DIS Exclusive Northern Italy / Switzerland Adventure August 26th - September 2nd 2016

[OKW Lover]

On the afternoon the group did the zip line experience, I broke off from the group and found a terrific Italian restaurant with an outdoor patio. Great food, great people watching and great views of Zermatt. This was dessert. I ended up spending about three hours here, a great way to spend an afternoon!

I hope you remember the address for this place!!!

 

[JWren1234]

Okay, I'm signing up for THIS activity!!!

It was one my favorite things about Zermatt!

Great photos Jason!

Cathy and I are looking forward to another adventure with you.

Looking forward to traveling with you both again. I think this will be the fifth time we've traveled together!

I hope you remember the address for this place!!!

Yes I do! It's on the "Main Street" of Zermatt. Very easy to find, it's Ristorante Molino. I'll be leading the way!

 

[DisneyKevin]

Kevin,

Could you please let us all know when this adventure goes "guaranteed".

Already started researching our flight options, I would like to lock in as soon as possible to get the flights/schedule we want.

Thanks!

Frank

We have 19 people traveling so far, so this trip is currently good to go.

This is barring something unforeseen.

 

[christannj]

Don't see Chuck and I zip lining so add us to the Ristorante Molino parade

 

[DisneyKevin]

As the group stands right now....i don't see a lot of zip lining.

Thats not to say that there won't be anyone zip lining....but it's not a required activity.

 

[skunkvette]

We have 19 people traveling so far, so this trip is currently good to go.

This is barring something unforeseen.

Thanks, Kevin!

 

[DisneyKevin]

Hey Folks,

ABD will institute a new deposit and cancellation policy beginning January 1st.

Please know that this will not affect this trip as we already have a contract with ABD.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[OKW Lover]

ABD will institute a new deposit and cancellation policy beginning January 1st.

Do you suppose that they are going to be more reasonable with their policies? Nahhh.

 

[JWren1234]

I was looking through pictures from Stresa from the first full day of Alpine Magic in Sep. 2014, and thought you all might be interested in seeing some of what we did.

The day started with a 10 minute boat trip on Lake Maggiore to La Isola Bella, the first two pictures here are of our hotel from the boat, and a picture of the boat itself as we are close to docking. We started out with a tour of the Borromeo estate, and then we had ample time to tour the gardens adjacent to the estate. I thought the gardens here were spectacular, and they even had a resident peacock.

After spending the morning on La Isola Bella, we got back onto the boat to go back to the town of Stresa for a wine tasting. The wine tasting was a great experience, we went to a back room of a local wine shop (La Cambusa), and tasted 4 different wines, along with different olive oils. The highlight was getting to spend time with Rosaria, who led the tasting. Her family owns the shop, and she had fascinating stories about growing up in Stresa during World War II.

I'm so excited to go back!

Jason

 

[skunkvette]

I was looking through pictures from Stresa from the first full day of Alpine Magic in Sep. 2014, and thought you all might be interested in seeing some of what we did.

The day started with a 10 minute boat trip on Lake Maggiore to La Isola Bella, the first two pictures here are of our hotel from the boat, and a picture of the boat itself as we are close to docking. We started out with a tour of the Borromeo estate, and then we had ample time to tour the gardens adjacent to the estate. I thought the gardens here were spectacular, and they even had a resident peacock.

After spending the morning on La Isola Bella, we got back onto the boat to go back to the town of Stresa for a wine tasting. The wine tasting was a great experience, we went to a back room of a local wine shop (La Cambusa), and tasted 4 different wines, along with different olive oils. The highlight was getting to spend time with Rosaria, who led the tasting. Her family owns the shop, and she had fascinating stories about growing up in Stresa during World War II.

I'm so excited to go back!

Jason

Thanks for the write up and photos, Jason, the trip looks great.

Cathy and I were discussing the trip at dinner tonight, we are looking forward to the adventure!

Trying to decide when the best time would be to commit to the flights we want to take, watching fares and how flights are filling up so far.

I found a non stop direct from Zurich to Philly on the return trip which would be nice, looks like a stop over in either London or Madrid for the outbound leg.

 

[christannj]

Jason

This says a lot that you are going on this trip again, it must be a very special itinerary for you to repeat it. Can't wait to meet you and share the experience.

Chris

 

[JWren1234]

Thanks for the write up and photos, Jason, the trip looks great.

Cathy and I were discussing the trip at dinner tonight, we are looking forward to the adventure!

Trying to decide when the best time would be to commit to the flights we want to take, watching fares and how flights are filling up so far.

I found a non stop direct from Zurich to Philly on the return trip which would be nice, looks like a stop over in either London or Madrid for the outbound leg.

I've been watching fares for Newark-Milan/Zurich-Newark on United, and they haven't changed much, they've been very stable. It was a similar situation for me on this route in 2014. I will likely purchase in the next couple of months once I figure out pre-days...trying to figure out how many to do.

Looking forward to seeing you both again!

Jason

This says a lot that you are going on this trip again, it must be a very special itinerary for you to repeat it. Can't wait to meet you and share the experience.

Chris

Thank you! Looking forward to meeting you and Chuck!

 

[OKW Lover]

I've been watching fares for Newark-Milan/Zurich-Newark on United, and they haven't changed much, they've been very stable. It was a similar situation for me on this route in 2014. I will likely purchase in the next couple of months once I figure out pre-days...trying to figure out how many to do.

We were discussing this last night with some other likely travelers on this trip. We're in the same place - not sure of pre-nights and where they might be. Thinking that we won't do any post nights, but that might be a mistake.

 

[JWren1234]

We were discussing this last night with some other likely travelers on this trip. We're in the same place - not sure of pre-nights and where they might be. Thinking that we won't do any post nights, but that might be a mistake.

I didn't do post nights. Lucerne is a beautiful city, and the hotel is great. The key highlights are spending time on Lake Lucerne, and walking around the city and just taking everything in. ABD has Lake Lucerne covered, we spend the last day on a very relaxed boat ride to a barbecue lunch (which is very good). There is also a good amount of OYO time for shopping (incredible chocolate shops).

Usually I feel like I could use a post night to decompress after an ABD, but this trip is so relaxed (in comparison to the other ABD's I've done), I didn't feel it was necessary. That being said, I'm thinking about a post night this time, because the trip ends on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and I wouldn't need to take an additional vacation day.

Jason

 

[christannj]

We will be doing one pre day to just get acclimated to the time change etc and we were looking at whether to add a post day as well. Since the ABD ends on the Friday of Labor Day weekend we definitely have more flexibility in leaving and we were also sad on the Viva Italia trip leaving knowing that some adventurers were staying on. We have been thinking of staying one extra day.. This may depend on whether others will stay.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We have to wait for the 2016-2017 school calendars to figure out our pre/post nights. Our work gets very busy the last few weeks of kids' summer vacations. If school starts up the week before the ABD, that will give us some flexibility to include a couple of pre nights. I hope that's the case. If so, we'll do 1-2 pre nights... otherwise we may have to brave flying in the day it starts (ugh). We may do 1-2 post nights if I can convince Kate (DW).

No matter what, I'm really looking forward to this trip!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Good news for us - school starts the week before the ABD which will allow us to arrive early. I'm not sure how many pre nights, but any will be great. Now to figure out where to spend them. We've flown and driven in and out of Milan but have never spent quality time there. Or the idea of relaxing around Lake Como sounds very appealing.

And then post nights. Since it ends on Labor Day weekend, we could a add bit more time around Zurich or fly to Venice for a couple of days. Tough choices.

 

[christannj]

We ended up booking one prenight at the hotel in Stresa and no post nights. Booked the flights earlier this week so all of you are stuck with us, it seems. We will be on United both flights through Newark.

Chris

 

[OKW Lover]

We just started looking at flights. Still a bit early for us yet as we have a bunch of other travel to plan.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We've decided to fly in 2 days early and stay on Lake Como and just relax. Then at the end, we're flying back to Milan to spend a couple of days in the city. There's an opera opening on Sept 2nd at La Scala and we're going to try to get tickets for that. I'm not a huge opera fan, but it would be a unique experience. On a whim, I got my son and I tickets to the Opera in Sydney on the Australia ABD and had a great time. We're also hiring a guide to take us around Milan the next morning including the Last Supper. Haven't booked our flights yet, but I have made our hotel reservations.