Hearing about & deciding upon ABD - Questions

Amunet

Amunet

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 31, 2011
I'm curious about where everyone has heard about ABD and what finally nudged you to take the financial plunge to go? What finally made you decide to turn that dream into a reality?

I think I first heard about ABD during a DVC information session. I have not taken the plunge yet (yes, I'm reading that worth your money thread).

Thank you :flower3:
 
I heard about it by seeing their brochure at AAA. I was looking for a vacation, and the Arizona/Utah trip sounded like exactly what I'd love to do, so I went with it. I knew Disney would have the quality, so I figured it would be a good bet. And it exceeded my expectations, and I've kept going back.

Sayhello
 
I saw it advertised on the WDW resort TV but was never interested until I heard the DIS team do a podcast review on it. We were looking to do a DCL Med cruise in 2012, but DCL skipped that year so we pulled the trigger on a France ABD instead.
 
I guess the credit (blame?) goes to Dreams Unlimited Travel and the DIS Unplugged podcast here. Yes, I was aware of ABD through Disney advertising (probably fed from DVC or AP) but hadn't really looked seriously at it. Once I retired (4 years ago now) I had the extra time to devote to traveling and took the plunge then.
 


I heard about it when they first formed about 12 years ago as I'm a Disney share holder but it took 10 years before I finally took the plunge to take a trip with them. And then it took 2 years and 2 trips for them to push me away to another tour company that offers the level of quality and service I expected from Disney but didn't get.
 
My husband (who never does the travel planning) found it while researching (googling) traveling to Scotland with children. He decided to call and talk to a vacationista. And just like that, Scotland was our first ABD. Of course, the trip was amazing. And we were hooked. On that trip, we made new friends who convinced us to buy into DVC. On our 2nd ABD (Italy/Swizterland), we made new friends who introduced us to Disboards. On Disboards, we found Dreams Unlimited Travel who booked our 3rd ABD...
 


First heard of ABD many years ago on the Magical Express on the video they show between MCO and WDW. Not long after that I received an email highlighting the Costa Rica trip, and I had been wanting to go to Costa Rica, so I booked it.
 
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I got a catalog years ago and used to flip through it hoping we could get together the funds to go. My husband was deployed to Iraq and he came home with a big bonus and we decided to take the plunge. Our son was four and just old enough to go. We went to Greece and were hooked! We are not 'group' travel people or Disney fanatics but the trip was perfect for us. It also allowed us to go to exotic, fun locations with our kiddo. Now, we make it a priority to budget for these trips annually. It has been so worth it for us and we have met wonderful people!
 
Amunet said:
I'm curious about where everyone has heard about ABD and what finally nudged you to take the financial plunge to go? What finally made you decide to turn that dream into a reality?

I think I first heard about ABD during a DVC information session. I have not taken the plunge yet (yes, I'm reading that worth your money thread).

Thank you :flower3:
Click to expand...

I think I saw something on the tv while at WDW years ago. ABD had been a "some day" sort of bucket list item for a few years. Then, when they announced Scotland in 2012 which was already a dream destination for me I decided I had to make it a reality. Getting past the sticker shock was hard and it took a few days to figure out how we'd actually pay for it. While trying to figure out how to afford the trip I discovered travel hacking. Between that and reorganizing the budget we've gone past sticker shock. Now, we plan to do an ABD trip each year. Not worrying about the airfare costs helps a great deal. It wasn't until after the first ABD experience that we understood why it was worth the money.
 
I heard about it while on a completely unrelated walking tour. A young couple on the tour had just returned from an ABD, and they couldn't stop talking about how wonderful it was. At the time, it wasn't an option for us, but when we were able to try it out for ourselves we did.
 
Wow, these are wonderful! I truly appreciate everyone sharing their stories ^_^

It seems that there's quite a range in how people find out.
Well, the desire to travel is there and I love me some Disney, but I think the sticker shock is what keeps me, mostly because I've been in academics for a while (easier to save for WDW or a cruise then a long tour).

Please keep sharing! Your experiences are quite interesting!

acndis said:
!We are not 'group' travel people
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the head for me with this. I've been on Study Abroads but I never really fit in with anyone, probably because I've never been interested in getting 'wasted'. I can't relate to the child part but with the group experience, was it more like people truly cared about the history and cultures they were experiencing?
 
Amunet,
Yes, people are really into the trips and come in with a great attitude.

But, the Disney thing also gives some common ground that helps get conversations started (most have been to the Parks; many are DVC members, etc.).

We went into the Greece trip thinking we would keep to ourselves and break off from the group as much as possible but we really enjoyed the people. I still keep in touch with at least one family from each trip. ABD just attracts really great people. Now, we really prefer the group travel. It helps us from getting on each other's nerves, for one and the friendships my son has made really helped him enjoy the trips so much more.
 
I have not done an ABD yet, though I have a deposit for our family of 8 (4 kids, 11-17, 2 grandparents, dh and I) that I've moved thru two different trips and is now "parked." The back story - after returning from our very awesome DCL Baltic cruise, where I arranged a week in Iceland and Copenhagen on my own, and half of our port excursions, the idea of ABD doing the entire trip for me seemed like a dream. On vacation, I'm the TA/manager/mediator/etc, and I was wanting a vacation for ME. I'd been eyeing ABD's prior, and when the new river cruises were announced, I jumped. Then, income from my business went down, and I decided I couldn't pull the trigger on that much money. We switched to Costa Rica. Then I looked at my two seniors about to graduate and go to college, looked at the type of trip I can do planning myself, and parked the deposit.

So, the idea of someone else doing it all sounds sooo appealing. I'm currently in burnout planning our summer trip to France. With such a large group, we don't typically feel the need to travel with others, but since i'm the activities director for the 8 of us, there's a certain pressure even when it's vacation. The river cruise still looks so good to me.

So I'm torn. Dh and I have talked about just doing one ourselves, to offset the ginormous cost, but we really like traveling with the kids. I suspect once we go, we'd love it.
 
There is definitely sticker shock with ABD. I remember being hesitant about spending that much on one trip, that is was too much, too decadent. I was also worried that because of the price point that we would feel out of place with other people on the trip.
But the Scotland ABD was beckoning....we just weren't likely to cover that much ground with two kids in Scotland on our own (or get to canoe on Loch Ness!).
The trip was just wonderful and the fellow adventurers were great. The folks were ...normal, lol. The adventurers were a fun group who wanted to interact with a new culture, didn't hate children, and were open to sharing the experience with other travelers. We still keep in touch with some families from these trips.
And I agree, Aggiedog, once you go, you will love it. And want to go again...
 
Years ago, I wanted to take my family to a vacation in Yellowstone National Park. I first tried to make lodging reservations myself by contacting the places directly (without going through a travel agent.) It was already late in the spring and everything was booked for the summer. Then I Googled tour companies and found that ABD had trips to Yellowstone. Unfortunately, the ABD trips to Yellowstone were also all booked up, but we spotted one (no longer offered) called something like the Golden West, which went to San Francisco, Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe. We booked this one and had the best vacation ever! The next summer we did the ABD Yellowstone (knowing enough to book earlier), and since then we did ABD trips to London/Paris and Arizona/Utah.

I agree that the ABD trips are a bit pricey, but my wife and I both work and a large part of my job is sweating the details so that everything runs smoothly. I don't mind paying up a bit so that on vacation I can relax and let someone else (like Disney) worry about the details.
 
I can't recall exactly where we first heard about it (probably about 5 years ago) but it quickly became a bucket list trip. When the new itineraries came out in 2013 for the 2014 Adventures, we started going through the catalog as a family. It seemed out of reach but then I asked my husband what he thought of including his parents. That helped us reevaluate what we were willing to spend (we still paid for it ourselves) because it seemed like an amazing opportunity to do a multigenerational trip. The grandparents were thrilled with the idea so we did our first ABD in Central Europe in 2014. We did our 2nd to Costa Rica (without the grandparents) last spring and our third to the Grand Canyon is in a few weeks!
 
My wife and I are long time lovers of WDW with more trips then we could accurately count. We had also cruised many times with other lines but thought that maybe we should try DCL despite the additional costs involved. After doing our first DCL cruise we saw the difference and were hooked. From that point we got to thinking about giving ABD a try, again despite the extra cost comparing to booking trips on our own the DIS Unplugged podcast (and now Dreams Unlimited podcast) finally swayed us to booking our first ABD Peru trip. After doing our first ABD trip we were booked on our next one 48 hours after getting home from that first one. We can't wait for the 2018 dates to be released so we can go ahead and book next years trip.
 
west&east said:
I can't recall exactly where we first heard about it (probably about 5 years ago) but it quickly became a bucket list trip. When the new itineraries came out in 2013 for the 2014 Adventures, we started going through the catalog as a family. It seemed out of reach but then I asked my husband what he thought of including his parents. That helped us reevaluate what we were willing to spend (we still paid for it ourselves) because it seemed like an amazing opportunity to do a multigenerational trip. The grandparents were thrilled with the idea so we did our first ABD in Central Europe in 2014. We did our 2nd to Costa Rica (without the grandparents) last spring and our third to the Grand Canyon is in a few weeks!
Click to expand...


I am on the fence between Costa Rica and Grand Canyon for next summer. My husband and I did the adult exclusive Germany a couple of years ago for an anniversary trip. I am ready to take the plunge and include my 15 year old DS! He has picked these two trips as his choices. Would love to hear your input when you return from your trip. Thanks!!!!
 
We first heard about ABD on Disney's Magical Express on one of our park trips. At the time my kids were too young, but we kept the idea in our heads--especially the Germany trip with the night in a castle.
We finally pulled the trigger in 2014... we had just built a new house, sold our old house, and moved, so I had no energy to plan a trip, but really wanted to get away that summer. We started planning in May and wanted an August trip, so we were very limited in our options. We ended up going with the one trip that fit the dates and still had openings--Scotland. Turned out to be a wonderful trip, and we booked our next trip shortly after we got back. We also didn't think we'd enjoy the group travel experience, but found that we met great people and enjoyed having everything taken care of for us. We have since gone to Galapagos and Peru, and are going to Costa Rica in a little over a week. We also have deposits on Wyoming and Australia.
 
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