Any guess on new itineraries?

[Cousin Orville]

I'll add the France ABD was also changed dramatically after the first year. In the inaugural year, 2012, they went to up to Normandy and then down to the Loire Valley to visit the chateaus in Loire. The next season the Loire Valley (pretty much the 2nd half of the trip) was cut, and it went from 8 days to 6 or 7 days. The Loire Valley was gorgeous and removing it was a huge loss for the trip. The France ABD was recently cancelled altogether. I wouldn't have done the version of the France ABD without the Loire Valley.

I agree about China though. While there was an advantage of starting in Beijing in the old itinerary, I think the new itinerary is even better starting in HK and ending in Shanghai.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I've heard in the past that new adventures come out and the next year they are tweaked... the Scotland one sounds like it was gutted from the way some feel about it. We were going to stay home in 2020, but I am tempted to try to get on one of the later Egypt trips for early 2021 in this release rather than waiting for later in 2021 due to that fear... do you all feel that is grounded? Or am I being ridiculous and any possible gutting would happen much later than after the first year? Heck I am even worried about the early 2021 ones being changed... I really like this sound of it as-is! When did the Iceland trip begin it's modification...?

It's a total guess, but I wouldn't expect Egypt to change much in 2021. The Cairo and River Cruise parts will always be there. They're in pretty much every Egyptian itinerary. I think the only area that could ever be in question is Sharm El-Sheik.

 

[Grifdog22]

I'll echo the points - the reimagined 2017 Australia trip had a full day of OYO at down time at the Gold Coast and an amazing very active day in Byron Bay. Byron Bay was probably our favorite day. This was completely cut out. We were the inaugural trip for this reimagined trip and at least in our group virtually everyone enjoyed the unscheduled day to do one or more of hundreds of opportunities on their own or in small groups (ours was skydiving). Now they have one of the activities that some people did - a speedboat ride for 30 minutes on that previously OYO day, and a tiny kayak paddle in the pool or shallows instead of the Byron Bay adventure. We never would have been able to pull off what they put together in Byron Bay on our own, and the group trip was so much more fun than doing this in a small group.

I have to admit - the Egypt trip hits my bucket list spots and has been a dream since I was in middle school. I was just arranging a new trip to combine the London to Venice Orient Express with a week in Venice (our OYO time in Venice knocked my wife's socks off and she wants to return for more) when this popped up. DW is okay with us doing this instead, but it sounds like we'll end up with maxed out groups again...not sure I want to pull the trigger with this much demand...but don't want them to mess it up a la Australia, Scotland or France later. We intended to do Scotland and France until they made the changes. Again, we often think we are no longer the market they seek - DW thinks that market is now the Wall-E scooter passengers on the ship from earth...decisions decisions....

Admittedly, it's nice to have these problems and decisions to deal with, and I do have more confidence in the Disney brand for safety and security than in others...I watched how quickly they modified the Costa Rica trip after their vendor had a plane accident...much to think about.

 

[sayhello]

I'll echo the points - the reimagined 2017 Australia trip had a full day of OYO at down time at the Gold Coast and an amazing very active day in Byron Bay. Byron Bay was probably our favorite day. This was completely cut out. We were the inaugural trip for this reimagined trip and at least in our group virtually everyone enjoyed the unscheduled day to do one or more of hundreds of opportunities on their own or in small groups (ours was skydiving). Now they have one of the activities that some people did - a speedboat ride for 30 minutes on that previously OYO day, and a tiny kayak paddle in the pool or shallows instead of the Byron Bay adventure. We never would have been able to pull off what they put together in Byron Bay on our own, and the group trip was so much more fun than doing this in a small group.

This makes me sad, because I was holding off on Australia to do as my retirement trip, when I could spend a good long time in that area. I'll have to see what looks good when I get to that point.

Again, we often think we are no longer the market they seek - DW thinks that market is now the Wall-E scooter passengers on the ship from earth...decisions decisions....

(PS, what an amazing analogy! Your wife is brilliant!)

Admittedly, it's nice to have these problems and decisions to deal with, and I do have more confidence in the Disney brand for safety and security than in others...I watched how quickly they modified the Costa Rica trip after their vendor had a plane accident...much to think about.

Amen!!

Sayhello

 

[Calfan]

DW thinks that market is now the Wall-E scooter passengers on the ship from earth...decisions decisions....

OMG! This just cracked me up because in my opinion it is so so true and the main reason we have essentially stopped doing ABDs in favor of smaller group trips. I am really surprising myself by planning to book Egypt, but this is one place where I would really like Disney behind me and where I think being in a larger group might be a benefit.

 

[acndis]

OMG! This just cracked me up because in my opinion it is so so true and the main reason we have essentially stopped doing ABDs in favor of smaller group trips. I am really surprising myself by planning to book Egypt, but this is one place where I would really like Disney behind me and where I think being in a larger group might be a benefit.

Once again, Grifdog nails it. That's what I have seen: the more active parts of the adventure cut for more touring, crafting, sitting. We love ABD for the active portions. That's what made them special. Egypt seems to have a really good mix of this (of course, it's based on an older itinerary) so we were sucked back in but are dead set on doing it the first year. (I just sent my TA another Plan B date in case our first choice fills immediately!)

 

[kaseyC]

That's what appealed to me about the ABD Egypt tour, it seems this one is a bit more similar to some of the past adventures with the less on your own time.

As I started looking at more of the Egypt options out there to compare to ABD, I came across Uniworld River Cruises who will have a new river cruise ship sailing the Nile in 2020, the S.S. Sphinx. Theirs is a 12 day all inclusive itinerary with 8 days cruising the Nile. Looks interesting and in the same price range as ABD.
https://www.uniworld.com/en/river-c...rs-of-egypt-and-the-nile/2020-cairo-to-cairo/

 

[sayhello]

That's what appealed to me about the ABD Egypt tour, it seems this one is a bit more similar to some of the past adventures with the less on your own time.

I have to think that part of that is that this isn't a part of the world where it's safe yet to wander around on your own outside of Cairo or the Resort at Sharm El Sheikh. But it does make it nice to have more activities.

Sayhello

 

[pinksand]

It's a total guess, but I wouldn't expect Egypt to change much in 2021. The Cairo and River Cruise parts will always be there. They're in pretty much every Egyptian itinerary. I think the only area that could ever be in question is Sharm El-Sheik.

The only question I have - I wonder if it's possible ABD could add on Petra in the future? I'd love to see that too, and Petra/Egypt tours are a frequent combo.

 

[Cousin Orville]

The only question I have - I wonder if it's possible ABD could add on Petra in the future? I'd love to see that too, and Petra/Egypt tours are a frequent combo.

They'd have to overcome some issues - more days, more countries, Jordan requires a Visa, Petra isn't near a major airport. My DW and I spent a week in Jordan on our own and loved it. Jordan's pretty easy. Everyone was super friendly. You could fly to Amman (as we did) or Aqaba before the ABD and spend a few days in the country. In addition to Petra, I'd recommend Wadi Rum. There's a lot of stuff in Jordan from Jerash to the Dead Sea, but Wadi Rum is not to be missed!

 

[pinksand]

They'd have to overcome some issues - more days, more countries, Jordan requires a Visa, Petra isn't near a major airport. My DW and I spent a week in Jordan on our own and loved it. Jordan's pretty easy. Everyone was super friendly. You could fly to Amman (as we did) or Aqaba before the ABD and spend a few days in the country. In addition to Petra, I'd recommend Wadi Rum. There's a lot of stuff in Jordan from Jerash to the Dead Sea, but Wadi Rum is not to be missed!

Thanks for the tips, Cuz!
BTW, your long South Africa trip report really helped me prep for my own SA ABD trip this past October, so thank you for that as well!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I’m now planning to book for my DD as well as me. She will be 18.

Did you get the Dec dates? We were only able to get on the waitlist, unfortunately.

 

[Calfan]

Did you get the Dec dates? We were only able to get on the waitlist, unfortunately.

We did! I'm waiting to get the actual confirm from my TA, though, to see if we got the EBD. I can't believe how quickly that trip sold out!! I'm curious as to how quickly the other dates are selling and whether ABD might add more trip dates like they did for Japan...