Review/Report of ABD Costa Rica June 19, 2024 trip

[Eastridge]

Summary / TL;DR

Costa Rica is not a new trip. It was the first international destination ABD offered, and it remains popular. However I haven't seen much recent discussion about this trip, and it has changed over the years so I'm doing a detailed report.

Reasons to go:

• Content: This is a nice blend of scenery (rain forest, volcano, beach, animals) and physically active activities (whitewater rafting, zip line, snorkeling)
• Value: No ABD trip is cheap, but this is one of the cheapest. ABD covers every meal from the welcome dinner to departure breakfast, except for one lunch. You can do 23 Costa Rica trips for the cost of 1 private jet trip...
• Convenience: There's not as much of a time difference compared to Asia/Europe, and flights are cheaper. They accept US dollars and I bought everything using credit cards, never getting local currency. English is ubiquitously spoken in the tourist areas, and English menus and signs are common. The electricity is the same; no power adapters needed. You can drink the water.
• Hotels: Nice, unique, and quirky.
• Rain: We went in during the rainy season, yet did not get rained on during any of the main activities.
• This was a very nice trip and I recommend it. As always, the guides were great.

Issues to consider:

• Heat and humidity: It is hot and humid, year round. But with the current heat wave it is probably hotter right now in much of the US.
• Bus time and winding roads: There is significant bus time on 3 of the 5 core days. This is required to get to the activities, which are spread across the country. Two sections have winding roads. There are sometimes 2-3 hours between bathroom breaks on buses and during activities.
• Cost of meals: The prices at restaurants and in the airport were higher than I would expect in Hawaii. Costa Rica isn't cheap.
• TP: At some bathrooms, you dispose of toilet paper in a wastebasket rather than flushing it down the toilet, to avoid clogging septic systems.
• Snorkeling visibility: During this time of year, the rains stir up the water so I couldn't see anything while snorkeling.

Misc. observations:

• No paddle of power! They didn't need to use it.
• I would never attempt to drive on my own for this trip. The roads and traffic were intimidating.
• There have been 4 versions of this trip. Previously it included short flight(s) and activities like pineapple and coffee farms.

Details to follow,,,

 

[Eastridge]

Traveling in the rainy season

The elephant in the room for this trip was the threat of rain. Our trip was during the rainy season.

When I checked weather apps, every day was listed as a 60-100% chance of rain or thunderstorms. So I worried that we would get soaked during some activities.

Turns out that it does rain almost every day, but usually for a short time and mostly in the afternoons. It was dry during every main activity. I checked other trips before ours and this is typical, not the exception.

So if you want to go to Costa Rica during the rainy season, don't let the threat of rain stop you. There is always a chance of rain but it's not likely that it will ruin the trip.

 

[Eastridge]

Guides

We were lucky to get two experienced Adventure Guides: Ronald and Mike.

Ronald (left) and Mike (right)​

Costa Rica has three ABD local guides: Fico, Ronald and Bryan. Plus a fourth coming on board. Ronald has been guiding ABD tours since 2008. He has an amazing amount of knowledge of Costa Rica, on just about any topic: the economy, culture, history, geography, politics, etc. He confirmed the way to order a beer in Costa Rica (Regalame una cerveza, por favor) which literally means "Give me a beer as a gift, please" which strikes me as a strange way to ask but that's the way to do it. Don't try that in another Spanish speaking country. He's also a naturalist so he described the plants and animals we encountered.

Mike was involved with the creation of ABD and started as an ABD guide in 2008. He told me trained Kira, who was our guide in New Zealand. He's been on many other ABD trips.

In this report, I'll point out some things the guides did that helped make our trip special.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 1: Marriott Hacienda Belen (rooms)

We took a red eye flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, arriving at the hotel around 6am. Normally we would not expect to check in until later that afternoon. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our rooms were ready and we could check in immediately. It helped us to catch up on sleep and be ready for the welcome dinner later that day.

I learned later that this wasn't just luck. Ronald had arranged this in advance. This was one of several things the hotel did to make us feel welcome, including offering drinks and gifts when one of our rooms had a malfunctioning door lock. I was very impressed by the level of service and the hospitality offered. They clearly welcomed the Disney groups and wanted their business.

Here are some photos of our room:











We had a view of one of the pools:



Other rooms had a patio:

 

[Eastridge]

Marriott Hacienda Belen (grounds)

This is a large resort, with a big gym, a spa and even a driving range. I think it was formerly a coffee plantation. It is away from the central part of the city and there really isn't anything walkable so we just stayed at the resort.















For lunch, I had a seafood risotto at one of the restaurants. It was very good, although it cost $35, with 13% VAT and 10% service added onto that. I noticed the steak restaurant offered some steaks above $100. So meals weren't cheap.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Very surprised about the cost of the food! I would have thought cheap. Thanks for the report. I haven't read about this one in a while.

 

[Eastridge]

Very surprised about the cost of the food! I would have thought cheap.

The exchange rate may partially explain the high costs. Ronald said it used to be 700 colones to $1. Now it is around 500 to $1. Ronald also said costs of housing and other major expenses are cheaper in Costa Rica.

 

[Eastridge]

Welcome dinner

The welcome dinner was held in a conference room near the central plaza:





The guides used a map to describe where we would be going on this trip.



The dinner was a buffet, where the tables had an interesting tablecloth and centerpiece.





ABD has gone back to handing out a pin each day, rather than mailing the entire set of pins to your house before the trip. Here is the Day 1 pin:

 

[Eastridge]

Day 2: Breakfast at Marriott Hacienda Belen

The breakfast buffet at the Marriott offers a large spread of choices:

















Every hotel offered gallo pinto at breakfast, a dish with beans, rice and other ingredients:

 

[Eastridge]

Drive to whitewater rafting

We spent only one night at the Marriott. It was basically a jumping off point for the trip, as there were no activities in San Jose. Bags were out at 7am and we boarded the bus by 8am. As usual, Disney provides a nice bus:



During the drive, Ronald told us many things about Costa Rica. The economy used to be based primarily on agricultural exports (sugar cane, coffee, beef, etc.) but today the four largest industries are tourism, electronics, medical devices and outsourcing companies. Costa Rica is a stable democracy with an educated workforce and ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific, giving it some advantages.



Two things about this bus trip: First, there is a lot of traffic in San Jose so we were stuck for an over an hour just trying to get out of the city. We did get a drive-through tour of some of the city. Second, after you leave the city, the roads become winding with many turns. If you have problems with motion sickness, take Dramamine beforehand and sit toward the front of the bus. It took almost 3 hours to get to the whitewater rafting site (the blue dot on the map):

I don't remember what this building was in San Jose, but it is historic


I think we took highway 32, with many curves​

We arrived at the site of the whitewater rafting activity:

 

[Eastridge]

Whitewater rafting

The guides suggested that everyone board the bus in swimwear to be ready for the rafting, but there were also changing rooms available beforehand. You must wear water shoes.

We were taken to an area to get suited up and to get instructions. Watch where you stand because there are fire ants.



There were four basic maneuvers we had to learn: forward, backwards, lean in and get down. Normally you sit on the edge of the raft so you can paddle, but for the last maneuver everyone sits down on the bottom of the raft.







Our trip had 29 people, which is the smallest ABD I've been on. There were a few large family groups, including mine. So we got a raft to ourselves and ended up being the lead raft.

There were 2 kayaks in addition to the rafts. The lead kayaker appeared to scout the route and gave signals to our raft guide. This was the first time I have done whitewater rafting, and I'm guessing this was class 2. Most of the river was calm, with sections of rapids.





The raft guide would issue commands such as "forward, 10 strokes" to tell us when and how to paddle. Sometimes the order would be for only one side of the raft.

The rafting company took photos and ABD provided those to us at no additional charge. So it was nice to have those included without paying for a separate photo package. This is our raft:

You may get wet​

Here are the rafts behind us, lining up for their turns

Time to be turning around​

I'm not really sure why the raft guide is flying out of the raft in the next photo:

Please keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times and remain seated​

Despite what you see in the photos, this really wasn't scary. I never felt like I would fall out of the raft. But do expect to get soaked. It was enough to be thrilling but not dangerous. I later learned Disney really doesn't want anybody to fall out of a raft and people from 5 to 80 have done this activity with Disney.

For the final rapids, we had a choice of a more challenging rapids or a wimpy rapids. Before I could say anything, my family chose the challenging one. As did every other raft. For this one, we had to assume the "get down" position to avoid falling out. And I think the raft guide steered us so the people in the back got soaked so we wouldn't miss out.

At the end, the rafts were steered onshore and we walked to lunch.

 

[Eastridge]

Lunch

Immediately after the rafting, there were changing rooms to change back to normal clothes and they provided a buffet lunch.



They had Lizano sauce, which is a Costa Rican savory sauce with a taste that is difficult to describe.



After lunch, they handed out pin #2, appropriately titled Make a Splash

 

[Eastridge]

Alternate activity

For the guests who did not want to do whitewater rafting, there was an alternate activity called Heart of Palm or something similar. None of my family went on this, and when I asked I didn't get a detailed answer about what this activity covered. I think it was a walk through of an area, learning about plants and sampling some.

 

[Eastridge]

Hotel Arenal Kioro (rooms)

After lunch, it was a 1.5 hour bus ride to the Hotel Arenal Kioro. The roads were mostly straight.







The next image is a map of the hotel. The lobby and restaurants are in the building on the right. The pools, hot springs and other amenities are at the top. The suites are in individual buildings, with four suites per building. It is a bit of a walk, with a hill, to get to the buildings furthest to the left. If you have mobility limitations, ask the guides to put you in a building close to the main building on the right (e.g. 100 or 200).



Example of a building with four suites:



The suites were large and unique. One part of the room had the desk and a day bed that could hold a 5th guest. It had a jacuzzi in the room, which is a first for me. The jacuzzi temperature was limited to 95 degrees so it never really got hot enough to feel like a hot tub.

 

[Eastridge]

Hotel Arenal Kioro rooms, continued

This hotel asked guests to dispose of TP in a wastebasket, rather than in the toilet. The shower area was separate and did not have a door separating the shower room from the rest of the suite.







The rooms were large and very nice, but they did have some quirks:

• The internet bandwidth was abysmally low on the first night, almost unusable. But it worked well on the next two nights.
• The entire suite has a tile floor that becomes slippery when wet. Bring your own slippers.
• You're in a rain forest so expect bugs. I killed two in the first half hour
• You leave your room card in a holder to activate the power. It takes a short while for the AC to start up when you return to your room.

But what makes up for all of this is that each room has a spectacular view of the Arenal volcano!



Um, well, this was the view when we got to the hotel. I'm told there is a volcano behind those clouds. Maybe it will get better later on...

 

[sayhello]

Great report so far! I really haven't seen anything about this trip in a while!

Mike was a shadow Adventure Guide (learning the itinerary) on my first ABD in 2008 (Arizona/Utah). He is really great! I really didn't want to do the ATV or horseback riding activities in Moab, as I was having some back issues, so he invited me to go hiking with him as he explored the surrounding hills, rather than just hanging out at the resort. I really enjoyed that.

Even though they are a pain to lug around, I'm really glad they've returned to handing out the pins daily. It's really a nice part of the day, and makes the pins mean so much more.

The resort in San Jose sound lovely, and you just can't beat that kind of hospitality!

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

I keep an old room card in my travel wallet for those pesky "AC only works when your card is in it" hotels.

The TP in a waste basket is common in Central/South America and Asia. My son was mortified and wouldn't poop for several days. By the time he did, well, then he had to go ask someone to unclog the toilet, which was more mortifying. LOL A good lesson in just rolling with what you're given up front!

 

[Alison S]

Great report so far! You're lucky to get into your hotel room so early on the arrival day. I think I did the same whitewater rafting trip back in 2011- it was one of the highlights for sure.

 

[Eastridge]

The changing views of Arenal Volcano

Later on arrival day, we could see some of the volcano from our room:



Then next morning, it got much better:



Some photos taken from other vantage points:

That is steam rising from the top. This is an active volcano, only 7000 years old​

The view can change dramatically within 10 minutes. Sometimes the view was clear, and then when I looked again it was cloudy.

At night it changed even more drastically





Ok, those last two photos were actually from an eruption in 2009. The guides shared those photos with us.

Last eruption was in 2010.

 

[sayhello]

Fabulous photos of the volcano!

Sayhello