scrapbookjulie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2005
Just got back last weekend from our first ABD. It was a great trip. Thought I'd share a few of the details for others considering taking this trip. The travelers are me (45), DH (45), and DD (15).
Arrival Day
We flew in the day before which was fortunate since we had a 7 hour delay. Ugh. The ABD driver was there to meet us. It was easy to find him on our way to the luggage. Took us about an hour to get to the hotel. After we checked in, we walked over to the mall area and ate at Hard Rock Cafe. We pretty quickly realized that Hollywood is not our kind of town, so this will be our one and only visit there. LOL Not a fan of the crowds on the street, the people wearing snakes, the people smoking pot, etc. It's definitely not a place where the "glamorous" celebrities are hanging out. For the record, though, ABD takes you out to Hollywood Blvd at 8am, long before any of the crazies are out of bed. So it's not something that would ruin your official tour experience.
Day 1 - Welcome Dinner
We had the whole day free before meeting our group at dinner, so we spent the day on our own at the Warner Bros Studio tour. Highly recommend this tour. Took us about 3 hours. We just used Uber to get there and back from the hotel.
We checked in with our guides when we got back to get the details for that night's dinner. They were set up at a table on the second floor of the hotel. I really enjoyed both of our guides, Lo and Lori. They were super friendly and knowledgable and welcoming. Made the trip a good one for everybody.
We met for dinner at 5:30. Dinner was upstairs in the hotel. It was a buffet. I am a really picky (plain) eater, so I won't comment much on the food for the trip other than to say my husband always found plenty he liked to eat. I was a little more hit or miss. I didn't starve. But I didn't really enjoy the dinner food.
The dinner was a great time. They strategically sat us at tables with people who we might have something in common with. My DD was with the 16yo girl on the trip, and we also were sitting with grandparents who were with their 9yo granddaughter. I really enjoyed several of the families on our tour. We had fun with the group. Having never done a tour before, I wasn't sure if I'd like that aspect of the trip, but I really did. With DD being an only child, it was nice for her to always have someone besides mom and dad to chat with, whether that be a kid, one of the guides, or even the other adult adventurers. There were 29 people on our tour (20 adults, 9 kids). I felt like this was a perfect size group.
At the dinner, besides eating, we introduced our families and said why we chose that trip. We played a Disney ABC game. (My table won, so we got to go to the buffet first. LOL) We played another game for fun matching the castles to their correct park. We got our first day pin. We also took photos using cute props that the guides had for us.
Speaking of photos, I really liked that part of the trip. I heard a couple people complain that we took too many family photos. But as a scrapbooker, I appreciated that. And I also liked some of the pictures that the guides captured that I wouldn't have been able to...like my family on rides together. Our trip ended Friday, and the photos were posted yesterday (Thursday). There were 1600 photos. I downloaded 110 of them.
In all the other trip reports I've read, there was a surprise group activity after dinner. Our group did NOT have an activity. That was a little disappointing for DD since dinner ended early, and then we had the rest of the night on our own in Hollywood (which we already knew we didn't love.) We went back to the mall for a bit, then we just got some rest which is really necessary for all the early mornings on this trip!
I'll be back later to report on a couple more day's activities. Please let me know if you have any specific questions!
Arrival Day
We flew in the day before which was fortunate since we had a 7 hour delay. Ugh. The ABD driver was there to meet us. It was easy to find him on our way to the luggage. Took us about an hour to get to the hotel. After we checked in, we walked over to the mall area and ate at Hard Rock Cafe. We pretty quickly realized that Hollywood is not our kind of town, so this will be our one and only visit there. LOL Not a fan of the crowds on the street, the people wearing snakes, the people smoking pot, etc. It's definitely not a place where the "glamorous" celebrities are hanging out. For the record, though, ABD takes you out to Hollywood Blvd at 8am, long before any of the crazies are out of bed. So it's not something that would ruin your official tour experience.
Day 1 - Welcome Dinner
We had the whole day free before meeting our group at dinner, so we spent the day on our own at the Warner Bros Studio tour. Highly recommend this tour. Took us about 3 hours. We just used Uber to get there and back from the hotel.
We checked in with our guides when we got back to get the details for that night's dinner. They were set up at a table on the second floor of the hotel. I really enjoyed both of our guides, Lo and Lori. They were super friendly and knowledgable and welcoming. Made the trip a good one for everybody.
We met for dinner at 5:30. Dinner was upstairs in the hotel. It was a buffet. I am a really picky (plain) eater, so I won't comment much on the food for the trip other than to say my husband always found plenty he liked to eat. I was a little more hit or miss. I didn't starve. But I didn't really enjoy the dinner food.
The dinner was a great time. They strategically sat us at tables with people who we might have something in common with. My DD was with the 16yo girl on the trip, and we also were sitting with grandparents who were with their 9yo granddaughter. I really enjoyed several of the families on our tour. We had fun with the group. Having never done a tour before, I wasn't sure if I'd like that aspect of the trip, but I really did. With DD being an only child, it was nice for her to always have someone besides mom and dad to chat with, whether that be a kid, one of the guides, or even the other adult adventurers. There were 29 people on our tour (20 adults, 9 kids). I felt like this was a perfect size group.
At the dinner, besides eating, we introduced our families and said why we chose that trip. We played a Disney ABC game. (My table won, so we got to go to the buffet first. LOL) We played another game for fun matching the castles to their correct park. We got our first day pin. We also took photos using cute props that the guides had for us.
Speaking of photos, I really liked that part of the trip. I heard a couple people complain that we took too many family photos. But as a scrapbooker, I appreciated that. And I also liked some of the pictures that the guides captured that I wouldn't have been able to...like my family on rides together. Our trip ended Friday, and the photos were posted yesterday (Thursday). There were 1600 photos. I downloaded 110 of them.
In all the other trip reports I've read, there was a surprise group activity after dinner. Our group did NOT have an activity. That was a little disappointing for DD since dinner ended early, and then we had the rest of the night on our own in Hollywood (which we already knew we didn't love.) We went back to the mall for a bit, then we just got some rest which is really necessary for all the early mornings on this trip!
I'll be back later to report on a couple more day's activities. Please let me know if you have any specific questions!