And no, it’s not at a theme park!
Looking for a hassle-free, culturally immersive adventure with your family? Adventures by Disney has your ticket to explore. Adventures by Disney just announced that the company will be adding three new and exciting destinations to their offerings for 2024: Morocco, Colombia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Why is this noteworthy? According to a recent trend report from Hilton, “Families are looking for experiences and innovations [in 2023] that take the friction out of travel.” The report also found that people are turning to travel for “deeper, more engaging, human experiences and connections.” As a parent, I can fully attest to wanting all of these things from a family trip—there’s so much stress in our daily lives that on my dream vacation, I want to be able to engage and connect with my family and the destination in a meaningful, hassle-free way.
I found that this was all possible on a trip with Adventures by Disney, and with the new itineraries, travelers can now join ABD on more than 40 trips. Current options include an Arctic Expedition Cruise (one of their new offerings for 2023), a Rhine River cruise during the holidays, a safari in South Africa, or a New Zealand adventure (the itinerary was just updated for 2024).
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INSIDER TIPABD trips have no more than 40 people—often about 10 families. At no time did our trip feel crowded or overwhelming. But, if that’s too many for you, there’s also the option to book a private family adventure—ABD offers 10 Private Adventures itineraries including Peru and South Africa.
You would think that as a person working in the travel industry, planning family vacations would be a piece of cake for me, but truthfully, I find it all very stressful. I worry that we haven’t properly packed. I worry about my kids—will they be engaged or will they just be mopey longing for their electronics? I worry that my husband and I won’t be able to relax or have time together. I worry that we’ll come home needing a vacation from our vacation and from each other. I even worry about the itinerary itself. Will we miss a flight, and what happens if we do? Did I make the right reservations for that special tour or that once-in-a-lifetime exhibit? It seems I’m not alone. According to an online survey commissioned by Passport-photo.com, of the more than 1,000 Americans who responded, 66% said that creating an itinerary is the most daunting pre-travel activity. And 41% said that traveling with family members (including children) was stressful.
On our recent trip with Adventures by Disney—we did the 8-day/7-night Family Vacation and Machu Picchu tour—I didn’t have to worry about the planning, the logistics, or the dinner reservations. In fact, I didn’t even have to worry about taking photos (but more on that later). All of these things that usually stress me out were taken care of by people who know how to provide a seamless trip. I was able to relax and enjoy being with my family and truly experience the amazing things we were seeing/doing, like visiting Machu Picchu.
Sure, this stressless travel is probably the case with most pre-arranged tours, but what these other operators don’t have is the appropriately named Adventure Guides. I believe these amazing people are what truly make an Adventures by Disney trip magical—and what’s a Disney vacation without a little magic?
There are two guides per trip: one from the destination being visited (who speaks the language and knows the local culture) and one from the U.S. While one is introducing you to the site at hand, the other is making sure that everyone has water, a snack, sunscreen, or a bathroom. The guides keep the group well-informed, well-hydrated, well-fed, and in good spirits. They keep everyone on schedule without making you feel rushed, and they listen and look after you. It’s like you’re traveling with your own fairy godmother. On our first night I asked our guides (Armando and Rudy) for recommendations for candy bars to look out for (it’s a fun travel tradition for my family) and a few hours later, a bag of hand-picked treats showed up at our door. Despite the fact that I told my children to bring hats, they didn’t. The intense near-the-equator sun was so bright that I caved and went to buy them, only to realize I didn’t have cash. Luckily, Armando materialized and loaned me the needed funds to save the day.
Each place we went, our guides surprised us with thoughtful mementos from the day’s adventures (Peruvian popcorn made from huge Peruvian corn kernels we saw in the market or tiny llama key chains after we visited the llama farm). I treasure these thoughtful tokens. Even more priceless were the amazing gallery of photos that the guides took during our trip (which we received digitally at the end of the trip)–another thing we didn’t have to worry about. And, the guides always knew the perfect pose for the occasion or perfect spot for the perfect shot.
The guides were great with all age groups. Many ABD trips have multi-generational families as well as those without kids. Our fearless leaders simultaneously made sure that the mother-daughter travel team felt comfortable and safe while keeping the kids and parents engaged. As any parent knows, it’s not easy to bring a group of kids together who’ve never met and get them to bond, especially in a limited amount of time. But our guides had our motley crew of kid travelers performing skits together, dining together, and sitting together on the bus, allowing the adults to relax a bit and enjoy themselves—and then there was the guide-hosted kids-only night that allowed the parents to dine alone. Our guides told stories (instead of reading a script) and kept our group engaged, interested, and laughing (no small feat when you had three generations to contend with). Our tour group had so much fun interacting together and with the guides, all facilitated by our leaders. would I travel with Adventures by Disney again? Faster than you can say Mickey Mouse.