Adventures by Disney—Galapagos June 2024 East South Itinerary
I was fortunate enough to do this trip and wanted to share some of the experiences we had in the hopes that it will answer questions that others have. I know there is a trip report on here from June 2022, but other than that this is a HARD trip to find info on!
First, our travel party consisted of:
Me: 42 year old woman
My husband: 43 year old man
Our daughter: 15 years old
Son 1: 13 years old
Son 2: 9 years old
My MIL: 73 years old
The trip was our first experience with Adventures by Disney. We are not big Disney park people (I know, I know! We tried…it’s just not our thing), but we do love DCL. The trip was a very generous gift from my MIL that we were THRILLED to take part in. In our experience there were a lot of grandparent/grandchild groups on this trip. Disney lists the minimum age for this trip as 8 and they are spot on. Being the youngest, my 9 year old is used to keeping up with the big kids, but even at his maturity level I wouldn’t want to take anyone much younger on this trip. There are some slightly dangerous aspects (will go into detail further down) and honestly kids much younger may get bored as there is A LOT of walking around learning about the local flora and fauna of each island. That being said, he loved the trip the absolute most and cried when we left our naturalist guide at the end.
Logistics:
We were fortunate to have a direct flight option from our home airport to Quito, but the only time we could leave got us to the airport very late. For that reason we chose to fly into Quito a day early. We arrived around 10 or 11 local time where we were met by an Adventures by Disney representative and taken on a VERY short bus ride to our hotel. We just booked an extra night at the Wyndham where Disney had us staying prior to the trip.
The Wyndham is very comfortable and nice and surprisingly quiet…especially being right by an airport! We ate breakfast at the hotel both mornings and enjoyed it (included in our rate) and dinner there one night. The first night we all settled in and went to bed. The next day we hired a guide through a travel sight (our Disney vacation planner helped with this) who met us at the hotel and took us around to a few of the high points of Quito. In talking with the other people on our trip we found most people either did this or went to visit the Middle of the World. I don’t think you can go wrong either way!
That evening we met our Adventures by Disney guides at the Wyndham, got checked in with them and enjoyed a cocktail reception. A few things we found for this trip:
I read so many things about getting on and off the boat. Here’s the bottom line from my perspective. Was it super easy every time? No. Was it perhaps slightly risky? I guess. Did it ever feel crazy dangerous? No. As long as you have decent mobility I think you’ll be ok. The boat is never docked. That means every single time you get on and off you are utilizing a small inflatable raft or panga. The seas can be choppy, but the crew was FANTASTIC about helping. No one in our group had issues.
As for the choppy water…my MIL, 13 year old son and I all tend to get horribly sea sick. We have gotten sick on a cruise ship before. We both took bonine daily (starting two days before we boarded the boat) and we were totally fine. My 9 year old son also gets a little sea sick, but he wasn’t old enough to take bonine, so he used the ginger form of Dramamine. My husband started out on bonine and switched to the ginger Dramamine because the bonine was making him tired. We also utilized sea bands. With all of this we had no issues with sea sickness and the boat was definitely rocking at times.
The boat is small, but comfortable. With a maximum of 100 passengers you will get to know the other passengers. This is fun. The kids in particular tend to run around in packs and ours all enjoyed the freedom of exploring on their own. We always felt extremely safe. You will be divided into groups with a maximum of 16 (I think that’s the right number) of guests plus one Galapagonian guide. You will be with this group for the majority of your outings and will really get to know them. The guides are out of this world amazing and a true highlight of the trip.
Water conservation is super important so the shower is on a timer…kind of like a sink in a public restroom where you push the top down to turn the water on and it automatically goes off. It made showering “interesting,” but we all managed. I was also surprised to learn that all toilet paper on the ship is to be placed in the trash bin. It is emptied twice a day by the amazing staff, but this took some getting used to!
Every evening there is a briefing before dinner on the following days activities. This is where they tell you how to dress (specifically the type of shoes you’ll need) and anything else you need to know about available activities. A few times when you are on the boat in the afternoon the Naturalist guides will do presentations on some specific aspect of the Galapagos. We really loved these and I highly recommend them.
Packing:
DO NOT OVERPACK. I already mentioned that the rooms can be tight. Hiking shoes and some sort of waterproof sandal (Chacos, Tevas or ever a water sock) are a must. I enjoyed having a casual pair of tennis shoes to wear around the boat as well. If you are scouring the internet for Galapagos trip reports you’ll see lots of people saying that the smaller boats are shoeless. This is not true on the Legend. We were specifically told to wear shoes always.
We wore lots of UV blocking tops and either hiking pants or shorts. Quick dry is essential, but most things can easily be reworn. At least in June when we were there the temperatures were quite moderate. We were rarely truly dirty upon returning to the boat and most times a quick airing out of a top or pair of pants was more than adequate to make it usable again if needed. The long sleeved tops and pants also made sunscreen less of a concern. We took too much, but were going on the belief that it is better to be safe than sorry. Wearing sunscreen (and reapplying) is a MUST in the Galapagos, but you probably don’t need 5 times what you would take for a normal week at the beach. This is an area that we way overpacked. We also had bug spray that they told us to bring several times, but was never actually necessary. We did not encounter hardly any bugs…at least not the biting kind. It is good to know there is a very small shop on the boat that carries sunscreen should you need it. They also have some small souvenir type items.
The boat was split on evening attire. Some people dressed up a bit. Others didn’t. Do what makes you comfortable. You won’t be out of place either way. Some days we even went directly to dinner in our hiking gear just because of the schedule. Really and truly anything was fine.
We were there in the dry season, so we never used our rain jackets, but I would take one just in case. A hat (most of us just wore ball caps, but some had wide brimmed hats—use what you like) and sunglasses are also a must for everyone.
Disney sent everyone a water bottle prior to the trip. Bring this with you as you will need it, but be sure to label it somehow because everyone’s bottles look the same! There are water bottle filling stations on the entry level to the ship and we used these extensively!
Dining:
We enjoyed a great variety of Ecuadorian and American fare. My only complaint on the food front was that we had a food allergy in our group (nuts and peanuts) and this was hard to navigate sometimes. Allergens were not listed and on the buffet it was hard to discern what was in certain dishes. I asked A LOT of questions, but this one aspect felt very “un-Disney” in that in my experience both Disney World and Disney Cruise Line go overboard in accommodating food allergies and there were a few times on this trip that I felt like I was hoping for the best and making the super safe choices when I really wasn’t sure.
Activities:
As I mentioned above the guides go over the next day’s activities each evening. They do a great job of telling you what to wear or bring, how long you’ll be gone, what you’ll see, the level of difficulty, etc.
Snorkeling was a favorite of our group. There are so many different snorkeling options. At least in June, a wetsuit was a must! These are provided by the boat along with your fins, mask and snorkel. We found them to be perfectly adequate, but some people brought their own gear which was obviously fine too.
My MIL is not a super strong swimmer so she avoided some of the deep water snorkeling trips, but the rest of us were able to hang with everything with one notable exception: The Devil’s Crown. They will tell you that you need to be a strong swimmer to make it through…this is not an exaggeration. We are all super strong swimmers, but we didn’t all make it through. In fact, out of our group, my 15 year old daughter was the only one to make it to the end with our guide. The rest of us had to bail and get picked up by a boat. Supposedly the sea life is out of this world in that area, but honestly I was working so hard to swim that I noticed very little of it. Every other snorkeling trip though was very doable for our group. We saw sharks, sea turtles, penguins, sea lions, rays, so many fish…it was unbelievable.
I am 100% positive that I am leaving things out, but this is already so long. Please feel free to ask questions…and I hope this was helpful to someone.
I was fortunate enough to do this trip and wanted to share some of the experiences we had in the hopes that it will answer questions that others have. I know there is a trip report on here from June 2022, but other than that this is a HARD trip to find info on!
First, our travel party consisted of:
Me: 42 year old woman
My husband: 43 year old man
Our daughter: 15 years old
Son 1: 13 years old
Son 2: 9 years old
My MIL: 73 years old
The trip was our first experience with Adventures by Disney. We are not big Disney park people (I know, I know! We tried…it’s just not our thing), but we do love DCL. The trip was a very generous gift from my MIL that we were THRILLED to take part in. In our experience there were a lot of grandparent/grandchild groups on this trip. Disney lists the minimum age for this trip as 8 and they are spot on. Being the youngest, my 9 year old is used to keeping up with the big kids, but even at his maturity level I wouldn’t want to take anyone much younger on this trip. There are some slightly dangerous aspects (will go into detail further down) and honestly kids much younger may get bored as there is A LOT of walking around learning about the local flora and fauna of each island. That being said, he loved the trip the absolute most and cried when we left our naturalist guide at the end.
Logistics:
We were fortunate to have a direct flight option from our home airport to Quito, but the only time we could leave got us to the airport very late. For that reason we chose to fly into Quito a day early. We arrived around 10 or 11 local time where we were met by an Adventures by Disney representative and taken on a VERY short bus ride to our hotel. We just booked an extra night at the Wyndham where Disney had us staying prior to the trip.
The Wyndham is very comfortable and nice and surprisingly quiet…especially being right by an airport! We ate breakfast at the hotel both mornings and enjoyed it (included in our rate) and dinner there one night. The first night we all settled in and went to bed. The next day we hired a guide through a travel sight (our Disney vacation planner helped with this) who met us at the hotel and took us around to a few of the high points of Quito. In talking with the other people on our trip we found most people either did this or went to visit the Middle of the World. I don’t think you can go wrong either way!
That evening we met our Adventures by Disney guides at the Wyndham, got checked in with them and enjoyed a cocktail reception. A few things we found for this trip:
- The luggage tags are a must. They get the luggage where it needs to go on the ship, but the lanyards were not needed. Our guides said that some trips require these as your “pass” of sorts into different sights, but they were not needed in the Galapagos.
- They are pretty serious about the luggage restrictions listed in the handbook (one suitcase no more than 50 lbs, one carry on and one personal item). We had larger rooms with balconies and it was still tight with suitcases and items in the rooms. Storage is for sure at a premium so plan accordingly.
- There are not washers on the boat. I *think* you can send stuff to the laundry for an extra charge, but we didn’t need to do this. I know some people washed things out in the sink, but be aware that it takes awhile for things to dry. There are dryers in the snorkel room that are available to use—we did not use them, but I did hear of some complaints of rust spots on clothes coming out of the dryers.
- We did have Wi-Fi included which was a nice plus. Basically one device per person. It’s spotty and not super fast, but I appreciated the ability to check in with our house/pet sitter while we were away and to occasionally locate other members of my travel party throughout the boat. Of course the boat isn’t large and most of the time our phones were left in our rooms unless we were using them to take pictures.
- Soft drinks were also included on the boat. Alcohol was an additional charge with a couple of exceptions at special meals or receptions.
I read so many things about getting on and off the boat. Here’s the bottom line from my perspective. Was it super easy every time? No. Was it perhaps slightly risky? I guess. Did it ever feel crazy dangerous? No. As long as you have decent mobility I think you’ll be ok. The boat is never docked. That means every single time you get on and off you are utilizing a small inflatable raft or panga. The seas can be choppy, but the crew was FANTASTIC about helping. No one in our group had issues.
As for the choppy water…my MIL, 13 year old son and I all tend to get horribly sea sick. We have gotten sick on a cruise ship before. We both took bonine daily (starting two days before we boarded the boat) and we were totally fine. My 9 year old son also gets a little sea sick, but he wasn’t old enough to take bonine, so he used the ginger form of Dramamine. My husband started out on bonine and switched to the ginger Dramamine because the bonine was making him tired. We also utilized sea bands. With all of this we had no issues with sea sickness and the boat was definitely rocking at times.
The boat is small, but comfortable. With a maximum of 100 passengers you will get to know the other passengers. This is fun. The kids in particular tend to run around in packs and ours all enjoyed the freedom of exploring on their own. We always felt extremely safe. You will be divided into groups with a maximum of 16 (I think that’s the right number) of guests plus one Galapagonian guide. You will be with this group for the majority of your outings and will really get to know them. The guides are out of this world amazing and a true highlight of the trip.
Water conservation is super important so the shower is on a timer…kind of like a sink in a public restroom where you push the top down to turn the water on and it automatically goes off. It made showering “interesting,” but we all managed. I was also surprised to learn that all toilet paper on the ship is to be placed in the trash bin. It is emptied twice a day by the amazing staff, but this took some getting used to!
Every evening there is a briefing before dinner on the following days activities. This is where they tell you how to dress (specifically the type of shoes you’ll need) and anything else you need to know about available activities. A few times when you are on the boat in the afternoon the Naturalist guides will do presentations on some specific aspect of the Galapagos. We really loved these and I highly recommend them.
Packing:
DO NOT OVERPACK. I already mentioned that the rooms can be tight. Hiking shoes and some sort of waterproof sandal (Chacos, Tevas or ever a water sock) are a must. I enjoyed having a casual pair of tennis shoes to wear around the boat as well. If you are scouring the internet for Galapagos trip reports you’ll see lots of people saying that the smaller boats are shoeless. This is not true on the Legend. We were specifically told to wear shoes always.
We wore lots of UV blocking tops and either hiking pants or shorts. Quick dry is essential, but most things can easily be reworn. At least in June when we were there the temperatures were quite moderate. We were rarely truly dirty upon returning to the boat and most times a quick airing out of a top or pair of pants was more than adequate to make it usable again if needed. The long sleeved tops and pants also made sunscreen less of a concern. We took too much, but were going on the belief that it is better to be safe than sorry. Wearing sunscreen (and reapplying) is a MUST in the Galapagos, but you probably don’t need 5 times what you would take for a normal week at the beach. This is an area that we way overpacked. We also had bug spray that they told us to bring several times, but was never actually necessary. We did not encounter hardly any bugs…at least not the biting kind. It is good to know there is a very small shop on the boat that carries sunscreen should you need it. They also have some small souvenir type items.
The boat was split on evening attire. Some people dressed up a bit. Others didn’t. Do what makes you comfortable. You won’t be out of place either way. Some days we even went directly to dinner in our hiking gear just because of the schedule. Really and truly anything was fine.
We were there in the dry season, so we never used our rain jackets, but I would take one just in case. A hat (most of us just wore ball caps, but some had wide brimmed hats—use what you like) and sunglasses are also a must for everyone.
Disney sent everyone a water bottle prior to the trip. Bring this with you as you will need it, but be sure to label it somehow because everyone’s bottles look the same! There are water bottle filling stations on the entry level to the ship and we used these extensively!
Dining:
We enjoyed a great variety of Ecuadorian and American fare. My only complaint on the food front was that we had a food allergy in our group (nuts and peanuts) and this was hard to navigate sometimes. Allergens were not listed and on the buffet it was hard to discern what was in certain dishes. I asked A LOT of questions, but this one aspect felt very “un-Disney” in that in my experience both Disney World and Disney Cruise Line go overboard in accommodating food allergies and there were a few times on this trip that I felt like I was hoping for the best and making the super safe choices when I really wasn’t sure.
Activities:
As I mentioned above the guides go over the next day’s activities each evening. They do a great job of telling you what to wear or bring, how long you’ll be gone, what you’ll see, the level of difficulty, etc.
Snorkeling was a favorite of our group. There are so many different snorkeling options. At least in June, a wetsuit was a must! These are provided by the boat along with your fins, mask and snorkel. We found them to be perfectly adequate, but some people brought their own gear which was obviously fine too.
My MIL is not a super strong swimmer so she avoided some of the deep water snorkeling trips, but the rest of us were able to hang with everything with one notable exception: The Devil’s Crown. They will tell you that you need to be a strong swimmer to make it through…this is not an exaggeration. We are all super strong swimmers, but we didn’t all make it through. In fact, out of our group, my 15 year old daughter was the only one to make it to the end with our guide. The rest of us had to bail and get picked up by a boat. Supposedly the sea life is out of this world in that area, but honestly I was working so hard to swim that I noticed very little of it. Every other snorkeling trip though was very doable for our group. We saw sharks, sea turtles, penguins, sea lions, rays, so many fish…it was unbelievable.
I am 100% positive that I am leaving things out, but this is already so long. Please feel free to ask questions…and I hope this was helpful to someone.
