Here now.....a few observations

[bytheblood]

What is a BTG?

Brazilian Tour Group


We saw two groups. One was pretty tame (wearing yellow) and the other (in the light blue) was extremely obnoxious and disrespectful!!

 

[bladiator]

We also had a run in with a BTG on Monday 12/3 during extra magic hours in MK. It was just after midnight and I was exiting Space Mountain with my son. As were were meeting dh this group of teens in light blue shirts and back packs came running to the line literally pushing each other through past the cm that asks for your room key, and up to the cm that stands in front of the inside entrance. She must have halted everyone, they slowed down but pushed through like a train. I assumed they were cheerleaders until a few seconds later we saw someone coming with flags and more teens. It was really disturbing. I'm glad my six year old and I were not in that line at that point. I felt bad for the cms who were young girls as well. The next day at HS we saw at least two more groups but didn't have any issues with the group as a whole.

Well huh. I was there that same day/night. Didn't realize that was what that was until reading this thread. My 2 friends and I were doing circuits on SM over and over, and one of the rides, 3 girls got on the back part of our car, and as soon as it took off, they were clapping and chanting for the majority of the ride. Not that this was a problem really, but I just remember doing the 0_o face. But I did see quite a number of those large groups. I thought maybe they were all cheerleading groups from another country, but now it makes more sense that they were BTGs.

Why is this a phenomenon so large that it has it's own acronym? I mean, why only from Brazil and not other countries? Is it that the BTGs are the only ones that go chanting and singing their anthem everywhere they go?

 

[NMDisneyFan]

There was one night we went back to MK at around 4pm. They closed at 7 and then there was a party. We didn't do any parties but just wanted to have a last few hours at MK. OMG the LINES to get in!!!!! We waited in line just to get through security for what seemed like 20 minutes, and then another 10 minutes to get through the turnstile, only to find out we were in the wrong line because that was the "party" line and had to be rerouted to the left for Gen Admittance, another several minutes. Once we got in, Main St was so crowded. I don't want to offend, so please take my gripe with a grain of salt, but I sort of thought, its not fair that all these party people are coming in so early so I can't enjoy a few more hours of MK, yet I am ushered out of the park at 7 for the party. Didn't seem fair. I didn't have an extra 400 dollars for my family to do a worried:

Sorry, but it is fair. Those people paid a lot of money so it is nice that they can get in at 4. You made a poor decision to arrive at that time.

 

[KorieDWnut]

Sorry, but it is fair. Those people paid a lot of money so it is nice that they can get in at 4. You made a poor decision to arrive at that time.

How would I have any idea that 4 would be a poor time? lol.

 

[mesaboy2]

Don't know who's reporting less crowds. We're here now and I'm amazed at how crowded it is. It's been as bad as some of the summer months I've been here. I was told by a CM at last night's MMVMCP that their turnstile had park attendance at 76,000. Today at Downtown Disney all the parking lots were full. I've been here at this time of year before and practically had the place to ourselves. This year its packed!

That CM was either pulling numbers out of, we'll say thin air, or they were talking about the attendance numbers for the day. No way the attendance was that for a party.

 

[luvthemouse71]

While the server was rude, I don't think a missing birthday song from a stranger is the end of the world, especially when it is for an adult.

 

[twinklebug]

Yep. It amazes me how they load every single ride chanting and singing their anthem and being obnoxious...americans would not visit another country and do the same thing.

It must be specific tour guides that encourage that. When we have gone in the summer there are BTGs everywhere and from what I saw they were all very well behaved and quiet. Intimidating due to their size, yes, but very quiet.

Side note to the wise: Don't ever hit the bathroom a BTG is using unless 1) you want to wait, and 2) you realize Brazilians just don't have the same degree of modesty as most Americans do. Ladies will fully change their clothing right at the sinks. Shocked my 17yo daughter pretty bad LOL

 

[twinklebug]

The soap in the bathrooms make your hands smell like vomit. .

This worries me. More and more companies are using a floor cleaning solution that smells like vomit. Now there's a hand soap to match?... and Disney's using it?!!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I am so jealous of the warm weather people are having this early December!

Yep. It amazes me how they load every single ride chanting and singing their anthem and being obnoxious...americans would not visit another country and do the same thing.

We wouldn't? Huh.

... so I'm not sure why people are continuing to speculate on it.

Well, I think it's because of your response and subsequent response(s). You wrote:

It's out of line for your grandmother to order a server to sing to you.

But then it almost seemed like you forgot that you used the word "order".

Do you think what you are referring to is the same thing being described here?

While reading along, I know I was confused by what you were saying after the "order" comment!

It was hot hot hot today. Ate at tusker for lunch and was very disappointed. When I reserved it we were supposed to get tickets to get into the nemo show. I did not receive a notification that it is now a character lunch where the price is higher and the food quality has gone WAY downhill. This is on our never do again list now. So not worth the money. Our server was decent though.

FWIW, it became a character lunch in something like March. OH gracious I was wrong-o-rama, it started last December. If you made the reservation online, you would have noticed the wording. If you made it with a CM, then they obviously forgot to tell you. That's a bummer.

FWIW, we got the Nemo tickets when we ate there Dec of 2010, and they were absolutely worthless to us and annoying. We lingered over our meal, and as a result had to nearly run to Nemo, and they had already closed the early seating that you got with the Nemo tickets. So we went to the normal line, and got WAY better seats than we would have been directed to with those tickets.

LOL, it happens, but how do you know where they from?

Since the poster did have interactions involving *speaking* with those people, I imagine she could hear it. While not everyone from NY or NJ has an accent, the accents are rather distinctive (says the person who learned the capital of NY (aka "Wallbany" as my Schenectady-raised mom said it when she let her accent fly) before she learned the capital of the state she was born in).

Accent is a relative thing but sport teams, yep, that is solid.

I'd have to disagree with that one.

Why is this a phenomenon so large that it has it's own acronym? I mean, why only from Brazil and not other countries? Is it that the BTGs are the only ones that go chanting and singing their anthem everywhere they go?

From what I've read...yep, pretty much.

That CM was either pulling numbers out of, we'll say thin air, or they were talking about the attendance numbers for the day. No way the attendance was that for a party.

I read it as the poster telling us where/when s/he heard it, NOT that it was the attendance of the party.

This worries me. More and more companies are using a floor cleaning solution that smells like vomit. Now there's a hand soap to match?... and Disney's using it?!!!!

I think that there are some people who "read" certain scents as smelling like vomit. Like to some of us, microwave popcorn smells like that. Alas, I think the buyers of those products aren't the sensitive ones, LOL.

 

[twinklebug]

I think that there are some people who "read" certain scents as smelling like vomit. Like to some of us, microwave popcorn smells like that. Alas, I think the buyers of those products aren't the sensitive ones, LOL.

I think you're right - I've been told I have an overactive sense of smell (the fajitas we were cooking up last night smelled eerily like the stuff my boyfriend smoked back in my college days )
I'll just have to pack a mini hand soap for Disney.

 

[Paging Mr. Morrow]

i am really surprised people are saying crowds have been heavy this past week....I just returned from a great trip (was there 11/29/12-12/08/12) and did not find the crowds busy at all. In fact, I did not wait longer than 15 minutes for any ride the entire trip.

 

[bauer1168]

There was one night we went back to MK at around 4pm. They closed at 7 and then there was a party. We didn't do any parties but just wanted to have a last few hours at MK. OMG the LINES to get in!!!!! We waited in line just to get through security for what seemed like 20 minutes, and then another 10 minutes to get through the turnstile, only to find out we were in the wrong line because that was the "party" line and had to be rerouted to the left for Gen Admittance, another several minutes. Once we got in, Main St was so crowded. I don't want to offend, so please take my gripe with a grain of salt, but I sort of thought, its not fair that all these party people are coming in so early so I can't enjoy a few more hours of MK, yet I am ushered out of the park at 7 for the party. Didn't seem fair. I didn't have an extra 400 dollars for my family to do a worried:

I think one of the main reasons for letting them in at 4 is because right at 7pm the Christmas Party starts. Characters come out, snow starts falling on main st. Etc. If the park was only open til 7pm on a party night, and didn't let people going to the party in until 7pm, can you imagine how bad main st would be? Thousands trying to exit and thousands trying to get in.
The 4pm entry is mainly to spread out the crowds so they aren't all entering in at 7pm. Also, the turnstile area would just be a mess.
I don't think Disney officially advertises that you can enter at 4pm if you have a ticket, I could be wrong there. I agree that entering the park at 4pm and not planning on going to the party isn't the best idea. But if you weren't to know then fair enough. You will know for next time best thing to do on party days if you aren't planning on attending one is get there at rope drop and leave around 5/6pm.

 

[bauer1168]

I still am rather surprised by all the posts commenting on how busy it is. Again, I feel crowds have been very manageable. If you can get to the parks just before rope drop, you can get soooo much done in the first 2 hours.
These crowds are absolutely nothing compared to summer or Christmas/New Years crowds.

 

[twinklebug]

i am really surprised people are saying crowds have been heavy this past week....I just returned from a great trip (was there 11/29/12-12/08/12) and did not find the crowds busy at all. In fact, I did not wait longer than 15 minutes for any ride the entire trip.

Over the past few weeks I played with the idea of heading down this weekend. Through the online DVC reservation system I noted day after day that not a single unit in any resort or category was open for the night of the 8th. I could find plenty of Sunday night rooms and a few for last night... but the 8th was booked solid. My bet: all the members within driving distance were coming in to see New Fantasyland.

 

[stevb]

Just got back from a 4 day trip and didn't notice that the crowds were any larger than they usually are for this time of year. I never saw any wait times longer than 30 minutes except for Test Track. I did notice a lot more ECVs and they definitely affected the buses. It seemed like we rode with 1 or 2 of them on every other bus ride. The cheerleaders and PW groups we ran into were all well behaved and only ran into one BTG that I can recall. The weather was unusally warm and only got chilly on 2 of the nights we went out. Overall it was a good week to visit.

 

[lylone]

We also looked for all the hoards of drunk folks in Epcot last night. Saw some funny people at the telephone booths near the Rose and Crown...but that was all. I don't think they were drunk however... just liked to answer the ringing phones and take pictures of something you don't see much anymore. It was quiet a funny site

 

[WillAustin]

These crowds are absolutely nothing compared to summer or Christmas/New Years crowds.

We just got back home today and I've been asking myself why we go in the summertime.

 

[Allieran3]

Crowd were no bad at all.

Most we waited for anything was character meets!

 

[mfd25wife]

I think one of the main reasons for letting them in at 4 is because right at 7pm the Christmas Party starts. Characters come out, snow starts falling on main st. Etc. If the park was only open til 7pm on a party night, and didn't let people going to the party in until 7pm, can you imagine how bad main st would be? Thousands trying to exit and thousands trying to get in.
The 4pm entry is mainly to spread out the crowds so they aren't all entering in at 7pm. Also, the turnstile area would just be a mess.
I don't think Disney officially advertises that you can enter at 4pm if you have a ticket, I could be wrong there. I agree that entering the park at 4pm and not planning on going to the party isn't the best idea. But if you weren't to know then fair enough. You will know for next time best thing to do on party days if you aren't planning on attending one is get there at rope drop and leave around 5/6pm.

I'm not sure about all tranactions with the MVCP, but the CM at BLT told us we could enter at 4.

 

[mfd25wife]

We also looked for all the hoards of drunk folks in Epcot last night. Saw some funny people at the telephone booths near the Rose and Crown...but that was all. I don't think they were drunk however... just liked to answer the ringing phones and take pictures of something you don't see much anymore. It was quiet a funny site

Could be people like me were calling just to talk to people at EPCOT