Tour groups?

[MercerMom]

When do the tour groups typically come to US and IOS?
We are going in July and I am so nervous about the heat and the crowds.

 

[RMulieri]

January and July, same as Disney.They usually show up after the 4th and are there the whole month IME

 

[Metro West]

January and July, same as Disney.They usually show up after the 4th and are there the whole month IME

 

[MercerMom]

 

[schumigirl]

We had our first experience of them last july and it is something to see!

We were amazed just how many of them there are. They swarm in very large groups and groups within the groups link arms and you have to hold your ground as "some" of them are very very rude. You cant even head off in another direction as they are there as well. The group leaders were all co-ordinating with each other sending another group to a ride if they saw it wasnt as busy.

We only saw one group with EP. They had checked into the RPR and our heart sank when we saw them, about 50 but apart from 4 rude people in pool and one very ill mannered girl at the ice cream bar we never had any issues at the hotel.

We always have a rental car and every shopping centre/mall (not Mall at Millenia) was taken over by them. We saw tour buses everywhere we went....day and night. Wal-mart looked like it had been hit by locusts after they left. But they spend huge amounts of money so stores are happy.

Although in general we missed most of them by having EP, they do make an impact on the parks purely by the fact they stay in their massive groups.

Apart from them, July was gorgeous. Weather was wonderful.....very hot but by drinking lots of water and heading back to hotel or to Millenia Mall to cool down it was fine.

 

[RMulieri]

If you stay onsite, express pass does help ALOT..Most of them do not stay onsite and don't purchase it so its a little easier to avoid them.Some of the smaller groups might stay onsite, but usually not.I had my fill of them last Jan and was impressed to see that UNLIKE Disney, Universal TMS don't put up with the shenanigans as much and are more willing to curtail their behavior

 

[MercerMom]

We are staying offsite. Wish we're staying on just to have the EP. I am getting kinda of worried about that! But our room is a reward which meant free for us! So we have to take advantage of that deal.

 

[wholesomejoe]

I was there this weekend..

friday/sat/sunday

that's literally the only thing the crowd consisted of..
easy to spot.. large groups, matching shirts, or gear, none of them speak english.. normally one of them is carrying a flag of some kind with their logo/emblem/country on it.

We waited 30 minutes to get on despicable me Saturday, outside of that our wait times were 5-10 minutes tops on everything, without EP.. I jumped right on FJ (we child swapped).

I did witness a few issues with line jumping, where one or two of the members of the group would hold a spot in line, and then 15 more of them would cut in line to join their group. I sort of got irked by this. I don't mind if its one or two people holding a spot for a third or even fourth, but if your group of 20 can't get in line together.. then they just can't ride together IMO.

I wasn't the only one getting miffed at it, but it only happened like once.

Other than that, its easy to beat them. They aren't usually in a hurry, and they take pictures with EVERYTHING (even stuff that made me scratch my head... ) So you can get around them easily. Also, they travel in packs... so if you see them headed toward a ride, either skip it for now, or figure out a way to get in front of them before they get there (don't line jump)

 

[the Dark Marauder]

Tour groups can be seen from Jan 1-Dec 31. January, July, September, and November are the most common, though.

Also, the one with the flag usually speaks the best English. Many of the kids are trying/learning English, so they can be worked with/talked to. Their energy level is a bit high, but that's the nature of the beast.

 

[RMulieri]

I was there this weekend..

friday/sat/sunday

that's literally the only thing the crowd consisted of..
easy to spot.. large groups, matching shirts, or gear, none of them speak english.. normally one of them is carrying a flag of some kind with their logo/emblem/country on it.

We waited 30 minutes to get on despicable me Saturday, outside of that our wait times were 5-10 minutes tops on everything, without EP.. I jumped right on FJ (we child swapped).

I did witness a few issues with line jumping, where one or two of the members of the group would hold a spot in line, and then 15 more of them would cut in line to join their group. I sort of got irked by this. I don't mind if its one or two people holding a spot for a third or even fourth, but if your group of 20 can't get in line together.. then they just can't ride together IMO.

I wasn't the only one getting miffed at it, but it only happened like once.

Other than that, its easy to beat them. They aren't usually in a hurry, and they take pictures with EVERYTHING (even stuff that made me scratch my head... ) So you can get around them easily. Also, they travel in packs... so if you see them headed toward a ride, either skip it for now, or figure out a way to get in front of them before they get there (don't line jump)

I had it happen to me on HULK and Spiderman.. and BOTH times the TM's saw it and made them get off the line and go to the back..I was amazed ..I also heard the ride operator at spiderman BLASTING the tour guide leader..After that I did my best even with the express pass to avoid them if I could.