the samba schools in grupo de acesso are smaller and tend to have less funding than the groups in grupo especial - their competition takes place on the first two days of carnaval in the sambódromo, and tickets to these events are less expensive than the ones to the events later on in the festival.

this is not to say that the grupo de acesso productions are inferior, or that they do not have a proud history - in fact, acesso claims as members such excellent schools as união de jacarepaguá, acadêmicos da rocinha, and estácio de sá, in addition to schools from neighboring niterói.

in the last few years, the difference in performances between the samba schools in the special group and in the access group as been blurring, as more funding is reaching série a, since the group was expended and given increased media attention.