Jan 2014 - Brazilian Tour groups / general vibe for crowds?

[vault19dweller]

So with January just passed - I'm wondering how the Brazilian Tour groups were like this year?
Also how people who stayed there found the crowds in general?

I know there is the calendars on EasyWDW but also noticed with the FP+ implementation there seemed to be a lot of chatter about this January being different to others... more busy, more people, etc.

Brazilian Tour group wise - is there any week in January which is better than others, or will you pretty much be guaranteed to see them any time from the start to the end of the month?

Are the groups really as horrible as they sound? (eg: rude, obnoxious, pushy, loud, miserable to be around, etc)

And, I know FP+ is a super touchy subject for what feels like everyone, please dont flame me, but I was just wondering for those who used FP+ & encountered these tour groups, do you think having this new system seemed to assist at all?

I was really keen on a January trip, but right now Im worried we may have to re-schedule to avoid the Brazilian Tour groups


Update: Please keep in mind this thread is purely to determine if the hundreds (if not thousands) of reports online stating this situation is correct or not.

I've only been able to locate negative feedback on tour groups, this has nothing to do with nationality or race - I'm well aware that no matter where in the world you are there are bound to be one or two bad apples, but I'm simply trying to verify if all those reports online are correct or not.

 

[stinkpickle]

We noticed a LOT of South American visitors last week, but the groups didn't seem nearly as big as they used to be. No rude behavior that we noticed.

 

[sharonped]

I can only speak for our experience. Were there Dec 31 - Jan 9. Got in fairly late the 31st so enjoyed FP+ to be able to ride 3 rides on a busy day. Crowds were pretty bad till about the 3rd, being the end of the holiday season. For us crowds were pretty good the 4th through about the 8th and seemed to be going up again the 9th. It was also very cold a couple of days. The FP+ return lines were much longer than our past trips. We waited in several 15-20 minute FP+ return lines. We did run into several large Brazilian Tour groups starting about....maybe the 4th or 5th? It seemed to ME like the kids were much better behaved, respectful, and quieter than in years past. There were still a lot of them and we tried to avoid them just because if you got behind them in a line, you were done for a while. Some FP+ things are different now. We were there before the legacy FP machines were removed, so that may have influenced our experience. I really enjoyed the MBs- no problems with them. Did not enjoy FP+ except for our first night of late arrival. We were also at POP, so could not pull legacy FP+s.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

I spent the day at MK today. The park was super busy, for what's suppose to be "off season". I'm a local, so we try to avoid heavy traffic days, and I thought today was pretty heavy. We did notice several of the tour groups, and saw a horde of about 50 waiting for their FP time to ride MM. I still think January is a decent time to visit and I wouldn't be to worried about everyone else.

 

[vault19dweller]

Thanks for the super quick replys everyone, I'm feeling a lot better now!

I was prepared to have some not-so-magical experiences (any places that has such a high number of visitors is bound to have a few bad eggs in there regardless of where they're from) but some of the horror stories of the large tour groups were starting to scare me!

Its great to know the groups are broken into smaller groups - not hundreds of hundreds.
Also super glad to know they seem to be better behaved!

I know that the days & groups you encounter can actually change your experience with them, but its awesome to know that hopefully it may not be the nightmare I'm imagining!

 

[ariel326]

We were there over MLK weekend and yes there were quite a few Brazilian tour groups there. But honestly, they weren't a bother.

We just tried to move faster then their big group, if we saw they were heading towards a ride we wanted we walked faster to get ahead of them.

And I'm not sure about bad behavior, but the few I encountered were pretty nice. There were a bunch of girls that were going to take a big group photo with the car at the end of test track. our DS wanted to get a picture, and I knew they would take awhile, but we would be quick. I asked if we could go ahead of them to get a quick photo and they said yes.

Oh and there were a few that accidently bumped into DS, but they apologized/

So, for us, they were no different then any other group at the park.

 

[baler31]

We go every year for MLK week as our school always has 3 days off that week and we just take the other two. We were there this year from Jan 17th- Jan 26th and yes there were a lot of tour groups as usual. However, in the last year or so I would say they seem much BETTER behaved. It has been a long while since we have heard any chanting or line jumping etc. As a matter of fact a large group told us to head in in front of them because "there are so many of us."

Now, we have never stayed at a resort with them but for us their park behavior is much more towards the cultural norms here than their previous behavior.

 

[mariethecat]

We were at WDW from Jan 18-27 and they were never a problem for us. I did notice some large groups but no bad behavior at all.

 

[middlesista]

Yesterday was the first day I noticed larger groups including dance or cheering groups. Not sure which and also South American groups. MK was really crowded. We prefer this time of year and truly only really hi crowds so far was yesterday and we have been here since January 25th. We will see how today works out since we r headed to MK for Tour and Super Bowl Parade might be happening although no one confirmed this that we askef

 

[songkat]

We were there Jan 26th through Feb 1st, and although I noticed a few groups here and there, there were no issues that I saw. I didn't hear any chanting and didn't see any line jumping. In fact, probably the largest group I saw was 20, so the groups were much smaller than normal.

 

[ses1230]

We were there 1/23-1/27 and saw tour groups every day. I did not see any issues.
Crowds were great, MK was the only park that seemed crowded, but then again we went on a day with 2 MSEP and EMH, so I expected it.

 

[vault19dweller]

Awesome! Thank you all so much!

To be honest I don't have an issue with groups or where anyone's from.

It was more some of the negative behavior people mentioned to be standard/expected from tour groups in Jan which got me worried.

But given everyone who was there seems to say they not only weren't any issues, but actually seemed to have been getting better (behaviour wise), is great news!

 

[KrazeeK120]

We were there Jan. 19-24 and I saw several tour groups (some Brazilian, some cheer/dance - both high school and college) at the parks. They're usually easy to get around because they move pretty slow. I didn't notice any rude behavior. They didn't affect my trip at all.

 

[vinotinto]

We were there January 5 - 12 (Sunday to Sunday). Here are my observations:

• The parks would have been dead without the visitors from South America (and many from Europe too).
  
• Sunday, January 5th in DHS and Monday, January 6 at MK was crazy busy. Maybe a combination of factors - Monday at MK, many schools still off school on January 6th (my kids' school break extended through the 6th). School in South America and Europe on vacation (their "summer" vacation, Three Kings' Day), etc. The Christmas crowds don't just suddenly end the Sunday after NYE.
  
• The rest of the week wasn't as crowded. Certainly less crowded than October or June. Anything that affected flow for us or made us wait was due to FP+ or rides being down.
  
• I didn't see any behavior from tour groups that would be considered annoying. No hogging the pathways or being loud or any of the things I read here.

 

[nutty4wdw]

we have gone many january's in the past. this year was the most crowded i have seen them. maybe guests are picking up on slow season and making them more moderate. hopefully it was just an anomaly. though not christmas week or summer the wait times were much longer then in the past.

we saw quite a few brazilian groups. as previously noted, they were smaller in size and much more well behaved. we had a large group waiting with us for rope drop at DHS and they were quite quiet and behaved.

 

[RnbwSktles]

I'm just repeating what everyone else has said at this point, but we were there Jan 13-18 and they weren't a bother at all. I noticed the groups everywhere, and in general it seemed like most people around me were speaking something other than English. I think a lot of families were visiting from South America in general, not all with tour groups.

The only time we noticed the parks really felt crowded was the Friday before MLK weekend. We didn't go to the parks the last Saturday, but DTD was very crowded as well.

 

[kimj88]

So with January just passed - I'm wondering how the Brazilian Tour groups were like this year?
Also how people who stayed there found the crowds in general?

I know there is the calendars on EasyWDW but also noticed with the FP+ implementation there seemed to be a lot of chatter about this January being different to others... more busy, more people, etc.

Brazilian Tour group wise - is there any week in January which is better than others, or will you pretty much be guaranteed to see them any time from the start to the end of the month?

Are the groups really as horrible as they sound? (eg: rude, obnoxious, pushy, loud, miserable to be around, etc)

And, I know FP+ is a super touchy subject for what feels like everyone, please dont flame me, but I was just wondering for those who used FP+ & encountered these tour groups, do you think having this new system seemed to assist at all?

I was really keen on a January trip, but right now Im worried we may have to re-schedule to avoid the Brazilian Tour groups

We stayed 23-31 January. No issues at all with Brazilian Tour Groups, in fact if they were around I didn't even see them. A few of the days I felt like the parks were more crowded than I had thought they would be, but nothing major or unbearable.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We were there 13-18 Jan and found crowds generally low until Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th, which we expected due to MLK holiday on the 20th.

We saw lots of tour groups but didn't encounter any problems with them at all. Closest we had was a situation where 5 teenagers moved up about 50 spots in line to meet their 1 friend in front, instead of the 1 friend moving back in line to be with his 5 friends, but you can have that at any time of the year and wasn't any big deal in the long run.

I didn't see any effect FP+ had on the tour groups, or vice versa.

 

[My3Princez]

We were there January 16-22. The parks felt kindof crowded to me, but waits for rides were very low, so it only made a difference in walking around.
Never had any issues with large tour groups - except there were a few times where a handful of girls from a tour group would decide to lay down and take a group nap. They were always off to the side of the walkways, but it was a little odd......

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I've always felt the hype about tour groups overblown. (racism?) I've been many times and never had any more problems with these tour groups than any other group. With those qualifiers, this Jan had no problems with any tour groups.

We saw some minor rude behavior, but it was, as usual, Americans: flash photos on dark rides! Dropping trash on ground! Folks who should know enough to say, "excuse me" periodically! Folks grumbling about minor waits. That sort of thing.

Mostly when we hear the tour groups say or do anything they are simply expressing enthusiasm! In years past, we've periodically heard folks cheering maybe while waiting for a parade to start- that sort of thing. Or like a group of girls cheering poolside- oh wait, that was also AMERICAN teenagers. Nope no problems.