Adventures by Disney, who has done this?

[DISNEY FIX]

From watching the tv special last night they beat you over the head with the Adventures idea. i didn't think it was very cost (points) effective, am I wrong?

I would like to hear from the people who have used their service. Did it take a million points? Any unanticipated cost factors involved? Would you be better off paying cash?
TIA

 

[DebbieB]

It takes alot of points. The cheapest one outside the US is 323 PER PERSON (adult, Italy, value season). The African Safari starts at 493 PER PERSON. I'm not sure if there are fees also. The show made is sound so easy.

 

[bicker]

We did it. It was a lot of points, but that year we weren't going to be able to use all our points anyway, and we've soured on the idea of renting our points when we cannot use them.

 

[WendyinNC]

I've decided to not let my kids watch one of these shows again. They don't understand why we aren't doing all of these cool vacations as a family of 6 with 305 points.

 

[Poppins2000]

We use points on our ABD trip to Ireland in May. It cost us 333 points each (just me and DH) and the $95 transaction fee + trip insurance. We needed to use the points or lose them and the cost for the trip out of pocket would have been $4800 so why not??? We had an absolutely awesome time and are looking forward to another ABD trip in 2010....

 

[DISNEY FIX]

We did it. It was a lot of points, but that year we weren't going to be able to use all our points anyway, and we've soured on the idea of renting our points when we cannot use them.

I understand that.

It takes alot of points. The cheapest one outside the US is 323 PER PERSON (adult, Italy, value season). The African Safari starts at 493 PER PERSON. I'm not sure if there are fees also. The show made is sound so easy.

Holy cow!
The show def. made it seem very easy!

 

[CraftyMouse]

After watching that show I firmly believe that Adventures by DIsney is not a particularly successful branch of the company. The show was almost as much about AbD as it was about DVC.

I also thought is was very misleading, as they didn't mention how much more expensive it was to do an AbD trip. By leaving that out it made it seem like it was something you could do whenever you wanted to.

 

[bicker]

After watching that show I firmly believe that Adventures by DIsney is not a particularly successful branch of the company.

Based on what?

Figure that a television show on the Travel Channel would almost surely have no real data on which to base any evaluation, positive or negative, about how successful an offering is.

I also thought is was very misleading, as they didn't mention how much more expensive it was to do an AbD trip.

I think you're confusing "incomplete" and "misleading". What did they specifically say that you feel indicated that AbD was the same price as (whatever you think that they were comparing the price of AbD to)?

 

[Lynne M]

I also thought is was very misleading, as they didn't mention how much more expensive it was to do an AbD trip. By leaving that out it made it seem like it was something you could do whenever you wanted to.

I'm not sure how it's 'misleading'.....as far as I know, the Travel Channel doesn't often talk about cost. That's like saying that their Great Hotels episode on the Grand Floridian was misleading because they didn't say that GF costs a lot more than WL. It's up to you to research costs of various options. They were simply saying that the process of using your DVC points for an AbD trip is easy, and that's true.

 

[DVC Mike]

We've heard nothing but very positive feedback regarding ABD. We plan on doing an ABD trip eventually, but will pay with cash. I think it takes too many points, IMO.

 

[WendyinNC]

I agree that it was misleading in that my kids were all excited that we could use our points for AbD to Costa Rica. However, the total number of points for our family of 6 to take this trip would be 2116 in Regular Season.

 

[eliza61]

I agree that it was misleading in that my kids were all excited that we could use our points for AbD to Costa Rica. However, the total number of points for our family of 6 to take this trip would be 2116 in Regular Season.

I wouldn't say it was misleading. They made no assumptions other than you can use your points on Adventures by disney. That is totally true. Remember folks, there are many, many people out there who own a boat load of points. I have 2 coworkers who are 500+ point owners. Concierge collection, ABD, Disney cruises are all options that are "relatively" easy things to do if you have the points.

 

[Jaaron2]

Another thing to keep in mind is for a timeshare Disney lets you buy in at a relatively low cost. We researched other timeshares and and were amazed at the cost. We typically go to Myrtle Beach SC every year so we investigated into timeshares in that area. The Marriott wanted 38K for one week during its "gold" season (I believe). Since we normally go for two weeks it would have cost us approx. 72K to get what we needed. That being said Disney now lets people buy in at 16K and recently had special offers as low as 10K (100 pts). I think that the point cost for ABD is relative to the amount you have invested into Disney. Comparing apples to apples if I spent 72K on points at Disney (like I would need to for the Marriot timeshare) I would have plenty of points to go on an ABD if I wanted. I think the great thing Disney provides is levels of ownership that can fit alot of different peoples needs (financially).

We are a family of 5 and have 425 points (always looking for more ) and we will at some ponint take a trip either through Exchange or ABD. Just waiting on Hawaii right now

 

[kristenrice]

Is there any kind of cash discount available on ABD for DVC members? Our kids are too young right now (3 and 5) but in a few years, the Yellowstone trip looks like a lot of fun. We only have 100 points so there is no way we'd be able to use points for our family to go. I know that any discount might change before we'd be able to travel, but I'm wondering if they even exist.

 

[wildernessDad]

If you wanted to do Adventures by Disney (ABD), you'd be better off renting your points and doing ABD on cash.

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

My Dh and I did the Southwest Splendors trip in May 2008. It was fabulous!!

We did not use our points because we felt like it was too many - I want to use them for a trip to WDW

There is an Adventures by Disney group on these boards. You might want to check it out.
They do have ABD trips just for DVC members sometimes. I don't know if there is a difference in point cost or not.

 

[bavaria]

Having seen several of the European itineraries, I am put off ever considering this company and I would hesitate to recommend it to people looking for a European vacation. I am however also very realistic about how I travel, and what appeals to me and does not appeal to me.

I lot of things disappoint me when I read the ABD itineraries and information, as requested by various readers.

However I can understand the appeal to some.

 

[bicker]

If you wanted to do Adventures by Disney (ABD), you'd be better off renting your points and doing ABD on cash.

I stopped renting my points after a renter got a hold of my wife's SSN and sent her a 1099.

 

[dizneyfan23]

ABD is completely worth it. I did the Ireland trip and it was amazing. The tour guides were also amazing and made the trip that much better. I am planning on doing another ABD trip.

 

[carlbarry]

Another thing to keep in mind is for a timeshare Disney lets you buy in at a relatively low cost. We researched other timeshares and and were amazed at the cost. We typically go to Myrtle Beach SC every year so we investigated into timeshares in that area. The QUOTE]

"Amazed" at the price of other timeshares? Look 'em up on ebay, and you'll REALLY be surprised. You will see timeshares that go for pennies on the dollar of what their sponsor sells them for.