Adventures by Disney for families without kids

[sparmeland]

My husband and I are considering an Adventures by Disney vacation for 2008. We have no kids and it seams (from the few reports that I have read) that families with children are the primary participants in these vacations. I do go to Disney world and am accustomed to being around children, but there are people without children there as well.

For the couples that went, did you feel like it was too kid oriented? Did you feel out of place? Did you enjoy/love the vacation?

For anyone that went, do you think it is an appropriate choice for families without children?

 

[InstImpres]

Just FYI, almost all of the tours have a few weeks that are designated as adults only if that would make you more comfortable.

 

[bicker]

Note that we found that those weeks sold out very quickly... they were the only weeks that weren't available when we decided to book.

 

[hot4mickey]

There was 1 couple on our Southwest tour without children. They didn't seem to mind the children at all...they actually loved watching the kids.

 

[Planetsis]

If you're a Disney fan and go to the Disney parks, then I can't see how you'd feel uncomfortable on an adventure. My husband and I (bicker) love adventures with or without kids, and we don't have children. We are going on the Southwest Adventure in September, and ours isn't an adult-only tour. It never occurred to us that we would feel out of place with the families with children.

 

[mary1025]

I think the ratio of children to adults varies depending on the trip. For example, our Taste Of Tuscany Tour was 30 adults and 6 children. We have children, but left them at home. We had a wonderful trip - one of our best ever. I wouldn't hesitate to go again with or without my kids.

 

[sparmeland]

thanks for your replies... My husband and I really noticed the Disney difference on a cruise that we took this summer that was a non-disney cruiser. Previously I had only been on a 3 night disney cruise and we had no idea how many extra touches made that Disney cruise so different. That really got me thinking about these adventure vacations as being more magical then an average vacation.

 

[Keggy]

My DH and I are also looking at booking an ABD for 2008 as well - no kids. We like kids so it won't bother us!

 

[Cippers]

We just returned from the Southwest tour. There were 36 people, 16 children, aged 6-14. (Two of them were mine) Our guide told me that that is the approximate ratio on most trips.
The activities themselves are not geared toward the children; the adults on our trip loved them as well. They are a little low on the "ruggedness" scale but I think if you are going for rugged this is not the tour you would be taking anyway. I think it depends on how well you tolerate children. There is certainly singing, and laughing, and some degree of loudness (!) and you are always aware that there are children present. If this is not for you, or it would spoil your trip, I would not go with ABD. Remember that you are in a bus with these people and eating meals together a lot. The adults without children on our trip did not seem to mind; however they were Disney people and thus are used to being around children.
The upside of this trip is that it is truly first class. My husband and I, as well as the other adults on the trip, were continuously impressed by how wonderful it was all made for us. The guides were fabulous, the hotels great, and I really did feel as though I got a little more out of this than I would have on another trip, due to the special touches.

 

[mrosen]

I am interested in feedback on if these trips that aren't designated as adults only end up being that.

I ask as we booked a Viva Italia trip in late April next year. Our kids are in a year round school program so have a natural break but not sure how typical that time of year off from school is. I asked Disney reservations folks already if any other families are booked. I am concerned about going and we don't have other kids on this tour.

I know this is opposite question that was posed but any comments. I was surprised that Disney reservations folks weren't able to give me some indication of x% booked already are families, or x% booked on this trip are adults only but I was not able to obtain this information. I know from the postings on this discussion board, its clear that kids have a great time when they are on these trips with other families and have other kids to hang out with.

 

[saturday97]

Check out the DIS podcast-- two of the podcast crew (w/o kids) went on an ABD Italy trip and had a great time. I think they said there were only 2 kids as it was during the school year.

 

[mrosen]

In response to:

Check out the DIS podcast-- two of the podcast crew (w/o kids) went on an ABD Italy trip and had a great time. I think they said there were only 2 kids as it was during the school year.
​

Can you point me to where to look? I must not be as familiar as you are on where to look for this and would love to find these. Sorry if my follow up question seems really basic.

 

[saturday97]

The podcast archive is available here, but for the life of me I can't remember what the date was! Maybe it is on the podcast discussion board...I'll check it out.

 

[MariaTia]

We went on the Vivia Italia tour May 17, 2007. On our tour, we had about 32 people total, of which 3 were kids - 6, 8 and 10 years old. We had 1 18 year and 2 early 20's. Everyone else was older. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. My Aunt and Uncle went - who have traveled worldwide extensively, only been to DisneyWorld a couple of times, and have been on several other tours overseas, and thought ABD was the best tour company. They loved it and they don't have children - late 50s, and neither do we (32 year olds).

 

[WDW4ever]

This is a good thread. My husband and I just heard of ABD when we were at WDW and thought they looked very interesting. We do have a 17 year old son, but he'll be starting college next year and he's already been to all the countries we're interested in (Australia, new Zealand, Fiji, Germany and England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland for graduation) so we'd be going by ourselves too. I never thought of it from the kid angle but it's something to consider. I really enjoyed watching the little ones at WDW so I'm thinking I might be OK with kids.

I've been checking out different tour companies just this year because hubby and I know we'd like to travel more and we're getting to a point we might be able to do it more often, so hearing about ABD was very cool!

 

[eva]

Everyone is correct about the adult only trips. They do book up fast. We couldn't get on the Viva Italia for adults on 9/11/08 and had to book on the 14th. We do love watching kids as long as we don't have to take care of them and they are fairly well behaved. We've never had a problem at WDW. My only concern is the age level that they gear the tour towards. We've been on the Behind the Scenes tour at WDW that covers the 3 parks and is for adults only. I am kind of expecting the same type quality and attention to detail for the adults on the tour. Will I be disappointed?

 

[BriarRosie]

I'm doing the Backstage Magic on December 9, 2008, which has been designated as an adults-only tour.

 

[inkkognito]

We have no children and have taken 60 Disney cruises (plus gone to WDW innumerable times), so we had no hesitation booking an ABD (Backstage Magic). We briefly considered the adults only week but couldn't see a compelling reason to do that...we opted for the first offering of the trip instead, since it fits our schedule better. It looks like some of the activities have a separate activity for the kids so there will be some "grown-up time" anyway.

We've done a lot of dude ranching with families, and we actually befriended two families who lived in the same state and have watched their kids grow up over the past decade...we started doing quarterly dinners with them and it's still going strong!