Tour Group season is upon us

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

Sounds like super greeters are working (knock on wood!)

I do think they are helping, along with smaller group sizes and dispersing the groups to different areas, so that multiple tour groups aren't together.

We were eating at a QS last Monday when a Super Greeter came in with her group. She was assisting them and managing their behavior quite well. She ordered their food along side us. The cashier commented on how well she was doing and noted her lack of accent. Her badge showed that she knew multiple languages. The SG stated that she had been coming to DW since she was a small child and lack of her accent could be attributed to her attending Univ of Penn.

I was quite impressed with this young lady. Ivy Leaguers could be spending their summers doing other things. Hopefully all of the Super Greeters are like her. She was definitely different that the flag holders we have seen. They seem to be flirting with their charges more than guiding them.

 

[backinaction]

Call my weird but I dont mind the chants that much. usually i only hear them outside a ride or before fantasmic. i've been around many of tour groups and never heard any of them chant during a ride ever. Now that being said, the video of them chanting in philar magic is insane and the CM's that work there should have stepped in. But again, i've never seen them chant like that in a closed environment before.

 

[Todd H]

I had the displeasure of staying at Pop Century last year when it was inundated with Brazilian tour groups. Buses full of them would pull up at all ours of the day and night (we're talking 2-3 am). They would get out of the bus and immediately start the chanting. Then when checking into their rooms they would run up and down the walkways in front of the rooms screaming at the top of their lungs. I made the mistake of stepping outside my room to tell a few of them to stop making so much noise. Bad idea. They then called my room phone constantly and would hang up when I answered. I ended up unplugging the phone from the wall. They would also dump all of their trash not IN the trash can by the hotel but AROUND the trash can as if they couldn't be bothered. The grounds were an absolute mess. They also took over the food court, shoving their way past people in line and being generally rude and pushy. And the parks...my god they were even worse there. The chanting...the cutting in line...the talking up the entire walkways...the leaving of backpacks everywhere...it was terrible.

You know what the CMs did when I complained? Not a single thing. I asked to be moved and was told there was nowhere they could move me. I complained day after day and was met with nothing but shrugs. It was quite possibly one of the worst vacations I've ever had and I haven't been back to WDW since.

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

I had the displeasure of staying at Pop Century last year when it was inundated with Brazilian tour groups. Buses full of them would pull up at all ours of the day and night (we're talking 2-3 am). They would get out of the bus and immediately start the chanting. Then when checking into their rooms they would run up and down the walkways in front of the rooms screaming at the top of their lungs. I made the mistake of stepping outside my room to tell a few of them to stop making so much noise. Bad idea. They then called my room phone constantly and would hang up when I answered. I ended up unplugging the phone from the wall. They would also dump all of their trash not IN the trash can by the hotel but AROUND the trash can as if they couldn't be bothered. The grounds were an absolute mess. They also took over the food court, shoving their way past people in line and being generally rude and pushy. And the parks...my god they were even worse there. The chanting...the cutting in line...the talking up the entire walkways...the leaving of backpacks everywhere...it was terrible.

You know what the CMs did when I complained? Not a single thing. I asked to be moved and was told there was nowhere they could move me. I complained day after day and was met with nothing but shrugs. It was quite possibly one of the worst vacations I've ever had and I haven't been back to WDW since.

Oh my goodness, that is awful! Who is in charge of them while they stay at the hotel? How many chaperones are there? I am so sorry you had a terrible vacation. You should have been moved to another resort.

 

[Samoht]

We always visit WDW in July due to my wife's job. It's really the only month she can get time off so, I have encountered many tour groups. I think some people are making too much of it. I have seen FAR WORSE behavior from other Americans that cut in lines and run to get in front of us when walking up to rides. The tour groups for the most part follow the rules. They're just having fun.

 

[backinaction]

Oh my goodness, that is awful! Who is in charge of them while they stay at the hotel? How many chaperones are there? I am so sorry you had a terrible vacation. You should have been moved to another resort.

or at the very least, should have been given some type of credit towards the cost of the room. I remember when we stayed at all star sports right after hurricane katrina. they were housing refugees from the disaster at the hotel. These people were so loud and partied until all hours of the night on the walkways and in the courtyards. Usually after a few people called security, Disney did a good job of sending multiple guards to tell them to go inside there rooms. We were happy how disney handled the disturbance. I'm surprised they offered nothing but shrugs.

 

[fbb]

I had the displeasure of staying at Pop Century last year when it was inundated with Brazilian tour groups. Buses full of them would pull up at all ours of the day and night (we're talking 2-3 am). They would get out of the bus and immediately start the chanting. Then when checking into their rooms they would run up and down the walkways in front of the rooms screaming at the top of their lungs. I made the mistake of stepping outside my room to tell a few of them to stop making so much noise. Bad idea. They then called my room phone constantly and would hang up when I answered. I ended up unplugging the phone from the wall. They would also dump all of their trash not IN the trash can by the hotel but AROUND the trash can as if they couldn't be bothered. The grounds were an absolute mess. They also took over the food court, shoving their way past people in line and being generally rude and pushy. And the parks...my god they were even worse there. The chanting...the cutting in line...the talking up the entire walkways...the leaving of backpacks everywhere...it was terrible.

You know what the CMs did when I complained? Not a single thing. I asked to be moved and was told there was nowhere they could move me. I complained day after day and was met with nothing but shrugs. It was quite possibly one of the worst vacations I've ever had and I haven't been back to WDW since.

Mark Richt has lost control of the Brazilian Tour Groups

 

[Todd H]

Mark Richt has lost control of the Brazilian Tour Groups

No worries. They'll all just transfer to Auburn.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

Yes it is comparable. And timely too!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...craziest-fans-plan-to-take-over-the-world-cup

I try and be easy going on vacation and just avoid/ignore disruptors. Last time i was at WDW during tour group season I was newlywed... needless to say, my wife and were pretty much oblivious to everyone else around us and managed to have a great time.

This is not even remotely comparable.

Operative words.....plan to. Also, soccer fans (domestically and abroad) have generally shown a lack of proper etiquette in judgment in comparison to other sports fans. Please read those two highlighted spots before freaking out soccer fan.

 

[fillerup]

I thought this was a good enough reason to revive this thread - from today's 6/30 O'Sentinel re' International Tourism.

Headline & a couple of salient points from the article by Jim Stratton and Alexia Fernandez:

Brazilians now biggest group of overseas visitors to Orlando

"Fueled by a growing middle class, Brazil has made its way to the top of Orlando's overseas-visitor list, overtaking the United Kingdom for the first time.

Almost 770,000 visitors from the South American powerhouse came to Central Florida in 2013, topping the 759,000 from Great Britain, according to estimates from the Visit Orlando tourism-marketing agency. Since 2004, Brazilian travel to Orlando has exploded by 900 percent as rising affluence has given more Brazilians a taste for American theme parks, restaurants and shopping."

900% - Yikes. I offer this without editorial comment as I personally have never had a disagreeable experience with this particular tourism segment.

Full Article Here

 

[Yankee Mouse]

I've been there when the groups are bad, and I really just think it has more to do with a disproportionate number of teenagers to chaperones. The same things happen during Pop Warner and cheerleader competitions. I have seen cheerleaders break out into song and dance routine in the middle of the parks, football players out of control at the hotels, and read many reports of these groups causing just as many problems as the tour groups. The reason it doesn't seem as bad as the tour groups is because the size of the groups aren't the same, and the length of the trips aren't the same.

Although, I will say, and based on that news article above I think this is an accurate statement, Disney is missing out on a pretty significant opportunity to build a theme park south of the border and maybe lessen some of the issues with the tour groups.

 

[BTAN]

We were staying at All Star Movies in January and they were running around the hallways late into the night. Normally i wouldnt mind except the fact that we always wanted to wake up early in the morning to get to the parks. Hard to wake up when they are running around until 2 or 3 in the morning.

 

[note2001]

Wow, they really love Disney to come this far or they have nothing like it in the area. I think Disney's overlooking a potential good location for another park.

 

[khale1970]

We should! Following SweetPea's advice, tip number two: you can never stop fifty, or five, or even two people from cutting. So what you do is: stop one. Go for the smallest one.

I did this in the Potter FJ queue at UNI last week. A group began ducking and pushing past my family just after we entered the queue area and there were too many to stop without having a fight. But I was finally able to close the door on the last one (an older gentleman - this was not an entirely teenage group). His group kept telling me I had to let him pass by my family so they could ride together and I told them no thank you, not one more person is cutting in front of my family. The debate raged (quietly and politely other than the pleading from the group when they saw I wouldn't be bullied) for about 3/4 of the hour long line before an emissary was sent to agree to my terms. My family passed by them to the place we were in line originally.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I did this in the Potter FJ queue at UNI last week. A group began ducking and pushing past my family just after we entered the queue area and there were too many to stop without having a fight. But I was finally able to close the door on the last one (an older gentleman - this was not an entirely teenage group). His group kept telling me I had to let him pass by my family so they could ride together and I told them no thank you, not one more person is cutting in front of my family. The debate raged (quietly and politely other than the pleading from the group when they saw I wouldn't be bullied) for about 3/4 of the hour long line before an emissary was sent to agree to my terms. My family passed by them to the place we were in line originally.

Excellent!

 

[Kristamouse]

What is a super greeter?

 

[Yankee Mouse]

I did this in the Potter FJ queue at UNI last week. A group began ducking and pushing past my family just after we entered the queue area and there were too many to stop without having a fight. But I was finally able to close the door on the last one (an older gentleman - this was not an entirely teenage group). His group kept telling me I had to let him pass by my family so they could ride together and I told them no thank you, not one more person is cutting in front of my family. The debate raged (quietly and politely other than the pleading from the group when they saw I wouldn't be bullied) for about 3/4 of the hour long line before an emissary was sent to agree to my terms. My family passed by them to the place we were in line originally.

Usually when people do that to me, I tell them that if they want to ride together they should go back in line to where that person is. That doesn't usually go over to well though either. For some reason no one ever wants to go back in line, only forward.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Mark Richt has lost control of the Brazilian Tour Groups

*spittake* I was wondering where would see this meme show up....

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

For people who are subject to harassing behavior from tour groups in their hotels, there is a solution when Disney Security or CMs won't do anything - call the police. We stayed at All Star Music back in 2003 and there was a cheerleading group staying there as well. The kids were outside partying (with beer) until past 1 in the morning. My brother opened the door and asked them to be quiet, and they threw a beer bottle at our door. We called the front desk...and waited....nothing. After a half hour of banging on our door and even louder harassment because they were now ticked we asked them to be quiet, my brother got out the phone book and called the police.

Disney likes to handle everything in house and they definitely don't like it when the police are called. But when behavior gets dangerous (or criminal in any way), do not be afraid to call the police.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I did this in the Potter FJ queue at UNI last week. A group began ducking and pushing past my family just after we entered the queue area and there were too many to stop without having a fight. But I was finally able to close the door on the last one (an older gentleman - this was not an entirely teenage group). His group kept telling me I had to let him pass by my family so they could ride together and I told them no thank you, not one more person is cutting in front of my family. The debate raged (quietly and politely other than the pleading from the group when they saw I wouldn't be bullied) for about 3/4 of the hour long line before an emissary was sent to agree to my terms. My family passed by them to the place we were in line originally.

Well played!