Italy trips wtih kids

[mrosen]

I am interested in several of the Italy trips iwth kids. We have 2 girls who would be 9 and 8 at the time of travel. Anyone who had taken children of this age that has an opinion on any of these trips (Viva Italia, Rome and La Costa Bella or even Taste of Tuscany). I know they are older than the minimum suggested age by Disney but wonder if they are still too young for a trip like this and given the expense of this, was hoping to see if anyone has done this before with similar age kids.

 

[ga9497]

We took our kids to Italy for 16 days when they were 4 and 6 and they loved it. They of course didn't get the history significance but they do remember being there and things like Venice only having boats, St Peters Basilica, etc. Originally we were going to wait until they were a little older but it worked out that it was the time we could go. They are now 13 and 11 and keep asking to go back.

We also took them to London for one week, with a day trip to Paris, when they were 10 and 12 and they really enjoyed it, so much so that our now 13 yr old wants to go to Paris for her sweet 16 instead of having a party. Now they are also researching on their own other places, outside of the U.S., that they would like to visit

When we went to Italy we went to Rome (4 nights), Venice (4 nights) and 7 nights in Sicily
We did both overseas vacations on our own. The first because the kids were little and we were also traveling with extended family, the second because I have been to London before and also have family that lives there

I don't know if this helps but our kids love to travel and enjoy seeing new places

 

[GymboAddict]

I say go for it! We took our daughter (now 8) to Italy when she was 4 - we were there 20 days and she loved every minute of it. We also went to London for 5 days and she enjoyed that too. (except didn't understand why there wasn't a "real" Cherry Tree Lane from Mary Poppins!) We went to Sorrento, Pompeii, Rome, Florence, & Venice. We went to all the museums - we got her the audio guide to listen to while we walked around, she enjoyed that. Italians are very friendly and they bent over backwards to please her and doted on her at every restaurant.

If you are "waiting" because you are wanting them to be a certain age to appreciate it or enjoy it more, that time may be LONG down the road! I know I personally didn't really appreciate history until my mid-20's! So go, knowing that they probably won't get the history lesson, but will create amazing memories while on your family vacation to talk about for years to come!

Wendy

 

[awatt]

We did La Costa Bella with our 8 and 10 year old girls. They loved the trip. The guides are so good with the kids, and there are other kids to pal around with. There are kid-friendly activities. And the food, gelato etc was fun for them. They were amazed by St Peter's. My 10 year old was bored during the Pompeii tour, but that was the only time either of them was restless. ABD does a good job of mixing up the touring with meals, shoppiing and free time, so with the exception of one day we did not feel like it was marathon touring.

iIwas so concerned about them being too young for this trip I almost didn't book it. So glad we did,it was the trip of a lifetime.! Now we're looking forward to Ireland in 2008.

 

[msec]

We did the Viva Italia trip this past June with our children - DD 11 and DS 8 and they (and us) had a GREAT time!! We were a little worried that our son would be bored or restless but the Adventure guides were great at keeping all the kids interestered and excited! It also helped that there were other children in our tour group and all the kids got along great!! We thought about waiting until our son was a little older but we are so happy we didn't!! In fact last week his teacher told us he was telling the class all about Rome, the Vatican, Orvito (spelling?), Venice, etc. We did not even realize that he really 'absorbed' so much - so don't underestimate how much the kids will retain!!! We HIGHLY recommend Adventures by Disney - it was truly a trip of a lifetime!!

 

[mrosen]

In response to:

We did the Viva Italia trip this past June with our children - DD 11 and DS 8 and they (and us) had a GREAT time!! We were a little worried that our son would be bored or restless but the Adventure guides were great at keeping all the kids interestered and excited! It also helped that there were other children in our tour group and all the kids got along great!! We thought about waiting until our son was a little older but we are so happy we didn't!! In fact last week his teacher told us he was telling the class all about Rome, the Vatican, Orvito (spelling?), Venice, etc. We did not even realize that he really 'absorbed' so much - so don't underestimate how much the kids will retain!!! We HIGHLY recommend Adventures by Disney - it was truly a trip of a lifetime!!
​

We just booked on Sunday afternoon a trip to Viva Italia in April and have 14 days to decide or loose our refund. I am interested in your feedback on this trip for kids relative to if you feel the trip itinerary is geared enough for kids. I see your kids were 11 and 8 when you went in June and our girls will be 9 and 8 at the time of the trip in late April. I don't know if we will have other children as ours are in a year round school program and this isn't a natural school break from most schools. Disney folks couldn't tell me if any other families were booked with children as I asked. Also, I am still torn on if our kids are still too young to really benefit and if this is just too cultural of a trip. I know when I looked at the itineraries of the 3 Italy trips, I felt Viva Italia and Rome and La Costa Bella may be better for kids but I have heard from people at work they wonder if a trip of Rome, Florence and Italy has too much art for kids of this age to really feel like they will enjoy the trip. It sounds as though your kids had a good time, were not bored and did learn alot. I wanted to see if you had any other details about the experience for children that might be good for me to understand. Any additional insights would be appreciated.

Any other inputs from others on this Viva Italia trip with kids would be welcome.

 

[mrosen]

In response to:

We did the Viva Italia trip this past June with our children - DD 11 and DS 8 and they (and us) had a GREAT time!! We were a little worried that our son would be bored or restless but the Adventure guides were great at keeping all the kids interestered and excited! It also helped that there were other children in our tour group and all the kids got along great!! We thought about waiting until our son was a little older but we are so happy we didn't!! In fact last week his teacher told us he was telling the class all about Rome, the Vatican, Orvito (spelling?), Venice, etc. We did not even realize that he really 'absorbed' so much - so don't underestimate how much the kids will retain!!! We HIGHLY recommend Adventures by Disney - it was truly a trip of a lifetime!!​

We just booked on Sunday afternoon a trip to Viva Italia in April and have 14 days to decide or loose our refund. I am interested in your feedback on this trip for kids relative to if you feel the trip itinerary is geared enough for kids. I see your kids were 11 and 8 when you went in June and our girls will be 9 and 8 at the time of the trip in late April. I don't know if we will have other children as ours are in a year round school program and this isn't a natural school break from most schools. Disney folks couldn't tell me if any other families were booked with children as I asked. Also, I am still torn on if our kids are still too young to really benefit and if this is just too cultural of a trip. I know when I looked at the itineraries of the 3 Italy trips, I felt Viva Italia and Rome and La Costa Bella may be better for kids but I have heard from people at work they wonder if a trip of Rome, Florence and Italy has too much art for kids of this age to really feel like they will enjoy the trip. It sounds as though your kids had a good time, were not bored and did learn alot. I wanted to see if you had any other details about the experience for children that might be good for me to understand. Any additional insights would be appreciated.

Any other inputs from others on this Viva Italia trip with kids would be welcome.

 

[msec]

On our trip last June we had 13 children in our tour group ranging in ages from 6 to 17 with about half between ages of 8 and 12 - all the kids had a great time!! I know for my children personally the fact that there were other kids in the group made all the difference - they made friends with the kids and 'hung-out' with them during the tour. The Adventure Guides do a great job of keeping the kids interestered - and they do have some different things geared for the kids - like giving them a seperate tour of the Coliseum(sp?) geared towards them while the parents went on a more 'grown-up' tour that we really enjoyed.

Disney did a wonderful job (I think) of keeping a nice balance between the cultural 'stuff' and free time - there is so much to see and experience in Italy and Disney touched on all the higlights in Rome, Venice, Florence , Tuscany, etc. - there is no way we would have been able to see and do so much on our own with our children in the same amount of time. The days are long and there is a lot of walking but it is so worth it!! I was a little concerened about my son (age 9) really enjoying himself as he is not really into the cultural scene but he had a great time and I think it has a lot to do with the way Disney presented everything to us - we were given explanations of where we were going, what we would be seeing, etc. and the Guides really got the kids pumped up - they would ask trivia questions before and after, etc. and the kids had booklets they worked on all week corresponding to what we visiting as well. I am still amazed at how much the kids really 'absorbed' while we were there - they were watching a travel show on TV the other night (Samanatha Brown went to Rome) and the two kids were on the edge of their seats naming all the places she was showing and talking about them - and adding to what she was saying about them. I was actually a little suprised that they learned so much and retained so much - so don't underestimate what they will pick up - they will suprise you!! I think the cultural highlights they do were just right - it was the 'big' things (the Forum, the David, etc.) that the kids will learn about at some point and the fact that they have actually seen and touched these things in person is , in my opinion, priceless. And they do have some fun cultural activites geared for the kids like pasta making in Tuscany, mask making in Venice etc. that the kids loved and the adults enjoyed just as much - my kids still talk about making pasta in Tuscany - in an actual castle in Tuscany - so there are many things that you get to do on the tour that would be very hard or impossible to do on your own. In my opinion disney did a fantastic job of keeping both the kids and the adults interested!!

I can not say enough about the quality of service on this trip from the Guides - they went above and beyond to make sure all went smoothly for everyone and were always checking with everyone (adults and kids) to make sure everyone had everthing they needed and was having a good time, etc.

We are so glad we did the tour - we are not 'tour' people and basically chose to do the tour with disney because of the kids but we (as adults) got so much out of it too!! I would be happy to answer any more questions you may have.

 

[ppiew]

I took my granddaughter when she was 9 on the ABD London/Paris trip and she just loved it!. This year we did ABD Imperial Cities (she is 10 now) and again had a great time! I am sure your kids will really enjoy themselves. The mix of activities between young and old is what makes ABD so special. Never saw a 'meltdown' from anyone. Go fo it!

 

[mrosen]

In response to:

We did La Costa Bella with our 8 and 10 year old girls. They loved the trip. The guides are so good with the kids, and there are other kids to pal around with. There are kid-friendly activities. And the food, gelato etc was fun for them. They were amazed by St Peter's. My 10 year old was bored during the Pompeii tour, but that was the only time either of them was restless. ABD does a good job of mixing up the touring with meals, shoppiing and free time, so with the exception of one day we did not feel like it was marathon touring.

iIwas so concerned about them being too young for this trip I almost didn't book it. So glad we did,it was the trip of a lifetime.! Now we're looking forward to Ireland in 2008.
​

What time of year did you do the Rome and La Costa Bella trip? Any reason you picked that trip over Viva Italia?

 

[Mamadis]

We are booked on thee 5/29/08 viva italia trip. Outr kids are 5,8, and 10. For those of you who have gone with kids, was there enough down time? Also were there any activities that you would recommend we do with our kids or any particularly good restaurants to go to? Thanks.

 

[mvgavin]

Does anyone remember the names of their guides? thx, Marion

 

[kristilew]

Take those girls NOW, while they still want to do stuff with you! When they hit that early teen stage, they will be much less willing to do the cultural stuff, their inner clocks will shift so they won't want to get up and going in the mornings, and they won't want to be caught dead smiling and enjoying themselves with mom and dad.

One thing that helps my dd10 is to find historical fiction books that are set in the areas we will be visiting. When she is able to say "that's where so-and-so did such-and-such", she is much more interested and focused. If your girls are readers, this might be a way to ensure more bang for your buck. There are also good movies filmed on location for some of the places on your tour. Anything you can do ahead to help them look forward to the trip is a plus.

 

[msec]

Our guides for the Viva Italia were Heidi and Maco (we went in June 2007) they were FANTASTIC!!! Even our bus driver was great - he was so polite and such a nice person - it was amazing the places he fit that bus! - His name was Meirco (sp?)

 

[cydlei]

Hi everyone,
We are booked for the Viva Italia trip in May and I'm trying to decide whom and how to tell that our 10 year old son has some developmental disabilities. He is a special kid who's just a bit different, and since the kids will be off on their own activities, I'd like the Disney Guide to know that our DS may need just a little more help fitting in. Those of you who have been before, do you feel that the guides are savvy enough to be discrete and appropriate with such info?
Thanks for your help!
Cindy

 

[dingoballs]

Hi everyone,
We are booked for the Viva Italia trip in May and I'm trying to decide whom and how to tell that our 10 year old son has some developmental disabilities. He is a special kid who's just a bit different, and since the kids will be off on their own activities, I'd like the Disney Guide to know that our DS may need just a little more help fitting in. Those of you who have been before, do you feel that the guides are savvy enough to be discrete and appropriate with such info?
Thanks for your help!
Cindy

We went on 2 ABDs last year and the guides are great! They know how to deal with the kids & get them excited about all the activities for the Junior Adventurers. Just let them know at the beginning of the trip & I'm sure everything will turn out just fine...