Tour Groups and Express

[inkkognito]

When I was at USF for the Brendan Fraser event, I noticed HUGE numbers of Brazilian tour groups. I didn't ride anything because I got there just in time for the event and left right after since the rain was on its way, but I was wondering...do the kids in the tour groups typically stay on site? In other words, can you often end up behind dozens and dozens of tour groupers in the express lines? I haven't actually been there doing rides on a group-heavy day yet.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Usually not. But when the parks offered the free express....

 

[Bluer101]

I was there also and the tours you see are kids from other countries visiting. I talked to a group from Argentina and they where staying offsite. But yes there were lots of large groups.

 

[t-and-a]

We have seen many South American tour groups while we have been at Universal and Disney. In our experiences, these tour groups did not have express pass at US/IOA. (The next part is a little OT, but might be helpful for some of our US/IOA homies that will be doing WDW.) I do remember at Animal Kingdom, right after EE opened....My DH and I got in line behind a woman who had a flag hanging out of her backpack. I had no idea what we had gotten into! The line was long and when she got to the machine, she had her whole groups tickets (over 50 of them! ) and was getting fastpasses for the whole group. My husband and I were both in line to get fastpasses for our family. I never had a problem with one person getting them for a family, but a tour group....I thought that was rude! It looked like one person in line to get maybe a few fastpasses. Now we know to watch for things like flags on backpacks....

 

[inkkognito]

This will make me much more likely to stick to USF/IOA in the summer; it will be nice to have refuge in the Express lines. The other day, I was at Soarin' in Epcot and finally ended up leaving the line in disgust. Part of a group was apparently already in the line, and the rest stampeded to cut. I'm not a shy person by any means and have put countless line jumpers in their place. But wide line + solo me + stampeding pack = no chance. While I was confronting a few of the jumpers, the others just flowed all around. It will be nice to enjoy group-free Express lines.

 

[Bluer101]

This will make me much more likely to stick to USF/IOA in the summer; it will be nice to have refuge in the Express lines. The other day, I was at Soarin' in Epcot and finally ended up leaving the line in disgust. Part of a group was apparently already in the line, and the rest stampeded to cut. I'm not a shy person by any means and have put countless line jumpers in their place. But wide line + solo me + stampeding pack = no chance. While I was confronting a few of the jumpers, the others just flowed all around. It will be nice to enjoy group-free Express lines.

Just like last week at Rock n Roller coaster there was a whole group that was accidently in the single rider line and were trying to cut into the regular line causing a big mess in front of me. I thought the single ride would of been faster. They understood no english.

 

[macraven]

Just like last week at Rock n Roller coaster there was a whole group that was accidently in the single rider line and were trying to cut into the regular line causing a big mess in front of me. I thought the single ride would of been faster. They understood no english.

really.........

try dropping a $20 bill on the ground and say, excuse me, is that yours?

you'll hear english spoken then.

 

[inkkognito]

really.........

try dropping a $20 bill on the ground and say, excuse me, is that yours?

you'll hear english spoken then.

ROFL! You took the words right out of my mouth!

 

[Lucky'sMom]

We just returned from a late June/early July WDW and US/IOA. We must have gotten to WDW before most of the tour groups, because I hardly saw any...but US was another story. We saw many and they were cutting into the express line! On some rides, you are checked twice for your room key, but on others, big groups just cut in later on when the 2 lines were side by side. This infuriated me on the Ripshaw Falls, we waited in express line for nearly 40 minutes! (Not just because of this).

 

[Bluer101]

We just returned from a late June/early July WDW and US/IOA. We must have gotten to WDW before most of the tour groups, because I hardly saw any...but US was another story. We saw many and they were cutting into the express line! On some rides, you are checked twice for your room key, but on others, big groups just cut in later on when the 2 lines were side by side. This infuriated me on the Ripshaw Falls, we waited in express line for nearly 40 minutes! (Not just because of this).

Another thing I saw alot of were people with Premier Passes using the Express Lines and the employees at the Express Pass kept trying to scan them and they would not work, then said just go by. I know the get unlimited after 4 PM but this was well before this. They need to get the employees more educated. This is one other the main reasons for staying onsite and paying big $$$$ for it. If I could purchace a Premier Pass for FOTL then I would never stay onsite.

 

[inkkognito]

Another thing I saw alot of were people with Premier Passes using the Express Lines and the employees at the Express Pass kept trying to scan them and they would not work, then said just go by. I know the get unlimited after 4 PM but this was well before this. They need to get the employees more educated. This is one other the main reasons for staying onsite and paying big $$$$ for it. If I could purchace a Premier Pass for FOTL then I would never stay onsite.

That is VERY unusual. I don't try to use my Premier early, although once I did it accidentally (was a little before four and I didn't realize it), and the team member caught it. After four, they still check the time on their watches OFTEN to make sure the time is correct.

I think the scanner thing is a separate issue. The scanner often doesn't work with my Premier.

 

[macraven]

We just returned from a late June/early July WDW and US/IOA. We must have gotten to WDW before most of the tour groups, because I hardly saw any...but US was another story. We saw many and they were cutting into the express line! On some rides, you are checked twice for your room key, but on others, big groups just cut in later on when the 2 lines were side by side. This infuriated me on the Ripshaw Falls, we waited in express line for nearly 40 minutes! (Not just because of this).

when things like that happen, let guest services know.

if they are aware of issues, they will take care of it.

they try their best to stay on top of things like that situation but can't do anything about it if no one tells them WHILE the situation is going on.

you can always ask a TM near the ride to let gs be aware of the situation.

 

[Timmy Boy]

If they're scanning premier passes, its for statistical reasons. You can come back over and over, they'll just scan it over and over.

 

[jillybeene71]

On Sunday the 6th we were over at Islands and noticed that Circus just opened for lunch and had a small line. I got in line and ds went to get little ds the meal deal thing. I turned around and the red shirt tourist were coming in herds...in like 3 minutes there were 800 of them pushing and shoving right behind me. I have patience but not when someone invades my personal space. by the time i was served and moved to pay, my son had come back...he saw i was not happy. he asked whats wrong, I said (loud enough for the space invaders who spoke english to hear) that if I get touched again I will pop a juvie in the mouth. A few shut up and just looked at me. I went sit down and saw them coming to sit by some booths by us...one girl looked at us and she turned around and went across the room, the others followed hmmm, was it something i said?
Sunday alone I counted 5 groups...red shirts, yellow shirts, aqua shirts, orange shirts, and green shirts. Islands was packed. We left around 2 for Universal, and I dont think I saw any there.

 

[RAPstar]

That's horrible. I hope I don't run into any on my trip. Though I 'm willing to smack a ho if they tick me off.

 

[jillybeene71]

That's horrible. I hope I don't run into any on my trip. Though I 'm willing to smack a ho if they tick me off.

great minds think alike... just bring a little extra bail $money$