New announcement from ABD

[SingingMom]

Got my Insider "letter" today. My goodness, that was a fancy-schmancey announcement!

Sayhello

Still didnt get mine. :-(.

 

[sayhello]

I love the idea that a previous poster described...basically ABD arranging hotels, travel between hotels, transport to various sights/activities but without it being a fully guided tour. I am a single mom, and traveling just the two of us can really be challenging. Usually, we just go somewhere like WDW and park it for a week, but my son is getting older and wants to go more places (as do I). I really want Hawaii to be our next big trip, and if ABD offered something similar to what has been described, I'd be all over that! My biggest hesitation about going over there has been driving. A service where you can choose from different excursions that include transportation to/from (like on a cruise) would be fantastic! Although, didn't Aulani offer essentially this service a while back but discontinued it because of lack of interest/participation?

Yes, Aulani offers/offered ABD excursions. I'm not sure if they are completely discontinued or just severely limited. They were only offered out of Aulani.

ABD used to have 2 actual Hawaii itineraries, but discontinued them due to lack of bookings. They just couldn't provide the value for what they had to charge. Hawaii is REALLY REALLY easy to arrange on your own. If you're staying at a resort, they'll arrange excursions for you, and the vast majority of those will pick you up at your resort & return you there.

Even if you're staying at a hotel or condo, there are lots & lots of companies that will come pick you up. I've only been to Maui, but have had no issues arranging tons of fascinating things to do there.

Sayhello

 

[SingingMom]

Yes, Aulani offers/offered ABD excursions. I'm not sure if they are completely discontinued or just severely limited. They were only offered out of Aulani.

ABD used to have 2 actual Hawaii itineraries, but discontinued them due to lack of bookings. They just couldn't provide the value for what they had to charge. Hawaii is REALLY REALLY easy to arrange on your own. If you're staying at a resort, they'll arrange excursions for you, and the vast majority of those will pick you up at your resort & return you there.

Even if you're staying at a hotel or condo, there are lots & lots of companies that will come pick you up. I've only been to Maui, but have had no issues arranging tons of fascinating things to do there.

Sayhello

They are severely limited. We were in Aulani in August. We took an "ABD Catamaran/Snorkeling" excursion, but it really was ABD outsources to another tour company. The guide was very nice and he told me he was hoping to apply to ABD. Aulani itself needs to plan more excursions that include the transportation. You are stuck if you don't have a rental car. We wanted to go to Diamondhead,but the cab would have been $90 one way!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Just FYI...we received the card yesterday. I don't ever recall signing up for the Insider (but maybe I did and just forgot), and we have not yet taken our trip (but we are PIF).

I love the idea that a previous poster described...basically ABD arranging hotels, travel between hotels, transport to various sights/activities but without it being a fully guided tour. I am a single mom, and traveling just the two of us can really be challenging. Usually, we just go somewhere like WDW and park it for a week, but my son is getting older and wants to go more places (as do I). I really want Hawaii to be our next big trip, and if ABD offered something similar to what has been described, I'd be all over that! My biggest hesitation about going over there has been driving. A service where you can choose from different excursions that include transportation to/from (like on a cruise) would be fantastic! Although, didn't Aulani offer essentially this service a while back but discontinued it because of lack of interest/participation?

I'm not a fan of driving either on vacations. However, Hawaii is actually a pretty easy and pleasant place to drive. It's just like driving in the US, but with less traffic (outside of Honolulu) and views/smells of the pineapple fields and ocean.

 

[calypso726]

I would absolutely hate the idea of an ABD trip that just included hotels and getting you from place to place. If I have to plan what to do in advance then I might as well save the money and book the hotels with points on my own and scour Trip Advisor which is free For me it is the storytelling and ABD guides that makes these trips so amazing. The VIP access to experiences I couldn't replicate on my own and aspects of the itinerary I would have never thought to try are the reasons we are willing to pay for these very expensive vacations. Nah, if they did something like that on an itinerary that I REALLY wanted to experience then I imagine I'd be checking out Tauck, since that company is the one most discussed here as comparable to ABD.

What I really hope ABD doesn't do is jump the shark like DCL did on 2016 pricing. We had booked the 12 day British Isles cruise on opening day and then cancelled it. Simply couldn't stomach the cost of the cruise being $4,000 more than what we are paying this year for the same category for 2 people on the 11 day Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise which also skyrocketed up several thousand dollars for 2016. I told DH for that we might as well go to China with ABD in 2016.

I'm looking forward to the announcement and if it does turn out to be a river cruise then we're in! Hopefully ABD and DCL weren't at the same meeting to discuss pricing for 2016. I can only imagine that some very interesting brownies must have been passed around at THAT meeting for DCL to come up with the 2016 pricing

 

[ABDGurl]

The Insider communications are not e-mails. This last one was a really nice dark blue heavy card stock accordion fold square memo printed in gold lettering which immediately reminded me of DCL colors

Thank you, Calypso. I just received mine today...beautiful!!! I was wondering why I hadn't received an email and never had prior...lol. Clearly I didn't read the thread correctly.

 

[White Rose]

Hmm..we got the envelope today too and have not been on an ABD, yet..but after we booked for ABD backstage magic, we signed up for the insider club on the website. I was surprised we got it! I hope, whatever it is, we are still eligible for it.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I would absolutely hate the idea of an ABD trip that just included hotels and getting you from place to place. If I have to plan what to do in advance then I might as well save the money and book the hotels with points on my own and scour Trip Advisor which is free For me it is the storytelling and ABD guides that makes these trips so amazing. The VIP access to experiences I couldn't replicate on my own and aspects of the itinerary I would have never thought to try are the reasons we are willing to pay for these very expensive vacations. Nah, if they did something like that on an itinerary that I REALLY wanted to experience then I imagine I'd be checking out Tauck, since that company is the one most discussed here as comparable to ABD.

What I really hope ABD doesn't do is jump the shark like DCL did on 2016 pricing. We had booked the 12 day British Isles cruise on opening day and then cancelled it. Simply couldn't stomach the cost of the cruise being $4,000 more than what we are paying this year for the same category for 2 people on the 11 day Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise which also skyrocketed up several thousand dollars for 2016. I told DH for that we might as well go to China with ABD in 2016.

I'm looking forward to the announcement and if it does turn out to be a river cruise then we're in! Hopefully ABD and DCL weren't at the same meeting to discuss pricing for 2016. I can only imagine that some very interesting brownies must have been passed around at THAT meeting for DCL to come up with the 2016 pricing

I agree. I don't see ABD organizing tours without guides. I'd like to think ABD "knows who they are" and they are storytellers at their core, and you can't tell stories without storytellers (guides).

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I would absolutely hate the idea of an ABD trip that just included hotels and getting you from place to place. If I have to plan what to do in advance then I might as well save the money and book the hotels with points on my own and scour Trip Advisor which is free For me it is the storytelling and ABD guides that makes these trips so amazing. The VIP access to experiences I couldn't replicate on my own and aspects of the itinerary I would have never thought to try are the reasons we are willing to pay for these very expensive vacations. Nah, if they did something like that on an itinerary that I REALLY wanted to experience then I imagine I'd be checking out Tauck, since that company is the one most discussed here as comparable to ABD.

What I really hope ABD doesn't do is jump the shark like DCL did on 2016 pricing. We had booked the 12 day British Isles cruise on opening day and then cancelled it. Simply couldn't stomach the cost of the cruise being $4,000 more than what we are paying this year for the same category for 2 people on the 11 day Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise which also skyrocketed up several thousand dollars for 2016. I told DH for that we might as well go to China with ABD in 2016.

I'm looking forward to the announcement and if it does turn out to be a river cruise then we're in! Hopefully ABD and DCL weren't at the same meeting to discuss pricing for 2016. I can only imagine that some very interesting brownies must have been passed around at THAT meeting for DCL to come up with the 2016 pricing

Can I just ditto? I agree with everything. I hope they don't mess with the VIP/exclusive nature of the ABD product--that's what makes it so special. We are actually eyeing a Tauck tour as a back up to China if 2016 ABD pricing is too exorbitant and/or they mess with the itinerary (by whittling things away as they seem want to do).

I, too, was shocked by the huge increase in pricing this year from DCL--I hope that isn't the wave of the future for unique DCL itineraries. Since those are the only ones we are interested in (with such easy access to Hawaii we have no interest in the Caribbean), it would put a serious crimp in any future DCL cruise prospects. As a soon-to-be (May) platinum cruiser, that's sad. But if I'm going to pay luxury prices for a cruise, I'm going to go on an actual luxury cruise!

 

[2BNDisney]

And I am still hoping they would add a trip to Pixar on the San Fran trip

 

[calypso726]

And I am still hoping they would add a trip to Pixar on the San Fran trip

You and me both! We are doing the San Fran trip in September and that would be a great addition!

 

[Judyat]

Just got our ABD Insiders today. I marked the calendar. Looking forward to seeing what it will be?!

 

[CherryOnTop]

I got my ABD "teaser" in the mail today too. How are we supposed to digest a "whole new way" to travel with them and pick a destination and BOOK it all in the same day before the "general public?" That's PRESSURE. The card is beautiful, though, and it has certainly piqued my interest. As a platinum castaway on DCL it would really be nice to have a new "water alternative." I hope it is a river boat!

 

[Tozzie]

I am starting to get very annoyed with ABD to be quite honest. I am tired of these "teasers" The first 1 or 2 were were okay but now it is tiring and redundant. They are doing stupid things, such the Tuscany and Spain trips, really announce them in December and the one I would have loved was Tuscany and due to the stupid way they realeased it they already pulled it. Add to that I didn't really enjoy my last ABD and thought it was a poorly designed trip I am thinking I will take a break from them next year.

I also agree with Cherry on top regarding the way the trips are released, they did the same thing with Cruise add on's you had to book and then find out the Itineary after that. I think they are tying to match other companies that have been in this buisness a lot longer than ABD and they are going to push the loyal ABD travelers to those companies

 

[silmarg]

Ive been on one ABD. Going on another.

Is become an insider automatic?

 

[Rapunzellover]

Received my insider mailing yesterday. My first one!!

But I'm with Tozzie-- I don't get how ABD expects their trips to do well when they roll out their trips in a manner that makes it hard for people to book. Tuscany would have been successful if they hadn't waited till Dec. to announce it.

Just my thoughts-- I'm also curious to know which ABD you didn't like, Tozzie, and why.

 

[cmcgardner]

I really wish they would announce everything at one time. Like others, we might have done Norway or Tuscany but already had other trips planned.

Tozzie - Do you mind sharing about your last ABD experience? I think you have posted before that you went on the Central Europe trip (which is of course the next trip we are taking). I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe there are things I can do in advance to combat some of the issues. Or at least go in with reasonable expectations.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Glad I'm not alone in my frustration. I really hope someone at ABD is reading this and listening...

 

[DisneyKevin]

I have no knowledge of what will be released, but I would not expect a range of destinations.

I'm guessing we will hear about this new thing and you will be able to decide if it you want to book or not.

I have been told 2016 dates will be available June 9th and DCL add ons June 10th.

I have also heard that there are no new destinations other than this new release.

This type of release is not specific to ABD. Disney has not released 2016 WDW rates and usually doesn't until mid to late summer.

DCL just released more 2016 sail dates.

It's obvious that Disney is not concerned about what the competition does and when.

 

[Calfan]

DisneyKevin:

I believe this is the case, but am hoping you can confirm. Let's say that we are intrigued with whatever ABD is releasing next week and decide to book to hold our place. Then let's say that in June when the regular trip dates and itineraries are released, we decide that ABD China is really what we want to do in 2016. Would we be able to move our deposit over to ABD China? I'm pretty sure I asked you this question before when we had Central Europe booked before ABD announced the Norway trips. We ultimately decided to stick with Central Europe, but I believe you indicated we could move the deposit if we wanted to switch trips.

Thanks,

Calfan