Turismo Watch!

About Turismo Watch!

Hello, all you Central Florida theme park fans and Floridian Disneyphiles! Have you ever spent a day at one of the major theme parks - the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld Orlando, or the venue closest to my home down in Hillsborough County, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - and came across teens in matching tops and/or baggage shepherded with few adults, each holding a flag? Have you heard some of the groups of them, give or take, chant as if it's World Cup, cut in line, and/or steal your view in an entertainment event such as a parade? Have you ever been to any of the parks in midsummer and/or midwinter, when South American schools close for the term and the teens flock to Florida for their en masse "Sweet 15?"

My friends of the parks, these are the turismos - the groups of South American teens who will make or break many a Central Florida pilgrim's vacation. I coin the term regarding the groups that flock here each summer and winter because it's both the Portuguese and Spanish term for tourism, I divide them into three classes: the otros (from a few other parts of South America), the Argentinean youth herds and, more infamously and most notoriously, the Brazilian tour groups!

As long as it's not derogatory to the cultures represented in those teenage youth groups that love tourism as much as we do and as long as it's free of profanity or racial slurs, feel free to express how much you feel about them in photos or videos. You can also, with discretion, post clean photos of the groups doing a particular activity. Remember, it doesn't have to be all Walt Disney World - the other parks in Central Florida work wonders too, as they visit them likewise.

This group is for my fascination with the turismos, although they can get a bit hairy as far as chanting goes...