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why is it .......

Oxford, United...
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1,452 posts
15 reviews
12 helpful votes
why is it .......
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that wherever we go on holiday we strive to spoil the place ?

I have been going to Florida for a number of years and seen a steady increase in the number of Brits holidaying in Orlando which is great. But why do we have to bring our fooball shirts and attitude ?

Why is it you see an ever increasing queue of football shirts outside the Ponderosa (I know its cheap but there is a huge choice of reasonably priced places serving a massive variety of food) and around the parks ?

Why have we now got British Pubs (Harry Ramsbottoms ? what dick thought that one up ? ), and places serving Sunday Lunch, Full English Breakfast, British Beer etc etc etc (as if the American versions aren`t close enough anyway)?

I have now experienced British driving habits - a muppet trying to jump the queue into Hollywood Studios car park ( he managed to get around several cars but as I had seen him in my mirror and he had a compact and I had a 8 seater van he stood no chance of getting any further - and yes he turned out to be a Brit ).

We have managed to spoil large parts of Spain,Portugal, Greece etc and seem intent on doing the same to Orlando and some parts of the Gulf Coast like Clearwater.

Do I need to find somewhere else to go ( at least I still have the nicer parts of the Gulf Coast left and I shan`t mention where that is just in case ) or can we persuade our fellow countrymen to leave their football shirts ( and attitude) at home ?

Kissimmee Florida
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3,589 posts
38 reviews
66 helpful votes
1. Re: why is it .......
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steveoxuk,

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.

People have been saying the same things about American tourists in Europe for a very long time.

One of my wife's co-workers was bent out of shape that she could not find a McDonalds in Germany.

CTR

Bath, UK
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895 posts
6 reviews
24 helpful votes
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I've been going to Florida since 1990, and to be honest I don't think it's changed too much since about the mid 90's. It's sad to think that when people go on holiday, they still want everything they've got at home. When we go to America (or anywhere else for that matter), we want to experience the American culture. We, sure as anything, would never wear anything that 'shows we are Brits' (especially not football shirts), would never even contemplate finding a 'British bar', finding somewhere that sold a 'Full English Breakfast', and we certainly wouldn't be found sat in front of a bar TV on a Saturday watching a football match. We honestly couldn't think of anything worse. I just don't understand why people would want to, but I guess while there is a demand, 'British pubs' in Orlando will thrive :-(

I guess that's why for the last year and this year we'll be going to other American cities that haven't been 'invaded' yet!

england
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4,901 posts
55 reviews
65 helpful votes
3. Re: why is it .......
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On my last trip I saw loads of people wearing football shirts...most however spoke an american accent. Football (Or soccer as they call it) is very big over there too.

As for british food & pubs correct me if Im wrong but dont we have American food chains over here?? Mc donalds, Bk, KFC, TGI fridays are just to mention a few! Its considered culture to experience food from all over the world.

As for queue jumping and manners people from all over the world can be polite or rude, ive been pushed out the way many a times in disney but I must say none to my knowledge have been brits!

The people I personally find annoying are the large groups that all walk round disney all wearing the same coloured tops, following a person holding a flag or a umbrella high in the air! They are noisy (Because they are in a large group), pushy (Because its the end of the world if they lose sight of the flag, they just push right passed you)and very annoying if you get into a show with as they all want the best seats, decide to talk to a friend whose sitting way down the aisle in the middle of the show!

Urmston, United...
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223 posts
1 review
1 helpful vote
4. Re: why is it .......
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I agree you you Steve.I have been going to Florida for 20 years and each and every year it gets more like Blackpool.we do manage to spoil every place we go,If you want beer,football.full English breakfasts dont bother going abroad stay at home.I am sad to say that I do feel quite embarrassed to say I am British sometimes.

we dont leave a good impression behind do we,And you can certainly see us coming, men in football shirts and bright white new trainers, woman with bags and flipflops free with magazines and head to toe Primark outfits.

What the rest of the world thinks of us I dread to think.

london
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2,586 posts
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some brits are such snobs!!!! people wearing football shirts is no different to an american wearing a basketball jersey!!!

and as for the head to toe primark, some people would rather spend there money on a nice family holiday rather than designer clothes, it's the prats trying to be wags that embarress the brits more.

as for tryng the food, etc, we love it but some people want a fry up or roast, but that doesn't mean they don't want to visit the parks/beaches/wildlife parks. etc so why should they just stay home?

next time i am up london and i see an american in tgi's should i say 'how dare you eat here, you might have well stayed at home!!'

how pathetic.

Lincolnshire, UK
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811 posts
19 reviews
40 helpful votes
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Millymolly.. I dont wear much Primark stuff but my kids do!! There is nothing wrong with their clothes why pay £10 for a t-shirt from Next that they will outgrow in a few months when i get one equally as nice for £2.

I wear bright white trainers (i have loads of pairs) because i cannot stand grubby looking ones!!

Husband doesnt wear footie shirts but he wears NASCAR t-shirts both on holiday and here at home.

Little boy wears Man Utd kits on holiday but HE wants to and i dont see a problem with it.. It made his day in Islands of Adventure when Spiderman wanted to talk to him about Wayne Rooney!!

Orlando in nothing like Blackpool-- Blackpool is a filthy dump that is in desperate need of a regenaration (or bulldozing!!) i went 2 yrs ago and it was awful.. dirty.. full of hen & stag parties.. fighting and drinking on the streets..Never seen anything in Orlando like that!!

Belfast, United...
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106 posts
16 reviews
42 helpful votes
7. Re: why is it .......
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I think its very prejudiced to pretty much label everyone from britain who happens to wear a football shirt on holiday as a bad thing.

I wear my Northern Ireland football, Man Utd football, Ireland Rugby and Ulster Rugby shirts abroad and I'm not about to trash the place or start a riot. The reason I wear them is the same as when I wear them at the games themselves, to give myself a sense of identity. Now I know there are about 2 billion Man Utd fans in this world but its not every day you bump into fellow Ulstermen like myself!

Regarding the british themed restaurants, well I personally would like to keep it local, or else there is no point in crossing the atlantic in the first place, but with Orlando practically being a mini British colony anyway, some people want a taste of home, and when theres a market, you're a muppet for not exploiting it!

Eastbourne, United...
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643 posts
21 reviews
74 helpful votes
8. Re: why is it .......
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Hi Steve,

Sorry you found fellow Brits so awful last time you went.

I do understand about the car queue incident, but that does happen all over the world! Have you ever been to Italy? Car driving over there is manic, no rules whatsoever!! And France, well you take your life in your hands there when you cross the road in Paris!! So it is worse elsewhere I'm sorry to say.

I went to Florida last August for the first time ever and to be honest I didn't see any badly behaved Brits at all, everyone is usually so happy and relaxed that it's all fun.

I only encountered 2 incidents that stick out in my mind. One was in Animal Kingdom and it starting pouring with rain, I'd been the day before and remembered that the Safari ride queueing area was all undercover, so I rushed there with my 11 yr old son to keep dry. The queue was already enormous and most of the time we all just slowly kept stopping and starting. Well one group of women - American - all very tall and very overweight, there was about 6 of them I think, started pushing forward. I was knocked flying and this girl didn't even apologise. Then more pushed past. The whole group were then in front of my son and I and I noticed that the whole lot of them stunk very badly of sweat. They were all black. But this hasn't made me hate blacks or Americans - they were just one family who had no manners. I moved myself and my son over to the other side, to get away from the smell and started chatting with the nicest family ever who were from New York and I really enjoyed the rest of the hour long queueing, before finally getting on the ride, with them! They were ever so interested in talking as the dad had been to the UK on business and he wanted to ask me lots. What I really loved most was the fact that I had an inkling on where they were from due to their accents! They, however, especially the mum, had no idea that they had accents!!! I thought that was lovely!

One thing I immediately noticed though, in Florida, was that American's do not do one thing, that practically everyone in the UK, myself included, are guilty of. They do not look you up and down and make a decision on you based on your weight, hairstyle, clothes worn, etc. That I found so wonderful. I am very overweight and over here I am made to feel so awful because people so often make their mind up about me just because of my size. But in Florida everyone just looked at my face and smiled and said Hello everywhere I went. Oh it was so nice and I felt so welcome because of that.

Still each to their own, we must all learn to be more tolerant of each other and personally I think it's worth a polite word to someone if their bad behaviour annoys you. Just make sure you don't show you are angry. Imagine someone coming up to you, if they are polite and just say, look please don't take this the wrong way, but what you just did, re queue jumping, shouting, whatever, I just wanted to say that I think it would be better for everyone if you didn't do that again, as it annoys people or whatever! You never know, it might work. If you are polite about it, maybe even add something funny, so you can all laugh together, may make them change.

Newcastle, United...
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443 posts
9 reviews
6 helpful votes
9. Re: why is it .......
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I can readily leave my attitude behind but my football shirt, never!

You can travel anywhere in the world and see somebody wearing a barcode (thats a black n white striped shirt to non-football readers). I'll bet the Geordie who surveyed the Mason-Dixie line was wearing his without any trouble!

As I understand it, Ponderosa is an American chain, and the USA is the country that has franchised fast food throughout the world, so whats wrong with queueing outside an American food store to sample American food?

Get a life (and a football shirt!)

Poole, United...
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338 posts
1 review
10. Re: why is it .......
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I love to see people enjoying themselves and if that means wearing a football shirt or shopping in Walmart who cares.

If there was not a big demand for the places mentioned they would not be there.

I for one will be looking for the Scottish and FA cup finals when I am there and I know these places will be packed.

If you do find somewhere else to go you might find that these people who are welcome in Florida will be glad to see the backs of people with such a snobby attitude.

Lighten up and enjoy yourseif.

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