ABD Prices OUCH!!!!

[kristilew]

I don't think she meant it in a bad way at all! She was just enthusiastic about older kids doing fine with the grown up Tauck tour. I had my almost-14 y.o. with me, and the guide was just saying that she thought DD would be bored to be treated as a kid on the Bridges tours. She put air quotes around "dumbed down."

Sorry, I thought this was useful, as we've been looking at Bridges tours as well. Didn't mean to imply that the Bridges tours not somehow up to snuff.

 

[tufbuf]

I don't think she meant it in a bad way at all! She was just enthusiastic about older kids doing fine with the grown up Tauck tour. I had my almost-14 y.o. with me, and the guide was just saying that she thought DD would be bored to be treated as a kid on the Bridges tours. She put air quotes around "dumbed down."

Sorry, I thought this was useful, as we've been looking at Bridges tours as well. Didn't mean to imply that the Bridges tours not somehow up to snuff.

I guess it all depends on the child. Some mature earlier than others. My daughter would probably do okay in a TB tour described for a while since she is still very kiddie. I understand what she meant and maybe seeing you and your DD made her feel like she should put it that way. Just my opinion.

 

[tufbuf]

It's not just the cash price, the DVC points have gone up substantially as well - EACH YEAR. The reason why we added onto our DVC membership TWICE was so that we could take an amazing ABD trip every few years, but the annual point increase has priced us out of the running.

Now we are stuck with too many points for two adults to use at Disney, but not enough to go on a single ABD. We are NOT happy about this development.

I agree! I was going to mention this since we were looking at doing China in 2013 and have enough points for at least one adult... NOT! It's outrageous!! And closing in on a thousand points pp!!

 

[kristilew]

I guess it all depends on the child. Some mature earlier than others. My daughter would probably do okay in a TB tour described for a while since she is still very kiddie. I understand what she meant and maybe seeing you and your DD made her feel like she should put it that way. Just my opinion.

You are probably exactly right - DD shot up this summer and towers over me now! She'll always be my baby, but no one looking at us together would think of her as a little kid any more.

Anyway, I thought it was super nice of the guide to take time to talk to me.

 

[Bobo912]

I don't think she meant it in a bad way at all! She was just enthusiastic about older kids doing fine with the grown up Tauck tour. I had my almost-14 y.o. with me, and the guide was just saying that she thought DD would be bored to be treated as a kid on the Bridges tours. She put air quotes around "dumbed down."

Sorry, I thought this was useful, as we've been looking at Bridges tours as well. Didn't mean to imply that the Bridges tours not somehow up to snuff.

Not at all, kristilew. I'm just surprised any guide would refer to her own company's tours as dumbed down. I've thought about doing some of the World Discovery tours myself, since they offer so many more destinations than they do with Bridges. It's good to know that they are good for older kids. Mine is only 11, but I think he would probably do okay now and it's also something to consider for the future.

 

[marcemch]

Was surprised to hear the TB tour guide's comments as well. I haven't found the two Tauck tours that we've done to have any kiddie activities at all. If anything, they might have more "active" activities vs. pure sightseeing/museums, etc. and maybe a little more downtime so the kids can hit the pool, etc.
I did want to tell folks that many of the normal Tauck tours, especially to areas where they don't have Bridges trips, MAY have kids traveling with them, especially in the summer. A friend I made on the TB Majestic CA trip last year notified me that she and her 11 yr old daughter have already signed up to do the Tauck Hawaii trip next summer (not a Bridges trip) because there were a bunch of kids already signed up for one of the departure dates..
So that's an option too - if you want to travel with other kids on Tauck - ask if there are non-Bridges trips where kids are signed up!

 

[Bobo912]

One plus for the regular Tauck tours IMO is that they combine destinations like Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Australia & New Zeland, Peru & Bolivia, for just a few examples. If I'm going to pay the airfare anyway, it's nice to have the option to stay a bit longer and visit more countries. On the other hand, it's a problem that they don't have more "active" activities, as marcemch mentioned. That's the part that DS likes best, along with anything that involves animals. I really like the active activities too. We could schedule those activities during free time, but if I'm in a country where I don't speak the language, the only way I'm going rafting or ziplining or something else of that nature is with my group.

 

[vakamalua]

It's not just the cash price, the DVC points have gone up substantially as well - EACH YEAR. The reason why we added onto our DVC membership TWICE was so that we could take an amazing ABD trip every few years, but the annual point increase has priced us out of the running.

Now we are stuck with too many points for two adults to use at Disney, but not enough to go on a single ABD. We are NOT happy about this development.

Could NOT believe the increase in DVC points for ABD this year! It essentially takes the tours off the table for almost all DVC members.

I'm especially surprised since there is a new Disney executive in charge of ABD, DCL and DVC--I thought part of his job was to better integrate these 'non-park' entities.

At these points and these prices, adults can find as good or much better product with other companies (Tauck, A&K, Rick Steves, etc.), especially since ABD has cut back on adults-only trips.

For families, try Abercrombie & Kent. The BEST family tour we ever did was with A & K to Australia. There were only five other families with us. We had one guide but she took care of us like family--she even went out and bought us all hats when one night at Uluru was predicted to be cold!

We started in Sydney, went up to the Great Barrier Reef (Hayman Island), then on to Port Douglas and the rain forrest, then to the red centre for two nights at Uluru in the outback before heading back to Sydney for the return. They had amazing activities--surfing lessons, a sea plane trip over the Reef to go snorkeling, an astronomer to do a talk on the southern night sky, etc.

I would travel with A&K in a heartbeat.

We also did Japan with Tauck (not a Bridges tour since our son was 16)--it was a great trip but there were considerably more people on the tour and we definitely felt better taken care of with A&K.

 

[lugnut33]

So, how much did they go up if using DVC points?

I don't have enough points to ever do a ABD trip, but I'm just curious how much it increased.

 

[tufbuf]

Here are some DVC point comparison from 2011 as compared to 2012 points. It looks like the more expensive trips (Australia, China, Egypt) had the biggest increase in points as compare to others

China 836 to 917
Egypt 736 to 836
Ecuador/Galapagos jumped 10 points but the 2012 itinerary is also a day less than 2011-734 to 744
Peru 421 to 447
South Africa 840 to 961
Viva Italia 614 to 661

These are all adult points. The child's a little less, still...

 

[GoofItUp]

Here are some DVC point comparison from 2011 as compared to 2012 points. It looks like the more expensive trips (Australia, China, Egypt) had the biggest increase in points as compare to others

China 836 to 917
Egypt 736 to 836
Ecuador/Galapagos jumped 10 points but the 2012 itinerary is also a day less than 2011-734 to 744
Peru 421 to 447
South Africa 840 to 961
Viva Italia 614 to 661

These are all adult points. The child's a little less, still...

Considering points rent relatively quickly & easily at $10, you're looking at $6-9k for ONE adult on these trips.

I've always thought one of these trips would be neat, but I just looked at the Greece trip. For my family of four it's around $20k before airfare. I know Greece is expensive, but if we can't do better than that I'm afraid Greece will be on my no-go list for a while.

 

[Scott H]

Could NOT believe the increase in DVC points for ABD this year! It essentially takes the tours off the table for almost all DVC members.

I'm especially surprised since there is a new Disney executive in charge of ABD, DCL and DVC--I thought part of his job was to better integrate these 'non-park' entities.

At these points and these prices, adults can find as good or much better product with other companies (Tauck, A&K, Rick Steves, etc.), especially since ABD has cut back on adults-only trips.

Yes also surprised by the DVC point increase, what helps me make sense of the integration of DVC with DCL and ABD, is they are separate division in the Disney Corporation and competing for their separate piece of the guest dollar. I do hope Mr. Holtz can this availability more DVC member friendly.

I also hope their will be more adult only offerings.