AbD Private Jet - What do you want to know?

[OKW Lover]

One more question - how many of your fellow travelers had already hit all 12 Disney parks before this trip?

OK, a second question: My wife & I can never decide which Castle we like best - Paris or Shanghai. What's your opinion?

 

[sayhello]

OK, a second question: My wife & I can never decide which Castle we like best - Paris or Shanghai. What's your opinion?

I know you weren't asking me, but I say Paris!! I think Shanghai's castle is actually too big. Just not as pretty as Paris!

Sayhello

 

[starry_solo]

No idea if the pins were the same as last year, but we got tons of them and a AbD pin binder to hold them. I’ll add pics and you can see. Most we were given, but some I bought.

Spent two nights at Skywalker Ranch. Nice place, good food, great gift shop.

Pretty! Yup, some of those appear to be the same as last year's. 25 pins, I think. Let me check pin trading database, they have a list

 

[OKW Lover]

I know you weren't asking me, but I say Paris!! I think Shanghai's castle is actually too big. Just not as pretty as Paris!

Sayhello

I understand Tobi. We go back and forth about it. The dragon in the dungeon is a big draw.

 

[bookbabe626]

One more question - how many of your fellow travelers had already hit all 12 Disney parks before this trip?

OK, a second question: My wife & I can never decide which Castle we like best - Paris or Shanghai. What's your opinion?

All the castles have something to love. I don’t think I can pick a favourite.

There was one couple that was on last year’s trip as well, I think they were likely the only ones to have been to all of the parks before. I could be wrong, though, there were a surprising number of people that kept to themselves, so no idea what parks they may or may not have been to.

 

[starry_solo]

All the castles have something to love. I don’t think I can pick a favourite.

There was one couple that was on last year’s trip as well, I think they were likely the only ones to have been to all of the parks before. I could be wrong, though, there were a surprising number of people that kept to themselves, so no idea what parks they may or may not have been to.

Wow, one couple did this last year too?! Dang...

The trip looks great, but looks like it really should be 45-60 days long to give you a bit more time to relax and soak in the sights at each of the destinations.

 

[bookbabe626]

Wow, one couple did this last year too?! Dang...

The trip looks great, but looks like it really should be 45-60 days long to give you a bit more time to relax and soak in the sights at each of the destinations.

There was definitely no relaxing, other than India and Egypt for us. I think the length would have been perfect if they’d skipped those two, then added one more day at each park destination. So maybe 26 days at most?

We had no interest in seeing the destinations outside of the parks, this isn’t really the trip for that, for us at least. All parks, all the time! There are dozens of tours to visit other countries, either with AbD or another company, or do a cruise or DIY trip. Why someone would spend the premium on a Disney-run jet trip to all the parks in the world and then skip half of each park to do a dinner boat cruise, dumpling making class or city tour is beyond me. You can do that kind of thing on a regular AbD for half the price and at a more leisurely pace.

 

[Eastridge]

Guides were Kira, Bryon, Nancy, Ralph, Michael and Damien - all going on second trip too, except for Ralph.

I’m not sure about differences, I didn’t notice any major ones, but I didn’t follow last year too closely, so I’m not 100%

Is this the Byron who was a guide on your trip?



Did you have dinners in both the Tokyo Club 33 and the Shanghai Club 33? The ABD itinerary doesn't specifically state this, although a trip from last year did get into both clubs. Given that you have a Club 33 pin I'm assuming at you got into at least one of them.

 

[Eastridge]

Pretty much everywhere we toured they gave us either a small gift or a pin or souvenir of some kind.

This trip appears to hand out an overwhelming number of gifts. Are guests limited to one small suitcase? If that is true, then how did you have room to carry home everything they handed out?

 

[ShaneDJ]

I've never heard of an ABD "private jet". Very interesting.

(1) Where can I find more info?

(2) When is the next trip for ABD "private jet"?

(3) How much did it cost?

 

[bookbabe626]

Is this the Byron who was a guide on your trip?

View attachment 877615

Did you have dinners in both the Tokyo Club 33 and the Shanghai Club 33? The ABD itinerary doesn't specifically state this, although a trip from last year did get into both clubs. Given that you have a Club 33 pin I'm assuming at you got into at least one of them.

Yes, that was our Byron. Awesome guide, my fav of the bunch.

Club 33 in Shanghai only.

 

[bookbabe626]

This trip appears to hand out an overwhelming number of gifts. Are guests limited to one small suitcase? If that is true, then how did you have room to carry home everything they handed out?

They gave us each a Tumi knapsack as a carryon and a Tumi wheelie (carryon size but checked) and we could bring a large suitcase. They also gave us a Tumi duffel each for on-plane storage. And you could leave as much as you liked in the overhead bins between flights. We didn’t fill our suitcases on the way there, with the intent of getting souvenirs. They were full on the way home.

Most people shipped stuff home at various points. The guides facilitated that at the stops where shipping was an option, they had people set up FedEx accounts in advance if you planned to take advantage. Two of the couples we were hanging out with the most shipped large boxes home multiple times.

Shipping is harder for us due to where we live, so we intentionally didn’t purchase anything big that would have forced us to ship a box. Okay, except a Star Wars Hoth blanket at the LucasFilm employee store, but I absolutely HAD to have that and DH was able to tetris-pack it into our suitcases for the final flight home.

 

[bookbabe626]

I've never heard of an ABD "private jet". Very interesting.

(1) Where can I find more info?

(2) When is the next trip for ABD "private jet"?

(3) How much did it cost?

https://www.adventuresbydisney.com/destinations/around-the-world/global-jet-adventures/

They aren’t offering the Disney Parks one next year, AFAIK, but there are multiple Nat Geo jet trips a year.

 

[starry_solo]

Was the plane full? That is, did it sell out like it did last year?

 

[bookbabe626]

Was the plane full? That is, did it sell out like it did last year?

There were spots remaining…I think we had 66 on ours, and I heard a rumour the next one is only around 40.

 

[jimmymc]

Actually, rethinking this, I think the visit to Tri-Circle D Ranch at WDW was probably the worst stop. At least in India and Egypt, the people were eager to have us visit and excited to show us around. The CM at the ranch gave off serious “I have better things to do” vibes and sped through the tour as fast as he could. The kids getting the $10 pony ride were having a much better ranch experience than we did.

That sounds pretty sad, especially when anyone can walk into Tri-Circle D to just see the horses.

One more question, what were the meals in Disney World? The website lists most of them as lunch or dinner "in the park".

 

[sayhello]

I understand Tobi. We go back and forth about it. The dragon in the dungeon is a big draw.

I wasn't able to see the dragon in the dungeon when I was there. So for me it's just the enchanting exterior and it's setting.

I've never heard of an ABD "private jet". Very interesting.

(1) Where can I find more info?

(2) When is the next trip for ABD "private jet"?

(3) How much did it cost?

Since the cost is no longer listed on the website, thought I'd let you know it was $115,000 per person!

Sayhello

 

[floribr1]

Thank you for providing all of this insider information! I'm sure many of us here have been very curious...

Just wondering whether you had any pictures of the interior of the airplane that you could share. Curious to know how the seats were configured, and how comfortable for sleeping.

 

[bookbabe626]

That sounds pretty sad, especially when anyone can walk into Tri-Circle D to just see the horses.

One more question, what were the meals in Disney World? The website lists most of them as lunch or dinner "in the park".

Group dinners during the trip varied, a lot of pre-park open breakfast buffets with a CEO or imagineer (or both) speaking. On your own meals were literally that, meals on your own paid for with the local money or gift card they gave you. Some you could pick on the fly, others they gave you a choice of TS restaurants ahead of time and you picked so they could make you a reservation.

WDW was not the norm, they had one caterer that did most of our meals
Arrival night - catered group dinner buffet in GF convention center
Day 1 MK - group breakfast at Be Our Guest, dinner OYO at CRT
Day 2 morning AK - catered group breakfast buffet at Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Day 2 evening DHS - catered group dinner buffet in the Disney Jr show building
Day 3 morning backstage tours - breakfast boxes given out as we boarded the buses at GF
Day 3 afternoon/evening Epcot - catered lunch buffet in Living Seas Salon before our walk around the tank top, catered dinner buffet in the America Adventure Rotunda
Day 4 morning - final breakfast at Narcoossee at GF

The “Daily” Adventurer handout with the complete schedule was emailed to us as we arrived at each stop, plus a hard copy left in our rooms. For our bus or tour group assignments, show times, meal reservations, etc we got a daily business card that fit into our lanyards with our park tickets.

 

[bookbabe626]

Thank you for providing all of this insider information! I'm sure many of us here have been very curious...

Just wondering whether you had any pictures of the interior of the airplane that you could share. Curious to know how the seats were configured, and how comfortable for sleeping.

I didn’t take any pics for some reason, but there’s a pretty good section on the Iceland Air website about the plane - https://www.loftleidir.com/private-jet/ - we were using the 80 seat business class setup one.

Most rows were 2-2, but a few rows intended for crew and guides were 3-3. The 3-3 rows stayed mostly empty since the trip wasn’t sold out. Seats weren’t lie-flat, but they had a good recline. Very comfy seats, everything had AbD branding added to the headrests, plus there were branded pillows and blankets. People that can sleep on planes seemed to have no issues or complaints.