Do the large international tour groups mainly go to Disney in the summer?

[Grim Grinning Marathon Runner]

We JUST got back from an amazing week at the World, and we LOVED it!! We realize that going at the end of July will mean hot weather and larger than normal crowds, but we go with the flow and make the best of it. The midday breaks REALLY help.

One thing we noticed last week were the HUGE number of tour groups, a lot of them from Brazil. For the most part, they were well behaved, but hey, kids will be kids, and when you get dozens and dozens of kids who know each other on a trip like that, they're bound to be a little rowdy.

It wasn't a big problem, but it would be nice to be able to be in the parks at a time when there aren't several dozen groups of 50+ teens and preteens from around the world.

So, do these groups mainly go in the summer?

Again, I mean NO disprespect, and I was really impressed with the way these kids behaved (for the most part). I was most impressed with how vigilant the chaperones were. If the groupd that Natalie Holloway was with had these chaperones, she'd have been safe at home right now.

[PrincessEmmasMommy]

These tour groups were EVERYWHERE! We were there 7/7-7/17. I found them to be quite rude and disrespectful. I was literally pushed while standing in a line for a character with DD4and they continued to cut into lines other places. On our last morning at O'hana's character breakfast, they pushed the little ones out of the way in the "parade" around the restaraunt and monopolized Mickey so that we almost didn't get to see him. I think Disney should require more grown-up chaperones with groups like this. They were a huge problem and hindrance on our trip. I would definately go at another time if it meant avoiding the crowds of teenagers in matching shirts. Even CM's were starting to speak out about it at the end of the days.
Just my 2 cents.
Jen

[WDWdreamer87]

I was there 7/5 to 7/7.

And the Brazil groups were there as well. They all decided to take up the whole sidewalk for Spectromagic/Wishes. And there were still tons of people exiting Tomorrowland.

I don't complain, because who doesn't want to go to Disney World with people you know? But the fact that there was only ONE chaparone with at least 20-30 young teenage girls is very, very aggravating.

Although, I did enjoy them starting the wave before Fantasmic! (or another group from Brazil, maybe.) Everyone joined in!

[berri_boo]

When we were at the world last July (7/2 - 7/16) we ran into a lot of the tour groups. We called them "Team (place color of shirt here)" since they all wore the same color shirts. If they got pushy then I got pushy back! They seemed to have a lack of common courtesy when it came to standing in lines or just plain walking around! I had enough of being pushed so I started pushing back. They would run into me with their huge backpacks so I would give the backpacks a little shove - not to be rude but to make them aware of that there are other people around them....don't know if this helped or not...but I still did it anyway!:blush:

[DizneyRox]

Remember that in SA, it's their COLD season right now, which would explain why many South American tour groups come in our summer.

I haven't noticed them being any worse than usual lately. Actually, I've seen less and less of them. I'm not sure if it's attributable to 9/11 or not, I do remember being inundated with tour groups many years ago. Not so much the past few years.

[ytzking]

I have found that as a rule the tour groups from Brazil are rude and poorly supervised. I have also noticed that the young people learn by example. Simple common courtesies (such as standing to the side and waiting for people to exit an elevator before entering), seem to escape even the adult chaperones in these groups. I actually had a 2 night stay at the Amerisuites near USO comped due to the actions of one of these groups.
Unless you voice your complaints, nothing will change their behavior.
PS : I don't feel bad about the general characterization because I have observed the same type of behavior with these groups on every trip I've made since 1994.
:mad:

[Grim Grinning Marathon Runner]

Well, as many of you pointed out, the main thing that frustrated us was the lack of courtesy, or learning customs like how to queue, elevator courtesy, monorail courtesy, etc.

What we did was when we saw a large group of them in the same color shirt rush from one attraction to another is we'd go where they just came from, and try to avoid them.

Probably the thing that got us the most was our last morning, we had ressies at the Crystal Palace. Unfortunately, a very large Brazil tour group was there. The general rule in the Crystal Palace is you sit at your table, eat your meal, and wait for the characters to make their rounds and come to you.

We were there with our 22 month old, who adores Tigger and Pooh. We waited patiently to see them, and the group would always get up from their table (after already seeing them), rush to the character as a group, and keep them occupied for quite some time. It was frustrating.

I don't think Disney can avoid having large groups like this, but I wish they could enforce rules of etiquette and standing park rules (like the big coolers and shoving).

I also don't know the answer to this problem, but I just don't want to take my daughter when they're visiting, because I don't want her to see this and think it's acceptable.

[TinksPixieDust]

My family was just there toofrom 7/4-7/17 and we encountered the tour groups as well. I agree that there were abut 50-60 teens with only one or two adults which was ridiculous. My aunt was there as well and she was waiting in line for "Its a Small World" and she said that the tour leader aka flag holder came down teh handicap ramp with her foot in an ace bandage.... the entire tour group followed her down and they all got on the ride! They took up 6 full boats!!! At this point if I was a CM I woudl have said something because that is utterly ridiculous! I was also waiting for my fast pass time to start while waitng outside of RnR and I was talking to a woman who was waiting for her kids... we watched tour groups come into line and strategically cut the line. The woman was right when she said "man these tour groups really know how to cut lines the right way" I udnerstand that Disney cant turn these groups away becasue they keep the parks busier during the summer months but they should act more accordingly when these kids are getting out of line.

[LibertyTreeGal]

Just got back from Disneyland and there was a very large tour group from Japan -- all wearing "electric yellow" shirts. They were nice enough, but I think that whenever you get a large tour group, from any country, it is hard not to succumb to "group mentality" and just behave as a group, which is not going to be enormously polite! LOL When 50 people do anything together, watch out!

[MinnieMommie]

When we used to travel to DW in October we always ran into many groups especially from Brasil. They always seemed nice and kept within the group. from what I understand Disney is very popular in Brasil. Not surprised as they are very nice people who have a penchant for enjoying life. We just visited DW in early June and didn't run into many groups then. :mickey:

[ibrowse17]

On our last trip in Feb, I counted at least 5 big groups wearing the dreaded matching shirts. All rude, unsupervised for the most part and moving in swarms. You could see the people run for cover as they came into view, no joke. I wish something could be done about this, but know there is little that can be.:(

[ASweetLov]

I agree with PrincessEmmasMommy and WDWdreamer87, I was there from 7/5 - 7/11 and there were like 4 Brazilian groups with teenage kids. 3 groups out of the 4 were rude and loud, the other group were more calm and actually pretty nice to talk to, we got to sit next to them before Illuminations on July 7th and they were really nice:mickey:

[LudwigVonDrake]

I was in WDW from 7/6 - 7/12 and they were EVERYWHERE! Some were ruder than others.

[TikiGoddess]

We were there frin 7/8 to 7/11 and yes, we saw the Brazilian teen tour groups. Every summer we see them but so far have had no problems with them whatsoever. Now some of the American families I saw.... including the mother who was screaming her head off at her preteen son... I could have done without them.

TikiG

[Marilyn Michetti]

I've never been to the "world" in summer, but we always see a couple of the groups when we go in Dec. They're loud - lots of chanting and singing, but I've never seen any bad behavior.:secret:

[avantgardeinker]

We've seen the large tour groups in Dec and in Jan. I don't think the groups go away. I think the nationalities of the groups change from season to season.

136 more days!!
:mickey:

[MickeyMousse]

We always seem to run into these large tour groups whenever we go, doesn't matter what time of year it is. The majority are from Brazil and Spain...and most of the time we found them not be any worse than anyone else at the parks.(we usually head in the opposite direction of where they are going!) I am amazed though that they seem to only have 1 chaperone per 20 or so people!

[ImagiAsh]

We were there 7/12-7/19 and boy were there a LOT of Brazil groups. I will be honest that I found them very annoying and rude. They stayed pretty organized as far as moving from one location to the next (no students seemed to wander away), but as a whole, they were very rude...screaming, chanting, being disrespectful to those around them. I stepped into the ladies room in MK at one point to discover at least 50 girls from one of the groups inside. A few were ahead of me in line to use the bathroom, but most were behind me---until, of course, they walked to the front of the line and decided to stand in front of stalls to get in them before the rest of us. :shake:

[emmingo]

We've seen a few groups in February and late January--all from Brazil. Like a few others have said, we usually just go the other direction--mostly because we don't want to be caught behind them in line for a ride! They do tend to get a little annoying, especially when you aren't used to the cross-cultural differences (being louder, being rowdier, etc). I do love the tourist groups from Japan. When we did DisneySea and TokyoDisney, we did the tour group thing, so we feel a little vindicated.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

I must agree nationality has nothing to do with it, it's a group mentality. I have encountered large tour groups and also the cheerleading conventions, OMG! Both were noisy, boisterous and very rude. We were staying at the ASM one year when the hotel was jammed packed to capacity. You cannot blame the girls as much as the almost non-existant chaperones. The girls are excited to be there, they are going to try and get away with whatever they can, they are teenagers. You would see 1-2 chaperones to a very large group of girls, it was ridiculous. One night my Mom was pushed out of the way by a teenage girl trying to squeeze onto the bus. The bus driver thank goodness saw what happened and did not let her on the bus and helped my Mom up. No chaperone in sight. We complained to the front desk about the noise near our room. Screaming, running, it was crazy. The front desk was even sick of them, probably from all the complaints they had, everyone was disgusted. Thank goodness they were only there a few days.:thedolls:

[K8screen]

I am in the unusual position of seeing both sides of the story very recently. We were in WDW last week as a party of 2, we saw plenty of these groups, but my attitude to them had changed, as , 2 weeks before, I (with other adults!) had taken a party of 40 british 14 and 15 year olds to Disneyland Paris. We knew our group well, so did not feel the need to dress them the same , or herd them round together. Some chose to stay with me as I was "the Disney expert", others did the park at their own pace, in small groups. Some wanted to do the big rides first, others preferred to start small or go slow, some wanted to shop, some didnt, etc etc. Everyone had a great time.
My French is pretty good, and I know "HISTA" for example well, but even so I found I missed a lot, the kids will have missed even more, as, even thougth headphones are provided in English, the French is so loud they are almost useless.
The kids in these Brazilian groups have the frustration of not understanding the language well enough, having no headphones in their language,being forced to do rides they may not want to do, at times they may not want to do them, with people they may not like. They have to wait for everyones refreshment or comfort breaks, or for everyone to leave a ride; we all know how frustrating this can sometimes be in parties of 5 or 6, imagine waiting for 50 everytime!
In short, this is NOT the most pleasant way to do Disney, and although their chanting etc was occasionally annoying, in general I found their behaviour as good as could be expected in the circumstances and had a lot more sympathy for them, sitting round in large groups, endlessly waiting for everyone to rally round the flag.

[January-2007]

We saw some in January, so they definately are not just there in the summer.

[MinnieMommie]

I agree that the group mentality is more problematic than the nationality of the group. By the way, July is a big vacation month in Brasil. :mickey:

[Mickey91]

We saw at least one group in Dec.