London / Paris Disaster

[SCDisneyDad02]

We went on the AbD London/Paris trip that ran from Dec. 26 to Jan. 2. The amount of issues we ran into and Disney’s response to them have been infuriating. I do have to preface this by saying that our guides were phenomenal! They did the best with what the had to work with. I’ll begin at the beginning. we booked this trip many many months out. because of the time of year, it was premium pricing.

We looked at the itinerary online (the same one still on the website) and looked forward to all of it. Two very specific things on it were archery in the countryside and macaron making. We were traveling with kids, and these hands-on activities specifically appealed to them. We planned to spend time in London on the front end of the trip and time in Paris on the back end. we planned all of the things the AbD wouldn’t provide so we could experience everything.

About a week before traveling we received an updated itinerary. Gone were the archery and macaron making. As far as London goes, there were several major changes. A private greeting with a Beefeater and a private guided tour of the Tower of London along with private early access to the Crown Jewels had been removed. A high speed boat ride on the Thames was removes. Our evening at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland also removed. As far as the Tower of London goes, our “blue badge guide” (not the Disney guides) didn’t know that the entrance at Tower of London had moved causing us to queue for 30 minutes. We were so rushed that we were encouraged to skip The White Tower. And what replacements were we given? a ride on the London Eye, a bus tour with tea to see Christmas lights. They did add Windsor/Windsor Castle but we were again told not to do the audio guided tour. We were also taken on Sunday, so St. George’s Chapel was closed.

Paris? Equally problematic. We were supposed to have early access to the Louvre and a tour of Opera Garnier. The Louvre was moved to a different day (the day we transferred from London to Paris) and was moved to 3:30 in the afternoon - I don’t know that it could have been more packed. Opera Garnier was under renovation and replaced with Sainte-Chappelle. But, when we got to Sainte-Chappelle, our tickets weren’t accepted because they weren’t timed entry and they were no longer accepting non-timed entry guests. Our pivot? The Conciergerie next door. There‘s no wonder we were able to get in there. Our day at Montmarte was replaced with a walking tour of the Latin Quarter. Our bike ride at Versailles? Nowhere to be found.

As it turns out, these changes were known by Disney months before the trip and well before final payment was due. Had we known about these changes we could have made different plans before and after or cancelled altogether.

Disney’s solution? After being bounced around from person to person, having it “escalated” then being ignored - a $250 future AbD credit. Disney promises VIP experiences, white glove treatment, and one of a kind experiences. What we got was a pieced together trip with great guides but terrible, run of the mill experiences. Itenerary changes happen. What we had was a rug pull bait and switch. Buyer beware!

 

[hardcorestitch]

Sorry to see that Madame Leota came on your ABD visit… you absolutely should get in touch with Disney. You deserve some form of compensation after all this tomfoolery.

 

[Mathmagicland]

As it turns out, these changes were known by Disney months before the trip and well before final payment was due.

So sorry the trip was not what you expected. I am curious as to how you know/ found out when Disney was previously aware of the many itinerary changes.

 

[SCDisneyDad02]

So sorry the trip was not what you expected. I am curious as to how you know/ found out when Disney was previously aware of the many itinerary changes.

I my was just info we learned as we were investigating how best to respond. I don’t think we were intended to know that info, but it made us that much more angry. Disney knew it had a problem, didn’t tell us when they knew, and purposefully waited until it was too late to do anything about it.

 

[beccasmom]

This does indeed sound nightmarish for a trip that was highly anticipated. I am glad the tour guides were responsive, but that doesn’t excuse itinerary changes that weren’t communicated in a timely fashion. ABD tours are marketed as a premium experience and this sounds like the opposite of what anyone would define as premium.

 

[Donalyn]

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Last year there was a similar issue with Australia holiday trip.

While family obligations would not let us travel at this time, pretty sure I would not do a holiday trip even if I could. Particularly not to a country that celebrates Christmas and actually has universal vacation days.

 

[Eastridge]

Wow, thanks for sharing this report.

While it's understandable that a few things might be closed or unavailable during the Xmas holiday week, the number of changes makes this a different trip than what was promised. This is way beyond what should be acceptable. In particular, losing the private access to the Crown Jewels is a major miss. A while ago I checked and it costs several thousand dollars for a group to get private access. It's the equivalent of private access to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican on the Italy Rome/Florence/Venice trip.

I hope you can escalate to ABD management, beyond the Vacationistas, and point out that what was provided was much more mundane and cheaper than the exclusive access in the itinerary, so you deserve much more compensation than $250

The lesson is to be cautious about trips during the Xmas week. I'm glad I did Morocco during this time...

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Wow, that is horrible! I'm so sorry to hear about the itinerary changes, the lack of communication and the response. I wish I could say I was surprised. Really disappointing and I hope you are able to get someone to re-look at this and provide proper compensation.

 

[sayhello]

I have nothing to say beyond that really, truly sucks, and you need better compensation than that! If ABD cannot provide a decent itinerary during Christmas/New Year's week, they should not offer that departure. This can't be the only year they've had this sort of issue!

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I have nothing to say beyond that really, truly sucks, and you need better compensation than that! If ABD cannot provide a decent itinerary during Christmas/New Year's week, they should not offer that departure. This can't be the only year they've had this sort of issue!

Sayhello

Really great point--this is not the first time we've heard about trips over holidays greatly impacted. We are paying for ABD to figure this stuff out--and certainly to be forthright with their travelers about the itinerary.

 

[jimmymc]

I've heard of things being cancelled or changed around holidays, but this is absurd. ABD should have offered more than a standard coupon for a future trip.

 

[Miffy]

OP, This is dreadful. Disney owes you a heckuva lot more than a credit for a future AbD trip, which, if I were you, I'd never take.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Since this is not the first time ABD done this trip over the holidays, they should know what is closed/unavailable and what is not. Create a different version for that week and promote/label it differently. I am pretty sure it is the definition of bait and switch to promise people one thing, have them pay for it, knowing you are not going to be able to provide what was promised, and then give them something else of much lesser quality/value.

 

[gottalovepluto]

They knew months ahead of time about the major changes and didn't disclose them?! ABDs are a large investment and while the contract may say we can do anything or nothing and keep all your money, actively deceiving you is a good case for throwing out that boilerplate. I'd be seriously considering small claims depending on my state's small claims procedures (a few states allow appeals to big boy court and that wouldn't be a hassle I would want to deal with).

 

[Minnie1222]

Did they try to replace the cancelled events with something else? Or were they just removed?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have to agree with others this sounds like they had an ambitious trip planned in a time of the year that never would have allowed for it. Christmas season and a private Beefeater tour? And a private guide of Tower of London? They just opened up passages not yet seen by the public I think last year (2025) it was bound to be busy regardless but that renews interest. When we did Tower of London back in spring of 2024 we spent like 4 hours??I can't remember exactly but it was a long time. We did the audio tour too and a beefeater tour. But we did our timed entry as the second one of the day which was 30 mins after it had opened. That was crucial for timing and for crowds. It never got super super busy but I'm not sure how they could have worked in a private Crown Jewels touring during that time of year the OP went.

The River Thames boat ride could have been because of too much rainfall and flooding (that occurred late December). They've had warnings and restrictions the last several years. That could have been unfortunate timing, below is the restrictions based on dates (close to the time the OP went)

1. 23 December 2025
   PLA draw-off period expired.
2. 22 December 2025
   Update to navigation issues. Teddington Barge Lock fully operational.
3. 21 December 2025
   21 December 2025 until further notice. Teddington Lock closed due to damage to Barge Lock head gates from debris. Engineers expected on site 22 December. No passage through Teddington lock is possible at this time.
4. 19 December 2025
   Update to navigation issues. Vessel obstruction upstream of Godstow Bridge now cleared from navigation.
5. 19 December 2025
   Update to navigation issues. Vessel blocking entire navigation just upstream of Godstow Bridge, King's reach. Contractors will be attending the site to remove the vessel as soon as possible.
6. 11 December 2025
   River closure notice added (Hampton Head Sat 31 Jan 2026).
7. 0 December 2025
   Teddington Barge Lock is now fully operational.
8. 3 December 2025
   Update to Teddington Barge Lock closure notice. Notice extended to Wednesday 10 December. Please see notice for information on navigation through Teddington Lock during stated period.
9. 24 November 2025
   New restriction notice for Walton Small Boats Head (Sat 6 Dec 2025).
10. 21 November 2025
    Update to navigation issues. Teddington Launch Lock downstream layby will not be available for public use from Monday 24th November until the end of Port of London Authority (PLA) draw-off.
11. 18 November 2025
    Update to planned lock closures. Hambleden, Boveney and Sunbury Locks will now be closed from 9 Jan 2026 to 27 March 2026 as part of planned works in the capital investment programme.

And so on. That sounds like it was a risk either way and they may have caught a particularly bad time, not sure.

The Saint George's Chapel well that one is a bummer but I don't think they can be held accountable for that. If the only workable day for Windsor Castle as a last-minute replacement was a Sunday them the brakes. It happens on cruise ships all the time that you visit a place that has a wonderful chapel or church and it's not open that day. It happens to use on normal trips. And from what I understand the Chapel is part of Windsor Castle for touring, so they didn't take you there on a Sunday as in they brought you specifically to a church on a Sunday when you can't view it. Rather they took you to a place that has the Chapel on its grounds and unfortunately it was not available on the particular day you were there.

The audio tour stuff I guess I would have to know is it normally that audio guides are done on ABD tours in most locations? Most times the audio guide is used in lieu of an actual guide. But take it from a person who does a lot of audio guides some are draggy and take entirely too long that after an hour of listening to it you just stop lol. I mean that's not all the ones we've done but I appreciate the ones that are less explanatory or ones that aren't soooo prevalent that you really stop actually looking at what you're looking at. Hands down the best one I've done so far (although I did find Tower of London to be good too) was Gravensteen Castle in Ghent, Belgium. It had a comedic way of doing it and wasn't too too much into it. Therefore we didn't feel as if we're spending hours just listening and not intaking the environment. The one I didn't end up liking as much was Napoleon's childhood house in Corsica. That one was just too much information thrown at you in too small of a space for people to be in. They even tried to meter people so it was spread out but that didn't help much when you actually started listening to the spots.

But at the end of the day far too much went wrong for it to just be one understandable thing. It would seem an overpromising of what could be done for the time period of the year for the sites being selected and more compensation IMO is due.