DCPhotoGal
Photographer and Mom to 2 Princesses
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2011
And outside of the travel blog, wanted to share my thoughts on the trip:
*The ABD Australia trip is amazing I highly recommend it. It covers so much ground, from the big city, to the sheep farm, to the desert, to the beaches, to the rainforest and into the reef. There are such amazing plants and animals there and the people are so nice to Americans.
*Our guides, Kacey and Suzanne, were top-notch. I know there were a few changes necessary to our itinerary along the way due to it being a holiday, and they handled everything seemlessly and spun it all in such a positive way. They also were great about giving the parents breaks and helping to manage the children on the trip, and they made my daughter's birthday (which happened on the trip) very special.
*From reading the trip report from this past summer, I see that the time of year you take this trip will change your experiences. We traveled during the Australian summer so we missed the whales and got flies in Uluru and jellyfish in the GBR. The wildlife was also a little harder to spot for us because they too were hiding from the heat in shady spots. But our nighttime star gazing was much more pleasant, as was the morning camel ride, because we had warmer temperatures, and we didn't have to wear wetsuits for kayaking, or worry about being cold in any of our water activities. So I think there are pluses and minus to both seasons, but you should consider the time of year you book and which you prefer.
*Having a small group for the trip also has it's pluses and minuses. I like larger groups so that there are more people who you can spend time with and meet along the trip. You also have a better chance your children will each find a buddy to hang out with. But having a small group definitely made us feel very VIP along the way, as we had a lot of places all to ourselves and there were only 14 of us. We also didn't spend any extra time waiting for people who were late, which was nice.
*I recommend this trip for mostly older kids/teens, and would increase the minimum age. We had a 5-year-old on this trip. His parents had been on an ABD before, so they were great with him and very respectful about making sure the teenagers on the trip didn't end up as his babysitters. We really enjoyed having all of them with us, but my impression was that he was pretty worn out by the second half of the trip. I think it's too intense of a schedule for younger kids. Even my 12-year-old was struggling to keep it together by day 9. Disney did add some on-your-own time by that part of the trip, and even with that some of the kids just were exhausted. My 14-year-old seemed to be at about the right age to keep up.
*The hotel with laundry in Palm Cove is a great bonus. It was so nice to be able to pack half of the stuff I normally would, knowing that I could wash mid-trip. This also helped with the strict luggage weight limits on the internal flights. And they are serious about the weight limits. The bags do get weighed.
*This trip had a lot of flying time. For us there were 8 flights total. 2 to get to Sydney (IAD-LAX-SYD), three internal flights as part of the trip, and then 3 flights to get home (Brisbane/SYD/San Diego/IAD). I highly recommend window seats whenever you can request them since the views for the Australia flights are nice. It you hate flying, this might be a hard trip. The flights from the US to Australia are very long.
*Holding a koala is something I will never forget and definitely a highlight of the trip. This wasn't part of the itinerary--I wish Disney would add it in, but if they don't I highly recommend doing it in the Koala Gardens on your own like our whole group did. The other wildlife on this trip was amazing to see too, like the kangaroos and all of the birds.
*This is a steak and fish intensive trip in terms of food. They were great with food allergies. I have a shellfish allergy, and for many meals I had separate plates just for me to ensure that I wouldn't have any problems. There were also vegetarian options available along the way.
*There is something really unique about celebrating Christmas in another country. It was so interesting to see how they celebrated there vs in the US. Christmas in the summer was definitely a new concept for us.
*Sydney is crazy expensive. The rest of the trip prices go down for sure. The favorable exchange rate helps a bit. And they take credit cards or Apple Pay everywhere. Even in the craft markets and fast food. We really didn't need any of the cash we had gotten.
*The ABD Australia trip is amazing I highly recommend it. It covers so much ground, from the big city, to the sheep farm, to the desert, to the beaches, to the rainforest and into the reef. There are such amazing plants and animals there and the people are so nice to Americans.
*Our guides, Kacey and Suzanne, were top-notch. I know there were a few changes necessary to our itinerary along the way due to it being a holiday, and they handled everything seemlessly and spun it all in such a positive way. They also were great about giving the parents breaks and helping to manage the children on the trip, and they made my daughter's birthday (which happened on the trip) very special.
*From reading the trip report from this past summer, I see that the time of year you take this trip will change your experiences. We traveled during the Australian summer so we missed the whales and got flies in Uluru and jellyfish in the GBR. The wildlife was also a little harder to spot for us because they too were hiding from the heat in shady spots. But our nighttime star gazing was much more pleasant, as was the morning camel ride, because we had warmer temperatures, and we didn't have to wear wetsuits for kayaking, or worry about being cold in any of our water activities. So I think there are pluses and minus to both seasons, but you should consider the time of year you book and which you prefer.
*Having a small group for the trip also has it's pluses and minuses. I like larger groups so that there are more people who you can spend time with and meet along the trip. You also have a better chance your children will each find a buddy to hang out with. But having a small group definitely made us feel very VIP along the way, as we had a lot of places all to ourselves and there were only 14 of us. We also didn't spend any extra time waiting for people who were late, which was nice.
*I recommend this trip for mostly older kids/teens, and would increase the minimum age. We had a 5-year-old on this trip. His parents had been on an ABD before, so they were great with him and very respectful about making sure the teenagers on the trip didn't end up as his babysitters. We really enjoyed having all of them with us, but my impression was that he was pretty worn out by the second half of the trip. I think it's too intense of a schedule for younger kids. Even my 12-year-old was struggling to keep it together by day 9. Disney did add some on-your-own time by that part of the trip, and even with that some of the kids just were exhausted. My 14-year-old seemed to be at about the right age to keep up.
*The hotel with laundry in Palm Cove is a great bonus. It was so nice to be able to pack half of the stuff I normally would, knowing that I could wash mid-trip. This also helped with the strict luggage weight limits on the internal flights. And they are serious about the weight limits. The bags do get weighed.
*This trip had a lot of flying time. For us there were 8 flights total. 2 to get to Sydney (IAD-LAX-SYD), three internal flights as part of the trip, and then 3 flights to get home (Brisbane/SYD/San Diego/IAD). I highly recommend window seats whenever you can request them since the views for the Australia flights are nice. It you hate flying, this might be a hard trip. The flights from the US to Australia are very long.
*Holding a koala is something I will never forget and definitely a highlight of the trip. This wasn't part of the itinerary--I wish Disney would add it in, but if they don't I highly recommend doing it in the Koala Gardens on your own like our whole group did. The other wildlife on this trip was amazing to see too, like the kangaroos and all of the birds.
*This is a steak and fish intensive trip in terms of food. They were great with food allergies. I have a shellfish allergy, and for many meals I had separate plates just for me to ensure that I wouldn't have any problems. There were also vegetarian options available along the way.
*There is something really unique about celebrating Christmas in another country. It was so interesting to see how they celebrated there vs in the US. Christmas in the summer was definitely a new concept for us.
*Sydney is crazy expensive. The rest of the trip prices go down for sure. The favorable exchange rate helps a bit. And they take credit cards or Apple Pay everywhere. Even in the craft markets and fast food. We really didn't need any of the cash we had gotten.