Other Options...

I'm very,very easy to please and I'm not a huge foodie,so most things are good with me. But, I do appreciate that people have issues and they should be looked into if the circumstances warrant. Some of those things are obvious and others may be more personal,but either way, I agree with most who have said having it in context is always important.

I couldn't agree more @mare1203 . I always feel very fortunate that I can look at luxury group travel as an option or stay in some pretty amazing hotels (as I type this I'm sitting at the Sky Suites Pool at Aria...rough, really rough, right)? I live for moments and experiences that create memories because those are the things that mean the most to me.
 
This has been a great discussion! Thanks to all who have contributed. We love ABD and have had terrific trips with wonderful guides every time.

I have appreciated and learned so much from everyone who took the time to write a trip report and I really appreciated hearing the good with the bad so I could make a more informed choice on my decision. I have done (and not done) a lot of things based on your experiences and I know that has made my experience better.

We decided to go with another tour operator for 2018 because we are doing 2 ABDs this year and doing Australia next December. We had a great interaction with the new company and I have nothing but good things to say so far but the real reason we went with them was cost. They were less expensive and that was realistic for us after Australia.

I found this new company (and others) through these boards and that helped us get another awesome vacation. However, I am sure we will be back with ABD soon. Cousin O and Mare almost had us talked into Northern Italy which had not been on our radar at all!
 
This is why I didn't post the link directly. You can still message me directly or post here that you're interested and I'll send it to you directly.
I love reading all the trip reports on this forum. In fact, my husband and I have booked our first ABD (to China) because of all the great things we have read on these boards. I have never had the courage to post, but I would really like to read your blog. I hope I am doing this right!
 
Please send me the link as well. Thanks so much!

I will say regarding my experience with Tauck Bridges that I do not recommend it for people with food allergies for foreign travel where you don't speak the language. They ask about such issues when you book, but do no coordination with the meal providers to determine what is safe and we were left relying on our single guide, who spoke the language broken at best to convey the needs. We were most usually reduced to deducing, well, the spaghetti is probably ok, with no confirmation, and another child got sent to the ER with a reaction. The guide just kept reiterating to the family that the cost of the cab from our remote hotel was on them. And 3/36 people on the tour had severe nut allergies, which would be common, one would think, for the demographic that is booking such tours. We were looking to ABD if only to have someone help with the food allergies.
 
I love reading all the trip reports on this forum. In fact, my husband and I have booked our first ABD (to China) because of all the great things we have read on these boards. I have never had the courage to post, but I would really like to read your blog. I hope I am doing this right!

Just wanted to say Hi :wave2: and welcome you on your first post. I do hope you post about your experience with your China trip. We are hoping to book that one next year for 2018 adventure so I look forward to reading trip reports that goes to China.
 
Please send me the link as well. Thanks so much!

I will say regarding my experience with Tauck Bridges that I do not recommend it for people with food allergies for foreign travel where you don't speak the language. They ask about such issues when you book, but do no coordination with the meal providers to determine what is safe and we were left relying on our single guide, who spoke the language broken at best to convey the needs. We were most usually reduced to deducing, well, the spaghetti is probably ok, with no confirmation, and another child got sent to the ER with a reaction. The guide just kept reiterating to the family that the cost of the cab from our remote hotel was on them. And 3/36 people on the tour had severe nut allergies, which would be common, one would think, for the demographic that is booking such tours. We were looking to ABD if only to have someone help with the food allergies.

I will get into my experiences about travelling with ABD with a food allergy more in my blog but I will say this. When it came to meals, ABD handled my food allergy very well. Our European guide pretty much always dealt with me and the restaurant for all meals. He always came by for each course to tell me what I was getting, especially if it was different from what everyone else was getting because the meal was being served family style, so that I was reassured that what I was getting was safe for me to eat. Where ABD fell flat in relation to my food allergy was in the snack department on the bus. They had allergy friendly snacks but the guides failed to ensure that I was able to get any of them because they allowed the other guests to take as many snacks as they wanted whenever they wanted. I wouldn't rely on Disney or any tour company to provide you with allergy friendly snacks so my advice would be either pack some yourself (if you're going to Asia - Nat Geo tells you to do just this), or to find a local grocery store in whatever town you may be in, especially if you're in Europe, and purchase something that you know you can eat while in transit.
 
I love reading all the trip reports on this forum. In fact, my husband and I have booked our first ABD (to China) because of all the great things we have read on these boards. I have never had the courage to post, but I would really like to read your blog. I hope I am doing this right!

Hi Cali, I wasn't able to message you directly so I left you a message on your profile with the link.
 
I'm so glad you posted this, as the combinations of multiple threads into this one has really frustrated me. It's simply too much information in one place. I get the moderator's post above that people don't talk extensively about Sea World, Universal, LEGOLAND, etc. on the other Disney threads, but those attractions have their OWN forums within Disboards. That's not an option in this ABD forum. And considering what kind of travel ABD customers are looking for, the community board is absolutely NOT the right place to have these discussions!

Also, I've been posting here for a couple of years, and what I've found is that the group is relatively small and very loyal to ABD, even if they may book some trips with other tour companies. The best description I can give is all of us here are very travel savvy and we want the best experience that our budgets can provide...sometimes ABD simply can't provide that, based on itineraries and specific travel dates. I for one appreciate a forum where instead of hearing "Well, ABD doesn't offer that so you're out of luck," being able to receive feedback that says "Here are some other options for you."

Also, for those of us who have experienced ABD, I think it has fundamentally changed the way we travel. I really like being able to take the ABD model and customize my own trips when ABD isn't an option, much like many of us do on our pre- and post-ABD tour days. Without feedback from the wonderful posters here, I wouldn't have known about Walks of Italy or Walks of New York, which are two fantastic options for achieving an ABD-like experience. That has made this forum invaluable to me, and I very much wish there was a better way to post information and trip reports that are not specific to ABD itineraries. The travel experiences that we have all come to appreciate and want to replicate are part of a very niche portion of the industry, but information is not easy to come by (at least not all in one place) - when we can share those experiences here, it just enriches our travel that much more (and hopefully gives ABD feedback on what they can and should do differently).

While I realize this board is sponsored by a group who has a vested interest in people booking ABD trips, I hope they realize that posting non-ABD information will not drive people away from ABD. Those of us who understand and appreciate the ABD experience will keep coming back to ABD for our travel experiences. However, limiting the discussion will only keep people out of this forum - and I say that from experience because I am trying to plan a non-ABD trip right now, and I know that I can't really post extensively about it here.


I wish the "Other Options" thread was actually a sub-forum within the larger ABD forum here. I know on another Disney board they have sub-forums within the larger forums because you would see the same topic showing up every week because the thread got lost in the larger forum because only a smaller subset of people were interested but it still fit within the larger forum. Like non-ABD group travel still fits within the larger forum of ABD but we're a smaller subset. Why not just have a sub-forum link at the top that we can click on to take us to the sub forum and then we have all our different topics in there. Nobody in the main forum even needs to see the threads inside, it can just be "Other options" and then when you click on that sub-forum, that's when you see all the other topics we're talking about and that's where we can post our trip reports for companies like Nat Geo or Tauck and stuff like that or just discuss what it's like to travel with them.
 
Just wanted to say Hi :wave2: and welcome you on your first post. I do hope you post about your experience with your China trip. We are hoping to book that one next year for 2018 adventure so I look forward to reading trip reports that goes to China.
Thanks for the welcome @calpyso726. I have finally made it out of lurkdom! I have so enjoyed reading your trip reports and hope to be able to pay it back after our trip to China.
 
Thank you! I can see that you left me a message on my profile but it says I do not have permission to read it. I am thinking I need to have 10 posts to be official?
That would be a safe guess. I know you need at least 10 posts to do most things on this Board.

Which China trip are you on for next year?

Sayhello
 
That would be a safe guess. I know you need at least 10 posts to do most things on this Board.

Which China trip are you on for next year?

Sayhello

We are on the June 25th departure and are super excited! I am enjoying your trip report, @sayhello

I am up to four posts!
 
We are on the June 25th departure and are super excited! I am enjoying your trip report, @sayhello

I am up to four posts!
I'm doing the June 4th departure to China. REALLY looking forward to it! It is definitely the Trip Reports on this Forum that decided me to take the China trip!

Glad you're enjoying my trip report! :) More to come soon!

Sayhello
 
I honestly think this is the most helpful ongoing thread of the boards.

I enjoy the trip reports by many of you but overall, this is where I get a lot of information that just isn't readily available anywhere else. It appears to me that many of us are experienced travelers who desire a quality product that meets schedule and budget parameters. It's nice to a have thread to explore those options.
 
































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