What to expect from ABD?

[whiporee]

My DD wants her senior trip this March to be London/Paris.

When looking at tours, DW found Adventures. We're long time Disney folk so there's a safety net there, but it also seems really priciey compared to some, and not quite as high as others we've run into. So my questions is what advantages have you found using ABD that you wouldn't have had otherwise, and "worth it" is a relative term., but have you found that to be the case?

Thanks!

 

[OKW Lover]

Wow - where to start? We did the London/Paris ABD a couple of years ago. ABD handles everything so you don't have to even think about what to see/do next. They take care of getting you (and your bags) from the airport to the hotel, almost all of your meals, reserved times to access specific attractions/sites and knowledgable tour guides. The also give good advice on what to do during the "on your own" time.

On the day you transit from London to Paris they handle everything. The collect your bags from your London hotel, transfer you to the train station, make sure you get to the right car and on the Paris end, handle everything in reverse to get you to your Paris hotel. In France you don't need to worry about a language barrier as they have english speaking guides.

At the end of the trip, the handle getting you and your bags from the Paris hotel to the airport in time for your flight home.

 

[TravelJunkieHubby]

One of the other perks we have seen on several trips is more convenient/premium access to certain attractions...

For example, on the Viva Italia tour we had special after hours access to the Sistine Chapel just for our group and we were able to take pictures (I understand this got removed from the ABD after we went in 2018). In Florence, our guides magically bypassed the line at the Accademia Gallery where we got to see Michaelangelo's David.

In Australia, when we were getting on the boat to head to the Great Barrier Reef, our group got to board the ship first. On the Ecuador/Galapagos ABD (now discontinued), for the cruise part of our trip we almost always were the first group off the boat when we arrived at a different island.

To be fair, the special perks don't happen every time but I suspect once ABD regains their footing after this pandemic they will find ways to make their trips feel "special." Whether it's worth the extra $ or not is fairly subjective, but personally it's been wonderful to have these memories with my family. I was able to enjoy the trip more since I wasn't worried about all the logistics of getting from point A to point B.