Is Brazil closed?

[disphoto]

The best case would be for Disney to get $525 in a day. But given the choice of losing $25 or $500, they are not going to miss the $25 as much. It isn't a matter of $525 or $0. Sadly, this is true for all businesses. It used to mean something if you told a manager "I won't shop here anymore" They would ask how to keep your business. Now, there are so many shoppers and fewer stores, less competition. It would be wonderful to think Disney were really different, but I highly doubt it.

 

[cman]

The best case would be for Disney to get $525 in a day. But given the choice of losing $25 or $500, they are not going to miss the $25 as much. It isn't a matter of $525 or $0. Sadly, this is true for all businesses. It used to mean something if you told a manager "I won't shop here anymore" They would ask how to keep your business. Now, there are so many shoppers and fewer stores, less competition. It would be wonderful to think Disney were really different, but I highly doubt it.

True. But if enough visitors decided to avoid the parks in July because of these groups then Disney would have to take notice.

 

[Daxx]

True. But if enough visitors decided to avoid the parks in July because of these groups then Disney would have to take notice.

But think about how many families aren't aware of the Brazilian situation and will travel to WDW in July anyway. I'm sure a lot! Not everyone knows about the tour groups heading down in July. We met quite a few families who weren't aware of the July Brazilian factor and were surprised about it. Sure, those folks might not come back in July ... but what about the others who don't know about it!? I'm sure for every 100 people who know about the Brazil factor, there are 100 more who don't.

 

[dvc at last !]

ok you got my attention -

what is the " Brazil Factor " ?

 

[Daxx]

ok you got my attention -

what is the " Brazil Factor " ?

It's the large Brazilian tour groups who come in during July! The 15 groups of 100 teens per group that infiltrates WDW. I figured that it was easier to call it the "Brazil Factor" - meaning all the tour groups.

 

[japajsm]

But think about how many families aren't aware of the Brazilian situation and will travel to WDW in July anyway. I'm sure a lot! Not everyone knows about the tour groups heading down in July. We met quite a few families who weren't aware of the July Brazilian factor and were surprised about it. Sure, those folks might not come back in July ... but what about the others who don't know about it!? I'm sure for every 100 people who know about the Brazil factor, there are 100 more who don't.

Well, my DH and I were at Disney from 07/23-07/28 and the Brazilians were everywhere. This was the first and last time that we will go at this time of the year! I do have to say that there were a couple of groups that were better behaved than others. The worse groups were the ones from Tia Iara (sp) tour group.

I first encountered them Friday night at Walmart and they were down right awful. They blocked the aisles and would not move for anyone, they were loud, and several of them were running with the carriages and jumping onto them and riding across the store.

On Sunday night, there was a group (or groups) of them at Downtown Disney - you couldn't move in the store. They were rude pushing, shoving, yelling, etc. They were buying like crazy, so I doubt that Disney will do anything about them.

Everywhere that we went from Blizzard Beach, MGM, Epcot, to Animal Kingdom -they were there too. I know that they have a right to be there too, but I think that the chaperones need to have better control over them. Then again, maybe the chaperones need to be told how their group should act - no chanting, pushing, cutting lines, etc. Can you imagine if we all decided to start chanting while waiting in line, walking down the street, etc?

 

[dvc at last !]

Thanks for the info.

Avoid July !

 

[Daxx]

Well, my DH and I were at Disney from 07/23-07/28 and the Brazilians were everywhere. This was the first and last time that we will go at this time of the year! I do have to say that there were a couple of groups that were better behaved than others. The worse groups were the ones from Tia Iara (sp) tour group.

Bolding is mine. We were there approx. same time frame (7/16-26) and I have to agree w/what you said about Tia Iara (or Lara or whatever that name was supposed to be)! I wonder if they have a website that we can complain to!?

ETA -- I found the Tia Iara website and it's www.tiaiara.com.br. So, if you're up for it, check it out. They list an email address, so you can write some of those crazy albeit helpful phrases that were posted earlier!

Also, they have a listing of their itinerary. So, if you choose to go during July, you can avoid them altogether! You just have to find out their arrival date and work w/that! Here's their itinerary:

1º Dia VÔO PORTO ALEGRE / MIAMI

2º Dia MIAMI / ORLANDO
Chegada a Miami pela manhã e traslado para Orlando diretamente ao nosso Hotel.

3º Dia BUSCH GARDENS
Parque das montanhas-russas radicais na cidade de Tampa. Após, compras no WAL-MART.

4º Dia MGM STUDIOS
O maravilhoso mundo do cinema.

5º Dia BLIZZARD BEACH
Parque aquático da Disney. Após, compras no SHOPPING FLORIDA MALL. Opcional: jantar em restaurante brasileiro.

6º Dia EPCOT
O mundo do amanhã.

7º Dia ANIMAL KINGDOM / DOWNTOWN DISNEY
Parque do reino animal. Após, vista a badalada DOWNTOWN DISNEY, com Planet Hollywood e Market Place. DISNEY QUEST (incluído). Opcional: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, com o exclusivo show LA NOUBA.

8º Dia MAGIC KINGDOM
O Reino Mágico da Disney.

9º Dia UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Com HARD ROCK CAFÉ e LOJA da NBA.

10º Dia SEA WORLD
Parque da vida marinha. À noite, (opcional) festa dos grupos com DJ brasileiro, jantar e a presença de artistas da TV Globo.

11º Dia ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE / CITY WALK
O mais novo parque da Universal em Orlando. Após, visita a CITY WALK.

12º Dia TYPHOON LAGOON
Parque aquático da Disney. Após, compras no SHOPPING PREMIUM e na PERFUMELAND, a maior loja de perfumes de Orlando.

13º Dia ORLANDO / MIAMI BEACH
Com parada no SHOPPING SAWGRASS para as últimas compras.

14º Dia MIAMI BEACH
Manhã livre para curtir a praia e a piscina do nosso hotel. À tarde, saída para o SHOPPING BAYSIDE, com passeio de barco incluído (Millionaire Vip Tour) e visita ao HARD ROCK CAFÉ.

15º Dia MANHÃ LIVRE
Em horário previamente marcado, saída para o AEROPORTO.

16º Dia CHEGADA AO BRASIL
Fim de nossos serviços.

I was looking for the dates they had planned for Jan or July 2008 tours and they weren't listed. Bummer. Maybe as the time draws closer they'll list them!? Or, maybe someone can ask for the dates in Portugese?

 

[asta]

Just to add to the information on some of the worst behaved tour groups, the one we had a lot of trouble with were wearing shirts that said English at Disney. I initially thought that this was a British group but eventually decided the shirt meant that they were there to learn English at Disney. And by the way, there were signs at both Universal and Disney welcoming the British. We did not once encounter anyone with a British accent who even came close to doing anything offensive. Just wanted to add this to point out to all those who claim that those of us who are complaining are just not being friendly to those from other countries.

 

[mickaholic4077]

I just came back from the World,and the only BTG I saw was when I pulled up at the Poly for breakfast. Other than that,I saw no groups.

 

[Daxx]

We did not once encounter anyone with a British accent who even came close to doing anything offensive.

We have come across a lot of other groups (some organized tour groups, others just winging it as a group) from other countries over the years (French, German, Japanese, etc). Anyway, I've never seen any behaviors that were out of place w/those groups.

This July, there seemed to be a lot of UK'ers in our midst along w/French. This one UK gentleman told us that b/c the US dollar is so weak, WDW is more affordable that's why so many from the UK were there. I heard a lot of the UK'ers complaining about the Brazilian group behaviors, too!

 

[momof2inPA]

When we went to Universal, you know what bothered DH about the Brazilians? They weren't cute, not the least bit attractive. He's been to Brazil, so he knows that there are attractive women there. Maybe just the bowwows went to Orlando this year.

 

[Markstudy]

Do you want to read what Disney's cast members say about these (guest)pest?

http://www.stupidguesttricks.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=2626






.

 

[calgarygary]

Haven't been on the thread for awhile but when I came back, came across this statement about my posting:

They were corrected in an incredibly rude and condescending manner. That's what started this whole slide off topic. Had the person who corrected her done so in a kind and informative manner instead if the nasty way they did all of this could have been avoided. We all know the US has an abysmal educational system that is getting worse by the day, it's not the poster's fault her education did not cover this event and I have every confidence that Ms. Corrector is totally unaware of some of the other atrocities that have been inflicted throughout history which might affect some of the rest of us or our ancestors and really needs to climb down off her high horse.

Let's look at the original post and my response:

:
Originally Posted by OKWDVCMagic
Several years ago, our family trip to MK turned into a tour group nightmare. This tour was not just teenagers but a mix of adults and children. As bad luck would have it somehow our MK family planned itinerary tour got in sync with their tour. They must have had read the same tour guide book.

Any who, their MO was that the tour guide/ring master would be ahead of the group and get to the next ride's entrance. The tour guide was always smiling and running interference for the mob. The guide would mill around the entrance of a ride strategically waiting till their minions exited another ride so she could spring her trap.The tour guide would always make sure she had her group's war flag hidden. As soon she knew her guided minions were exiting the other ride, she would spring into action. The group leader would block the entrance and politely explain to guests that she was just waiting for a member of her group to catch up. The other guests would nod and say "sure" since we always gracious tourists. After the tour guide gets the other tourists/suckers to agree, the tour guide triumphantly raises her the tour flag, the approaching minions upon seeing their waving war flag, they would scream out their war cry and begin the all out charge to the awaiting guide.

I must admit the first time I saw the screaming 100+ crowd bearing down on me...I knew just how Custard felt at Wounded Knee.

It became pandemonium at the entrance of the ride. The wave of minions shoved, trampled and screamed their way past the other guests. The other guests waiting to get in line stood there with stunned expressions. The tour guide and minions all had ear to ear grins as they ran over the other guests. They were having the time of their lives. The CM on the other hand just gave the stunned audience the look "Welcome to WDW in July"

The rest of the trip I kept thinking where I would have liked to plant that tour guide's flag

As a post script... My mention of Custer and Wounded Knee was in no way meant to disrespect or to stereotype American Indians or the brave Sioux Nation

Your mention of Custer & Wounded Knee is of course disrespectful (because of the lack of knowledge) as you have combined 2 very different battles. Wounded Knee, better known as the Massacre at Wounded Knee, is the slaughter of mainly disarmed natives who were being led to a reservation. It occurred after the Little Big Horn where Custer died. Some reports suggest that as the cavalry shot the unarmed natives, they yelled "remember Custer".

Although your true intent was probably not to disrespect, the lack of knowledge of such a sad day for American Natives, is in itself, disrespectful, although unintentional.

The original post indicated that there was in no way disrespect by combining Custer & Wounded Knee. I acknowledged that the intent of the poster was not to show disrespect but in combining the two, very different events, disrespect was indeed shown. A lack of knowledge of important events to a country or culture, in and of itself, displays a lack of respect towards that country or culture. For example, if I were to confuse the events of Pearl Harbor with Nagasaki, the very nature of the error would be disrespectul towards the memory of the people who died at either event and disrespectful towards the history of two great nations. The intention may not have been but the end result is disrespectful.

I would like to ask, what in my original post was incredibly rude and condescending? I have been accused of being PC by correcting the poster but I would suggest that the politically correct would have ignored such an error.

Getting back on topic, I will attempt to list all the rude behaviour that ruined our 17 day trip in Orlando:
1 -
2 -
3 -
.....
20 -

There were plenty of examples of rude behaviour during our stay, including a fist fight on the lazy river at Blizzard Beach, but nothing ruined our trip. Yes we encountered groups at US/IOA and WDW. The largest group was apparently a teacher's convention of some sort (they were all wearing the same t-shirt but travelled as smaller groups). The rudest people we saw were not from Brazil but from an English speaking country (Canada or the U.S. - I didn't ask for nationality) that insisted on taking pics during POC. Not a biggie until she started taking pics of things we had passed and was flashing into my wife's eyes. We didn't let the 6'4"+ man that reduced my daughter to tears when he refused to sit down in the front row of High School Musical ruin our day - just that show. When you go to a place as popular as WDW, there are going to be times when things aren't perfect, whether caused by large groups from the U.S. or other countries, or from individuals. Let it go, getting upset will probably cause more damage to your vacation then the actual event merits.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Bolding is mine. We were there approx. same time frame (7/16-26) and I have to agree w/what you said about Tia Iara (or Lara or whatever that name was supposed to be)! I wonder if they have a website that we can complain to!?

ETA -- I found the Tia Iara website and it's www.tiaiara.com.br. So, if you're up for it, check it out. They list an email address, so you can write some of those crazy albeit helpful phrases that were posted earlier!

Also, they have a listing of their itinerary. So, if you choose to go during July, you can avoid them altogether! You just have to find out their arrival date and work w/that! Here's their itinerary:

1º Dia VÔO PORTO ALEGRE / MIAMI

2º Dia MIAMI / ORLANDO
Chegada a Miami pela manhã e traslado para Orlando diretamente ao nosso Hotel.

3º Dia BUSCH GARDENS
Parque das montanhas-russas radicais na cidade de Tampa. Após, compras no WAL-MART.

4º Dia MGM STUDIOS
O maravilhoso mundo do cinema.

5º Dia BLIZZARD BEACH
Parque aquático da Disney. Após, compras no SHOPPING FLORIDA MALL. Opcional: jantar em restaurante brasileiro.

6º Dia EPCOT
O mundo do amanhã.

7º Dia ANIMAL KINGDOM / DOWNTOWN DISNEY
Parque do reino animal. Após, vista a badalada DOWNTOWN DISNEY, com Planet Hollywood e Market Place. DISNEY QUEST (incluído). Opcional: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, com o exclusivo show LA NOUBA.

8º Dia MAGIC KINGDOM
O Reino Mágico da Disney.

9º Dia UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Com HARD ROCK CAFÉ e LOJA da NBA.

10º Dia SEA WORLD
Parque da vida marinha. À noite, (opcional) festa dos grupos com DJ brasileiro, jantar e a presença de artistas da TV Globo.

11º Dia ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE / CITY WALK
O mais novo parque da Universal em Orlando. Após, visita a CITY WALK.

12º Dia TYPHOON LAGOON
Parque aquático da Disney. Após, compras no SHOPPING PREMIUM e na PERFUMELAND, a maior loja de perfumes de Orlando.

13º Dia ORLANDO / MIAMI BEACH
Com parada no SHOPPING SAWGRASS para as últimas compras.

14º Dia MIAMI BEACH
Manhã livre para curtir a praia e a piscina do nosso hotel. À tarde, saída para o SHOPPING BAYSIDE, com passeio de barco incluído (Millionaire Vip Tour) e visita ao HARD ROCK CAFÉ.

15º Dia MANHÃ LIVRE
Em horário previamente marcado, saída para o AEROPORTO.

16º Dia CHEGADA AO BRASIL
Fim de nossos serviços.

I was looking for the dates they had planned for Jan or July 2008 tours and they weren't listed. Bummer. Maybe as the time draws closer they'll list them!? Or, maybe someone can ask for the dates in Portugese?

You are a genius. My good friend is Brazilian, although she has her green card now and she will certainly be able to ask. Does anyone know the names of other BTG's so we can check their schedules?

 

[KidAtHeart1]

When we were at MGM a few weeks ago during our trip, I was trying to take a picture of my wife and the big RnR guitar. Low and behold a large BTG took over the entire spot in front of the guitar and had dozens of photos being taken of them. They had two of their tour guides with about 6 or 7 of all of the kids cameras around each of their wrists and were taking pictures one after another with about 30 different cameras with no concern about anyone else around them wanting to take a picture. They could obviously tell others were getting upset and wanting them to hurry up but did the old "play dumb, we don't know what you want or what you are saying" card. I just wanted to scream GET THE **** OUT OF THE WAY AND GO BACK TO BRAZIL!

Rant over

 

[bell.of.the.ball]

Just to add to the information on some of the worst behaved tour groups, the one we had a lot of trouble with were wearing shirts that said English at Disney. I initially thought that this was a British group but eventually decided the shirt meant that they were there to learn English at Disney. And by the way, there were signs at both Universal and Disney welcoming the British. We did not once encounter anyone with a British accent who even came close to doing anything offensive. Just wanted to add this to point out to all those who claim that those of us who are complaining are just not being friendly to those from other countries.

Just to let you know they offer English at Disney at the Tia Iara website. Same agency, same supervision, same bad behavior

 

[sdzman]

I've the solution!


WDW Magic Kingdom - Brazil!

 

[Daxx]

I've the solution!

WDW Magic Kingdom - Brazil!

It's funny that you post this b/c remember back in Jan. when Disney was going to make this "huge announcement" and everyone was speculating on what it could be!? Well, I wrote exactly what you wrote -- "Oh, please, oh please, oh please let it be Disney Brazil!!!!!"

Anyway, that Jan. hype turned out to be for a series of ads featuring celebrities as Disney characters! Can you even imagine my disappointment when I heard it wasn't Disney Brazil!?!?!?!

 

[disneyaggie]

As I promised . . .

The gentleman from WDW Executive Offices called me this morning in response to my concern over the tour groups that take over WDW, causing too much pain for those of us and others who are the more well-mannered guests. In my e-mail, I included the link to this thread, which he said he did read many of our posts.

This gentleman, who I will call “Fred”, said that some of the WDW executives do read the Dis Board, and they obtain ideas from us Dis’ers and are open to suggestions.

Regarding this BTG thread, “Fred” said that it seemed that many of the posts were experiences from the past. He said that WDW is very aware of the issues involving groups and have tried to curb as much pain for other guests as possible. He said that CM’s go into a weekly meeting where they can talk about such issues. The CM’s are also empowered to make sure the rules are obeyed, and yes, if necessary they will remove unruly guests and/or call security.

I shared with him that even though many of these issues posted on this thread were past issues, some were current. He said that he hoped that the guests have seen these issues have been curbed from previous years.

I stated that some of the groups would chant in the middle of performances, disrupting the whole experience for all. He said that whenever they see that type of behavior, CM’s are supposed to go over to the guests and inform them of their disruption, rather if they are talking, chanting, or even having flash photography. He said this is for any guest, not just those in a tour group.

He said that WDW folks have even met with the Brazilian tour leaders to let them know of the rules and regulations. I know . . . they obviously did not pay much attention to what the WDW folks had to say, but apparently “Fred” is under the impression that the BTG’s and others are a bit better than in previous years.

He added that when the WDW executives do read our posts (this thread and others), they do sit up and pay attention. I suggested that if the groups need a more responsible chaperone, how about having it mandatory that the groups pay for a CM to be their personal guide. Therefore, there would be a WDW person ready to act. However, “Fred” did make a good point to that suggestion. He said that then they would have to figure out which groups to have this “rule” and you would have to basically include every group, including magical reunions.

So again, if any of you have any brighter ideas, just e-mail them to WDW executives. At least you can say you tried.