Brazil Tour Groups

[DannyelBR]

I was searching info about WDW and found this forum, which is great, I'm a huge fan of WDW and I'm sure I will have great time here discussing about the parks...

But I got very sad with some comments I read here in this very thread.

I'm a Brazilian and I want to help you guys to have a better time with Brazilian Tour Groups, if you can't avoid them.

I've been to WDW many times but never in tour-group, always by myself.
Unfortunatelly, Brazilian tour groups are not well-seen by regular visitor in WDW, and I understand why, but don't agree with some things written here.

The first of all: they are teenagers in a huge group. What teenagers love to do? Put out their energy and this can be really annoying for those who are not being part of the party.
To give you an example (a Central Florida one), I had a really BAD time in Daytona Beach because I went there during a break week. It was as much annoying as finding a Brazilian or Argentine tour group!
I was offendend, teenagers were chanting and even showing parts of their bodies we are not used to see in the streets of Brazil (even in Carnaval)!!!

Two - Brazilians are more easy-going, and naturally, the sense of space are really different than Americans... Many of these Brazilian teenagers are used to crowded buses and tight places here in Brazil... Americans are used to drive their cars and have a more separated live in huge houses... It's a matter of culture.
So, for a Brazilian teenager there is nothing wrong when touching or being closer to another people in a line. It's hard to make any person change their life experience in few days.

Three - The Brazilian Companies who organize those tour groups have guides and rules for the teens. My mother was travel agent and guide and she always made a meeting with the customers before the trip to explain that USA is a little bit different than easy-going Rio de Janeiro style of life. But it's hard to control 30-40 youngsters when they are having the best time of the lives...

I do think WDW should think better about how to receive these groups. By setting a separate line for them (avoiding the fastpass thing) and by putting some entertainer CM with them. =]

Any questions about Brazilian Tour Groups, I'll be glad to answer. =]

 

[rlm919]

Ive seen Sepultura, and I think they are touring now are they not?

nobody here will get that :lol:

 

[DannyelBR]

One thing I will never understand about "Brazilian
So I can't understand the insatiable desire of these groups to want to stick together so badly. Wouldn't going around on your own be better? Is this just a cultural thing, a language thing, or are they just more strict?

I can point some reasons:

Legal. By Brazilian Law, under 18 youngsters must be accompanied by an adult during trips, and they must have a responsible person when they are without their parents.
So if anything happens to this youngster, the travel agency will be fined and probably suited.

Language barrier. Some of these kids are really not able to ask for help in case of emergency, like feeling sick. And in many cases, guide help translating the rides (that's why many complainings about the buzz these groups makes)

Money. The guides are also responsible to help in the expenses kids will make inside the park. Not many are used to make conversions from dollars to reals and we all know there are good and bad prices inside WDW.

 

[DannyelBR]

Another thing I would like to add to the discussion:

WDW makes LOTS of advertsiment about their Parks here in Brazil.
Few years ago I read that Brazilians are the third biggest group to visit WDW only after Americans and Japaneses.

And this probably will increase. Because Brazilian economy is booming and travel to Orlando became really cheap for us. More and more middle class family will afford with a group-tour to Orlando in the next years.
American Airlines just announced more flights in Miami-Sao Paulo route. United now have more flights to Rio...

WDW must think how to receive these groups and maybe create a etiquette manual in Portuguese and Spanish to give to the travel agencies.

Cutting lines is really a problem in WDW, but not only Brazilians do that.

 

[unkadug]

Another thing I would like to add to the discussion:

WDW makes LOTS of advertsiment about their Parks here in Brazil.
Few years ago I read that Brazilians are the third biggest group to visit WDW only after Americans and Japaneses.

And this probably will increase. Because Brazilian economy is booming and travel to Orlando became really cheap for us. More and more middle class family will afford with a group-tour to Orlando in the next years.
American Airlines just announced more flights in Miami-Sao Paulo route. United now have more flights to Rio...

WDW must think how to receive these groups and maybe create a etiquette manual in Portuguese and Spanish to give to the travel agencies.

Cutting lines is really a problem in WDW, but not only Brazilians do that.

Wonderful idea....Disney are you listening?

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

We stayed at the parks between August 27th and September 7th and we didn't see or hear any Brazilian groups over the entire length of our stay. I was very glad about that.

 

[BrerFrog]

Wonderful idea....Disney are you listening?

They can't listen to you over all the chanting. :lol:

 

[unkadug]

They can't listen to you over all the chanting. :lol:

:ROFLOL: :wave:

 

[muse1983]

It was actually your comment

"I think they should make them all go during the same week...

Just close WDW for that week to all domestic visits and get it over with for the summer."

So because of where you were born or what color your skin is, you can only go to WDW one week of the year? Hm......

I have never encountered a large group of people who act like the Brazilian tour groups do, they are extremely loud, obnoxious and out of control. I have never encountered a large group (at Disney mind you) of Black, Asian or hispanics who act like complete lunatics ( as the brazilian group does). So in fact there is absolutely nothing ractist about pointing out and generalizing a specific group that happens to be the same ethnicity who act like lunatics in the park. It's merely a fact that hundreds if not thousands of people will back up.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

I was riding the Monorail yesterday to Epcot and a Spanish speaking family behind me was laughing and criticizing how Jack Wagner was pronouncing his "please stand clear of the doors" in Spanish speil. I wouldn't even expect to go to too many other countries as a foreign tourist and think to find english speils. Guess this family got used to us bending over backwards for them out of fear of lawsuit.

 

[DannyelBR]

I was riding the Monorail yesterday to Epcot and a Spanish speaking family behind me was laughing and criticizing how Jack Wagner was pronouncing his "please stand clear of the doors" in Spanish speil. I wouldn't even expect to go to too many other countries as a foreign tourist and think to find english speils. Guess this family got used to us bending over backwards for them out of fear of lawsuit.

hmmm, there is an american site (indeed, very funny) only about this.
http://engrishfunny.failblog.org/

And when I was in Disney I found funny some terms written in Portuguese in the park maps. That's part of the experience of travelling abroad. I like it! It makes the trip funnier.

 

[DannyelBR]

Wonderful idea....Disney are you listening?

And the idea of separate lines for tour-groups, no matter the nationality, isn't wonderful too???

 

[DannyelBR]

I have never encountered a large group of people who act like the Brazilian tour groups do, they are extremely loud, obnoxious and out of control. I have never encountered a large group (at Disney mind you) of Black, Asian or hispanics who act like complete lunatics ( as the brazilian group does). So in fact there is absolutely nothing ractist about pointing out and generalizing a specific group that happens to be the same ethnicity who act like lunatics in the park. It's merely a fact that hundreds if not thousands of people will back up.

So, if we can generalize a little:
You never found an Argentine group...

 

[BonnieP]

I am so glad I found this board. I thought I was just getting too old and cranky to go to Disneyworld anymore! I just got back from a week there. I took my 3 grown kids. their spouses and 4 small grandkids for a family vacation. The children are all very small--the oldest is 7 and it was their first trip to the parks. We had so many negative encounters with various Brazilian and Argentinian tour groups that we lost count. Our main issue was them pushing and shoving the children. It got to the point that we "circled the wagons" around the kids and used our elbows to keep people from pushing them around, and that's just plain ridiculous. These groups are not going to go away, as they bring in huge amounts for revenue and the whole point of the Disney experience is to be inclusive, BUT I sure wish Disney would address this issue. I think the tour guides should be held accountable for the behavior of their groups. The chanting is extremely provocative and rude. I have travelled all over the world and I would NEVER go into a foreign country without knowing the social norms, I would NEVER go into a foreign country and shout, chant or cheer in public and I would NEVER shove a child out of the way so I could get somewhere a little faster. I grew up in California when I graduated from high school, going to Grad Night at Disneyland was a big deal. We were briefed in advance as to what was expected of us: dress code, behavior code, etc. We were warned that if rules were broken, we would be escorted from the park. The result was a fantastic and safe experience for me and all the rest of the young people in attendance. What happened to that Disney?

 

[TERRILYNN]

We are supposed to go in a month and I'm scared to pieces we will run into something like this that will ruin our trip and it will all just be a huge waste of money. I think in general its just large groups of young people who are set loose probably for the first time ever, in a fun place, they just lose their minds. More than likely if their parents were with them they wouldn't behave that way. We are season ticket holders to Silver Dollar City and we go A LOT. One weekend this year it happened to be young Christians weekend. Oh my gosh, it was HORRID, the park was PACKED and huge groups of kids were pushing, yelling, my daughter got pushed down and almost stepped on by a "young Christian". There was line jumping and we seriously stayed like an hour and left, I would have been so mad if I had traveled far and it was a one time thing, but since we can go anytime it was not worth dealing with.The park is usually not like that at all, that is the one time I've ever seen people act out of control. I don't know what the answer is, these sort of groups bring in lots of money for the parks, but if they are going to have them, they need to find a way to deal with crowd control, it's just ridiculous that they let that type of thing go on.

 

[Vader2112]

I was there with my family for a day trip last Saturday and MK was crawling with them. Did the ole one gets on the FP line then 50 cut in B.S. on Peter Pan... Disney will not do much as these groups bring in tons of money. I can also say it is not just Brazilian tour groups , it is the tour groups in general.

 

[Rasvar]

I'm fortunate that I never really have to time schedule in the park (even though Disney is trying to force that on everything). If I see a flag, I go in a different direction. Makes it no trouble at all.

 

[jlsHouston]

I spent an entire day tracking the recent threads on this tour group thing. I believe this upcoming trip we have planned will be the first where we will possible will encounter one of these groups. I am not prepared to avoid them if they are acting in an unsafe manner, I am prepared to force Disney to deal with them. I think we all need to force Disney to limit the size of these groups inasmuch for safety reasons even more than quality of experience for other park guests. This is in no way a finger at only the out of country groups visiting but also, the sports teams/cheerleader groups. Yes we all realize teenagers are exuberant, but running over small children and old people is not acceptable whatever your age.

 

[WDWmazprty]

We always go in September and never encounter them. Not to say that they're not there, but I remember being younger and going in the summer and seeing them all the time. However for the last 4 or 5 years going in Sept./Oct. we haven't run into them at all.