Large Foreign Tour Groups in Sept./Oct.?

[crazymomof4]

I have an old ('98) Unofficial Guide (I know, I know I should get an updated one). I was just reading about "large and often unruly tour groups" that "inundate" Disney during Sept. and Oct. That is just when we will be there!

We were hoping that this time of year would be one of the least crowded times. Has anyone experienced an increase in crowds like this book is describing?

 

[Blueberry]

We were there in Sept 2001..prior to and during the attack, so the normal Sept crowd was there while we were in the parks. My DH and I both commented how few tour groups were there, we did not see a single large teenage group from any country like we normally do. Only tour group we saw at all was in Epcot at the Land and it was a large Senior Citizen Group of Asians. We were very happy with the lack of teenage groups, we are once again going in September this year....enjoy your trip.

 

[alvernon90]

Last September it seemed like 80% of the people at WDW were from the UK, but I didn't notice them organized into tour groups. I didn't see any groups being rude or noisy.

 

[laceemouse]

I read on another thread that the economy in Brazil is not so good right now and as a result travel agents are reporting bookings WAY down from there and lots of places. We went last August and most people seemed to be from UK or were Spanish speaking (could have been Floridians!) Anyway, we did not see any large groups at all as we had on past trips. Go and have a good time!

 

[therealgoofy]

Tour groups or not you will love that you chose to go in sept/oct. I won't go any other time of year. The lines are virtually non-existant.

Chris

 

[Jay Since 72]

Are there especially 'large teenagers' (7, maybe 8 feet tall?) in Brazil? It would be unfortunate to be at, say, a circlevision movie, have one of these 'large teenage tour groups' come in, and not be able to see the screen...



(SARCASM ALERT: This statement has tested positive for sarcasm)

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Sept. seems to be the International time for tour groups, but, in the last couple of years they have not been bad at all.
The worst teen age groups I have ever seen consist of American Cheerleaders, rude, inconsiderate, loud and obnoxious. They could give our Latin American neighbors lessons on rude.

 

[feenie]

I don't know about September (yet)!
But when we went in July a couple of years ago they were swarming everywhere!
Once we stopped letting them annoy us, and decided to find the humor in it all we were much better off. (they are very rude!)

 

[helenk]

I know July is a big month for the tour groups and the beginning of December is usually the time for the cheerleaders.
We went the end of September a few years ago and there were no tour groups at that time.
I think someone mentioned before that the South American groups come in July, as that is typically during their winter....but do not quote me on that.

 

[mausmu]

I would say that summer has a lot more tour groups than Sept/Oct. I think the cheerleaders are worse at the resorts, but the tour groups are worse while sitting and waiting for an attraction or show to begin. Talk about loud and obnoxious.

 

[crazymomof4]

Originally posted by Jay Since 72
Are there especially 'large teenagers' (7, maybe 8 feet tall?) in Brazil? It would be unfortunate to be at, say, a circlevision movie, have one of these 'large teenage tour groups' come in, and not be able to see the screen...
(SARCASM ALERT: This statement has tested positive for sarcasm)

Ha Ha. You got me! With all of the grammar I've been teaching my homeschooled 13 yo DS, you would think I'd have caught that!
Actually, I had the Unofficial Guide book right in front of me and was trying to quote directly, but the book reads, "....large and sometimes unruly teenage tour groups from Brazil." I purposely left out the "unruly" part bc. I was afraid of getting flamed by DISers of South American descent.

For the record-- No hard feelings here, I recognize humorous sarcasm when I see it! All in fun!

Actually, I wouldn't mind having a few members of such a tour group accompany me in WDW. Whenever I couldn't see something over a crowd, they could put little 5 ft 3 in me up on their shoulders!!!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Ok, I am going out on a limb here. First, I do feel that the tour groups from any country should behave in a reasonable fashion, however, I also feel that we have to, to a degree, respect their culture as we expect them to respect ours. Having said that, we really don't have to look much further than ourselves for bad behavor. I somehow have a huge problem pointing fingers at any visitor to our country when our children behave horribly and some adults also.
Temper tantrums, screaming, yelling etc. are very prevalent in our country and tolerated by the parents of American children. Foul language, me, me attitudes are all a large part of the behavor of American Adults.
It is rather difficult to say, "oh those Brazilians are awful" when they are doing nothing more than having a good time and are totally unaware of our culture.
The American Cheerleaders are foul mouthed, loud, inconsiderate, and just plain spoiled rotten. It is not limited to the resorts and it is evident throughout the parks. They have no excuse, they know the culture.
I would far rather enjoy watching someone have a good time than watch a kid scream at the top of their lungs or throw a temper tantrum and have the AMERICAN parent look on like it was nothing and not a big deal, which, it probably is not to them, but, for someone trying to enjoy any attraction at any park it is not a fun thing.

 

[disneybud]

It is rather difficult to say, "oh those Brazilians are awful" when they are doing nothing more than having a good time and are totally unaware of our culture.

When we were there in Late October 2001, it seemed that the only people from abroad that we saw consistently were people from the UK/Britain. There were a lot of them and we thought they were great. We got a kick out of their use of the word queue when we were always looking for the line! With regards to the last reply to this post by Gail, I am sorry but I think the problems with the Brazillians go a little further than them just being "totally unaware of our culture"... In fact may I be so bold and feeling somewhat patriotic here to say that no American behavior can hold a torch to some of the stuff I have seen myself and has been reported here on some of these threads in the parks. Not even close. I have read threads here where Brazillians in Tour Groups have spit in the faces of CMs!!! I hardly think a loud horde of cheerleaders would stoop to that level.

 

[crazymomof4]

GAIL,

I could have quoted all of what you said because I thoroughly agree with all of it!
I'm sorry if you thought I was "pointing the finger" at foreigners. I certainly did not want it to come across that way and I think most of the replying posters did not take it that way. Like I said earlier, I was quoting directly from the book. The book only mentions Brazilian tour groups and bc. I've not been to WDW in 9 years I was not personally aware of any other tour groups that came to the parks and therefore couldn't cite them. I only mentioned "from Brazil" at all bc. I gathered from the book that Sept/Oct is when they visit and figured if I put "Brazil" in there it may spark the memory of persons who have been there then. As I posted earlier, "I purposely left out the "unruly" part bc. I was afraid of getting flamed by DISers of South American descent". I truly, truly, truly do not harbor any prejudices against any foreigners, in fact, neither of my parents where born in this country! All of my older relatives speak w/ heavy accents!
My main objective in posting this question was to get some idea of the tour group's effect on the crowd sizes in the parks for the time of year we will be visiting. I am very sorry if I offended anyone.

I am developing a posting paranoia!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by disneybud
When we were there in Late October 2001, it seemed that the only people from abroad that we saw consistently were people from the UK/Britain. There were a lot of them and we thought they were great. We got a kick out of their use of the word queue when we were always looking for the line! With regards to the last reply to this post by Gail, I am sorry but I think the problems with the Brazillians go a little further than them just being "totally unaware of our culture"... In fact may I be so bold and feeling somewhat patriotic here to say that no American behavior can hold a torch to some of the stuff I have seen myself and has been reported here on some of these threads in the parks. Not even close. I have read threads here where Brazillians in Tour Groups have spit in the faces of CMs!!! I hardly think a loud horde of cheerleaders would stoop to that level.

And, a respectful difference in opinion is what makes the world go around. Suffice it to say bad behavior is bad behavior, I don't believe there are degrees, I just don't like fingers pointed without looking in the mirror first.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by crazymomof4
GAIL,

I could have quoted all of what you said because I thoroughly agree with all of it!
I'm sorry if you thought I was "pointing the finger" at foreigners. I certainly did not want it to come across that way and I think most of the replying posters did not take it that way. Like I said earlier, I was quoting directly from the book. The book only mentions Brazilian tour groups and bc. I've not been to WDW in 9 years I was not personally aware of any other tour groups that came to the parks and therefore couldn't cite them. I only mentioned "from Brazil" at all bc. I gathered from the book that Sept/Oct is when they visit and figured if I put "Brazil" in there it may spark the memory of persons who have been there then. As I posted earlier, "I purposely left out the "unruly" part bc. I was afraid of getting flamed by DISers of South American descent". I truly, truly, truly do not harbor any prejudices against any foreigners, in fact, neither of my parents where born in this country! All of my older relatives speak w/ heavy accents!
My main objective in posting this question was to get some idea of the tour group's effect on the crowd sizes in the parks for the time of year we will be visiting. I am very sorry if I offended anyone.

I am developing a posting paranoia!

Yes, yes you are developing posting paranoia. I took NOTHING you said as offensive or demeaning or "finger pointing". I was merely pointing out that there are a lot of things equally as annoying from our own country.

 

[crazymomof4]

Can we please drop the whole "Brazilian/Foreigner vs American" thing? It can't go anywhere but sour! That was not the intent of my original question and I have now edited my original post. BTW, I also edited out "teenage" so as to prevent a war between teen DISers and us "old folks".