New announcement from ABD

[familygoboston]

Me too! We did a river cruise last fall, it was amazing! I really like it vs the minibus as a way to get around. It's the unpack once thing, that makes going to a new place every day so easy! We were two adults, but the company we did was not at all set up for kids! (There were none in our Late Sept cruise) So Disney could really capture that with some kid specific activities in port. Many of the ports are docked right in town making it easy to explore. Our ship also had bikes on board. We did at least 3 bike tours (in Hungary, Serbia) and it was an amazing way to see places, especially since the parks and places we biked were filled with locals doing the same thing, which gave us a birds eye view of family life! In Hungary, we saw a whole family out walking their miniature pony!
Oh I hope that's it! Gotta be River Cruises! (We are onto you ABD, aha! )

 

[sayhello]

No Insider mail for me.

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[WeLoveABD]

No Insider mail for me.

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It will be river cruises...I am hoping for addl land tours too

 

[White Rose]

You can join the ABD Adventure Insiders after you've taken at least one ABD. I keep hearing conflicting reports as to whether it's automatic now or not.

Just to be on the safe side, I'd sign up (assuming you've already taken an ABD) The link to sign up still exists and is linked to from the "Special Offers" tab.

http://www.adventuresbydisney.com/adventure-insider/join/

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Ah - We are taking our first this Oct.. so we are not insiders yet then

 

[Cousin Orville]

It will be river cruises...I am hoping for addl land tours too

Where would ABD get access to a boat?

 

[SingingMom]

No Insider mail for me.

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Me either. ;-(. Maybe tomorrow??

 

[carpenta]

We did the Tauck Bridges river cruise on the Danube and they were great. They really have the family river boat experience down pat. Always top of any poll so ABD will have some stiff competition. Tauck ships are set up for families more than any others in having the capacity to hold more than two passengers per room.

 

[calypso726]

Where would ABD get access to a boat?

Well, if it is river cruises, I would imagine they either bought one, built one or are outsourcing an existing river boat line on the down low. To keep it quiet they may have done it under a pseudonym like when Walt Disney was buying up land in Florida. Maybe this time it was "M. T. Boat" instead of "M. T. Lot"

 

[tufbuf]

Any ideas how ABD would do the river cruise? River boats usually accommodate a hundred people. Are they booking a hundred people for one boat or just like the Galapagos where the ABD group is with the other non-ABD folks. I just wonder...

 

[calypso726]

I could get into that! I was eyeing some of the river cruises lately. With ABD would be really cool!
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We have been too. I didn't know Tauck did River boat cruises too. We were looking at Viking river cruises. If ABD is going this route I would much rather experience it with them.

Me too! We did a river cruise last fall, it was amazing! I really like it vs the minibus as a way to get around. It's the unpack once thing, that makes going to a new place every day so easy! We were two adults, but the company we did was not at all set up for kids! (There were none in our Late Sept cruise) So Disney could really capture that with some kid specific activities in port. Many of the ports are docked right in town making it easy to explore. Our ship also had bikes on board. We did at least 3 bike tours (in Hungary, Serbia) and it was an amazing way to see places, especially since the parks and places we biked were filled with locals doing the same thing, which gave us a birds eye view of family life! In Hungary, we saw a whole family out walking their miniature pony!
Oh I hope that's it! Gotta be River Cruises! (We are onto you ABD, aha! )

I hope so too! Anyone I have ever spoken to that has done a river cruise absolutely loved it. If it is river cruises I wonder where they plan to go.

Any ideas how ABD would do the river cruise? River boats usually accommodate a hundred people. Are they booking a hundred people for one boat or just like the Galapagos where the ABD group is with the other non-ABD folks. I just wonder...

Good question. Honestly, I would hope they built/bought their own boat. I guess we'll know more come next Tuesday!

 

[carpenta]

Tauck does not "own" its' ships but leases them from a Swiss company Scylla AG. The ship and crew are company and the guides are supplied by Tauck.

 

[familygoboston]

No, if Disney was going to "own a boat" it would be general knowledge in the travel business world- stockholders would have to know before it's designed or built, and If its not "built" yet, they they wouldn't be taking bookings by next week! More likely charters or spots on another ship - of course it's all speculation at this point! But wouldn't it be great!

 

[sayhello]

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

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[kristilew]

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Any ideas how ABD would do the river cruise? River boats usually accommodate a hundred people. Are they booking a hundred people for one boat or just like the Galapagos where the ABD group is with the other non-ABD folks. I just wonder...

Hmmm, we are booked for a river cruise next year and the boat only holds 24 people. Admittedly, it is not a luxury ship - more of a river barge. The company that we are going with charters this barge for their specific trips. I imagine there are boats like this that Disney could easily purchase and upgrade. Though I would suppose they would need them to hold 40 or 50 to be worth it. I would be very interested in an ABD river cruise!

 

[sayhello]

Hmmm, we are booked for a river cruise next year and the boat only holds 24 people. Admittedly, it is not a luxury ship - more of a river barge. The company that we are going with charters this barge for their specific trips. I imagine there are boats like this that Disney could easily purchase and upgrade. Though I would suppose they would need them to hold 40 or 50 to be worth it. I would be very interested in an ABD river cruise!

I really don't see ABD buying a river boat (at least at this point). I'm sure they'd charter someone else's boat, at least until they were sure there really was a market for whatever they'd offer. I'd imagine it being like the Galapagos, where ABD would be a sub-group of the passengers on the ship (probably getting priority boarding, and things like that).

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[ABDGurl]

You can join the ABD Adventure Insiders after you've taken at least one ABD. I keep hearing conflicting reports as to whether it's automatic now or not.

Just to be on the safe side, I'd sign up (assuming you've already taken an ABD) The link to sign up still exists and is linked to from the "Special Offers" tab.

http://www.adventuresbydisney.com/adventure-insider/join/

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Interesting about these emails. I've been on 3 ABD's, usually get all the holiday and new trip announcement gifts they send out, but haven't ever received these emails. Will have to sign up through the "Special Offer" tab.

 

[calypso726]

Interesting about these emails. I've been on 3 ABD's, usually get all the holiday and new trip announcement gifts they send out, but haven't ever received these emails. Will have to sign up through the "Special Offer" tab.

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

 

[TXTransplant]

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?

 

[carpenta]

Has anyone thought that the announcement from ABD may be linked to the new monkey movie to be revealed on April 17th? Tie in travel to a whole eco-world nature areas around the world. Much like Scotland and Norway were tied in to the movies. Only a guess.

 

[sayhello]

Has anyone thought that the announcement from ABD may be linked to the new monkey movie to be revealed on April 17th? Tie in travel to a whole eco-world nature areas around the world. Much like Scotland and Norway were tied in to the movies. Only a guess.

Monkey movie? Is this another one of their nature series? Must admit I hadn't heard about it.

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