Surprises during your ABD?

[White Rose]

hello!

We were lucky enough to be able to do ABD southern California in 2015. We had lots of small surprises during the trip and all of our unplanned time had optional activities. We are scheduled for Germany in 2016. Without spoiling any possible surprises, did you encounter lots or even a few extra items that were not part of the official intinerary, and not documented? If so, can you tell me what cities/day the option activities were, without telling me the details?

The reason is...we wanted to do research on stuff in the area now covered by the tour, and possibly schedule things. We discovered much of the "on your own" time was actually full of optional activities in CA, that we really enjoyed! It did not leave any time for time on our own, which is NOT a complaint! I really enjoyed it!!

If the same is true, we won't waste time trying to fill those "on your own" hours, and just go with the flow.

 

[OKW Lover]

ABD always adds surprises to their trips. Haven't done Germany, but on Viva Italia and the Northern Italy/Switzerland trips that we have been on all included surprise activities.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We've been on 5 ABDs (Ireland, Scotland, Backstage Magic, Baltics Add-on and Greece). The number and coolness factor of surprises has varied. The most was Backstage Magic/Scotland, and then Ireland. The Baltics didn't have any (or if there any they were unremarkable), and I think Greece had one or two small surprise gelatos. It feels to me like Disney is getting away from surprises, which is a shame. They've moved a long way from the Club 33 breakfast some BSMers--I haven't heard about anything as cool or big as that. I suspect it might have something to do with not wanting to create an unequal guest adventure, but who knows.

 

[Cousin Orville]

BSM had the most surprises of any ABD I've done. Germany's surprises were more on the smaller scale. The listed itinerary is pretty much what you should expect. It's a great Adventure. You'll have an amazing time.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

The only "surprise" we got on Central Europe was to go up to Eagle's Nest, which was built for Hitler. But this wasn't really a surprise as it was talked about before hand. Other than that, everything was as listed.

 

[Bobo912]

If you want to be surprised, don't read any trip reports. My experience has been that the "surprises" tend to be the same from trip to trip. For instance, on the Ireland trip there is a stop for tea and scones at Abbeyliex that is not on the itinerary and is presented as a spur of the moment decision by the guides to give you a treat, but every trip report I've read included that stop as well, so it's more like an undocumented part of the itinerary. It was nice, but not a really a surprise since I had already read about it several times.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

If you want to be surprised, don't read any trip reports. My experience has been that the "surprises" tend to be the same from trip to trip. For instance, on the Ireland trip there is a stop for tea and scones at Abbeyliex that is not on the itinerary and is presented as a spur of the moment decision by the guides to give you a treat, but every trip report I've read included that stop as well, so it's more like an undocumented part of the itinerary. It was nice, but not a really a surprise since I had already read about it several times.

I don't read trip reports but I can confirm this anyway. Our trip to Eagle's Nest had that feel to it. You could tell it was already worked into the itinerary and not a 'spur of the moment' activity like the guides make it out to be. Honestly, I think that's really the only reason we stayed where we did on that portion of the trip because Eagle's Nest is in Berchtesgaden, Germany. 95% of our activities for this portion of the trip were actually in and around Salzburg. It would have made more sense to actually stay in Salzburg except that Eagle's Nest sits on a mountainside right above the town of Berchtesgaden.

 

[OKW Lover]

There's a difference between "surprise" and "spur of the moment". Anytime you need to get a group of 30 moving to a destination there is advanced planning involved. Definitely not spur of the moment. Surprise comes when you don't tell them ahead of time.

 

[carpenta]

On our trip to Glacier National Park the Road to the Sun was closed under 12 feet of snow so that was a surprise. Also on the same trip our hike to the Continental Divide turned into a snow shoe trek to the divide and we could not finish it for it snowed harder and harder.....tough trip.

 

[sayhello]

I think a lot of times, the "surprises" are things that they can't guarantee you'll be able to do, so they leave them as "surprises" so that folks don't get disappointed if they aren't done.

Sayhello

 

[White Rose]

What I am asking for is if there was any undocumented stops or things done that were not on the itinerary in Germany.

The reason I am asking is because there are things we might want to experience in each city during the "on your own" time. When we did the BSM tour, the "on your own" time was filled with (spoiler)

Spoiler

Free ice cream socials, free Starbucks breakfast, time with imagineers to discuss a ride they have worked on after the park closed, and walking out of the park as some of the last guests, going to a movie theater/free movie, a free wax museum visit, special viewings of not the normal in-park events, etc.

(spoiler over) if we planned stuff on our own, we would have been double booked! we would never had known these were coming till right before they happened...Hense..surprises.

They were all wonderful, and I am glad we did them all, and did not try to do anything "on our own".

There are a few meals and "on your own" time in Germany, like in Munich. Will there be actual down time, or like BSM, optional undocumented options the guides will tell us about only at that time? Don't spoil the possible surprise, just need to know if we will have to fill-in the "on your own time", and if so we will need to start researching it now!

We found our my nephew might be in Munich at the same time! We might want to see him and have dinner during the on your own time there.

 

[Cousin Orville]

There are a few meals and "on your own" time in Germany, like in Munich. Will there be actual down time, or like BSM, optional undocumented options the guides will tell us about only at that time? Don't spoil the possible surprise, just need to know if we will have to fill-in the "on your own time", and if so we will need to start researching it now!

We found our my nephew might be in Munich at the same time! We might want to see him and have dinner during the on your own time there.

The scheduled down time in Germany is true down time. There were no big addition activities that were unscheduled. The free night in Munich in particular is a free night once the walking tour of Munich is over. It's all covered as I experienced it in my trip report.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I don't read trip reports but I can confirm this anyway. Our trip to Eagle's Nest had that feel to it. You could tell it was already worked into the itinerary and not a 'spur of the moment' activity like the guides make it out to be. Honestly, I think that's really the only reason we stayed where we did on that portion of the trip because Eagle's Nest is in Berchtesgaden, Germany. 95% of our activities for this portion of the trip were actually in and around Salzburg. It would have made more sense to actually stay in Salzburg except that Eagle's Nest sits on a mountainside right above the town of Berchtesgaden.

I did the Central Europe trip in the summer of 2015 with my son and we didn't go to Eagle's Nest. Even though I and most of the others on the trip wanted to go we were told the bus couldn't make it up the road or some other such nonsense (since I knew that previous trips had visited there).

WRT to the Northern Italy / Switzerland trip, many of the surprises that Mare mentioned in her TR didn't happen for us. Two in particular that I was excited about -- the hike in the Swiss Alps on the free afternoon in Zermatt and the Saint Bernard dog being brought to meet the group. Definitely disappointed about not getting to experience those things. I asked one of the guides about the dog and she said something to the effect that they can't make the dogs "work". I can't recall exactly but it didn't make much sense.

Like other have said, expect only what is on the itinerary and be thankful if anything additional is offered. It seems as though ABD is cutting back on the "surprises" which is a shame.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I did the Central Europe trip in the summer of 2015 with my son and we didn't go to Eagle's Nest. Even though I and most of the others on the trip wanted to go we were told the bus couldn't make it up the road or some other such nonsense (since I knew that previous trips had visited there).


Like other have said, expect only what is on the itinerary and be thankful if anything additional is offered. It seems as though ABD is cutting back on the "surprises" which is a shame.

That really is silly that they gave you that kind of excuse when we *know* that other groups have gone. Don't they realize people share information on these boards?

I also agree about the cutting back of surprises--total shame. Without them and the VIP touches, they are just another expensive tour company. I had more surprises on my Nat Geo trip a couple years ago than we had on the Greece ABD or the Baltics ABD (my two most recent).

 

[wdwtheplacetobe]

I don't read trip reports but I can confirm this anyway. Our trip to Eagle's Nest had that feel to it. You could tell it was already worked into the itinerary and not a 'spur of the moment' activity like the guides make it out to be. Honestly, I think that's really the only reason we stayed where we did on that portion of the trip because Eagle's Nest is in Berchtesgaden, Germany. 95% of our activities for this portion of the trip were actually in and around Salzburg. It would have made more sense to actually stay in Salzburg except that Eagle's Nest sits on a mountainside right above the town of Berchtesgaden.

Did you stay at the Edelweiss Hotel....It was nice and the little shops around it were neat.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

I did the Central Europe trip in the summer of 2015 with my son and we didn't go to Eagle's Nest. Even though I and most of the others on the trip wanted to go we were told the bus couldn't make it up the road or some other such nonsense (since I knew that previous trips had visited there).

WRT to the Northern Italy / Switzerland trip, many of the surprises that Mare mentioned in her TR didn't happen for us. Two in particular that I was excited about -- the hike in the Swiss Alps on the free afternoon in Zermatt and the Saint Bernard dog being brought to meet the group. Definitely disappointed about not getting to experience those things. I asked one of the guides about the dog and she said something to the effect that they can't make the dogs "work". I can't recall exactly but it didn't make much sense.

Like other have said, expect only what is on the itinerary and be thankful if anything additional is offered. It seems as though ABD is cutting back on the "surprises" which is a shame.

Actually the tour buses cannot make the trip up the mountain. We had to take the tour bus to a designated spot and then transfer onto different buses. Only designated buses and drivers are allowed to drive the roads up to Eagle's Nest as the roads are narrow and there are a number of tight switchback turns that if the drivers are not used too, can be quite dangerous as the ground literally drops off right next to the road.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Did you stay at the Edelweiss Hotel....It was nice and the little shops around it were neat.

We did stay at the Edelweiss Hotel. I haven't figured out yet why we were even staying in Germay since 90-95% of our activities were actually in Austria. The only activities that actually took place in Germany were the salt mine, Eagle's Nest and the pretzel making. Everything else was in Austria. We would have been better suited to staying in Salzburg, since all the activities we did, could be booked through the Salzburg tourist office, I know because I contacted them for information, and they sent me information on all the activities ABD did when I didn't know if our tour was even going to go ahead and I needed to plan a trip to Central Europe for my mom and I since I already had our airfare booked. ABD refused to confirm our trip until under 2 months out.

 

[wdwtheplacetobe]

We did stay at the Edelweiss Hotel. I haven't figured out yet why we were even staying in Germay since 90-95% of our activities were actually in Austria. The only activities that actually took place in Germany were the salt mine, Eagle's Nest and the pretzel making. Everything else was in Austria. We would have been better suited to staying in Salzburg, since all the activities we did, could be booked through the Salzburg tourist office, I know because I contacted them for information, and they sent me information on all the activities ABD did when I didn't know if our tour was even going to go ahead and I needed to plan a trip to Central Europe for my mom and I since I already had our airfare booked. ABD refused to confirm our trip until under 2 months out.

We are struggling with the cancellation thing about Spain right now... I hope it goes...

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

We are struggling with the cancellation thing about Spain right now... I hope it goes...

This is one of the many reasons why we don't travel with ABD anymore. I think we were about 6 weeks out when they finally confirmed our trip. We already had our airfare so we were going regardless but it meant a ton of work for me because I had to plan a completely separate trip should they not confirm and cancel the trip even though we had 22 people already booked on the trip.

 

[Luv2trav]

This is one of the many reasons why we don't travel with ABD anymore. I think we were about 6 weeks out when they finally confirmed our trip. We already had our airfare so we were going regardless but it meant a ton of work for me because I had to plan a completely separate trip should they not confirm and cancel the trip even though we had 22 people already booked on the trip.

How do you know if your trip is confirmed? do you just call?