The Dreaded Tour Groups

[jlsHouston]

Hey Nick, I wasn't aware that you were a teenage Brazilian. You sure act like this is a personal attack.

hahaha he thinks we are being racist I think when we single out the Brazilian group... not me I have lots of half breeds in my family. Irrespective of race, nationality, culture, religion or sex I am equally negative to any large group lacking in respect or causing harm to others with their actions. But large groups are fine as long as they can maneuver the parks and resorts without disrupting everyone and everything in their pathway. But excuse me for having a blond moment, what is the "ss club" ?

 

[BrittanyRose428]

Is whats going on in that video technically allowed? I work at a tourist attraction and if that were happening outside we would more than likely split it up. If its a large group and they're loud, simply because its a large group and they can't help it thats fine, but in this case the guides were instructing them to sing/dance. I know Disney obviously doesn't do anything about it but I would assume they have some kind of policy that technically that should not happen. If that were to happen outside of where I work, we would break it up, and explain that it is our private property, if they want to put on some kind of street performance or have a group program we'd be happy to work something out in advance, but its not okay to just show up with 50 people and have them do some kind of routine.

Even if a large group is quiet or well behaved, a lot of people are still intimidated just by the sheer number of them. A lot of places, like malls, museums, etc... would break up large groups into smaller groups, I guess it would be un-magical for Disney to split people up, but there must be some kind of official policy regarding the tour groups.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Is whats going on in that video technically allowed? I work at a tourist attraction and if that were happening outside we would more than likely split it up. If its a large group and they're loud, simply because its a large group and they can't help it thats fine, but in this case the guides were instructing them to sing/dance. I know Disney obviously doesn't do anything about it but I would assume they have some kind of policy that technically that should not happen. If that were to happen outside of where I work, we would break it up, and explain that it is our private property, if they want to put on some kind of street performance or have a group program we'd be happy to work something out in advance, but its not okay to just show up with 50 people and have them do some kind of routine.

Even if a large group is quiet or well behaved, a lot of people are still intimidated just by the sheer number of them. A lot of places, like malls, museums, etc... would break up large groups into smaller groups, I guess it would be un-magical for Disney to split people up, but there must be some kind of official policy regarding the tour groups.

It would be very magical for Disney to break large groups up. We don't dislike them because they are Brazilians (and a lot of Argentinians), but because large grous in uniform have an instinctive effect on people - both within and without the group.

As for the chanting, clapping and dance routines: it is not just some teenagers having spontaneous fun, but multi-million dollar corporations promoting sing-and-dance vacations in WDW. The kids practise the routines, get send the lyrics, recieve the uniforms - different ones for each day, with instructions what to wear when.

The disruptions are not teenagers getting carried away. They are plotted with military precision by rich, large corporations. What's more fun than to learn a dance routine and then be able to perform it in front of thousands of people in Disneyworld? I'd pay thousands of dollars for it too. These trips are not cheap. They are organised by the wealthy for the wealthy. The Brazil upper(-middle) class, girls getting intercontinental trips worth several thousand dollars as a birthday gift for their fifteenth birthday.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

But excuse me for having a blond moment, what is the "ss club" ?

That *ss is what blondes sit on - and I don't mean your boyfriend.

 

[jlsHouston]

haha I knew it!

 

[Amy Decker]

We just got back from a Disney trip, and the worst thing about our time in the parks was definitely the groups. My husband and I both agreed that we would avoid them as much as possible throughout the trip, and we didn't have too much trouble. The things that worked for us were: 1)Don't drive to a park because you may be stuck on the park tram/ferry/monorail with those groups (and they are extremely loud and rowdy at 11:00 p.m.!). 2)Don't wait in line. Get a Fast Pass instead. We noticed that the groups tended to stay in large groups rather than splitting up. It felt so good to just walk right past them in the line! 3) Walk away from the direction in which they are walking, if possible. We really had no trouble other than being irritated by the clapping and chanting. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Patricia Melton]

In 2009 I visited the parks in the middle of July. You know what our one overwhelming memory is?

The tour groups. We tried to avoid them, tried to move to different attractions when we saw them herding towards a fastpass queue. But what if they are already inside the FP queue? Now what? Now you wait 30 minutes for Space Mountain even with the FP. Tried to eat at other resturants when we saw them engulf a quick service. Walked out of Fantasmic to get away from the constant screaming, chanting, singing, flag waving. Covered our ears and tried to grin and bear it in the stretching room as they shouted and danced over the spiel. But guess what? We could not avoid them, we could not remove them from our trip, and the constant effort it took to not let them completely ruin our trip has left us with such a negative view of summer time WDW that we will never go back.

The old line that they only effect you if you let them effect you is such BS. Even the effort required to avoid them is effecting your vacation. The best solution is to just not go to WDW in the summer months.

I'm curious if anyone has ever gone to City Hall and complained about them?

If I was in Mansion and they did that, I would have demanded to ride again without a tour group present so that I could experience the stretching room narration. It's my favorite part of my trip to WDW, experiencing the Mansion like it's meant to be. I would not have accepted that I can't hear the narration because a mob of children were screaming and chanting during it.

I would have marched up to City Hall to complain about the chanting and screaming during the narration. At any attraction they ruined with their chanting or screaming, I would have asked to ride again without them around me and I would have complained about it at City Hall too.

When I got home, I would have also sent TDO copies of my last five years' worth of Disney receipts as an attachment to the letter of complaint I wrote about what it's like to visit the parks when the tour groups are allowed to take over.

And I would never go back the months they are there ever again.

It's funny, but my family goes to WDW every summer...though we are there always in late May/early June. We have never encountered one of these groups so they must not come that early in the summer.

It looks like July is the month to avoid.

 

[Patricia Melton]

We learned how to say "Back of the line" and "Quiet" in Portuguese after dealing with them in the Soarin line on the first day. They tried to cut and when people said no, they just shrugged and kept pushing. Luckily the people in front of us spoke Portuguese and sided with us and the group behind us when we decided that we were not letting 15 people go ahead of us. We won when they were scolded in their own language. After that experience we learned how to say 'back of the line' and the person who told them off also suggested to learn 'quiet' after his experience on Mission Space. Came in handy the next day when they wouldn't shut up in the stretching room on HM.

In the end it was 5 minutes of stress. That isn't enough to ruin a whole trip. I probably would have been more frustrated if I simply did nothing or walked out of line after already waiting for 30 minutes.

This is pretty brilliant, actually.

I've encountered this with other groups of people speaking a foreign language and behaving badly in public. Once, on a bus, there were three teenaged Chinese kids clearly making fun of people and being obnoxious while speaking Mandarin and they did not think anyone could understand them. I was on the bus with my friend Helen who used to work for the State Department. Know what one of her proficient languages was? Mandarin.
You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces when she very politely told them that she could understand every word they were saying. She then proceeded to tell one man the things the kids were saying about him (nothing too terrible that the man would be embarrassed or anything). The man glared at them and miraculously the kids decided to get off at the next stop. They were so rattled that someone spoke Mandarin and could understand them.

It would be great for people to know enough Portuguese to say:

* Be quiet.
* You are being very rude.
* Get to the back of the line.
* Who's in charge of all you kids?
* Do you act like this at home?
* Someone should call security.
* Brazilian kids make Brazil look bad.

I bet in 2012 there are apps available where you could have these phrases translated as needed in the park. If you have your phone out, I wonder if you would find an app that translates into Portuguese and pronounces it for you...and then I would yell it back at the kids.

 

[G00fyDad]

I bet in 2012 there are apps available where you could have these phrases translated as needed in the park. If you have your phone out, I wonder if you would find an app that translates into Portuguese and pronounces it for you...and then I would yell it back at the kids.

I'm not sure about that app, but I have an app that produces a particular hand gesture on the screen. I could simply show it to them and tell them in English to get to the back of the line. If I go to another country and do something inappropriate and someone there tells me to stop, it doesn't matter if I understand the words coming out of their mouth, I know by their body language that I should stop. So do these foreign tour groups. They understand fine. Just like the little Chinese lady down the street from me that keeps letting her killer dog loose to deficate on other people's lawns. We tell her to keep the aggressive dog put up, but she always acts like she speaks no English. When the police came to take her dog from her (we have a leash law) she suddenly understood everything. Don't go out of your way to learn a new language, unless you want to. Just stand in front of them, point to the back of the line and say "no". It works fine.

 

[Patricia Melton]

I'm not sure about that app, but I have an app that produces a particular hand gesture on the screen. I could simply show it to them and tell them in English to get to the back of the line. If I go to another country and do something inappropriate and someone there tells me to stop, it doesn't matter if I understand the words coming out of their mouth, I know by their body language that I should stop. So do these foreign tour groups. They understand fine. Just like the little Chinese lady down the street from me that keeps letting her killer dog loose to deficate on other people's lawns. We tell her to keep the aggressive dog put up, but she always acts like she speaks no English. When the police came to take her dog from her (we have a leash law) she suddenly understood everything. Don't go out of your way to learn a new language, unless you want to. Just stand in front of them, point to the back of the line and say "no". It works fine.

I love your attitude. No nonsense.

I think I enjoy busting the little punks and saying something in their language that they understand so they can't deny they know what I am saying. The look on their faces would be priceless to hear someone scolding them in Portuguese. They don't expect that.

I wonder if people back in Brazil are aware that their tour groups are giving people such a bad image of their country.

 

[tare]

Tour groups stay away!!!

 

[boopuff]

We had a crazy experience with a group on TOT. The kids (teenagers from the good 'ole USA) were screaming and whatnot as we reached the part of the ride prior to the decent the lights went on and the "voice of Oz' told the kids to sit, behave, stop making hand gestures and put away their signs. The lights went off and oops! right on again (on kid tried to hold up a huge sign - must have had it hidden in his ultra-saggin' pants) the voice said the ride would be evacuated if they held up another sign. Finally the ride continued but.... when we went to check out our ride photo... guess what... "unable to view"! The kids were soooo sad that they couldn't see their photo (and in case you're wondering this was in May we were unfortunate to be there on Grad night! whoppee!!)

 

[Hulacat]

Just in case anyone would like to know for future refernce, there are cheer and dance competitions throughout jan, feb, mar, and april and there is also one Vov 30th-Dec 8th.

April 2013???Any idea when and which resort?

 

[PRNCSAurora]

The biggest issue I have is that the chaperones are the ones allowing and at times initiating the chanting and bad behavior. I went down to Disney with my dance team in high school and I'm sure we were plenty annoying at time, but I remember our chaperone telling us to cut it out and one group actually got sent back to the hotel for cutting in lines and just being plan obnoxious.

 

[ddbowdoin]

They're not nearly as bad as reported.
An occasional issue here or there, but nothing deserving the complaints and whining you'll hear on this site.

I actually enjoy the energy of the groups, but some don't.
For those who don't, if you see a massive group in line, give it a few minutes before joining the line.
If you've just gotten in line and a large group follows, step back out of the line for a few minutes.
Pretty simple.
OK......let the complaining begin.

AHHHHHH what

 

[ddbowdoin]

they suck, period...

 

[Joshsteve]

I am hoping not to encounter any of these groups on my upcoming trip. We went to busch gardens in tampa a few months back in early spring and these groups were EVERYWHERE.

my girlfriend is less than 5' tall and these girls must have assumed she was a kid, and shoved her out of the way and into a guard rail while waiting in a queue.

I'm not gonna hesitate to bring any unwanted chanting, pushing, or obnoxious behaviour to the nearest CM.

 

[luv]

When huge groups of Brazilians or cheerleaders cut in front of me, I just cut in front of them. Seriously. Sometimes I follow right behind them, saying Excuse me, Pardon me. When the person I'm following stops, I pardon myself, step past them and stop.

I wish everyone would do this. They'd cut and then we'd all follow and step past them, leaving them (and the rest of their group) at the back of the line.

In fact, we should all do this with all line cutters.

 

[EOD K9]

If anyone knows the phrases....advise us on here por favor or s'il vous plait. I am not a fan of the obnoxious tour groups either. When on JII, yes I was on it....an Orthodox Jewish man and his son tried the "my family is up there" bit.......fine, I allowed him to go in front. His family was not there. He tried that again on another line. He didnt recognize me on Living with the Land and tried the same stunt. I asked him to point out his family and he said he'd just wait and meet them later... Hmmmm Also, when the tour groups try to pull that same BS, I don't allow them past me. I advise them to keep up with their group next time. C'est La Vie!!!

 

[graphite1326]

Well guess what? I was there last week (August 11-17) and NO tour groups anywhere. I couldn't believe it. First time in about three years.

But I would still like to learn the phrases. We could make up little cards with the phrases on them to carry with us to the parks.