I just returned from the Scotland Trip and I have one word for it.... Phenomenal!!! It by far exceeds all of the ABD trips I have taken, even adding my two trips to the ER into the equation. There were many surprises on the trip and it will take me a while to process it all. The guides were Hanneke and Dusty and they set the bar for guides, I have never had a bad guide or even a so so guide but they were the best, both very enthusiastic about the trip and Scotland on a whole, they were just amazing and they both wore traditional Scottish outfits to the farewell dinner, a very nice thoughtful final touch. In fact the guides and this itinerary reaffirmed why I love the ABD product, so much so that I am canceling my Alaska Cruise and booking the newly tweaked ABD Viva Italia in its place, the lure of the afterhours trip to the Vatican appeals to me.
The rest of this post is responding to various posts on other threads and are my opinion regarding this trip and ABD trips in general.
I am at a loss to understand why people on this board and on the internet in general posted bad reviews of the trip. It seems that even though itinerary is readily available on the ABD website, and the fact this trip was never billed nor advertised as anything but "A Brave Adventure", people started reading, watching and assuming and when the trip didn't include things they wanted the trip received negative reviews, sending some people with trips later in the season into a tizzy. It wasn't "A Braveheart Adventure" or "A Brave Outlander Adventure" it was simply "A Brave Adventure" and it lived up to the itinerary which was released with the trip.
As for the long days on the bus, this being a much more active trip with more activities than on other trips I have taken, and some very early mornings, the quiet time on the bus was great, we could relax, nap and regroup. If the guides had been on the microphone I think I would have not only voted them off the island, I would have thrown them off the island!
2 Disney Guides vs. 1 Disney Guide and 1 native to the country, I have experienced both and I would much rather have 2 Disney guides because they get Disney, the service, the customer satisfaction and the attention to detail. They have enough local guides that there isn't a need to ensure one guide is "native" to the locale.
This is group travel and ABD has to balance the trips so they appeal to everyone and I do believe they have achieved that.
The rest of this post is responding to various posts on other threads and are my opinion regarding this trip and ABD trips in general.
I am at a loss to understand why people on this board and on the internet in general posted bad reviews of the trip. It seems that even though itinerary is readily available on the ABD website, and the fact this trip was never billed nor advertised as anything but "A Brave Adventure", people started reading, watching and assuming and when the trip didn't include things they wanted the trip received negative reviews, sending some people with trips later in the season into a tizzy. It wasn't "A Braveheart Adventure" or "A Brave Outlander Adventure" it was simply "A Brave Adventure" and it lived up to the itinerary which was released with the trip.
As for the long days on the bus, this being a much more active trip with more activities than on other trips I have taken, and some very early mornings, the quiet time on the bus was great, we could relax, nap and regroup. If the guides had been on the microphone I think I would have not only voted them off the island, I would have thrown them off the island!
2 Disney Guides vs. 1 Disney Guide and 1 native to the country, I have experienced both and I would much rather have 2 Disney guides because they get Disney, the service, the customer satisfaction and the attention to detail. They have enough local guides that there isn't a need to ensure one guide is "native" to the locale.
This is group travel and ABD has to balance the trips so they appeal to everyone and I do believe they have achieved that.
I thought it sounded like a phenomenal itinerary, and therefore signed up for it, but I have to admit, some of the earlier reports had me questioning my perceptions. I'm glad to know that 
