Tell me about Brazillan groups

[luvgoing2disney]

I've read many comments over the years about the rudeness of these groups. Without trying to start an international incident, just what do they do that causes strong feelings against them?

 

[ribollita]

We saw many earlier this month and had no issues with them.

 

[CAS239]

Their not too bad. I believe some people (older people lol) have issues with them because they tend to carry their flag around and get loud. For whatever reason they like to break out into songs and yell it. It can get annoying, but nothing too bad. I've never seen them do anything else to be rude or out of line.

 

[FreddyMercury]

They can be bad.. Especially for cast members. There was one incident at Pirates of the Caribbean where, once the gates opened, the tour group literally PILED into the boat. They were cramming as many of them in each row, laying on top of each other, sitting in laps, etc. the boats hold 23. They had about 30 in the boat before I could even yell UHHHH YOU CANT DO THAT!!!! They usually have "translators" but it's probably about 1 translator per 100 kids. Also, a friend of ours was a disney employed Brazilian tour guide. She told us that the kids are literally TOLD to pretend like they don't speak English so they can get away with breaking the rules. In reality, they're required to have a good understanding of the language before even being allowed to come on the trip.

 

[WEDWDW]

Just an FYI-the Tour Groups are definitely not exclusively Brazilian.

There are HUGE numbers also from Argentina as well as smaller numbers from other South American and Central American countries.

Brazil gets the "blame" for all of them!

 

[HopperFan]

First I would call them BTG - Big Tour Groups - since they are not just from one place, they are mostly from two places. You will see one group mostly in January and the other more in February. The problem is teenagers, minimally supervised, actually their guides are instigators. There will be families and adult groups since it's their vacation season, I've never had a problem with them.

In the parks it is manageable - you'll see them, just go a different direction. If you have a FP+ with them you are stuck. We had a few issues last week and I was just very firm in not letting them cut or push us out of the way. They absolutely understand what is being said to them especially if you keep it short and to the point.

It's the resorts that are a big problem. There is no control. After a few years of staying with them end of January - pure misery - I decided no more. I had a reservation but cancelled it. I booked a very nice suite off-site for less than a value would have been and avoided the resort and the buses. I am returning for my Feb trip but booked it the very last week so it should be mostly done, they'll be back in school. If you aren't at a value you should be fine.

 

[kiltclan]

First I would call them BTG - Big Tour Groups - since they are not just from one place, they are mostly from two places. You will see one group mostly in January and the other more in February. The problem is teenagers, minimally supervised, actually their guides are instigators. There will be families and adult groups since it's their vacation season, I've never had a problem with them.

I really like that phrase!!

Back when I worked Parade control during my DCP, we used to take hula-hoops and other activities out to play with kids pre parade time. PACtivities

Often, I would have some of these BTG people running over and grabbing the hoops from me, holding them out and spinning around trying to hit their friends, but more often than not, hitting an innocent kid. They'd also seem to do their best to break my plastic bowling pins and ball every time I brought them out. I would also almost always have to shoo them off the streets as they took up positions in front of other guests and trash cans like, 5 minutes before parade start.

 

[SuperTink]

We saw many in January. No problems.

 

[laeeyore]

Im glad someone posted this,I wanted to ask but didnt want to be offensive. We are going to WDW in the second week of June,9-17,staying ar POR. Im not too worried about the parks but I am terrified about the resorts. I have read some horror stories on Tripadvisor. I would actually have changed to a Deluxe or AOA but my daughter is really looking forward to the princess room we got and I dont want to disappoint her.
We live in an apt. bldg which is very noisy and loud on a regular basis and we so wanted to have a calm relaxing time at the hotel.
Do you think these groups will be a large problem the second week of June? Also is it possible to change resorts when we arrive if these groups are there?

Thanks for any help, this issue has become so stressful to me I have actually considered cancelling but my daughter woukd be crushed. I hope things will turn out all right in the end.

 

[Dizzyworld]

We saw many earlier this month and had no issues with them.

Same here.

 

[jk and ek]

encountered them on one trip, the only issues i witnessed firsthand were A) while waiting in line for attractions, it seemed one member of the group would hold a place in line and when they got close to the end, other members (like 20+) would walk through the line to join them (it was frustrating and annoying), and B) lots of sitting/laying down in pathways. but this was also 6 years ago, so maybe those kinds of things have been cracked down on since.

 

[soniam]

Has anyone seen many this month? I'm curious, because it seems attendance might be up at the parks this month. I wonder if Brazil's economy is doing well, so lots of people are visiting. I think Argentina's economy is pretty bad right now.

I could probably remember how to tell someone no cutting in Spanish, but I don't know any Portuguese. I'll have to get my father-in-law or brother-in-law to tell me what to say. They both do business there and speak the language. My brother-in-law actually lived there for a few years. Portuguese was the first language their daughter spoke. She's lost it all now though, after living in English speaking countries for too long.

We should probably rename the thread "Tell me about bratty teenager groups", because it sounds like this is the real problem. They are making their whole country look bad, when most of the people would probably be so grateful to go to WDW.

 

[Davey Jones II]

We saw some of them at our value resort, All Star Sports. Lots of chanting and singing and general noise, but thankfully they were always on the move, so they didn't bother us for too long.

 

[Pinocchio #1 Fan]

I was there from January 8-16, and aside from the spontaneous chanting when in a queue, they were fine. I saw nothing but kids excited to be at Disney with their friends having a good time. Believe me, there were tons of non-foreign, small group people behaving much worse. I'd vacation at the same time as Brazil anytime!

 

[mggeary]

I'm here now. Very low overall crowds with the exception of weekend at MK. Would estimate though about 1/3 of the crowd is from South Anerica. Tour groups haven't bothered is, but you definitely notice them. At AK yesterday, we saw the same group over and over all day. No chanting, rude behavior or anything.

 

[smidgy]

when we ran into a problem with a huge brazilion group at ALl Star Sports in July a few years bacd it was a huge problem... the kids from the soccer group blockedth e walkways while we tried to get our luggage to our room.

the entire stay, anytime we vacated our pool loungers, they would pull them away and take them.

when we were sitting on the bleachers in the DSA, the coaches started screaming at my husband because they wanted the teams to practice there and didn't want us smoking there.

late at night, swimming was allowed, but QUIETLY.. they were screaming, yelling, plahying soccer at 1 AM (we had a pool view room). and kicking the ball against our window.

when we finally got a CM to pay attention to us, a CM management on a segway (acting all kinds of "important".). informed US that "july is Latin month at disney world and THEY are OUR guests"!!!

um I am paying for my room? I am a guest too!

I don
t mind teens making a bit of noise. heck, I was the house in my small town all the teens hung around at!!!

the buses fromn the parks to the sports resort? they chanted at the top of their lungs.

they chant on the rides. they clog up the walkways.. they are rude and inconsiderate. and that is my experience and my opinion. and disney puts up with it, at the expense of families.

 

[HappyDaisy]

The tour groups are much better now than they were in the late '90s and early to mid 2000's. Now, I don't even notice them unless I look for them. Some of the high school groups and cheerleaders from right here in the U.S. are much worse these days.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

The BTG are just like any other group. If they are well behaved kids with good supervision, there is not many problems. You get misbehaved kids with poor supervision, well, there are problems. We have seen them in the summer months and never a problem except for trying to cut in line like a previous poster said. It's pretty difficult for 20+ people to cut through a line when you don't let the first one through. We've seen some issues with cheer leading groups too. Practicing at 5am right in front of some rooms. We saw a guy take what appeared to be a bucket of ice water and through it on the group from the second floor. I tried to get some pictures but it was too dark and from across the way.

 

[Amanda999]

We saw many in January. No problems.

Ditto.

I stayed at Pop Jan. 10-17, with many BTG from at least 2 countries, as well as a U.S. band group, a cheerleader group, and a (U.S., adult) health care seminar group (there were more of them, in total, than any other group! But the health care group had their own buses).

Had no problems at parks, resort, CS restaurants, or on buses. Didn't hear chanting anywhere. Saw them, just had zero problems or inconvenience.

I think FP+ has changed the main problem I noticed in the parks in past years significantly: they have prescheduled FP+ just like us. So, no more standing at the FP- machine getting dozens at once. I.e., although you might get "stuck" behind a group when you enter for your FP+ time, if its a popular ride then you would have been behind that many people anyway (not in a single group, but still 40 (or whatever) people would have been in the FP+ at/around your time. It just happens to be an identifiable group.

 

[anniemae]

I think it's just the sheer number of the groups. One person stated that if they all got ahead of you in line, your wait time easily quadrupled. Also, they can fill up a bus pretty quickly.

They move en masse as one huge animal, and I think that is the problem. I think it would be better if they had more chaperones and broke off into smaller groups and went to different parks on different days. When you have so many young people in one group with little supervision it is going to get loud and rowdy and cause some issues.