"Is ABD worth the $$$?" Discussion thread

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Yes. I would totally go back to Austria on my own. We basically did Vienna on our own anyway and we had a great time. We didn't want to leave actually. We even found a Marriott just down from the Ritz and went and got their contact information so I know which hotel I'm looking for to book it. We're looking at the possibility of going back there in 2018. N.G. has a hiking tour of the Czech Republic that we're looking where you fly into Vienna and then get driven straight to Valtice in the Czech Republic and the trip finishes up in Prague. We would spend a few extra days in Prague (we loved it there too) and then take the train down to Vienna and spend a few days in Vienna before flying home. Even if we didn't do the hiking trip, we are talking about just going and doing Prague and Vienna on our own. We fell in love with both cities and we enjoyed them both more when we were exploring them on our own. But we also don't believe that you find the culture in the way that Disney is presenting it. We don't feel that you truly experience the culture of a place in the packaged Hollywood version of place like with the Sound of Music tour. That's not Austria or Salzburg. To us, we find the culture of a place out amongst the people, doing what they do, going where they go.

I think what you might be missing is the challenging logistics of the ABD Central Europe tour. Getting from Prague to Vienna via Berchesgarten (sp?) would not be easy to do on your own, unless perhaps you were going to rent a car. I would not be comfortable navigating those roads on my own, though I know there are some who would.

Also, from what I recall of the tour there were several pieces that were unique or could hard to plan on your own (perhaps due to the remote location i.e. ice cave):

• pretzel making
• salt mine tour
• hike to the ice cave (and subsequent lunch on the mountain)
  
• garden with the water fountains (sorry I cannot recall the name, but I think we were the only group who got this unique experience)
• dinner at Schonbrun castle zoo -- sorry yours wasn't good; ours was quite good and we were permitted to go into the zoo at leisure until it was too dark to see (yes, it was ours and ours alone -- ABD has no control over traffic in any given city)
• waltzing lesson -- I *may* have been the only in our group who enjoyed this, but it was a highlight of the trip for me. So much so that attending a Viennese Waltz is now on my bucket list
  
• getting into the stables at the Spanish Riding School (no others tours were permitted this)
• pictures -- although not part of the tours you get photos from ABD that you aren't going to get anywhere else

Now could you have done these things on your own? Perhaps. Would you have have been with several like-minded travelers who all speak English? Maybe, maybe not. Would it take more days to do everything ABD does? Absolutely. Simply because they are experts at getting everyone from one place to another expeditiously and safely.

Having done my own tour of London and Paris and Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome I can tell you that it requires extensive planning and an attitude that adapts well to unexpected events. Things can and do happen and it sure is nice to ABD there to smooth everything out so that (hopefully) no one notices when there is a glitch. As an example we had at least 1, maybe 2 internal flights in China that were seriously delayed. All the announcements and postings were in Mandarin and there were people everywhere. Without our Mandarin-speaking guide I'm not sure if everyone would've made the flight. We were all given ample money to buy drinks and food (even though we were supposed to be fed on the plane) and also taken to a more comfortable seating area (better than the floor, which was all that was available by the gate). When boarding time finally arrived, we were all well fed and led to the plane without any kinks. Our tours in our arrival cities were ready and waiting for us and we didn't miss anything. In both instances (Chengdu and Xi'an) the hotels kept the dining rooms open for us so we could eat (that included the pizza oven on the buffet at the Ritz Carlton in Chengdu that was just about to close and happily made custom pizzas for anyone in our group who wanted one; all the food on the buffet was freshly made just for us, including the sushi). There is NO way any of that could have happened if you were traveling on your own.

I have made friends on an ABD who we have traveled with twice since our trip and another friend (again who we met on an ABD) who was supposed to travel with us to China but had to cancel at the last minute. On your own it's just and your family and I think it's nice to meet and mingle with fellow travelers.

While I'm not a huge fan of the Sound of Music it is iconic in North American and Salzburg certainly exploits this interest. Besides I am always happy to learn new things and there is history intertwined with the musical which must never be forgotten.

Did I have an unpleasant experience on my China trip? Yes, but it had to do with weather. Was the situation remedied by ABD when I got back. You betcha ya.

Will I travel with ABD again? Yes, but I am not sure when. My kids (including my 25 year old son) LOVE everything ABD offers.

So is it worth the money to me? Yes. Without hesitation.

 

[sayhello]

I think what you might be missing is the challenging logistics of the ABD Central Europe tour. Getting from Prague to Vienna via Berchesgarten (sp?) would not be easy to do on your own, unless perhaps you were going to rent a car. I would not be comfortable navigating those roads on my own, though I know there are some who would.

Also, from what I recall of the tour there were several pieces that were unique or could hard to plan on your own (perhaps due to the remote location i.e. ice cave):

• pretzel making
• salt mine tour
• hike to the ice cave (and subsequent lunch on the mountain)
  
• garden with the water fountains (sorry I cannot recall the name, but I think we were the only group who got this unique experience)
• dinner at Schonbrun castle zoo -- sorry yours wasn't good; ours was quite good and we were permitted to go into the zoo at leisure until it was too dark to see (yes, it was ours and ours alone -- ABD has no control over traffic in any given city)
• waltzing lesson -- I *may* have been the only in our group who enjoyed this, but it was a highlight of the trip for me. So much so that attending a Viennese Waltz is now on my bucket list
  
• getting into the stables at the Spanish Riding School (no others tours were permitted this)
• pictures -- although not part of the tours you get photos from ABD that you aren't going to get anywhere else

Now could you have done these things on your own? Perhaps. Would you have have been with several like-minded travelers who all speak English? Maybe, maybe not. Would it take more days to do everything ABD does? Absolutely. Simply because they are experts at getting everyone from one place to another expeditiously and safely.

Having done my own tour of London and Paris and Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome I can tell you that it requires extensive planning and an attitude that adapts well to unexpected events. Things can and do happen and it sure is nice to ABD there to smooth everything out so that (hopefully) no one notices when there is a glitch. As an example we had at least 1, maybe 2 internal flights in China that were seriously delayed. All the announcements and postings were in Mandarin and there were people everywhere. Without our Mandarin-speaking guide I'm not sure if everyone would've made the flight. We were all given ample money to buy drinks and food (even though we were supposed to be fed on the plane) and also taken to a more comfortable seating area (better than the floor, which was all that was available by the gate). When boarding time finally arrived, we were all well fed and led to the plane without any kinks. Our tours in our arrival cities were ready and waiting for us and we didn't miss anything. In both instances (Chengdu and Xi'an) the hotels kept the dining rooms open for us so we could eat (that included the pizza oven on the buffet at the Ritz Carlton in Chengdu that was just about to close and happily made custom pizzas for anyone in our group who wanted one; all the food on the buffet was freshly made just for us, including the sushi). There is NO way any of that could have happened if you were traveling on your own.

I have made friends on an ABD who we have traveled with twice since our trip and another friend (again who we met on an ABD) who was supposed to travel with us to China but had to cancel at the last minute. On your own it's just and your family and I think it's nice to meet and mingle with fellow travelers.

While I'm not a huge fan of the Sound of Music it is iconic in North American and Salzburg certainly exploits this interest. Besides I am always happy to learn new things and there is history intertwined with the musical which must never be forgotten.

Did I have an unpleasant experience on my China trip? Yes, but it had to do with weather. Was the situation remedied by ABD when I got back. You betcha ya.

Will I travel with ABD again? Yes, but I am not sure when. My kids (including my 25 year old son) LOVE everything ABD offers.

So is it worth the money to me? Yes. Without hesitation.

I wish there was a "Love" button on the DIS. You worded this just perfectly!

Sayhello

 

[lilmissfoodie]

Just completed my 1st ABD trip. I can definitely say if you can afford it, it's worth every penny. I'll do a trip report soon.

 

[EllinK]

Just completed my 1st ABD trip. I can definitely say if you can afford it, it's worth every penny. I'll do a trip report soon.

Great! Where did you go?

 

[lilmissfoodie]

Great! Where did you go?

Backstage Magic...SoCal

 

[thingamabobs885]

Is it worth it?

 

[thingamabobs885]

I'm going to be cruising June 2018 and I wanted to add on an Adventures by Disney tour. The tour is more expensive than the cruise! For less time.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Is it worth it?

Depends on who you ask. In my opinion and based on my own personal experience with the company, no. We did not receive the value for the amount we paid on our last ABD and Disney certainly did not provide us with the Disney customer service they are known for, not while we were on the trip and certainly not after. We had an issue on the trip, that the guides failed to address as it was actually caused by the guides and when brought to ABD's attention upon our return, their response was basically "too bad, so sad, suck it up and deal with it."

 

[thingamabobs885]

. Thank you. It is so expensive compared to traditional travel group/agency. I think I'll save the money and use it for a future Disney cruise.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

. Thank you. It is so expensive compared to traditional travel group/agency. I think I'll save the money and use it for a future Disney cruise.

You're welcome. We travel with a different tour company that we find offers the quality for the high price. We just got back from a trip and it was worth every single penny. We are booking our 2018 trip as we speak. Just waiting for them to get back to us with a final itinerary and booking forms as it's a private itinerary for just me and my mom. This company does larger group (25 max), smaller group (16 max) active trips and private group travel.

 

[sayhello]

. Thank you. It is so expensive compared to traditional travel group/agency. I think I'll save the money and use it for a future Disney cruise.

I don't know if you've looked at the price for comparable DCL excursions, but it actually isn't that much more expensive when you compare apples to apples. You have to check on a cruise by cruise basis. I did the ABD add-on to a 12-night Med cruise, and found it TOTALLY worth the money. It really depends on what you are looking for. I loved the continuity of doing the excursions with the same folks and the same Guides every day. We were first off the ship, and got a head start on most of the DCL excursions. And they'd have twice as many people on their buses. We did the equivalent of 2 or 3 excursions per day, since we didn't have to worry about going back to the ship to catch the next one. And lunch was included every day off the ship.

PLUS (and this is a huge plus) we had ABD Adventure Guides every day. They are fabulous. They also had the option to add things to the excursions (we had extra time in Nice, and they took us to Eze.) That would never happen with DCL excursions.

We also got nice shipboard amenities, such as free water in our cabins, a free photo CD from Shutters (plus the photos taken by the Adventure Guides) an included dinner at Palo, etc. I took my add-on a back when they first offered them, so it was not quite as expensive, and the offerings may have changed. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it was ever offered on a cruise I did. "Worth it" is such a subjective thing. It *is* expensive. Nothing about ABD is NOT expensive. But I felt it was worth it. You'll need to do your own research to see if it's worth it to you.

If you're looking for the cheapest way to do cruise excursions, then yes, ABD probably won't be a good choice for you. But if you're looking for a quality experience, it's worth looking at.

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

Depends on who you ask. In my opinion and based on my own personal experience with the company, no. We did not receive the value for the amount we paid on our last ABD and Disney certainly did not provide us with the Disney customer service they are known for, not while we were on the trip and certainly not after. We had an issue on the trip, that the guides failed to address as it was actually caused by the guides and when brought to ABD's attention upon our return, their response was basically "too bad, so sad, suck it up and deal with it."

I didn't realize you'd done a DCL cruise add-on. Which one did you do?

Sayhello

 

[calypso726]

Is it worth it?

Depends on who you ask. In my opinion and based on my own personal experience with the company, no. We did not receive the value for the amount we paid on our last ABD and Disney certainly did not provide us with the Disney customer service they are known for, not while we were on the trip and certainly not after. We had an issue on the trip, that the guides failed to address as it was actually caused by the guides and when brought to ABD's attention upon our return, their response was basically "too bad, so sad, suck it up and deal with it."

. Thank you. It is so expensive compared to traditional travel group/agency. I think I'll save the money and use it for a future Disney cruise.

@thingamabobs885 I would say it is worth it. We were in sticker shock over the cost for several years before biting the bullet. We always thought the day we did book one it would be a one time bucket list kind of thing since they are so expensive. This year we will taking our 9th ABD trip. When the ABD add-on was offered for the Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise in Copenhagen it sold out in mere hours.

My experiences with ABD have been very different from Cinderella's Slipper, even when things have gone wrong so to speak, which is pretty rare. I can think of 2 occasions from my own experiences. The first was actually before our first ABD took place. We booked the Scotland Brave adventure in 2012 for its 2013 inaugural season. The itinerary changed out of the blue and there was a trip report that was less than flattering posted. Many here expressed reluctance to book Scotland after that information came out. Naturally, I freaked out, called, emailed and left voice mails every which way I could think of to anyone and everyone associated with ABD. I received an email and phone call from one of the executives who took the time to explain why some changes were made and basically talk me down from the trees. I shared that information here on the boards and decided to write a live trip report while on our trip in Scotland. Here it is if you care to read through it ( https://www.disboards.com/threads/our-scotland-brave-adventure.3150065 ) I had to admit that the changes that were made were the right call and I actually enjoyed the trip more with those changes. To this day that Scotland trip remains our all time favorite vacation.

The second time was during the very first ABD river cruise last year. An announcement was made by ABD stating what time we all had to meet outside for our excursions the next day. I am very punctual with borderline OCD tendencies about being where I am supposed to be at the correct time. In the morning, as we were getting ready another announcement was made by the cruise director and suddenly the time was 15 or 20 minutes earlier. We had to scramble to be on the bus and I was furiously livid. Add to that, no time to drink a cup of coffee and it wasn't a pretty sight. I posted about it here as it was happening and others here also expressed concern. There were executives on our trip and when they realized what had happened, they explained that there was a miscommunication and it wouldn't happen again. It didn't and the river cruise was an amazing vacation as well. I am looking forward to doing another with ABD down the line.

Aside of those two instances every other aspect of my experiences with ABD have been AMAZING! The guides have all been OUTSTANDING! We have been able to do things that we never would have been able to experience had we not been with ABD. Canoeing off of Uruqhart on Loch Ness comes to mind as only ABD is allowed to do that in Scotland. We are already anticipating booking the China ABD when the new dates are released for 2018. That is, if ABD doesn't have some new and exciting offering that we simply "must do" first year out.

Now, I don't expect any company to get everything right 100% of the time for every guest. I expect inaugural trips and seasons to have a few kinks and require adjustments. I am willing to deal with those when it comes to ABD and DCL. I won't deal with that when it comes to HP at Universal, WDW and DLR. If a new attraction comes out I won't make a special trip to experience it. I will wait a year while they work the kinks out. I wouldn't write off the entire idea of ABD based on one person's bad experience. When I plan our own trips I take the time to review things on TripAdvisor before making a decision. I read the both the bad and the good and take both into context before deciding. I never write off an experience based on a few bad reviews. If I did, I'd likely never experience anything. I let the reviews give me a level playing field of where to set my expectations and go from there.

So, is it worth it. I say yes, as do a whole lot of people on this forum that represent a very small sector of repeat ABD guests. But, we are the easiest group to find online and the most vocal about our experiences with ABD. I hope this helps you and anyone else reading the thread and trying to decide

 

[lilmissfoodie]

To reiterate what calypso said, no one will everything correct 100% of the time for everyone but ABD comes mighty close. On my backstage magic tour literally half of the people had taken that exact tour before. You'll find the even on the same itinerary that every trip is not the same (it's not uncoommon for ABD to switch things as they learn and sometimes stuff happens). There were a few that had taken over 10 ABD trips. Both those things and my personal experience tell me it IS worth it to very many. Now based on your reaction to a single post with no backup information, it sounded to me like you were looking for a reason not to go. Many have said it's not for everyone. All have said it is pricey. Now when I walk around DLR I get stopped every once in a while by an ABD guide (I carry my ABD backpack each time) and we end up chatting for a while . They're all so enthusiastic and want to hear my experiences. Funny thing is each one knows my guides (Summer-Rose who's extremely knowledgeable and Michael Rodriguez who's, imo, the greatest Disney CM period - he was a finalist for ambassador). I was just st Food and Wine at DCA and Rhiannon stopped to talk to us (ended up over half an hr) since she's new and had only done two so far but just was so excited to talk to us. This is what ABD guides are like. Again, do as you choose but I highly recommend ABD. It was a big stretch for my family to go on one but we will be back, probably to Italy.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Is it worth it?

I've never done a cruise, so obviously I've never done a cruise add-on tour. I have now traveled with four different travel companies, including ABD. What I find to be most helpful when determining how much to spend is take a good look at where I'm going and what's on my MUST SEE THIS list. Then I'll start comparing options based on what I want to do and see. Part of my test is asking myself - Will I be heartbroken if I visit this place and don't see this thing/do this thing? Is this maybe the only time I'll be in this country/seeing this site? If the answer is yes to either of those questions, then I'll see which tour looks like it offers the best experience of that must do item on my list for the best cost.

Sometimes the best experience is with ABD. They do not offer the tour we took in Italy any longer, but so help me, that tour will always remain of the most incredible experiences of my life. We did the weekend tour in San Francisco. I'd visited the city before, but I'd never toured it like we did with ABD. It was an incredible tour and only made me fall that much more in love with the city.

We've also had a negative experience with ABD. Things happen no matter where you are, but I feel that ABD addressed the situation to my complete satisfaction. In fact, they went above and beyond what I expected. It convinced me to book with them again, and we have another ABD trip coming up this summer.

So bottom line for me is always where I'm going, what I MUST see/do, and who looks like they deliver the best version of that experience. For me, if two tours looked about equal in providing me with the tour experiences I want in a given location, I will probably always default to going with ABD.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I'm going to be cruising June 2018 and I wanted to add on an Adventures by Disney tour. The tour is more expensive than the cruise! For less time.

ABD is worth it. I've done 8, and they've all been wonderful.

As was mentioned earlier, cruise vs ABD prices even out a bit when factoring in shore excursions. I've been fortunate to have done several Disney cruises (usually in the Med/N. Europe) and ABDs. ABD wins hands down. I still love the cruises - we have one going to Iceland in June, but these DCL cruises have gotten a LOT more expensive over the last 7 yrs. I think this will be our last DCL European cruise. Ultimately as someone with young children, I think the cruises are best for families with kids up to 5-6 yrs old. After about 6-7yrs old, ABD is the way to go if you can.

 

[calypso726]

I've never done a cruise, so obviously I've never done a cruise add-on tour. I have now traveled with four different travel companies, including ABD. What I find to be most helpful when determining how much to spend is take a good look at where I'm going and what's on my MUST SEE THIS list. Then I'll start comparing options based on what I want to do and see. Part of my test is asking myself - Will I be heartbroken if I visit this place and don't see this thing/do this thing? Is this maybe the only time I'll be in this country/seeing this site? If the answer is yes to either of those questions, then I'll see which tour looks like it offers the best experience of that must do item on my list for the best cost.

Sometimes the best experience is with ABD. They do not offer the tour we took in Italy any longer, but so help me, that tour will always remain of the most incredible experiences of my life. We did the weekend tour in San Francisco. I'd visited the city before, but I'd never toured it like we did with ABD. It was an incredible tour and only made me fall that much more in love with the city.

We've also had a negative experience with ABD. Things happen no matter where you are, but I feel that ABD addressed the situation to my complete satisfaction. In fact, they went above and beyond what I expected. It convinced me to book with them again, and we have another ABD trip coming up this summer.

So bottom line for me is always where I'm going, what I MUST see/do, and who looks like they deliver the best version of that experience. For me, if two tours looked about equal in providing me with the tour experiences I want in a given location, I will probably always default to going with ABD.

THIS. I have also found that sometimes ABD will cover all of my must do items and if a couple are not covered they can be accomplished with a pre or post day or during the OYO time. For the Scotland trip it was attending the Military Tattoo, Staying at Witchery by the Castle and climbing King Arthur's Seat. Did the first two during our pre night stays and the latter on welcome day. For NY it was a couple of musicals besides Aladdin, eating at Sardi's and the Russian Tea Room. We did the former the day before and the latter during OYO time. London/Paris it was HP studios and Disneyland Paris. The former we did during OYO time and the latter as a post stay. The ABD add-on in Copenhagen for the Norway, Iceland, Scotland DCL cruise it was dining at Noma and we managed to get reservations for the OYO evening. Anyhow, the point is, even when some of the must do's are not covered by ABD, we are able to make it work.

 

[sanwheels]

ABD is my dream. We have done 8 Disney cruises so this is definitely on my bucket list. Thanks for so much great info!

 

[Miss SD]

I'd agree that the guides are a huge part of determining whether an adventure is worth the price. I've taken six adventures and had substandard guides on just one of them--the aforementioned Scotland tour of 2013. I don't want to go into that drama again, but it seemed to us (and many of our fellow adventurers) that our guides were burned out. Since this was a brand-new adventure, they'd just spent weeks corralling Disney executives and reporters on press junkets, and now they were in charge of mostly contest winners, many of whom, honestly, didn't seem comfortable in a group travel setting. The guides were snippy and appeared to have checked out for the week. I'm happy the guides on the subsequent Scotland adventures in 2013 were awesome. Ours, unfortunately, were not.

In contrast, our Germany guides (Nadine and Daniel) were fabulous. It's been five years since we took that adventure and DH and I still talk about how efficient and fun they were. And every BSM guide we've had (four BSMs and counting) have been wonderful! I hope we have Michael and Summer Rose on our upcoming July BSM. (Summer Rose is an alumna of DD's high school, and they bonded over that fact on our 2014 trip.) We thought the expertise of the Germany and BSM guides was well worth the money.

And the itineraries of the adventures we've been on (Scotland, Germany, BSM) have been terrific. I wouldn't have been able to come up with such cool activities for the Scotland and Germany trips on my own, and, well, only Disney can provide the backstage access of the BSM adventure.

Overall, I think our Germany and BSM adventures provided an excellent value. I can't say the same about our Scotland tour, but most of the posters on this board have a different opinion. That said, one bad experience hasn't driven me away from ABD. Really looking forward to our July trip with the DIS Unplugged crew!

 

[SingingMom]

I'd agree that the guides are a huge part of determining whether an adventure is worth the price. I've taken six adventures and had substandard guides on just one of them--the aforementioned Scotland tour of 2013. I don't want to go into that drama again, but it seemed to us (and many of our fellow adventurers) that our guides were burned out. Since this was a brand-new adventure, they'd just spent weeks corralling Disney executives and reporters on press junkets, and now they were in charge of mostly contest winners, many of whom, honestly, didn't seem comfortable in a group travel setting. The guides were snippy and appeared to have checked out for the week. I'm happy the guides on the subsequent Scotland adventures in 2013 were awesome. Ours, unfortunately, were not.

In contrast, our Germany guides (Nadine and Daniel) were fabulous. It's been five years since we took that adventure and DH and I still talk about how efficient and fun they were. And every BSM guide we've had (four BSMs and counting) have been wonderful! I hope we have Michael and Summer Rose on our upcoming July BSM. (Summer Rose is an alumna of DD's high school, and they bonded over that fact on our 2014 trip.) We thought the expertise of the Germany and BSM guides was well worth the money.

And the itineraries of the adventures we've been on (Scotland, Germany, BSM) have been terrific. I wouldn't have been able to come up with such cool activities for the Scotland and Germany trips on my own, and, well, only Disney can provide the backstage access of the BSM adventure.

Overall, I think our Germany and BSM adventures provided an excellent value. I can't say the same about our Scotland tour, but most of the posters on this board have a different opinion. That said, one bad experience hasn't driven me away from ABD. Really looking forward to our July trip with the DIS Unplugged crew!

I agree the Guides can make or break a wonderful experience. We have been very fortunate that we've had fantastic guides. So much so that most are now "honorary family members"! They work very hard. VERY HARD. Our DD is hoping to become an ABD guide in the future!