Brazillion Tour Groups

[wilde_oscar]

OK, I'll admit last week was the first time I have had first hand with the bazillion tour groups. I so understand the rants/stories/posts/warnings. Having traveled though South America pretty extensively and lived there a year or so... I know in general they do not have the same sense of personal space. And I was frequently reminded of it. But I only had two try to pull the "don't speak English" routine while pushing or cutting in line... and got surprised looks and one apology when I replied in Portuguese (I'm crazy but I am educated).

I didn't see the massive groups moving together as a collective, it seemed they broke up into much smaller pods. But if you wanna bad mouth and talk down Americans going abroad... I have never seen any groups of Americans so determined to push their way though an obvious line with people waiting, with the Brazilians, not so much. Guess I learned my lesson on two fronts about going in the heat of the summer, and during the height of tourist/bazillion tour group season. Back to the Sept/Feb trips. as my routine.

 

[BRobson]

Having been to the world many times but never before in July we were amazed to see the amount tour groups going about - they were everywhere

We had one group that had one group member save space in line then they all join and I whilst standing in a fastpass line wondered why the woman in front of me was taking so long - she was getting fastpasses for all of her group

It did get us to wondering how so many of them could afford to come on these trips in the height of the season and the money we saw them all spend in all the malls was outrages - they were buying games consoles and expensive bits of kit!!


DD who is 8 made me laugh - she pondered for a while and wondered would their yellow/green t shirt not get smelly if thats what they had to wear everywhere or did they have a new one for everyday - saves stressing what to wear

 

[disneyholic family]

OK, I'll admit last week was the first time I have had first hand with the bazillion tour groups. I so understand the rants/stories/posts/warnings. Having traveled though South America pretty extensively and lived there a year or so... I know in general they do not have the same sense of personal space. And I was frequently reminded of it. But I only had two try to pull the "don't speak English" routine while pushing or cutting in line... and got surprised looks and one apology when I replied in Portuguese (I'm crazy but I am educated).

I didn't see the massive groups moving together as a collective, it seemed they broke up into much smaller pods. But if you wanna bad mouth and talk down Americans going abroad... I have never seen any groups of Americans so determined to push their way though an obvious line with people waiting, with the Brazilians, not so much. Guess I learned my lesson on two fronts about going in the heat of the summer, and during the height of tourist/bazillion tour group season. Back to the Sept/Feb trips. as my routine.

since we're always at WDW during july (or as many CMs refer to it: taco month), we've had lots of experience with the brazilian teenage tour groups..

in brazil it's a tradition to send 15 year olds on a group tour trip to WDW...
i don't know how this tradition came about...

given their age and that they're there without their parents, i've always thought they're remarkably well behaved....
sure they're happy and excited, but what 15 year old, or adult for that matter, isn't happy and excited to be at WDW?

in our encounters with them, they're always very sweet and inquisitive...
and well behaved....

as far as i'm concerned they are no problem at all...
the problem in july is the heat, humidity and the number of people in the park...not who the people are...

 

[macheath]

OK, I'll admit last week was the first time I have had first hand with the bazillion tour groups. I so understand the rants/stories/posts/warnings. Having traveled though South America pretty extensively and lived there a year or so... I know in general they do not have the same sense of personal space. And I was frequently reminded of it. But I only had two try to pull the "don't speak English" routine while pushing or cutting in line... and got surprised looks and one apology when I replied in Portuguese (I'm crazy but I am educated).

Could you quickly teach me how to respond in Portuguese? How much is Rosetta Stone? Maybe I will take it on the plane.....

Had several "experiences" during our last trip.....DH and I started watching which direction the flag was going and then we would go completely opposite!

 

[crazydisneyman]

Overall, I would compare the tour groups to a group of American teenagers going as a group to Disney. We have encountered them several times, and the only real complaint that I have about the groups is that they can be very large (over 50 people) and you really don't want to follow them through the park, because if you go to the ride after them, then you have to wait for all of the group to go through first.

It could be any group, not just foreigners.

We would go in the opposite direction and come back to the same area later after they had moved on. We just tried to avoid them because of the extra time they would add to your day. The park could be empty, and you would still have a 30 minute wait on some rides that would usually be walk-ons.

Just my two cents.....

 

[wilde_oscar]

ah, given those comments, I'll clarify... it was not the teen agers that were the ones being rude other than there were a lot of them, the folks in question would have been mid 20's or so, could have been chaperons, but they were no doubt bazillion.

 

[disneyholic family]

ah, given those comments, I'll clarify... it was not the teen agers that were the ones being rude other than there were a lot of them, the folks in question would have been mid 20's or so, could have been chaperons, but they were no doubt bazillion.

there are also a lot of adult groups at WDW in July, both brazilian and argentinian (july is their winter break)....
i agree with you.....i've found the older groups more of a problem than the 15 year olds ....

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

the folks in question would have been mid 20's or so, could have been chaperons, but they were no doubt bazillion.

A bazillion anything is tough to deal with....

 

[luke]

haha they are ok mostly, but being stuck in an enclosed queue area with them while they chant can be hell!
They were very surprised when I spoke to them in Portuguese (I studied it in university as part of a Hispanic Studies degree)!!

 

[abish19]

Rex, you have a gift for making something annoying come across as nothing short of hilarious!

We saw just a few Brazilians during our Feb. trip (Feb.? I know!), and they were never rude or pushy...there were just SO MANY of them, that when they would head for a ride just didn't follow them (as others have said).

That being said...my husband speaks fluent Spanish, and his brother speaks fluent Portuguese...they can talk to each other, so I guess I have a translator, should the need arise!

 

[drakethib]

there are also a lot of adult groups at WDW in July, both brazilian and argentinian (july is their winter break)....
i agree with you.....i've found the older groups more of a problem than the 15 year olds ....

I will agree as well.

 

[abeyst]

this was my first year with the 'groups' as well. Most were well behaved - of course there's going to be a few in every group that are the exception. I was shocked by how young the chaperones looked. And every time I turned around the chaperones were together talking and all the kids were off doing their own thing. So what is the point of chaperones?

What I found astonishing is that the groups were SO BIG, and there were SO MANY of them! They literally clogged Main Street at rope drop, and if you were hoping for a pic in front of the Partners statue within the first hour you could forget it. We stayed out of their way for the most part, but we were aggravated by there being so many groups. It made it very hard to tour.

The worst experience I had was at Blizzard Beach - and it was a mother with 2 daughters cutting all the way through the line. She behaved way worse than any of the kids in the tour groups.

 

[Dale-Not-Chip]

But I only had two try to pull the "don't speak English" routine while pushing or cutting in line... and got surprised looks and one apology when I replied in Portuguese (I'm crazy but I am educated).

They also understand when you loudly say hey and point at them and then point to the back of the line. It helps to be a large man.


What makes the Brazilians more annoying than other large groups is the extremely loud chanting and the large mass they travel in. When you run into a group that has been allowed to splinter off into smaller groups they are fine.

 

[luke]

aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh that incessant chanting!!!
I took up singing Argentine football (soccer) songs to try and extract some revenge

 

[wilde_oscar]

Didn't get much chanting... but then again, I am able to block out the cheerleaders doing the never ending cheers in Feb as well... they are all so peppy in the morning, I so wanna make them switch to decaf.

 

[hookedonears]

OK, it might not have only just been the bazillion Brazilians. We normally travel during Sept. and Oct., though a few years ago, we decided to go during July. It was probably a culmination of many factors that made our trip almost unbearable. 1) The heat, 2) the massive crowds, 3) a change in hotel from our home away "the Poly", to the Beach Club, 4) the longer than normal bus line waits, 5) the food quality at a few of our favorite restaurants down substantially, 6) did I mention the Heat 7) a few less than desirable characters that we assumed must only come out during the heat of the summer, 8) the contest by many people who shouldn't have entered as to see who could expose the most skin and tattoos with out getting arrested, 9) did I mention the heat, and 10) to top it all off, the bazillion Brazillions that cut in lines, and left more trash on the ground after the parade in front of the Castle, than I have ever seen before.