How Many Kids Were on Your Trip?

[emilyann415]

I am really looking into the river cruises and a few land adventures....just can't decide and wondered if one is more apt to have kids than the other? My kids would be 9 and 15 at the time we would go most likely. I don't want to be swamped with children, but I don't want them to be the only ones. I saw a youtube video of a river cruise and there was only the one 13 year old girl.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

If you go during the summer and with ABD you are guaranteed to have plenty of kids! My kids both LOVED the ABD Rhine River cruise -- my dd was 15 at the time and there were at least 8-10 kids around the same age. Plenty of younger ones as well. You will have more kids on the river cruise since the boat has a much larger capacity than an ABD (which has a cap somewhere between 38 and 44 people, but this number seems to vary).

Both of my kids have expressed a lot of interest in doing the Rhone River cruise next year.

 

[emilyann415]

Which river cruise did you do? We’ve done so many regular Disney cruises and I want something different. My husband has zero interest in a river cruise. Uuuugh.....

 

[Donalyn]

My DDs are excited to do the Rhine River Cruise at some point. I'm thinking summer 2022, for oldest DD's graduation and a few other special events, like a big birthday for me that ends in a zero....

ABD will tell you the ages of the kids on your trip - sometimes just generally, other times with great detail. For instance, we called this last weekend and were told each teenager's gender and age. My kids aren't big joiners, but they were worried about being the only older kids - they didn't want to feel like babysitters for a lot of younger kids.

 

[OhanaCuz]

Wide variety of ages (including kids) on our summer Danube river cruise.

Which river cruise did you do? We’ve done so many regular Disney cruises and I want something different. My husband has zero interest in a river cruise. Uuuugh.....

Funny because you couldn't pay me to take an ocean cruise!

 

[sayhello]

I did the Danube river cruise in July and we only had 14 kids total. Most were teenagers, a couple were pre-teen, and one much younger. So I would definitely call ABD and find out the number of kids and ages before signing up just to be on the safe side.

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Our July 2018 ABD Rhine River cruise had 20-25 kids. Our June 2016 ABD Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice) trip had about a dozen kids. The Oct. 2018 So. Cal Short Escape had exactly 4 kids.

The river cruise is very different than a normal Disney cruise (Dream, Wonder, etc.)

I don’t know if you can easily predict the number of kids but if you have a specific trip/date you can ask a Vacationista and he/she should tell you the number and age distribution of the kids already signed up for that trip.

 

[Jess_S]

We had 3 kids and a handful of teens on our Scotland trip. Our guide suggested the river cruises as an option for us if we were looking for more kids on a future trip. But overall the lack of kids was my big disappointment when it came to ABD. We still enjoyed our trip, but the lack of peers for my son was a negative for me.

 

[BluesTraveler]

We had very few kids on our Iceland trip, which was a big disappointment for our kids. But we had a ton - about half the group - on our Wyoming trip, and that was a blast. Definitely call before booking if that's important to you. Or, consider group travel companies that differentiate between family and non-family departures (you'll see a complete discussion on the "Other Options" topic).

 

[lpm23]

I definitely recommend calling and asking. I always get the age and gender of each child when we book. That said i think the biggest factors are the destination and time of year. If you go during a school vacation or summer break you are bound to have a lot more kids. All of our trips (Wyoming, Costa Rica, NY, and Rhine) had a ton of kids. the age range of kids did vary a lot though. The NY adventure was mostly older teenagers. Costa Rica had a ton of kids under 12. the Rhine definitely has the most kids of any trip just given it's a group of 100 rather than 40. If you do a summer river cruise i would almost guarantee there will be a bunch of children.

 

[BluesTraveler]

This thread prompted me to call and check on our Greece trip. So far 39 total people booked (UGH - this is absolutely our last trip with ABD, I can't tell you how much I wish I had waited for Iceland to decide whether or not to book again). Of those 39, 11 are kids, so 9 kids other than our own. That's a bummer, we'd really rather it be close to 1/2 kids. At least it's more than we had in Iceland.

 

[lpm23]

This thread prompted me to call and check on our Greece trip. So far 39 total people booked (UGH - this is absolutely our last trip with ABD, I can't tell you how much I wish I had waited for Iceland to decide whether or not to book again). Of those 39, 11 are kids, so 9 kids other than our own. That's a bummer, we'd really rather it be close to 1/2 kids. At least it's more than we had in Iceland.

What month are you going? i am actually surprised that trip wouldn't attract more kids. For what it's worth- one of your guides will likely be Chris who we had in Costa Rica. He was awesome and great with kids and adults.

If you don't mind sharing what other companies are you leaning towards? I have done some research on Tauck and Thomson. My hesitancy to book with Tauck is the only one guide and my hesitancy with Thomson is the accommodations seem more rustic and I am not a huge fan of the very small groups. My concern, not sure if it's realistic, but I think it might be awkward to be on a trip with just one other family- what if you don't like them???

 

[BluesTraveler]

What month are you going? i am actually surprised that trip wouldn't attract more kids. For what it's worth- one of your guides will likely be Chris who we had in Costa Rica. He was awesome and great with kids and adults.

If you don't mind sharing what other companies are you leaning towards? I have done some research on Tauck and Thomson. My hesitancy to book with Tauck is the only one guide and my hesitancy with Thomson is the accommodations seem more rustic and I am not a huge fan of the very small groups. My concern, not sure if it's realistic, but I think it might be awkward to be on a trip with just one other family- what if you don't like them???

We are going July 12. I've read good things about Chris so that would be great if he's one of the guides. I'll respond about the other companies we are looking at on the Other Options thread and will tag you.

 

[disneyphx]

I have not called about number/age/gender of kids in a while - I realized all it was doing was stressing me out about something I had no control over!
Do you have to specifically ask about 'kids' vs. teens? I am wondering how that impacts the numbers.
For example a couple of our trips have had as many teens/young adults as kids younger than twelve. Norway had (if I am remembering everyone!), 3 kids 11 and under and 9 who were 15-20.....
We always do ABD in mid-summer and there have always been multiple 5-18 year olds.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

This thread prompted me to call and check on our Greece trip. So far 39 total people booked (UGH - this is absolutely our last trip with ABD, I can't tell you how much I wish I had waited for Iceland to decide whether or not to book again). Of those 39, 11 are kids, so 9 kids other than our own. That's a bummer, we'd really rather it be close to 1/2 kids. At least it's more than we had in Iceland.

I'm purposefully sticking my head in the sand on our July Japan trip. I don't want to know! Sorry to hear there are so few kids, but hopefully @disneyphx is right about the older teens/young adults. Chris is fabulous. We had him for our Greece trip a couple years back. He's not rah rah Disney, but super chill. One of my favorite of the ABD bunch.

 

[sayhello]

I'm purposefully sticking my head in the sand on our July Japan trip. I don't want to know! Sorry to hear there are so few kids, but hopefully @disneyphx is right about the older teens/young adults. Chris is fabulous. We had him for our Greece trip a couple years back. He's not rah rah Disney, but super chill. One of my favorite of the ABD bunch.

I love Chris, too. He was one of the Guides on my first ABD (Arizona/Utah) and he set the bar pretty high! He used to Guide for Backroads; I don't know if he does that any more.

Sayhello

 

[BluesTraveler]

Yes, the count I got was for all "Junior Adventurers". 11 total, ages 9 - 16. Ours are 11 and 14, which puts them right in the middle of the spread, so that's good.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

This thread prompted me to call and check on our Greece trip. So far 39 total people booked (UGH - this is absolutely our last trip with ABD, I can't tell you how much I wish I had waited for Iceland to decide whether or not to book again). Of those 39, 11 are kids, so 9 kids other than our own. That's a bummer, we'd really rather it be close to 1/2 kids. At least it's more than we had in Iceland.

The ratio makes some sense given the cost of these trips. I'm sure it's easier for a one child family than it is for a family of multiple children. I know that's true for me. Having one child means that we can see and do much more than we'd be able to do otherwise.