Which ABD trips offer the best value?

[quinnc19]

The thread on ABD vs. Tauck for Ireland got me thinking about which trips folks perceive as giving the most bang for your buck? Which tours give the best return for the premium price paid? My initial impression is that the Viva Italia, Germany, Greece, Costa Rica, and Arizona/Utah trips are good values. On the other hand, Tauck offers a Winter in Wyoming trip that is almost twice as long as ABD for almost the same cost (I still may end up going with ABD due to dates offered, more children, etc.). Some other places may be very manageable on one's own and ABD may not offer enough special activities, access, etc. to justify the price differential (Ireland?) I am very interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this!

 

[sayhello]

I would definitely add Scotland to that list. It's really a fabulous itinerary that covers & includes quite a lot.

Sayhello

 

[paddles]

I've been on 3 ABDs: Bella Italia, Scotland and Germany, and I think Germany was the best bang for the buck. It was very well planned, had lots of good activities and was actually reasonably priced compared to some of the other trips. I also thought Italy was good value.

Scotland was a good trip as well, but the price has increased by 25% or so since they introduced the trip just a couple of years ago, so I probably wouldn't pay $6k+ per person for that trip now.

 

[Miss SD]

I agree with paddles that the Germany trip is a good value, and it's the best value of the three ABDs we've done (also did Scotland and Backstage Magic). Backstage Magic was a good value too, in my opinion, because you do and see many things most people can't. Scotland is quite expensive, and, when I consider the issues we had with our particular tour, it wasn't worth the almost $6,000 per person we paid for it.

I think a lot depends on itinerary. How much time is spent on things you're not or only marginally interested in? For that amount of money, if you're looking for value, make sure you care about what you'll be doing. We could have skipped the day at Rothiemurchus (sp) during the Brave tour. The activities were disorganized (we were on one of the first tours in 2013), and it seemed to take all day for 40 people to ride a bike, ride a horse and eat lunch. For us, it was a tremendous waste of time.

Long story short, value is in the wallet of the beholder. And, in the case if an ABD, you probably won't know if it's a good value until the day after the Farewell Dinner. My friends would faint if I told them how much we paid even for Germany. But the experience was worth it to us.

 

[kaseyC]

Interesting thread. Even though I have decided to go with Tauck Bridges for Ireland, I'm looking forward to reading which ABD trips others have felt they got the most "bang for the buck".

 

[kristilew]

We have done Peru, Southwest Splendors, and Ecuador/Galapagos ABDs. I felt like we got huge bang for our buck on the two South American trips, especially the Ecuador trip. We were sorry we spent the money on the Southwest one.

I know I'm in the minority on here, as SWS is many people's favorite ABD. For us, what adds value to these adventures is feeling special and pampered. We felt that was missing on SWS.

What we've decided is the "best value" for us comes on the trips where we would not feel at all comfortable navigating on our own due to language or unfamiliarity, or when we don't want to deal with any hassle or planning. And for us, that seems to be trips outside the US. ymmv

One other intangible to the value is that it's nice to have other folks to get to know and become friendly with. This can cut both ways as on all three trips we've done, there were people who, if they and my family were the only ones, we would have all been miserable. But on all trips there's been at least one family that made the trip so much better by their presence. And usually more than one family. While everyone does these trips for different reasons, we all do have in common a sense of adventure and desire to explore, as well as a certain enthusiasm. It's hard to put a price on being presented with a group like that as instant travel companions, but I think it does add to the value tremendously. Which I guess is my way of agreeing with Miss SD that you probably won't be able to say for sure until the day after your adventure ends.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Southeast Asia and China were big values I thought. Considering the caliber hotels (Peninsulas, Ritz, Sofitel's), internal flights, and number of days, I thought they were good values. Not cheap, but well worth it.

 

[Calfan]

I agree with paddles that the Germany trip is a good value, and it's the best value of the three ABDs we've done (also did Scotland and Backstage Magic). Backstage Magic was a good value too, in my opinion, because you do and see many things most people can't. Scotland is quite expensive, and, when I consider the issues we had with our particular tour, it wasn't worth the almost $6,000 per person we paid for it.

I think a lot depends on itinerary. How much time is spent on things you're not or only marginally interested in? For that amount of money, if you're looking for value, make sure you care about what you'll be doing. We could have skipped the day at Rothiemurchus (sp) during the Brave tour. The activities were disorganized (we were on one of the first tours in 2013), and it seemed to take all day for 40 people to ride a bike, ride a horse and eat lunch. For us, it was a tremendous waste of time.

Long story short, value is in the wallet of the beholder. And, in the case if an ABD, you probably won't know if it's a good value until the day after the Farewell Dinner. My friends would faint if I told them how much we paid even for Germany. But the experience was worth it to us.

I actually thought the Scotland ABD was a great value. We did it the first year, though, and booked on Day 1 before the significant price increases, but even so, I think the value is there. When you look at the territory the Scotland ABD covers in 8 days, I'm not sure it would be possible to replicate the itinerary on your own in the same timeframe. This is particularly true of the charter flight to Lewis, for example, where the alternative is multiple hours on ferries back and forth. And there were a number of activities that I'm not sure individuals could book on their own or get the same access: launching the canoes on Loch Ness from Urqhardt Castle, taking over the Isle of Skye bakery to make scones, doing archery on the grounds of Glamis Castle (although I understand now the archery is done at Rothiemurcus). I have to politely disagree with MissSD and say that our family thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent at Rothiemurcus. Horseback riding through the heather was a definite highlight of the trip for us. We had no problem spending the day at a beautiful estate with fun activities and a BBQ lunch. My family ended up getting dropped off at Culloden at the end of the day as well. Another highlight was the hike on the Isle of Skye. I suppose we could have hired a private tour guide to take us hiking, but doing it with the ABD was fantastic.

 

[Miss SD]

I actually thought the Scotland ABD was a great value. We did it the first year, though, and booked on Day 1 before the significant price increases, but even so, I think the value is there. When you look at the territory the Scotland ABD covers in 8 days, I'm not sure it would be possible to replicate the itinerary on your own in the same timeframe. This is particularly true of the charter flight to Lewis, for example, where the alternative is multiple hours on ferries back and forth. And there were a number of activities that I'm not sure individuals could book on their own or get the same access: launching the canoes on Loch Ness from Urqhardt Castle, taking over the Isle of Skye bakery to make scones, doing archery on the grounds of Glamis Castle (although I understand now the archery is done at Rothiemurcus). I have to politely disagree with MissSD and say that our family thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent at Rothiemurcus. Horseback riding through the heather was a definite highlight of the trip for us. We had no problem spending the day at a beautiful estate with fun activities and a BBQ lunch. My family ended up getting dropped off at Culloden at the end of the day as well. Another highlight was the hike on the Isle of Skye. I suppose we could have hired a private tour guide to take us hiking, but doing it with the ABD was fantastic.

I'm glad your family enjoyed your time at the estate. We'd have preferred more time in Inverness.

 

[carpenta]

I also agree with Paddles that Germany is a good value. When we traveled this past year we found that the Germans speak a lot less English than the other European countries we visited. Being an "ignorant" American I am not expecting Europeans to speak English but since German is not a Romance Language it was a little more difficult to understand for us. Hungary, Chech Rep. as well as Austria we found it easier to navigate on our own. Loved the trip.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I agree wholeheartedly with Calfan about Scotland (probably not surprising since we were on the same trip). It is by far my fave trip so far, and also the one I think was the best value. I've traveled extensively around Scotland multiple times, and I took one look at the itinerary and said we had to book. There was no way we could have replicated it on our own, and adding up all the activities included as well as an interior flight, we though it was a very good value for the money. The hotel rooms at the Balmoral alone are in the $500+ range (per two people) a night. Again, full disclosure though, we booked early with some nice discounts from DIS that I think put it just under $5000/person. I didn't like some of the tweaks they did this year--not doing archery at Glamis and the adults not being able to ride horses at the estate is a bummer. I hope they find ways to reintegrate that as those were two of our favorite activities (along with hiking and canoeing).

I've also done Ireland and Backstage Magic. I did Ireland years ago, when ABD was just getting started and the prices were much more reasonable. I don't remember exactly what we paid, but I thought it was worth it at the time. Backstage Magic is also a good value given all the VIP perks at the parks. The studio stuff was cool, but maybe I'm spoiled because I had a chance to do a private event at PIXAR and that blew me away I'm not sure I would put a high price tag on those experiences. Fun to do once but don't need to go back.

I do crunch the numbers pretty seriously when evaluating an ABD trip. We didn't do the ABD Alaska cruise Add-on (which they later cancelled) because the numbers just didn't add up. I'm having the same issue with the ABD Add on for the Baltics, which I'm signed up for. I have a long post that I haven't put up about it but probably will at some point.

Great thread! Sounds like I need to do Greece, SayHello! China is on the list, but the prices keep rising and I shudder to think what it will look like for 2016.

 

[lrweaver]

I agree with Cousin Orville and Kristilew. We have been on three Disney Adventures-Alaska, South Africa and Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asia trip was by far the best value. An amazing trip and great value. South Africa was more expensive, but also an amazing trip. These are two trips I would have been reluctant to do on my own. The Alaska trip was fine, but we could have done it on my own and would have had a great trip too. In retrospect, I should have just planned that one myself. For the money I spent, had we gone on our own, I think we would have done more/seen more.

 

[sayhello]

I do crunch the numbers pretty seriously when evaluating an ABD trip. We didn't do the ABD Alaska cruise Add-on (which they later cancelled) because the numbers just didn't add up. I'm having the same issue with the ABD Add on for the Baltics, which I'm signed up for. I have a long post that I haven't put up about it but probably will at some point.

Do post it! I'm sure it will be of interest to a lot of folks!

Great thread! Sounds like I need to do Greece, SayHello! China is on the list, but the prices keep rising and I shudder to think what it will look like for 2016.

Yes, you *DO* need to do Greece! It's really a fabulous trip! I struggle to decide a favorite between Greece & Scotland. I may give up!

Sayhello

 

[Rapunzellover]

Sigh..... I'm doing Italy and Ireland next year, but this thread is making me anxious to do scotland and greece and germany after hearing all the nice things about those trips.

Thanks a lot you guys. Now I'm going to have to save my pennies to do one of these trips in 2016.

I really appreciate how this board is spending my money for me.

 

[sayhello]

Sigh..... I'm doing Italy and Ireland next year, but this thread is making me anxious to do scotland and greece and germany after hearing all the nice things about those trips.

Thanks a lot you guys. Now I'm going to have to save my pennies to do one of these trips in 2016.

I really appreciate how this board is spending my money for me.

Success!

Sayhello

 

[calypso726]

Chiming in to agree with Calfan and Californiagirl, we were on the same trip. Hands down Scotland was a great value for the money. Now after 3 ABD trips (Scotland, NYC and Knights & Lights) Scotland is still the favorite. There is absolutely no way we could have done a similar itinerary on our own.

Looking forward to our next two ABD trips, Copenhagen pre cruise and San Francisco. I hear San Francisco has some pretty cool exclusive VIP stuff on the itinerary.

 

[Rapunzellover]

San Francisco looks to be a better value than some, as does Nashville. I think, in terms of the long weekends, those are better values than New York and the wyoming winter package. More interesting and VIP.

I can't justify SF though. Live too close to it.

Nashville, however, is full of VIP stuff that would be great, and probably worth the expense. I'm trying to talk my country music obsessed dad into going with me and taking mom, but he's too scared to fly. And too cheap.

 

[calypso726]

San Francisco looks to be a better value than some, as does Nashville. I think, in terms of the long weekends, those are better values than New York and the wyoming winter package. More interesting and VIP.

I can't justify SF though. Live too close to it.

Nashville, however, is full of VIP stuff that would be great, and probably worth the expense. I'm trying to talk my country music obsessed dad into going with me and taking mom, but he's too scared to fly. And too cheap.

Actually the NYC trip was a good value with regards to the VIP and behind the scenes aspects. I could probably get tickets to see Aladdin on my own, but not front row seats. But I could not have a private tour of the New Amsterdam theater and get to try on costumes from other musicals on my own. Nor would I have been able to get the choreographers to teach me to dance one of the numbers in the musical I could visit the Apollo on my own but there was no way I'd get to go on stage and sing a duet with DH or go backstage afterwards. So for that I do have to say NYC is one of the better values as well.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Must have missed some of that VIP stuff when looking at the itenerary. Didn't look too hard since I'd just booked my own trip when it came out.

Darn it. Now NYC is on my list too. ABD is just a vampire waiting to suck the blood out of my checking account.

 

[Calfan]

Nashville and New York are definitely on my list for long weekend trips. I would also love to do Winter Wonderland and look at it longingly about this time every year, but it is just so darn expensive, and also expensive to get to Jackson Hole. I can't justify San Francisco since we live 20 miles away. Speaking of San Francisco, calypso76, if you and DH have any extra time before, during or after your trip, let CaliforniaGirl and me know. Would be fun to get together while you are in our neck of the woods