Best Itinerary for Kids?

[ragtopday]

I realize this is largely personal preference, but I'm asking because I want to know what YOUR personal preference is!

I'm looking at taking an ABD trip with my 2 girls next summer when they will be 12 and 9. We are all very active. I'm mostly looking at 3 trips right now:

Spirit of America
Cowboys & Canyons
Costa Rica

Those 3 trips are within about $300 pp of each other in terms of cost, but we would not have to fly if we did Spirit of America (a huge savings!). Of course that trip is the one they are least excited about but I know they would love it!

I've done the Backstage Magic trip (July 2010) and can sing the ABD praises all day long - I'm just looking for input on the first trip for the kids.

THanks so much for your input, even if you're all over the map!

 

[pipch]

Hi there Ragtopday - we are on our 4th trip this year - ecador and galap. 3 out of the 4 trip have been overseas (costa rica when son was 5, Peru when he was 8 and now galap when hes 9) we did wyoming (quest for the west) when he was 6.
Honestly the least favourite trip (although very enjoyable) was the wyoming trip and that has to do with the standard of hotels, locations for dinners etc. For example breakfats were held in windowless meeting rooms, buffets were very simple fayre..... basically we felt like a coach tour, so we have said we would not do a USA based trip again... we would do those on our own.
However the overseas trips seem far better value and a much higher quality - hotels here are all far more luxurious, you eat in the main restaurants with proper menus instead of average buffets.
All the trips and their planning are faultless, hence our 4th one so it is difficult to give a favourite and a reason why. Each one has been carefully chosen to suit our child as he has developed (first two more animal based) now we are moving onto different cultures which he can appreciate now he is a little older. So your question is difficult to answer. Sorry cannot be more help... Costa Rica was fab!!

 

[emesmom]

My daughter and I have been on 3 ABD tours, all in the USA. They were all fabulous and had lots of kids. The first one we did was Southwest Splendors and my daughter was 8. The second was Quest for the West and my daughter was 10. (we went on a Tauck Bridges tour to Yosemite when she was 9, good with lots of kids, but not "fabulous", so we are sticking with ABD).
We just got back from the Backstage Magic Tour...SO Amazing....yes I cried when it ended, but I'm smiling now. Surprisingly there was only one other younger child on the trip, another girl also going into the fifth grade and my daughter and her hooked up immediately ). The guides said this tour tends to have more teens and adults. I think that is because, besides your time in DL, it is very informational. The fifth graders were fine for that, I'm not sure if very young children would tolerate it.
I have to disagree with the post about the Wyoming trip. We Loved It...probably my favorite so far, even though it really is hard to choose a favorite. Maybe they changed things since the above person went on the tour. The meals and accommodations were just as good if not better than Southwest Splendors (National Park hotels are not made for comfort ..) you end your Wyoming trip at this dude ranch that is reserved just for your tour group...Amazing!! The kids had a blast there and it was so safe and secluded there....LOVED IT!!!
Truly, I don't think you can pick a bad tour....I don't think they exist )) they will make the trip work for your kids, whatever age they are.
Have Fun!

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Honestly the least favourite trip (although very enjoyable) was the wyoming trip and that has to do with the standard of hotels, locations for dinners etc. For example breakfats were held in windowless meeting rooms, buffets were very simple fayre..... basically we felt like a coach tour, so we have said we would not do a USA based trip again... we would do those on our own.
However the overseas trips seem far better value and a much higher quality - hotels here are all far more luxurious, you eat in the main restaurants with proper menus instead of average buffets.

Just in case someone is thinking about Quest for the West, I wanted to let people know this is no longer the case. We went this summer and all breakfasts are in the hotels' dining room. There were two buffet dinners, but especially the second one had unique "Wyoming" offerings. I'm glad to see ABD seems to listen to customer critiques!

 

[familygoboston]

My girls were 10 and 12 when we did CR- they loved it, but they love animals and there are some fun adventures like the rafting.! It was a very comfortable first "foreign" adventure for them. Before that we had done mostly US and Canada.

Our ABD guide had guided Wyoming and she said it was great for kids who like horses. My kids aren't wild about horses, so,even though many on our CR trip were planning a WY reunion, we didn't participate. I'm not sure I'd pay the premium for a US trip, but that's just me!

Neighbors just booked Italy with ABD ( not sure which!) because in comparison to the Tauck Bridges trips, it seemed more kid friendly and she has an 18 yo and a 8 yo, so that's quite a stretch to please. They had done Tauck HI before, but felt the ABD itinerary was more kid-centric, and I'd agree! I don't think you will have a bad time on any of these trips! it's a matter of what your girls like, animals, horses, history? Some kids are creeped out by bugs, or bothered by rain ( maybe not CR then!) others glaze over with history ( even done the Disney way,) and would rather watch birds through their binoculars. Each one of these trips has a slightly different focus!
Happy choosing!

 

[carpenta]

My daughter and I have been on 3 ABD tours, all in the USA. They were all fabulous and had lots of kids. The first one we did was Southwest Splendors and my daughter was 8. The second was Quest for the West and my daughter was 10. (we went on a Tauck Bridges tour to Yosemite when she was 9, good with lots of kids, but not "fabulous", so we are sticking with ABD).


Truly, I don't think you can pick a bad tour....I don't think they exist )) they will make the trip work for your kids, whatever age they are.
Have Fun!

I have to agree with emesmom. We just returned from a Tauck Bridges tour and it couldn't compare to the fun and attention that ABD provides. I believe Tauck should stick to tours for retired peoples who have alot of time on their hands and are use to a sedate life. We are sticking with ABD for a while and then in the future when the Social Security check arrives maybe go back to Tauck. We did the Alaska tour as well as Rockies tour and one was as great as the other. It's the planning and more important the guides that make the trip.

 

[emesmom]

To familygoboston: I am glad to hear you enjoyed CR. that is going to be my first adventure out of the country with my daughter also. I have been overseas but that was before my daughter was born. I was waiting until she was old enough to appreciate it and to handle the longer flights.
What time of year did you go? We are going in March/April, for Spring break...hopefully the bugs won't creep out my daughter too much....maybe it will get her used to them .

 

[Bobo912]

We did Costa Rica when DS was 8, Alaska when he was 9, and SWS last year when he was 11. All were great for kids. We also traveled to the Galapagos with another company, and it's also a great trip for kids. I just returned from Tauck Bridges Blue Danube River Cruise and I believe that it was the best trip for kids of all the tours we've done so far. Besides all the scheduled activities in the itinerary, the Tauck directors had something special for the kids every day. Not just little things either, some of them were things that I was surprised that they were not listed in the itinerary. I think the TDs came up with the ideas for all the extras. We had one Tauck cruise director and four tour directors and they were all fantastic. It was a wonderful trip for the adults as well. The attention to detail and level of service was second to none that I have experienced, including ABD. This was our second Tauck trip and I wasn't as impressed with the first, although we had a great time. The itinerary was good, but the level of service was a little less since there was one guide and 40 guests. Back to ragtopday's 3 choices...we haven't done the Spirit of America trip, but I asked DS which trip of the other two he thinks is best and he said Costa Rica, but he loved the SWS trip too.

 

[emesmom]

Bobo912 your description of the cruise by Tauck Bridges does sound great and I may actually consider that in the future. My, one and only experience with them was tainted, because our tour guide was really pretty snarky. While she was being snarky, she would be repeatedly saying "no worries", well apparently there were some worries . As a childless couple I traveled with Globus and Trafalgar and had good experiences with them.
I told my friends after the Tauck tour, "if I hadn't done the ABD tour first, I probably would have been happy with the Tauck tour."

 

[Bobo912]

Bobo912 your description of the cruise by Tauck Bridges does sound great and I may actually consider that in the future. My, one and only experience with them was tainted, because our tour guide was really pretty snarky. While she was being snarky, she would be repeatedly saying "no worries", well apparently there were some worries . As a childless couple I traveled with Globus and Trafalgar and had good experiences with them.
I told my friends after the Tauck tour, "if I hadn't done the ABD tour first, I probably would have been happy with the Tauck tour."

That's exactly what I thought after our first TB tour and, after the fact, I regretted that I was making comparisons all throughout the trip. Now I have a third ABD and a Lindblad/Nat Geo trip under my belt, all of which I loved, and I still think the TB river cruise compares favorably with the best of them. DS and I would both love to do another one. TB added a second river cruise for 2013 that begins in Paris and then sails on the Rhone, but I've got a few destinations higher on my list, so we may do that one some time in the future. I'm still not sure I would do another land based trip with Tauck, since I wasn't totally happy with the first one. But our latest experience has me considering giving the land trips another chance too. But for 2013, I'm almost certain we'll be traveling with ABD.

 

[familygoboston]

To familygoboston: I am glad to hear you enjoyed CR. that is going to be my first adventure out of the country with my daughter also. I have been overseas but that was before my daughter was born. I was waiting until she was old enough to appreciate it and to handle the longer flights.
What time of year did you go? We are going in March/April, for Spring break...hopefully the bugs won't creep out my daughter too much....maybe it will get her used to them .

Tell eme " no worries" ( ha ha!) jk- seriously though, the " bug" comment is really about the things you'll see on tour, not things crawling around your room! Every hotel we stayed in with ABD was top notch, and though they've changed, I'd expect they are the same level!
At La Paz our guide Fico reached into an ordinary bush ( to me) and pulled out on his hand a huge stick bug that looked exactly like a little branch! I found it amazing, as did my kids. But it wasn't dangerousand Fico wasn't trying to be scary with it. Also we visited a butterfly garden and some kids don't like butterflies landing on them, that's why I made the comment.
But it's not like you sleep in fear that some bug will crawl into your room, or mosquitos are buzzing you all the time ( we joked that while we were prepared for lots of mosquitos because we have persistent ones here in Maine...we saw NONE!)
So that was our June experience, and I suspect it will be even a bit drier in March...have fun!

 

[Bobo912]

It's odd, since you would expect mosquitoes in such a wet climate, and ABD suggest you pack bug spray, but I didn't see any mosquitoes on the CR trip either.

 

[emesmom]

Good to hear the mosquitoes aren't bad. I was thinking about that last night as my daughter and her friends came inside due to getting bitten by too many mosquitos! Who would have thought Ohio would have more mosquitoes than CR?...yeah " no worries"

 

[familygoboston]

Good to hear the mosquitoes aren't bad. I was thinking about that last night as my daughter and her friends came inside due to getting bitten by too many mosquitos! Who would have thought Ohio would have more mosquitoes than CR?...yeah " no worries"

This is a running gag in our family! We've been to Alaska, Africa, Cost Rican rain forests; all places where you are prepared for many ( and sometimes deadly) mosquitos, but without exception we rarely if ever saw even one in any of those places ( and we are talking remote off the grid camps, not 5 star high rise hotels). But right here on our porch in Maine every summer, we are literally driven inside by mosquitos at dusk!. So the family joke is...well, it's not as bad as Maine

Btw- I still made the kids take their anti malarial meds in the parts of Africa we were in, but I quit my own! We didn't do an ABD in Africa; one of the advantages of their itinerary is its not in a malarial area, but we had some specific places we wanted to see, so that's where we ventured!

 

[RestaurantsCan]

I've visited Disney World many times with my children. And if I've learned anything, it's this:
Lesson #1: You can't do Disney without a plan!
Lesson #2: That plan will change as your kids grow.
The secret to a perfect Disney World vacation is knowing the attractions that best suit your kids' ages and developmental stages, and then taking in just enough to leave your family enchanted, not exhausted.



 

[sayhello]

I've visited Disney World many times with my children. And if I've learned anything, it's this:
Lesson #1: You can't do Disney without a plan!
Lesson #2: That plan will change as your kids grow.
The secret to a perfect Disney World vacation is knowing the attractions that best suit your kids' ages and developmental stages, and then taking in just enough to leave your family enchanted, not exhausted.



Hi, RestaurantsCan, and Welcome to the ABD Forum.

Thanks for your answer! I thought I'd mention that you posted in an area of the DISBoards that is a Forum about Adventures by Disney, not Walt Disney World. Adventures by Disney is a division of Disney that offers fabulous land-based tours. So the original poster was asking for opinions on specific ABD itineraries, not for a plan of attack for Walt Disney World. Again, thanks so much for offering your assistance, I just wanted you to understand if you didn't get any responses to your reply, or got odd responses.

Thanks again,
Sayhello