Arizona & Utah: Cowboys & Canyons (formerly Southwest Splendors) Meets Thread

[sayhello]

We left Tuesday June 9th and visited Disneyland, Sequoia NP, and Joshua Tree NP prior to our Adventure. Tonight is the last night of the ABD, and we are staying one night in Aspen and flying out of Denver after seeing some of the Rocky Mountains. We've had a great trip. No disappointments - it all was wonderful!!! Wish I could stay another 2 weeks!

This is still one of my favorite ABDs! Glad you had such a wonderful time.

Sayhello

 

[Indi]

Going June 6-13, 2016 with DD!

 

[JRM815]

Going August 1-8, 2016 with DW and 17y/o twins (DD and DS).

 

[wdw4us]

The Hub and I leaving 5/18/16 adult only trip. Very excited

 

[Luv2trav]

Please report back. I really want to do this next year.

 

[JessLCH]

Just booked our first ABD: AZ and UT for April 10, 2017. Traveling with my husband, daughter (15) amd son (12).

 

[EllinK]

Anyone figured out the changes between the new and old itineraries?

 

[wdw4us]

I have 2 luggage tickets per person, does that mean we can bring 2 suitcases each? I did get only 2 orange straps and 2 luggage tags but the tickets for room delivery have a total of 4. We are just me and the hub.

Leaving Weds for the trip.

denise

 

[carpenta]

I believe it is one large suitcase and small personal bag per person.

 

[sayhello]

As far as I know, carpenta is correct. It's supposed to be one checked (large) bag and one carryon size (plus personal items) per person. You can have them deliver both your checked bag and your carryon to your room. For the Arizona/Utah trip, you make one mass transfer from the airport in Phoenix to Sedona, and you stop on the way to Sedona at Montezuma's Castle. So you wouldn't want to be shlepping your carryons with you. So you can tag them, have them put under the bus, and delivered to your room with your checked bag when you get to Sedona.

Sayhello

 

[wdw4us]

Just back at 3am this morning. I will try and do a brief trip report of our adventure. First off I have to say that those who recommended staying in Phoenix the night before the adventure began THANK YOU!. A few weeks before our trip I decided that didn't want to get up at 3am to catch a 5:30 flight to Phoenix and be worried about travel delays and not meeting up with the group. So I re-booked our flight and got a one night stay at the https://www.druryhotels.com/locations/phoenix-az/Drury-Inn-and-Suites-Phoenix-Airport. Well worth the investment. We arrived at 9:30PM their time which was midnight for us, but i was able to sleep pretty good and wake to a breakfast buffet. I was refreshed and ready to meet the tour that first day and not feel stressed. Turns out the guides also stay there the night before too(I found out later). They have an airport shuttle that is free 24 hrs a day. I did not reserve a pick up or delivery but it was still off season. If you do use this service, I suggest calling and confirming both. We had them bring us back to baggage claim by 11 am. We met our guides Doug and Landon and had lunch at the airport until the rest of our group arrived. This was an adults only adventure and while we are all over 18, some were barely over 18 and some were in their 70's but that didn't matter, we had a great group of Adventurers. Once we assembled we met our Coach Driver - Dena. She was GREAT and if you are going this summer, you will have her, she is booked for this tour through August. Doug and Landon are great guides but we also had Lorraine and Samantha as shadow guides since they will be guides starting next week. They will not be together but I think Samantha will be with Doug. Not sure about Lorraine.

Not sure if I should post a trip report here or someplace else but suffice to say that Mark and I felt that it was probably the best vacation ever. Our guides were GREAT,the resorts were awesome and while the places we visited were a dream come true for us, part of that was made more special because we spent it with new friends we met on the tour. I remember booking this trip, pricing out everything on our own, even staying at those resorts etc, some food and extras and the price was of course lower but not by that much. One thing you can't put a price on is the weariness from driving all over creation. Knowing where to go, getting yourself there and moving luggage around, all those little things that you have to do yourself but you don't have to with Disney. The hardest part of this vacation and the only thing required is show up on time for the next part of the tour. For me being on East Coast time, that was never a factor. The local guides they bring in to share their local knowledge is a great part of the tour.

Because of family issues recently, I know if I hadn't booked through Disney I probably would have cancelled this trip. BUT, with Disney you lose everything(with no travel insurance) so the family survived without us for a week and we got a much deserved vacation from Stress and Conflict.

If you have any hesitation about this trip, as my husband said to me many months ago - just pull the trigger and book it. So I did. It was life-changing for us.

I will try to answer any questions you have but remember, ours was an adult only tour so I have no idea about trip with children. I'm sure they are a little different.

denise

 

[carpenta]

Glad to hear you had a wonderful time. To this day this trip is still one of our favorites EVER. Looking forward to more stories of your trip.

 

[CJinMD]

Hi everyone! We are thinking of doing this trip next summer as our first ABD. My boys will be 8 and 6 at the time of travel. Does anyone know of the minimum age for being a passenger for the ATV ride? Clearly cant drive, but can they ride with us? Were kids this young entertained enough since it seems llike there are less activities on this trip compared to others? I would like to do Yellowstone, but the suggested age for those trips are either 7 or 8. Thanks!

 

[west&east]

Just booked our first ABD: AZ and UT for April 10, 2017. Traveling with my husband, daughter (15) amd son (12).

We just booked for April 10th as well! It will be our 3rd ABD. My daughter will be almost 18, my son will be 14. We are traveling with another couple and their daughter, also nearly 18. This date is up to 22 people. So excited! Hope we can update the meet thread with the dates for this trip so people can find us a bit easier.

 

[g8torlaw]

For those of you that have taken this trip recently, do you recall what time the privately guided tour of the Grand Canyon ended on the morning of the 4th day (the day where the afternoon and evening are free)? We are looking at booking a mule ride for the afternoon but it leaves the stables at noon and I wasn't sure the timing would work. Thanks in advance for the info!

 

[Chirple]

For those of you that have taken this trip recently, do you recall what time the privately guided tour of the Grand Canyon ended on the morning of the 4th day (the day where the afternoon and evening are free)? We are looking at booking a mule ride for the afternoon but it leaves the stables at noon and I wasn't sure the timing would work. Thanks in advance for the info!

The morning is actually broken into two parts--the bus ride to the Watch Tower and then the geological walk with the step-on guide. Two members of our group skipped the latter because they had booked a helicopter ride. My husband and are pretty confident that we finished with the Watch Tower and were back to start the walk at around 11:30 am. However, we were a very small group (11) so we did finish up some activities quickly.

 

[g8torlaw]

The morning is actually broken into two parts--the bus ride to the Watch Tower and then the geological walk with the step-on guide. Two members of our group skipped the latter because they had booked a helicopter ride. My husband and are pretty confident that we finished with the Watch Tower and were back to start the walk at around 11:30 am. However, we were a very small group (11) so we did finish up some activities quickly.

Thank you so much!

 

[JessLCH]

Does anyone have advice on flying home? I see they say book a flight out of Grand Junction at the end of trip. Those flights are few and far between. Has anyone figured out a way to drive to Denver or Salt Lake City to fly out of a major airport? The difficulty in getting home may be a deal breaker for us.

 

[Chirple]

Does anyone have advice on flying home? I see they say book a flight out of Grand Junction at the end of trip. Those flights are few and far between. Has anyone figured out a way to drive to Denver or Salt Lake City to fly out of a major airport? The difficulty in getting home may be a deal breaker for us.

I don't know what home airport you are using, but we flew United non-stop into PHX from EWR and then out of GJT into DEN for our final flight into EWR. GJT is about 90 minutes from the Red Cliffs Lodge, and we were the first flight out of our group at 11:30 am. We then had a 5 hour layover in DEN.

Have you mapped out the distance for the drive? You would have to get a rental car before leaving Moab (and would need a ride into town) and be able to drop it off at one of those airports.

 

[sayhello]

We had a family that took the bus with the rest of us, and then picked up a rental car at the Grand Junction Airport, and drove around for a few days before ending in Denver to fly home. This *was* several years ago. I have no idea what it cost them.

Grand Junction is basically on the way from Moab to Denver, so you'd have that much less of a drive vs. getting the car in Moab. I'd check out the GJ airport, and see what the car rental situation is like there.

Sayhello