In the interest of full disclosure, we are DIS shareholders and have a financial interest in Disney, the more folks like Disney activities, the better for us.
We are also Gold-level
DCL cruisers (all three of us). LOVE DCL!
We also just returned to the US last year from living abroad for the past 4 years, the entire family (myself, wife, and 10yo daughter) are very seasoned independent travelers across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
I truly saddens me to say, we were entirely unimpressed with our ABD trip to Alaska, consider the trip as "lost money" (or an expensive lesson), and would never entertain paying current rates for any ABD trip. We just absolutely did not see much value in it.
We booked this trip on our last DCL cruise based upon the information provided and our trust in the Disney brand experience from DCL. My biggest concern as a shareholder is how this trip diminished the Disney brand from our perspective (my wife is a marketing executive, and had an entire tirade on how ABD is mis-marketed at best.) We can’t be the only ones.
I would suggest any seasoned family travelers out there would do well to look past ABD.
After reading all the glowing comments on this board, how can it be that we found ABD to be such a disappointment?
Having lived abroad for a few years, we felt it was important to introduce our daughter to the majesty contained within the good old USA. Alaska being a great way to start her experiences. I also have a close college buddy who lives in Alaska full-time (I was a groomsman in his wedding up there 15 years ago), so this would be a "2-fer" and get to spend time with him and his family as well. We selected an early July itinerary based upon their years of Alaska weather experience as having the highest probability of warm, dry weather. We happened to hit Alaska during their epic record-breaking heatwave. Like much of Europe, Alaskans don't have many air-conditioned facilities - but we are used to that from our European experience.
We arrived on the 4th so we had a few days to adjust, visit our friends, and try a couple of things on our own before ABD started. The 4th set a record high of 90F in Anchorage. Due to the sun angle and the lack of a true "night", it felt much hotter (coming from Virginia heat and humidity.) We decided on some activities that were not specified in the ABD agenda, so we did a glacier landing on Denali in a ski plane from Anchorage, and a full-day off-road adventure to the Knik Glacier. Those were incredible experiences. Both Rust's Flying Service and 49th State Motor Tours (and their “world-famous salmon quesadillas) are highly recommended! Based upon the average daily price of ABD per person, those were also quite reasonably priced.
We probably started on a too high a note before our first ABD activity.
We met with the ABD crew on the 8th of July. Our two guides, Amber and Morgan, could not be sweeter ladies. Our driver, John, was a consummate professional and one of the smoothest coach drivers I have ever experienced.
The first night, and our first major disappointment with ABD. After our experience on DCL, we had high expectations for the quality of food and beverage on this trip. The first night's dinner was so disappointing, we thought it must be a fluke. The dinner was in a private room at the 49th State Brewing Company, which has a VERY good reputation around Anchorage, and our local friends recommended as well. The previous evening we ate at Glacier Brewing down the road and had an amazing meal at a comparable venue. Unfortunately for the ABD dinner, we had a set menu (nothing off the regular menu), and the fish was dry and tough. How can a true Alaskan screw-up fish? The apps were quite good, but the mains were just disappointing. This trip was far more expensive than our last 7-day DCL, and the food on day one. Wow!
The next day, we started at the Alaskan Heritage Center. It is a great little museum, and I think everyone came away with new-found knowledge. A pretty solid start to the trip.
Then we went up to Eklutna Lake for the first activities of Kayaking and Mountain Biking. The approximately 35 people on the trip were roughly divided in half and split the activities, had lunch, then flipped. My wife was excited to learn some paddling skills, but we just got a basic briefing and were told to "find a partner" and get in a kayak (after hauling all the gear down from the gear hut ~10-minute hike across a rock field.) My daughter was going to “ride” with me, but if you know anything about tandem kayaks, they are not fun if front and back paddlers are mismatched. Not what we were looking for. My wife was visibly frustrated, and the ABD guide did nothing to remedy the situation. My wife walked away in disgust and discovered our “basecamp” unattended and random hikers browsing through people’s gear. Unsat. After lunch, a few of our fellow travelers decided to man the camp to watch everyone’s stuff.
Lunch at the “camp” was “Thunderdome”. My wife felt she shouldn’t have to face a rugby scrum of kids and parents to get what she wanted (did I mention the ridiculous price of the trip?) She had to wait for everyone to finish, then ask the staff if they had anything left she might like. Really?
Mountain Biking in the afternoon was quite good. Short (~3 miles) but challenging. My daughter took an early spill and bowed out of the ride, and it’s probably good that she did. She had a good scrape, and my wife tried to get some water to wash the wound but she was told the water was for ‘guest drinking only’ but she got a “Mickey” band-aid instead. OMG. Good thing we travel with our own First Aid Kit.
They did NOT have a “beginner, intermediate, and advanced” ride. It was all basically “intermediate” with some technical terrain that some folks had to walk the bikes through. Sure wish we had known all these details before the day began, or even better before we paid for the trip! Not convinced this was a well-planned activity by ABD.
From Eklutna we finished the day up in Talkeetna, where we had a short time to shower and change for dinner. The kids had an optional “Junior Adventurer’s Night”, which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed and bonded with some of the other kids for the rest of the trip. A pretty good move. For the adults, again we had a fixed menu, but at least this time the food was okay (but still far, far from DCL quality and the reputation of the local chef.)
In the morning, we went to the “world-famous” Talkeetna Roadhouse for a hearty family-style breakfast and stories of the town over the years. Very quaint, but again it seemed like we were directed into a “dining area” for us, then ushered out at the end. My wife went back to the roadhouse a bit later and discovered an amazing bakery we would have never found otherwise… My other big beef with this part of the trip was that our rendezvous time-shifted, and we didn’t know how much “On Your Own” OYO time we would have until just before an activity. We ended up just milling around town. Had I KNOWN the agenda in advance, I would have booked a short jet boat ride. I really feel that was a badly missed opportunity wasted time in lieu of more fun at one location.
We met to board the Alaska Railroad for Denali. This part was very posh and enjoyable. The train staff was top-notch. The local gin for the G&T’s was fantastic! The meal served on board was really well done. This was the best part of the trip to this point. By the time we got to Denali National Park, we had about an hour or two to walk around the visitor center. We watched a couple DNP informational videos (which we liked), but then it was time to go to the hotel. Again, the hotel restaurant has a good reputation across Alaska, but the set-menu meal we were served was sub-standard and none of us finished it.
I was quite anxious that evening because I could not find out how we could get back into DNP or how much time we would have after the morning activity. This was an unnecessary stressor. Even aboard DCL you got a schedule well in advance of debarkation and all-aboard times. This never happened with ABD, and I really felt let down even though things worked out.
In the AM of Day 4, we did Whitewater Rafting. I have to say the vendor providing this experience was fantastic. ABD wasn’t the only group on the morning run. There were over 50 hitting the rafts, and the vendor got everyone (including little kids) into dry suits without any issue. Amazing organization. The ride was a hoot, and the safety briefer was a guy called “Mud Flap”. This guys’ famous, been featured on a few “Alaska” TV shows including Sarah Palin’s. I really great ride. Yes, the water is very cold so wear your layers underneath…
We finished lunch early (the fish tacos this day were actually one of the best things I ate on the trip), so the ABD driver agreed to take a few of us back up to DNP for OYO time. This was just enough time for the three of us to summit Mt Healy. We did the roundtrip in under 3 hours, but we were really pushing it (the Park Rangers will tell you to plan 4), and we made it back JUST IN TIME to catch one of the last shuttles and miss a big hail storm on the mountain. We shouldn’t have to work so hard for this since my nose bled when I paid the ABD fees, but how often are you going to be able to summit a peak in DNP?
Dinner was OYO, and we went back to the Lodge. This is when we discovered the chef really knew what he was doing. Is ABD skimming off the top and not paying the vendors very well? We know they only pay the guides bare subsistence and they rely on tips, but this would also explain the shockingly poor food quality we experienced. We were really souring on the Disney brand at this point. We also noticed that Princess Cruises had their own dedicated lodge (my Anchorage college buddy’s wife later told us she used to drive for Princess and gave us the full low down – for later in the story)…
Day 5 was the very long haul from Denali down to Girdwood, south of Anchorage. This was broken up with a lot of Iditarod stops, including Martin Buser’s kennels and the kids getting some quality time with puppies (always a win…) I have had several dogs, but in this brief visit, Martin taught me a few new tricks WRT raising dogs. Very interesting, and walked away even more in awe of people willing to endure that race. A bit further down the road, we stopped at the Iditarod Race HQ and even more puppies. This is actually intentional. The sled dog breeders want to get them habituated to people as quickly as possible, and no better way to let kids play with them. We arrived in Girdwood at the Alyeska Ski Resort fairly late and tired, so we just ate in the lodge. Typical ski lodge food, nothing remarkable other than the fried brussels sprouts.
The next day (6) we started with the gold panning activity. Now I found this to be fun, and everyone had at least a few flakes in their “pay” (as in “paydirt”.) I can see how it gets addictive when you see those shiny gold flakes just emerge from the dirt as you pan. Again we broke into two groups and one did sluicing whilst the other panned, then we swapped. As a family, we harvested 20+ gold flakes which we got to keep. The Crow Creek Mine is very quaint with a lot of Alaskan history, and the local guides did a great job bringing the site to life. At the end of the day, you’re just digging dirt along the side of a crick, but they managed to make it quite a beautiful setting and memorable history-related experience.
Lunch was OYO back in town (most of the group went to Chair 5 restaurant), and it was pretty good. After lunch, we boarded back on the bus and went out to catch the Alaska train again to the trailhead for Spencer Glacier. A nice hike out to the launch site for rafting out to icebergs and the edge of the glacier. You may be warm when you get out there, but the wind coming off the glacier and the cold water makes for a very cold experience. In the middle of the glacial lake, you stop for hot cocoa, a nice touch. Then you head back to the beach where the rest of the crew has prepared an amazing salmon dinner. This meal in the bush was the best tasting we had all week. Yes, food always tastes better in the field when your tired and hungry, but the guides said the salmon had just been caught in the next town over and cooked fresh. You can really tell when you are eating very fresh salmon (never frozen) cooked properly. This was a culinary experience (but no wine to pair, a miss in my book…)
You take the train back to Girdwood, riding an old school bus on the way to the pickup stop. The vendor was playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You”, so nearly everyone sang along at top volume on the way to the stop. This was actually very endearing, and now kind of sad as the trip was ending. Felt a bit like old school summer camp.
The last day, we went to the Alaska Wildlife Center and saw bears and moose up close. This was a very nice ending to the trip. We had the afternoon OYO, so we climbed North Face at Alyeska (sitting around isn’t part of our thing, man) rewarding ourselves with pints at the bar on the summit.
The farewell dinner was nicely done, most folks cleaned up for the event and the Alaska Heritage Center came back to demonstrate native dance and customs. Again, the food was ski lodge good. Not amazing, good. By this time the kids had grown together to the point most wanted to hit the hotel pool once more before everyone split.
Day 8 is basically the drive back to Anchorage. Our flight didn’t depart until midnight, so we spent the rest of the day with my old friends. That’s where we got more of the locals lay down on Disney vs. all the other operators in Alaska. The biggest is Princess. They have their own dedicated lodges and true “concierge” service. My buddy’s wife was rather horrified at the dearth of concierge services for the price we paid, having been a former Princess employee. Our conclusion was that Disney corporate must not be paying vendors or guides as well as the competition, and therefore ABD will continue to provide a substandard experience. I guess Abigail Disney is right, Bob Iger needs a pay cut (and the ABD CEO needs to be fired.)
The other part of this is how incredible the experience could have been had Disney put the same resources they put into DCL. I can’t understand why Disney wouldn’t build cabins up at Denali and run it like an overnight “
Castaway Cay”. They have tours from both DCL and ABD. I would also have put 3 nights in at Denali to allow for guests more time to explore the expanse of that amazing National Park. Probably cut Girdwood to 2.
At the end of the day, the value we felt we received for this trip was extremely poor. For the price we paid, I expected much, much more in terms of concierge-level experiences and much better food and drink, particularly as we booked this from a
Disney Cruise. I don’t see how long Disney can survive on name recognition alone if they keep this up. Then again, look at Boeing. It seems to be Corporate American “chic” to screw vendors and labor until you kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
I can't place many faults on the ABD guides. They are on the front lines and only have what Corporate provides...
But at the same time, we are a family of three with extensive travel experience on our own. We have ridden camels across the Sahara, explored Petra, even learned how to make papyrus scrolls by hand at the foot of the pyramids in Egypt all “OYO”. We book our own excursions out through Rome and climbed Vesuvius just using the EU “Trainline” app. Hired a sommelier to take the three of us through the Champagne region in France to learn how the product is made and end with a paired, Michelin starred luncheon. All of this was less expensive than ABD. Based on the plethora of positive reviews for ABD, I might conclude that our experience and expectation does not match what ABD offers, and won’t make that mistake again.