Who has done ABD???

[arthur06]

I'm not really sure if this is in the right place, if not, Mods please move ...

I am really looking to do an international travel in the next 3 years or so...

DW has mentioned 2 destionations that she would love to visit, Egypt and Ireland.

I know ABD goes to Ireland, but dont beleive that there is anything for Egypt.

I want to know feedback of ADB trips to Ireland if anyone has done them. Also, Egypt just seems so difficult to even begin planning, any advice on that would be such a big help. THANKS!

 

[disneynutz]

No advice here, to rich for my blood.

 

[Nikisha421]

try asking on the ABD boards...the folks over there are quiten honest and there are many trip reports from ppl who have done ABD...good luck with finding all the information you will need

 

[nunzia]

I have done ABD, but it was in the US (Backstage Magic) there is a good discussion of ABD right here on the DIS, and I'm sure there are plenty of trip reports.

 

[CarolMN]

Moved from DVC Boards

 

[Bobo912]

I'm not really sure if this is in the right place, if not, Mods please move ...

I am really looking to do an international travel in the next 3 years or so...

DW has mentioned 2 destionations that she would love to visit, Egypt and Ireland.

I know ABD goes to Ireland, but dont beleive that there is anything for Egypt.

I want to know feedback of ADB trips to Ireland if anyone has done them. Also, Egypt just seems so difficult to even begin planning, any advice on that would be such a big help. THANKS!

There is a sticky at the top of the page under which you will find several trip reports for the ABD Ireland trip. ABD trips are fantastic! There are several other companies that do trips to Egypt. You might try Thomson Family Adventures, Wildland Adventures, and Abercrombie & Kent. National Geogrphic and Tauck have trips to Egypt too, alhtough Egpyt is not one of their "family" trips.

 

[arthur06]

There is a sticky at the top of the page under which you will find several trip reports for the ABD Ireland trip. ABD trips are fantastic! There are several other companies that do trips to Egypt. You might try Thomson Family Adventures, Wildland Adventures, and Abercrombie & Kent. National Geogrphic and Tauck have trips to Egypt too, alhtough Egpyt is not one of their "family" trips.

This would NOT be a "family" trip! No way would I take my kids to EGYPT! But DW is becoming more and more fascinated with history and has/is developing an obsession with Egypt! I hear that it is a place with alot of scams! So, I really want to know what I am getting into before I go! (if I do)

 

[WeLoveABD]

There are great trip reports re ABD trips to Ireland. There are adult only and family trips. In August--hopefully!--we'll see new trips, maybe even Eygpt (rumors abound, but that was also a destination asked about in a recent survey). everyone has their own travel style--kids or not, more on your own or less, transport to/from the airport or not etc. Good luck with whatever your adventure turns out to be! (We have enjoyed our overseas ABD trips--especially the two guides, plus local guides for specific tours, and having most of the details handled for us. We've taken our two youngest on all of them--they are now 16 and 9--and they have loved them, including and especially China. We'd probably do Eygpt, too!)

 

[arthur06]

There are great trip reports re ABD trips to Ireland. There are adult only and family trips. In August--hopefully!--we'll see new trips, maybe even Eygpt (rumors abound, but that was also a destination asked about in a recent survey). everyone has their own travel style--kids or not, more on your own or less, transport to/from the airport or not etc. Good luck with whatever your adventure turns out to be! (We have enjoyed our overseas ABD trips--especially the two guides, plus local guides for specific tours, and having most of the details handled for us. We've taken our two youngest on all of them--they are now 16 and 9--and they have loved them, including and especially China. We'd probably do Eygpt, too!)

If you dont mind me asking, how many ABD have you been on and where did you go? I would really love to hear more feedback!

 

[knewton64]

If you dont mind me asking, how many ABD have you been on and where did you go? I would really love to hear more feedback!

...the conversion rate from US to Euro so look for me to head out to Ireland (my 3rd ABD adventure) May 2011 time frame.

We just might cross paths.


I am heading out shortly to my 2nd Adventures by Disney vacation & if you want, you can follow me via my trip report (see "If I were a Fraggle - March 28th....").


T.T.F.N.

 

[WeLoveABD]

We've been on 4 ABD trips--we had not traveled out of the country for a long time and decided as our son was getting older that we should all see the world. Expensive, yes--but we believe in the long run there is no better education. We went with a different tour company to Ireland--the kids did great, but they were the only ones under 18 on the trip. The guide was very kind to our young daughter--and we did quite a bit on our own. We had previously been on the Disney cruises and enjoyed having everything taken care of (the transport from the airport to WDW, then from there to the ship and then to the airport was great). In 2007, the Disney Magic cruised the med so we went all out and booked that and then heard about Adventures--and lo and behold we were able to hook up the Italy trip before the cruise. It was probably too long for the kids to do both--but we absolutely loved Adventures. I had never felt so relaxed--and spoiled--on a trip before.

We we followed that with China in 2008 (in June, pre-Olympics) and were absolutely bowled over by that trip. (So much so that we went and booked the London/Paris trip for xmas 2008--with Christmas in Paris). We liked the holiday trip enough to try it again, this time in Germany in 2009--and again, with the two guides and the local guides, we felt immersed in the culture, and able to go along for a great ride.

We have been somewhat adventurous on our own with each trip--arriving early to take in sites (Rome, Bejing, London, Heidelberg) and get acclamated to the time zone. In Germany we stayed two extra days in Munich and made it to Salzburg--and in Paris we stayed two days extra to take in more of the city and Disneyland Paris. I'd recommend going early always--we saw a lot of weather issues in Dec 2009 with others in our group, some missed the first couple of days--and as for trips on your own or during free time, the guides supplied us with maps, train schedules, helped us purchase train tickets in advance, wrote out directions in Chinese etc etc

Bejing had challenges for Disney--and for us--especially with changes in the schedule due to the horrific earthquake in the Chengdu region (we didn't go there, but had an extended time in Bejing--Disney arranged for our group to see Pandas at the Bejing zoo, during feeding time so they were up close and very active. We hail from San Diego--and the Pandas in our zoo are frequently not visible or not very active!).

I think the biggest hurdle Disney has to overcome with these trips is the idea that (like the cruise ship) there are characters about, or that the trip is geared for kids. It isn't--the kids get a lot of attention and there are things just for them--but it gives the parents a break too, and the main focus is on the people in the country you are visiting (and the highlights, too--so for example on the Great Wall, you walk it, the Disney group encounters warriors on the wall--and we have lunch at a school house/glass works just below the wall with kid activities thrown in).

I'll let others expound--and would be happy to answer any questions about our experiences. I'd also recommend checking out the trip reports--some are very detailed with photos.

 

[clarabelle]

Arthur06
Here are some of my thoughts on the Ireland trip -right after we got back

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2212979

 

[Bobo912]

WeLoveABD, what tour company did you use for your Ireland trip? We've already booked our Tauck Bridges Northern CA/Yosemite trip for June and I'm thinking about taking another trip later in the summer, possibly to Ireland, but something not quite as expensive as ABD (unless they decide to add a Gateway trip). I'm not planning on taking any WDW trips this year - I have to stay strong, because I know I will be tempted - so I'd like to take a couple of trips, but keep the cost down on the second one as much as possible, so we can do a major trip next year. I may try for Australia with ABD again, since we booked it last year, got cancelled and we went to Alaska instead or maybe China. Anyway, I've been looking at CIE Tours, but I know there are a lot of other companies that offer tours in Ireland. Would love to have your input.

 

[Pakey]

Although we have done AbD, I won't comment on that since so many others have. However, we are going to Egypt later this year and I've done a bit of research on that subject.

We are looking at either Abercrombie & Kent or National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions. They basically offer the same 10 day itinerary and both stay at the same hotels (Four Seasons in Cairo and the Mena House Oberoi in Giza at the foot of the pyramid.) They also both have a 4 day cruise down the Nile on their own boats. National Geographic comes in at about $4700 per person which includes almost everything. Abercrombie & Kent comes in at $5300 per person plus an additional $600 per person for the flights within Egypt. A&K offers different prices based on the cabin deck on the boat.

Almost all meals are included and of course, airfare to/from Egypt is not. Both have Egyptologists that travel with the group. Both tours are much smaller than AbD, no more than 24 people per group (we had 38 on our AbD). I'm not sure about A&K but NG's also includes any tips other than what you might want to give to the ship personnel.

The biggest difference I can tell from either of these (based on videos and brochures received) is that the Abercrombie & Kent boat is probably a bit more elegant than National Geographic (A&K's ship received top Small Cruise Ship award from Conde Nast).

Both of these tours are recommended by Conde Nast and Travel & Leisure and both companies have been in business for quite some time. I have been able to find reviews on both, not many though. Reviews are mixed on the A&K one; many wrote that they didn't feel they got what they paid for (not enough luxury). For that reason, we are leaning towards the NG one since it will be about $2400 less, but it's too soon to make a final decision.

Both of these also have longer tours but I only researched the 10 day ones. The longer ones cover the same itinerary but at a more relaxed pace.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Hey Bobo912! We used Insight--was a good basic tour, but does include a lot of side visits to tourist shops. The guide was very nice--and we went into Dublin a couple of days early and did the on/off bus, which I'd highly recommend.

 

[Bobo912]

Hey Bobo912! We used Insight--was a good basic tour, but does include a lot of side visits to tourist shops. The guide was very nice--and we went into Dublin a couple of days early and did the on/off bus, which I'd highly recommend.

Thanks for the info! I signed up for Insight's newsletter. Who knows, we may get a really good offer from somebody this summer and be able to pull off two big trips. Even some ABD trips frequent the tourist shops. We must have hit half the touristy gift shops in Alaska on our ABD trip last summer. My son bought an Alaksa pin at the first shop and one of the other kids bought a stuffed animal. Then all the kids had to have pins and stuffed animals at every gift shop and it quickly escalated into a competition to see who could get the most. We were lucky to have a group of good kids who all handled it very well when we had to start telling them they had enough souveniers.

 

[sayhello]

My son bought an Alaksa pin at the first shop and one of the other kids bought a stuffed animal. Then all the kids had to have pins and stuffed animals at every gift shop and it quickly escalated into a competition to see who could get the most. We were lucky to have a group of good kids who all handled it very well when we had to start telling them they had enough souveniers.

Wait! That was *me*! Well, OK, I only got 2 stuffed animals, but I got a pin at every stop! No such thing as too many souvenirs!

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

Wait! That was *me*! Well, OK, I only got 2 stuffed animals, but I got a pin at every stop! No such thing as too many souvenirs!

Sayhello

LOL. You should have skipped the adults only trip and joined us. You would have fit right in with the 11 and under crowd. My kid ended up with 11 Alaska pins, in addition to all his ABD Alaska pins, return adventurer pin, Disney 4th of July and birthday pins. I had to buy him an extra lanyard. He was wearing about 5 lbs of pins around his neck. He bought 7 stuffed animals. As long as he was buying Puffins, wolves, etc., I was okay with it, but when he bought a kangaroo, I figured he had enough. I think he won the pin contest, but he probably came in second in the stuffed animal competition. Seriously, it turned out to be another good bonding tool for the kids, so I'm glad the whole thing got started.

 

[WeLoveABD]

The bonding benefits for the kids is a big factor for us--the Insight tour was great, but maybe not so much for our kids--after all, we the parents had to entertain them

On every ABD the kids all seem to hit the back of the bus and play video games etc--the guides frequently go back there to play with them, and maybe sneak in something educational or get them to look out the window

At night, our teen ended up with the other teens (and pre-teens too) playing card games in the hotel lobby or in a hotel game room, and our younger (now 9 yr old) frequently went for the pool. I like your story about the pin and stuffed animal competition--all good fun and great memories for the Junior (and not so Junior) Adventurers.