Is anyone getting through?

[DizMagic]

1 hour 55 mins and counting... and i am not even trying to book Egypt!

 

[BetaCygni]

I was on hold for 2 hours, but we got our first choice: Greece Oct 9, 2020 with the early booking discount!
We'll be watching for trip reports on Egypt. That is definitely on our radar.

 

[lpm23]

Finally got through just after two hours. Hang in there. Booked Montana with early booking discount. They mentioned most Egypt were full.

 

[laceltris3]

.

 

[sayhello]

It's really kind of weird not being a part of the frenzy this time!!

Just saw on FB that the December Egypt trip filled up in 13 mins and is now at waitlist.

Actually, I shouldn't be surprised. Christmas in Egypt is probably pretty attractive.

Unfortunately, my TA was unable to book the 10/20/20 date for us. She said she could get late September/early October, but those are quarter end/begin dates that affect my husband's job. Needless to say, we are really disappointed. Maybe 2021 will be better. We will keep our DCL Star Wars Day at Sea cruise that would have been canceled had Egypt panned out for us.

So sorry you didn't get your date! Maybe they'll add another date in that time range like they did for Japan.

Make that 12 on this thread on the October 20 date. I am embarrassed to admit that I called at 8 and got right through, and she said we were the first for the 10/20 date with EBD. DW and I debated last night at length whether to do this trip or not, and Cousin Orville's comments to my concerns rang true and we decided to take the leap. Until last night we wanted the opening first date, and realized it was over Ramadan, so 10/20 became our date. Then this morning the prices had gone up for that opening date before booking opened - perhaps they also realized the issues with getting lunch for a group...

We are delighted to be traveling with this group.

Congrats! So glad there's such a big group of DISers on that trip! That should be fun!

That is just insane about the December trip filling in 13 minutes!!! My TA miraculously got me and DD booked for that one! Looks like we got a rate of $7,849 per person (I'm still waiting for the actual confirm, but I see a charge on my cc for the deposit), which I don't think was EBD but is lower than the current non-red price showing for that date. I should have screenshotted the prices on the website before bookings opened. So sorry for those that wanted that date but are waitlisted. I wonder if folks will start bailing when they find out they didn't get EBD. I also wonder if ABD will add dates like they did with Japan....

Some people will probably bail before the 14 days for the deposit are up, and as you say, might bail if they didn't get the EBD. It would be worth it to waitlist. Congrats on getting this trip!

Sayhello

 

[pinksand]

Well, we...weren't as fortunate. Does anyone have any experience with getting in from the waitlist? Also, did someone say they added Japan trips when they sold out? Would love any helpful advice; was going for Egypt 2021 dates.

 

[BluesTraveler]

I am happy for all of you who got through!

For me, however, this just reinforces how little interest I have in indulging ABD's business practices.

I agree with this! I find today's frenzy fascinating when there are so many other options for this kind of travel. (But, that's probably like telling a Yankees fan that she could always go to a Mets game if the Yankees are sold out.) Disney's brand loyalty is definitely its super power.

I'm so glad so many people here have gotten their first choices, and I'm so doubly glad that we are not participating in the process!!

 

[Rapunzellover]

Got my EBD for Scotland... I'm doing it a second time cause the revised itinerary hits a lot of things I wanted to do the first time. Have Egypt on radar for 2021. I am waitlisted for this year though (two different dates) so depending on what happens with that, I may change Scotland for Egypt. But I kinda don't like the idea of being on the first year of a trip where bugs are being worked out. Especially a place like Egypt.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

I agree with this! I find today's frenzy fascinating when there are so many other options for this kind of travel. (But, that's probably like telling a Yankees fan that she could always go to a Mets game if the Yankees are sold out.) Disney's brand loyalty is definitely its super power.

Normally my TA books my ABD trips, but she is vacationing herself this week. I spent an hour on hold this morning, like many others apparently, to be told the trip I wanted (Egypt, naturally) was full. My last call to ABD prior to this was to reserve my excursions for our Rhine River Cruise, for which I also waited 45 minutes on hold. Egypt would have been our 6th ABD, but I'm feeling pretty soured on Disney lately. We have had great experiences traveling with ABD, but for the amount of money each trip costs, I'm disappointed in the customer service.
I will be taking a Backroads trip with a friend in a few weeks, and want to begin researching other options for family travel in the future. Although our kids (23, 18 & 15) would be content to continue with Disney, they are aging into new opportunities. What are the "other options" that you like to use for this kind of travel? We are not especially Disney people, we are travel people who found that ABD was a great choice for our (then) young family.

 

[BluesTraveler]

Normally my TA books my ABD trips, but she is vacationing herself this week. I spent an hour on hold this morning, like many others apparently, to be told the trip I wanted (Egypt, naturally) was full. My last call to ABD prior to this was to reserve my excursions for our Rhine River Cruise, for which I also waited 45 minutes on hold. Egypt would have been our 6th ABD, but I'm feeling pretty soured on Disney lately. We have had great experiences traveling with ABD, but for the amount of money each trip costs, I'm disappointed in the customer service.
I will be taking a Backroads trip with a friend in a few weeks, and want to begin researching other options for family travel in the future. Although our kids (23, 18 & 15) would be content to continue with Disney, they are aging into new opportunities. What are the "other options" that you like to use for this kind of travel? We are not especially Disney people, we are travel people who found that ABD was a great choice for our (then) young family.

Tons of good discussion on the Other Options thread and definitely recommend you read through that. Also, you will love Backroads! We traveled with them last fall on a hiking trip to Arizona and just booked a February Galapagos ocean cruise with them. We are the same - travel people who found ABD. I don't know what we'll do next summer. It really is better for us to book trips 6-8 months out rather than 12-14 months out, so we'll start researching for next summer's trip in the fall.

 

[distravel]

Unfortunately, my TA was unable to book the 10/20/20 date for us. She said she could get late September/early October, but those are quarter end/begin dates that affect my husband's job. Needless to say, we are really disappointed. Maybe 2021 will be better. We will keep our DCL Star Wars Day at Sea cruise that would have been canceled had Egypt panned out for us.

Chirpie,

I hope you put yourself on the waitlist. My travel agent called at 8am and was able to get us the reservation for October 20 Egypt trip but could not get the Early booking discount. I have been on 6 ABD vacations and have been very loyal to the ABD brand as every vacation we have taken has been fabulous but this business practice of restricting the discount to the Callers who happen to get picked for the que a fraction of a second earlier reminds me of Walmart on Black Friday. Plus, they allow thousands of cruise customers and DVC members ( btw we are DVC members too) to book on the same day as prior ABD customers. They really don’t value repeat ABD clients so I will most likely cancel my reservation. I hope you get it.

When I found out that I didn’t get the EBD I booked the last spot on the November 1, 2020 Tauck Egypt vacation which is actually a little more expensive than ABD but at least everyone paid the same price.

I will take a few days to mull all of this over then cancel one of the reservations.

Congratulations to all of you who got what you wanted.

 

[Chirple]

@distravel, thank you for the suggestion. At this point we've resigned ourselves to 2021 and will wait to see how next year's trips turn out for those lucky enough to book them. I realized that I am not just disappointed but also sad that we didn't get our date. Then I look at the bright side and figure that there's a reason why it wasn't meant to be in 2020. Now that I know the EBD only applies to a select few per trip I have learned to temper my expectations and excitement for the future.

 

[Donalyn]

@distravel, thank you for the suggestion. At this point we've resigned ourselves to 2021 and will wait to see how next year's trips turn out for those lucky enough to book them. I realized that I am not just disappointed but also sad that we didn't get our date. Then I look at the bright side and figure that there's a reason why it wasn't meant to be in 2020. Now that I know the EBD only applies to a select few per trip I have learned to temper my expectations and excitement for the future.

Tempering expectations - yes, good advice! I was very annoyed last year not to get the EBD because for a family of 4, that equates to real money. But for future trips, the goal will be to get the opening, non-EBD price. That seems realistic, unless you are going for the hot new trip or have very limited dates you can travel.

We aren't doing an ABD (or any group trip) for 2020 (because I'm not yet an insider until after we travel next month), so I didn't have to participate in the craziness that was this morning. Hope everyone survived and is generally happy with how things ended up.

 

[laceltris3]

I guess what bothers me most is that this frenzy is entirely manufactured by ABD's reveal and their pricing policies: the limited number of EBDs and the dynamic pricing, along with their less than helpful trip scheduling policies. So hundreds of people end up wasting collective hours on hold with entirely unnecessary stress.

When Tauck rolled out the new Portugal river cruise, I got a sheet in the mail, before it was finalized and priced. I booked it, and then decided that the dates really didn't work for us, so I called to switch to the Siene, which had also not been priced. No hold time ever. I got an email when it priced and the itinerary was final and had 2 weeks to cancel for a full refund. The benefit of calling before it is priced is that I could pick my room really early. When I did Ireland, they had trips scheduled for every other week. When one filled up, then they started scheduling trips in the alternate weeks. I would never sign up for a wait list. I know they can open up, but I like to have certainty in advance because I troll for air fare for a long time.

I don't mean to complain, as I truly do love this board. And I am desperately looking forward to our ABD Danube river cruise next month (which we booked on opening day because I was desperate to get the connecting rooms of 2 and 3, and EBD. Fortunately the frenzy was over the Siene that day).

 

[upbeatred]

My daughter and I have been on three ABD trips, all excellent. However, we decided to give Abercrombie and Kent a try for Egypt. This was prior to ABD even announcing their trip. It is a great option, and they limit their groups to 18. We are also doing a Petra add on in Jordan. Just an option for those of you that did not get on the trip. Of course we are both adults. We are going in March of 2020. We are eager to see how the trip compares.

 

[CaliKris]

This is exactly why I avoid Black Friday shopping like the plague. ABD needs to completely overhaul their opening day process.

We did not get our May or February ABD dates for Egypt. This is beyond frustrating and disappointing. Our son is in finance and has restrictions with quarter end and month end so we had limited choices. Dreams Unlimited has assured us they are working to have more dates added. But will those dates work for us? Maybe Will the price go up? Certainly.

We have placed a deposit with Scenic Cruises who runs Nat Geo's trips. We will not have the Nat Geo expert, but we will have everything else the same. Five star hotels, luxury river boat, max of 32 people--all for much cheaper than ABD. They offered us $1000 off per person (we are four people) or free economy airfare.

If ABD dates become available, we may book with ABD. Not because of their mis-managed office or less than stellar pre-trip customer service. It will be because we love the ABD guides and the people who tend to travel on these trips.

I don't know why I am loyal to ABD. I am starting to feel like an abused spouse who continues to stay with someone even though they are mistreated and unfaithful.

Sorry if I am being a Debbie downer. This just stinks!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I don't know why I am loyal to ABD. I am starting to feel like an abused spouse who continues to stay with someone even though they are mistreated and unfaithful.

Yes, this.

 

[MiddKid]

1:59 On hold this morning. This is our first ABD trip. My wife, me, and 3 daughters (15, 12, 9)...we're going to give the Norway trip a go. So little information about this trip online...fingers crossed!

 

[sayhello]

1:59 On hold this morning. This is our first ABD trip. My wife, me, and 3 daughters (15, 12, 9)...we're going to give the Norway trip a go. So little information about this trip online...fingers crossed!

The people I know who have taken the Norway trip have really loved it! Congrats!

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

This is exactly why I avoid Black Friday shopping like the plague. ABD needs to completely overhaul their opening day process.

We did not get our May or February ABD dates for Egypt. This is beyond frustrating and disappointing. Our son is in finance and has restrictions with quarter end and month end so we had limited choices. Dreams Unlimited has assured us they are working to have more dates added. But will those dates work for us? Maybe Will the price go up? Certainly.

We have placed a deposit with Scenic Cruises who runs Nat Geo's trips. We will not have the Nat Geo expert, but we will have everything else the same. Five star hotels, luxury river boat, max of 32 people--all for much cheaper than ABD. They offered us $1000 off per person (we are four people) or free economy airfare.

If ABD dates become available, we may book with ABD. Not because of their mis-managed office or less than stellar pre-trip customer service. It will be because we love the ABD guides and the people who tend to travel on these trips.

I don't know why I am loyal to ABD. I am starting to feel like an abused spouse who continues to stay with someone even though they are mistreated and unfaithful.

Sorry if I am being a Debbie downer. This just stinks!

I'm currently on a British Isles cruise and found out that my Dreams agent was unable to get us on the December 2020 Egypt trip. I pretty much ditto everything you said. The opening day policy is ridiculous. The fact that they advertise "early booking discounts" and only have 4 spaces is really shifty marketing and does not reflect well on the brand. I also think they should give repeat ABDers a leg up over cruisers and DVC. The whole thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth.