Just Back - ***TOUR GROUP RANT!!**

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Just back from our wonderful vacation and I will post all of the wonderful things I did, saw, tips etc....but I have to get this off my chest.

I CANNOT STAND THE TOUR GROUPS!! We ran into the most rude, insulting, loud, obnoxious, people I have ever met.

Now, I have been in July before, but never have I encountered so many groups at once. Disney must be offering some SWEET deal to tour groups cause these people had it all.

First - the FP situation. After a few days I figured it out. The group gets a breakfast in the park as part of their package. The tour group leaders take everyone's passes and goes to get the FP for the most popular rides. Now, I don't have a problem with this, they are paying guests and it really doesn't matter whether you have 50 people from 1 group or 10 groups of 5. BUT - every park I was in, the tour group leaders did NOT follow the same rules we all did.
One example - in EPCOT, my DD and I got up early, were at RD and walking behind the cast member, as instructed. As we got toward The Land - from the left came 3 group leaders (must have come from breakfast??) they went in front of the CMs, ignored the CM's when asked to stay behind, physically PUSHED people out of their way to get to the machines and then proceeded to take 3 machines to do their tickets. This was not an isolated incident. It happened, over and over again. Now, as I said they have the right to get FP's - but not to break rules, and the CM's seemed powerless to stop them.

This "entitled" behavior continued throughout the parks with line cutting, both on attractions and food lines, disrespectful behavior all over the place.

The chanting - drove me NUTS! Now, I know it's kids having a good time. I get it, I have teenagers. BUT - there needs to be some behavior taught that chanting is not proper everywhere you go.
Example - in the TOT ride lobby???? Huge amount of chanting, ruins the whole effect. Again - CM's powerless to stop it, despite asking.

As I said before, their package must be sweet. I saw groups get on EE through the FP line at park opening and the entire crowd that waited in line had to WAIT until all 50 were on first. I stopped a CM and asked what that was about and he said "It was part of their package that they would be first on EE and the Safari without waiting".

I could go on and on...but the bottom line is IMHO I have no problem with groups, or people having fun. BUT we are ALL paying customers and everyone should have to follow the same rules. I guess until the economy gets better Disney will make sweet deals to tour groups to come and spend money.

I for one, will NEVER go back in July again. Didn't ruin my vacation, but was rather annoying day in and day out.

 

[DizzDoll]

Sounds like somebody forgot to pack her vuvuzela!!!! Seriously, though, the tour groups are the solid reason I refuse to go to WDW in July. And believe me, if you research this site, you'll find manymanymany threads dedicated to the rudeness of the tour groups.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I agree with you. They are very difficult to deal with. I just returned the other day and was beyond annoyed by the sense of entitlement and rude behavior.

 

[Tinkerbell58]

I don't know. Maybe if these groups were escorted out of the park, they'd get the message that bad behavior is not tolerated.

 

[4forMe]

After our trip in 2008, I will never go again in July with the tour groups.

We went last year during the 2nd week of August and had a much more enjoyable trip!

 

[wtccheermom]

ITA tour groups are the worst and I wish Disney whould stop allowing them to get away with their poor behavior. I think they should have to go through a seminar of American customs before they come so they know how to behave. I for one would not be insulted if I was asked to learn about the culture norms of a foreign country I was visiting.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I read somewhere that Disney has sent out video tapes to tour group guides to have all the guests watch before they get to the parks so they will understand that USA behavior is somewhat different than what it might be in their native country.

Personally, if I encountered this, I would ask for a refund and return home. I can get this type of behavior and aggrevation in my hometown. After meeting civil people (including my husband) from Brazil, Ive come to realize its just part of their culture, it will never change.

 

[DizzDoll]

[ I for one would not be insulted if I was asked to learn about the culture norms of a foreign country I was visiting.[/QUOTE]

Most intelligent tourists do their research when visiting foreign lands. No one wants to stand out like a sore thumb, as it were. However, there are those who feel quite differently. What might make it a little fun is videoing their behavior and putting it on youtube!!! Hey, did I hit on an idea????

 

[MYD714]

I've encountered these groups on numerous WDW vacations, and I now refuse to go in July. They are obnoxious and rude. I'm hoping and praying that they'll be gone by August.

I have to add that I've taken 20+ teenagers (each trip) to London, Italy, and Greece. Not once have any of them ever been loud, rude, or obnoxious. I would be mortified and it would not be tolerated. I did not find it difficult to enforce rules and good behavior; I don't understand why they find it so challenging.

 

[southcarolinagirl]

I have never traveled to Disney in July before, but we did this year and I have to agree with everyone here. I found the tour groups to be loud, rude and obnoxious. My only consolation was a CM I was talking to at Splash agreed with us!

 

[skater]

Being part of a large group also brings out a "mob" mentality that is very annoying to everybody else around them. I avoid tour groups like the plague.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

[ I for one would not be insulted if I was asked to learn about the culture norms of a foreign country I was visiting.

Most intelligent tourists do their research when visiting foreign lands. No one wants to stand out like a sore thumb, as it were. However, there are those who feel quite differently. What might make it a little fun is videoing their behavior and putting it on youtube!!! Hey, did I hit on an idea????[/QUOTE]




People have beat you to that idea. They are already on there...
here is just one of many....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAtKHn88Xw&NR=1

 

[wdwmaw]

We traveled in July about 4x's and then we found Oct and fall break Bad part is we plan on getting AP's this Oct. so we can return for July I am so excited till I remember the tour groups.

Can we all start writing Disney? Could someone come up with a great starter letter we all could copy and make our own?. I mean with all the people on DIS, you know we could have an impact

Someone could start a thread and those that use the example and send it ( snail mail or email ) could reply and we would know how many went out.

 

[MYD714]

We traveled in July about 4x's and then we found Oct and fall break Bad part is we plan on getting AP's this Oct. so we can return for July I am so excited till I remember the tour groups.

Can we all start writing Disney? Could someone come up with a great starter letter we all could copy and make our ow?. I mean with all the people on DIS, you know we could have an impact:thumbsup

Someone could start a thread and those that use the example and send it ( snail mail or email ) could reply and we would know how many went out.

Great idea! I would climb aboard this train if someone started it.

I just watched the youtube videos. Very similar to the nightmares I have about our July trips.

 

[spacemountainmom]

It's not just July, we have run into many, many groups in January as well. The fp thing gets me, but even more so is the "we're here, get out of our way" attititude. Last January I was run into by so many Brazilians, I was getting really mad. I finally decided that I had had enough so the next little tourista who tried to walk into me go the shock of her life. She came straight at me, daring me to move out of her way. I planted my feet and waited....she seriously bounced off my left hip and almost fell over. Her friends saved her from hitting the pavement. She gave me a look and I gave her my best one right back. My dh and dd14 almost fell over they were laughing so hard. My dd yelled, "You go MOM!!!"

I'm sure they had a lovely time discussing the rude American they encountered, but I don't care. Everyone needs to exercise courtesy especially when visiting another country.

 

[wendy1974]

Most intelligent tourists do their research when visiting foreign lands. No one wants to stand out like a sore thumb, as it were. However, there are those who feel quite differently. What might make it a little fun is videoing their behavior and putting it on youtube!!! Hey, did I hit on an idea????

That's hilarious! And sooooooo annoying. The funny part was before the video cut off I heard a very loud SHHHHH...I might have followed that with an I-T


People have beat you to that idea. They are already on there...
here is just one of many....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAtKHn88Xw&NR=1[/QUOTE]

 

[SGB13]

It can be bad in Jan too. But this past year the only group I came across was very well behave group of teens. They tended to split up into smaller groups once they were in the park, so you would never have known they were with the group if it weren't for the matching outfits.

 

[eeyoremommy]

I think I was there a couple of days during the OP's visit. The worst thing I saw was the multiple tour groups getting 50+ FP for TSM when I only needed three. How do you explain to a 6 yo and a cranky DGM that the FP time jumped 40+ minutes while I was getting them because of the tour groups? (We are still working on DGM. She isn't a Disney person, and she had never done TSM before. She didn't understand why we would get FPs and wait in line to do the ride twice.) I didn't really see any of the obnoxious behavior though. I do feel sorry for those people staying at the value resorts with the groups though. As we were waiting on our bus for BWV from MK, one whole group took an entire bus by themselves. It was more a distraction that they were there. I also felt bad that in most cases, they had to stay together the whole time. How awful!

 

[DisneyGirl421]

Trust me, you are NOT alone in being super annoyed.

As a CM, we basically are powerless to do anything. No matter how hard we try, they refuse to listen to us. They act like they don't understand English (which, ok, some may not understand much, but they can at least understand hand gestures!), don't listen, are extremely rude and talkative, and completely disregard everything that is considered proper public behavior.

I was working on Commissary Lane in DHS, and was the only CM back there at that time, and two tour groups basically just plopped down in the middle of the road to take a break. They left probably only maybe a two foot pathway for everyone to go through. I tried all I could, but nothing. It was INSANE.

All I can say is THANK GOD for the Super Greeters we have... the special CMs who can speak Portugese and are specifically assigned to be translators. They at least can do SOMETHING.

SO glad July is almost over and the tour groups are starting to die down...

 

[Tiger926]

These threads always crack me up! We've probably logged more WDW July park hours than all combined posters on this thread, as we've been going every July for 2 weeks straight for 10 years! At some point, we've been in Disney during every day in July!

We found the tour groups to be less this year, than in year's past. We did leave the parks on July 12th, but up to then, there weren't as many as in past years. They never bother us, nor do we get bothered by chanting or the like. We've walked in the middle of the tour groups with our stroller, and have not been bothered, we've had some of the teens return an autograph book that fell out of my daughter's hands just this past trip, etc. Honestly, people are so hot and bothered on here about the tour groups, that they go looking for problems. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, IMHO. Will there be some rude behaviour? Sure, just like there is in all parts of the parks. The only thing that is common with the groups is the Fastpass ticket situation, and seeing mostly exhausted groups of teens sitting on the curb over 1 hour before fireworks in order to secure seats. Besides that, no problems for us in the thousands upon thousands of WDW park hours we've logged.

As I've commented on many times, we have witnessed more rude behaviour by Americans - both adults and teens alike. We were cut in line, banged into, and stepped on by rude American parents who were impatient this past trip. Not Brazilian teens...

Not really sure what the purpose of these threads are? If you don't like the tour groups, don't go in July. The fact is, they have just as much a right to be there as any of us.

Now, if you witnessed rude behaviour, or safety issues, then you speak to a CM. Just as if you witness an American breaking a rule or someone from another country - if anyone breaks a rule that is a safety concern, then speak to a CM.

Cutting in line, making noise and standing around are not exclusive to Brazilain teens, as we see lots of this by other groups of people as well.

Tiger