right. Well right before the railing divding left and right ended, the group that went left decided they wanted to be on the right side. They started jumping over the railing to the right side. My group got caught with some jumping ahead of us and some behind us. Ok...not that big a deal.... but then those behind us started pushing through our group so they could be with the others in their group. Of course this was totally wrong. If there were adults at the rear of the group maybe they would have prevented this....but maybe not.

The second example was exiting Fantasmic. There were a number of tour groups sitting in the middle section. Probably about 300 people in total. As you face the stage we were sitting far left. When the groups were leaving they formed two lines. They all interlocked theirs arms around the person in front of them...usually by their backpack. So they were all exiting basically in a long chain. They were hell bent on staying together. Didn't matter who they pushed or shoved to do so. Again....this is more the fault of the ones running the groups. If they all wanted to exit together they should have waited the extra 15 or 20 minutes for the theater to clear out then leave. Any of us who have been to Fantasmic knows how crowded it is getting out. Having a hundred or so kids in a chain was ridiculous and actually dangerous to those around them.

But I know nothing will change. These groups bring a lot of money to WDW.

 

[KrysiaG]

We were there last weekend and tour groups were every where. Though they were pretty decent at least those we were around. The only problems I had was them chanting in the Soarin line and then later before fireworks we were trying to leave and there was this big long chain of them crossing by the ice cream shop on main street. I mean really a chain of them they had locked arms and no one could walk thru them to go toward the exit which caused a huge bottle neck. Walking ANY WHERE in the parks with arms linked like that should not be allowed for these huge groups.

yes, the chanting - they got in trouble for chanting right before Fantasmic and while riding a few rides we were on as well.

They did seem really nice, except the one time about 50+ of them tried to push thru the Fantasmic line to get up with the rest of their tour group - but they realized it was impossible and backed off.

Other than that, I couldn't imagine those tour groups keeping up with all those kids. The one group sitting around us at Fantasmic told us there were 400 kids in her group ALONE - and I swear there were 3-6 groups at any park on any given day (judging by the colors and names of the tour groups on their shirts). They were also visiting for 20 straight days, something I can't imagine letting my adolescent kids do out of the country without me.

But, they seemed respectful enough for the # of kids they had.

 

[KrysiaG]

Wait, Brazilian teenagers taking over WDW? I really need to start learning my Portuguese... or at least see if they can understand me yelling in German.

I am guessing they are here now is probably because the seasons "flip" across the equator. Since we are approaching fall, they might be on their spring break. They probably will be gone in a month or two.

I asked them if their country was in school right now back home, and they told me NO - they were not in school, which is why they were here for 20 days right now.

 

[KrysiaG]

Are they in all the parks, I guess i'm wondering if we are in MK and it's too much, if we hop over to HS will they be there as well? Are there that many groups?

Everywhere.
Every single park.
Multiple groups every day.

 

[KrysiaG]

I'm here right now, and it is absolutely insane. Much worse than my last trip in the summer in 2009. The parks are absolutely overrun. We did Phantasmic the other night and I would say about 60% of the crowds were tour groups. They were trying to out chant each other all nit, and were extremely rowdy.

For the most part, though, the only thing that bothers me is the incessant chanting. It's so bad when they walk by I can't even talk to my kids. They also tend to walk 10 abreast and bump a lot, which worries me with my 5 year old. I'm 6'3 275#, and I've gotten to the point where I just relive my Oline days and shove right through them. I really wouldn't hesitate to floor one of them.

Obviously these groups mean a lot to Disneys bottom line, as these parks would be almost empty right now without them, but they absolutely have to do something about the size of the groups and the chanting. As it is right now, I won't be coming back again anytime soon, pretty much solely because of the rowdiness.

This is how our Fantasmic experience was, as well.

 

[KrysiaG]

Speaking of.... this is my daughter entertaining herself before Fantasmic with one of the Brazilian tour groups. Only 1 out of the group spoke any English, so they wound up teaching each other funny facial expressions.

It passed the time, and my kids had fun

 

[KrysiaG]

After all the quoting/posting, I just wanted to say that besides the 1 occasion of Fantasmic attempting to cut line, they were all pretty decent to deal with. I didn't see the locked arms - I did see the mass herding with 1 guide (and about 50-100 kids per group) going around. They didn't seem to knock anyone over and I didn't see any rude behavior. It was so hot, we were just trying to make it thru it all, LOL.

My kids loved the group at Fantasmic, and the chanting really didn't bother me to any extent. The poor kids were digging up change and trying to come up with $ to buy $4 bag of cotton candy, so we helped them out (they split 1 bag among 20 kids or so). My kids tried talking to them and played with them for entertainment (while waiting for Fantasmic to begin) and they all had a good time. We took their pictures, they took ours, it was fine. They seemed respectful and well mannered enough - despite the sheer # of kids in each group. I can't imagine having a group that size to be responsible for, and did wonder how on earth they manage to stay away from their parents for so long in a foreign country. But, that being said - it worked out just fine for all of us... even during 4th of July week.

That was our experience anyway.

 

[csmom]

Just back yesterday. Multiple very large groups in every park, every day. Loud chanting in Thunder Mtn line, but worst was while waiting for Beauty and the Beast. At least half of theater was tour groups who seemed to be having a chanting competition for half an hour before show started. Couldn't even carry on a conversation with the person sitting next to you due to noise. Huge gridlock in Animal Kingdom when 3 different tour groups were at one "intersection". Had an adult woman, I assume a chaperone, put out both arms to stop the line going into FOTLK while the remainder of her group (at least 50 or so people) pushed around the line to come from behind to join their tour group.

 

[MonoManBlue]

I do not know if its been mentioned here, but the tour groups have figured out the SINGLE RIDER LINES too. On Test track last week, a group of 100+ got in the single rider line and caused that line to SKYROCKET to 65 minutes while the standby was only 60.

Also, 26 of them decided they'd pass me and my girlfriend in the soarin' line to catch up to their TWO group members. THIS WAS THE FASTPASS LINE!! The CM saw it, pulled us out of line, took us to the front, and gave us 2 more FP's to ride again. I thanked her thoroughly for helping us.

and with those two instances, I don't think they really behaved too badly. Sure they chanted, and all that other stuff, but it didn't ruin my trip!

 

[drgnfly30]

I experienced the groups in July 08.. try being stuck in the middle of a line for 30+ minutes when Toy Mania shuts down for technical issues with them chanting, chain hair braiding & jumping over the 'gates' to chat with friends... it's un-nerving. After a day or so we'd scope them out & head the other direction..

That being said, I think the linking of arms & blocking thoroughfares is down right dangerous & should be addressed by Disney.. consider if there were an emergency & you tried to get through that type of bottleneck!! I may be dating myself but it brings back horrible memories of when (and why) General Admission entry to concerts was banned.

 

[Brian Noble]

rules are rules are rules.

Rules are rules...until it comes to using a mug you bought at one resort later at another, I guess.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2759321

Edited to add: welcome to my ignore list.

 

[Jeafl]

Just back yesterday. Multiple very large groups in every park, every day. Loud chanting in Thunder Mtn line, but worst was while waiting for Beauty and the Beast. At least half of theater was tour groups who seemed to be having a chanting competition for half an hour before show started. Couldn't even carry on a conversation with the person sitting next to you due to noise. Huge gridlock in Animal Kingdom when 3 different tour groups were at one "intersection". Had an adult woman, I assume a chaperone, put out both arms to stop the line going into FOTLK while the remainder of her group (at least 50 or so people) pushed around the line to come from behind to join their tour group.

This is exactly what happened to us 2 years ago at the Beauty and the Beast show. Probably 50 or so were waiting in line in front of us to get into the show. About 10 minutes before they let us in about 150 more kids tried to move up in line to be with the other kids. When we finally sat down in the theater, all you saw was a sea of yellow shirts. It was crazy!

 

[Birdman1511]

yes, the chanting - they got in trouble for chanting right before Fantasmic and while riding a few rides we were on as well.

They did seem really nice, except the one time about 50+ of them tried to push thru the Fantasmic line to get up with the rest of their tour group - but they realized it was impossible and backed off.

Other than that, I couldn't imagine those tour groups keeping up with all those kids. The one group sitting around us at Fantasmic told us there were 400 kids in her group ALONE - and I swear there were 3-6 groups at any park on any given day (judging by the colors and names of the tour groups on their shirts). They were also visiting for 20 straight days, something I can't imagine letting my adolescent kids do out of the country without me.

But, they seemed respectful enough for the # of kids they had.

Yeah I heard about this at Fantasmic. My sister was there and was telling me about it. From what i hear while they were doing their little "war cry" a group of Americans stood up and started chanting USA!!!

Anyway, to add to it.. my sister is also a cast member, she is "friends with Mickey, Miney, Donald, etc"... She told me that bc of what happened at Fantasmic, they've banned chanting. and when she went to work one day the manager had a huge meeting with everybody about ten minutes before work and said that all the tour groups have now been warned, and if a cast member(it can be any cast member from somebody in merchandise, to a janitor) see's any chanting going on they are to escort them out of the park... pretty interesting. Lets see if this new rule actually goes into play though.

Personally, I don't mind these groups in the months of Janruary, February, etc... but in the summer time it seems like its ridiculous, they chant, they chain link arms, and they line jump like ive never seen before.. i dont know if anybody has mentioned this yet... but i guess a group of like 50 of them tried to get into the garden grill without a reservation, so they were obvioiusly denied... so they pretty much just "camped out" of the garden grill, almost in a protest. finally after about two hours they were told to leave. Also, its pretty well known behind the scenes that all of the characters cant stand them. they're too rough with them, they grab them hard, crowd them, shout at them, and it gets too overwhelming for the character.. its honestly ridiculous and i cant understand it

 

[rock_doctor]

After all the quoting/posting, I just wanted to say that besides the 1 occasion of Fantasmic attempting to cut line, they were all pretty decent to deal with.

You got lucky. We saw Fantasmic last Christmas (Jan 2nd or 3rd i think) and the line waiting to get into the show was so densely packed there was not a single inch to be had. And because of that a gentleman was so determined to push past he actually tried to climb over me. He changed his mind when i grabbed him by the throat and pushed him off my back. And when the gates opened they ran, not sprinted but ran full bore for the show room knocking slow moving people out of the way. I felt like i was playing football again. When we see them coming we either go the other way or just leave the park. The up side, since they operate as a hoard you can actually stay ahead of them.

 

[DisneyFive]

If it really is as bad as it sounds, Disney will HAVE to do something soon. The things mentioned in this thread are extremely discouraging to read, and would ABSOLUTELY keep me out of Disney World during the time period these large groups are visiting.

First, let me say that I have NO problems with visitors from other countries, the color of a person’s skin, or tour groups in general, etc... However…
The chanting would drive me nuts!

1) It is exceptionally rude to impose your constant noise on other guests in the park. This isn’t just some kid having a meltdown, or parents yelling at a child. This is intentional. The chanting displays a “we don’t care about you” attitude. Being teenagers, this thought probably doesn’t occur to them. They just want to have fun, have camaraderie with their friends, but that doesn’t matter! It is still very rude and annoying to others. Talking to these large groups would be a frustrating lost cause, as it sounds like the chanting occurs very often. This seems to hold true for both the Brazilian groups and the cheer groups that visit. It would be great for CM’s to have a stack of small cards in their pockets that simply say “Please be courteous to other guests in the park and do not chant or cheer during your stay. Violators may be removed from the park” in whatever language necessary (Portuguese, English…). The CM’s could simply hand out the cards to the offending groups. I’m sure it would go a LONG way to solving the issue

2) The locking arms is downright dangerous and again, extremely rude. If someone in a party, especially young kids, gets separated by a large tour group all locked together, how do you get to them? Being a guy, I know that there would be some arms unlocking as I force my way through, but for many others they would not feel comfortable forcing the situation. What gives these groups the o.k. to create their own large moving fence? Again, they are imposing on others in the park.

As for the long lines when a group goes to a certain ride, well, so be it. …or a little line jumping to stay together… That comes along with Disney.

The chanting and locked arms would drive me nuts however. I haven’t experienced it, but it gets me upset just reading about it.

Dan

 

[Gustavo Castanheira]

I belive the arm locking is a method the group uses to avoid getting separated, since the group is so big. However, it's clear that this not only annoys other guests, but is dangerous as well. This really should be addressed.