Private ABD vs Group?

[TraderStitch]

Hi everyone, first time poster in the ABD neck of the woods. My wife and I are looking to take our two kids on our first ABD trip; probably to Europe, Asia, or Australia within the next 2 years.

Looking over the ABD site, I see private trips are an option from time to time. As folks who, I'm not gonna lie, despise small talk, what has been your experience with a group vs taking a private ABD? I feel like if we splurge for the private trip we won't miss out on anything. Having done a few other trips, non-ABD and prior to kids, I always felt like we had to be on top of what was going on every moment with the group. If we were taking in what we were experiencing and enjoying the moment we wound up being last for an activity and rushed. Obviously this creates anxiety and I'm not on vacation for that lol. General thoughts or tips you can give a soon to be ABD traveler?

 

[Steven G]

I am not a very social person, but I don't mind the group ABD's at all. The guides are almost always there for you, and they never force you to participate in group things if you don't want to.

I have not done the private ABD so I cannot compare. I was going to look on the site about the private, but it appears they have taken information on the private trips completely down, or I couldn't find any.

I believe the private excursions were only created during the Covid time, and perhaps they weren't that popular.

I am not sure if they completely don't offer it anymore or not.

If I remember correctly when they did offer it, it did offer some mild customization, which would appear to be the only other advantage.

Edit to add: this site compares the regular to private adventures:
https://magicguides.com/adventures-by-disney-private-adventures/

 

[sayhello]

My understanding is that the big downside of the private adventures is that you do not have actual Adventure Guides. They hire out the trips to 3rd party guiding companies. So if the Disney quality/Adventure Guides are important to you (one of the main reasons I do ABDs!) then the private trips are not a great option. But ABD does vet the guiding companies for you, so they are probably good guides.

Sayhello

 

[Marthasor]

There was a pretty scathing report on these boards of a private New Zealand ABD in December 2022 where the third-party vendor seriously dropped the ball and did not provide the daily activities as listed in the itinerary. We travel with ABD specifically for the ease of travel and the incredible service of the ABD guides who handle everything and even throw in a few surprises here and there. We just got back from the Arizona/Utah adventure a few days ago and it was amazing, in a large part, because the guides were so engaging and a lot of fun to be with. I'm not great at small talk either, but I found, with the trips we have been on, there is a good balance of spending time with the group and then time alone spent with my own family. We have been lucky in that we've always had really wonderful people on all of our tours and I've made some new friends along the way. They also have really fun "Jr. Adventurer" nights so the kids can socialize and the adults can have some time to themselves - the Jr. night that did in Utah was off-the charts and the kids had a blast! Personally, I would do a group ABD to get the full experience.

 

[TraderStitch]

Thank you everyone for the input. I know to expect something different when it comes to Disney... which is why I'm here asking. I'm at least not as against the group idea as when I first posted. That 3rd party vendor does worry me, especially for the additional price. Maybe we will do a short group trip state side first to see how it goes.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

While we have not done very many ABD's compared to most and we have never done a private ABD, here's my two cents on why we would not do a private trip....

With the ABD's we have been on, we all have the same underlying interest, Disney. So all the generic chitchat is centered around Disney until you get to know the folks. Some people just keep to themselves and some are social.

We cruise alot (not Disney) and the dynamic of the ABD group is so much better then just a group going out on a cruise excursion for a day. The ABD is just a different demographic of people, hard to explain. We have booked private tours in various cities for the day and most of the time we just didn't vibe with the guide. I would never book a private multi-day tour because we wouldn't want to risk that happening and being stuck with them for 10 days. If we want a trip that's just us, then we are DIY'ing it and possibly booking half day to day tours for a specific thing.

 

[sayhello]

There was a pretty scathing report on these boards of a private New Zealand ABD in December 2022 where the third-party vendor seriously dropped the ball and did not provide the daily activities as listed in the itinerary. We travel with ABD specifically for the ease of travel and the incredible service of the ABD guides who handle everything and even throw in a few surprises here and there. We just got back from the Arizona/Utah adventure a few days ago and it was amazing, in a large part, because the guides were so engaging and a lot of fun to be with. I'm not great at small talk either, but I found, with the trips we have been on, there is a good balance of spending time with the group and then time alone spent with my own family. We have been lucky in that we've always had really wonderful people on all of our tours and I've made some new friends along the way. They also have really fun "Jr. Adventurer" nights so the kids can socialize and the adults can have some time to themselves - the Jr. night that did in Utah was off-the charts and the kids had a blast! Personally, I would do a group ABD to get the full experience.

Thanks. I was trying to remember who'd reported back about the Private Trips.

@TraderStitch
Here's a link to the thread with the Report about their New Zealand Private ABD:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/report-on-disneys-first-private-abd-new-zealand-dec-2022.3905216/

Sayhello

 

[chuff88]

I am also not big on small talk and tend to be nervous and uncomfortable around new people, but I found the group on our Norway trip to be incredibly easy to be around and chat with. Like previous posters have said, the underlying interest in Disney helps, but there are also inevitably parties of a similar make up to your own. I travel with my mom, and there was another mom with her daughters as well as a grandmother/granddaughter pair. I also never felt forced to socialize, and we never felt rushed through the various sites. If you're still apprehensive, I do think a domestic trip is probably a good starting point!