Just back at 3am this morning. I will try and do a brief trip report of our adventure. First off I have to say that those who recommended staying in Phoenix the night before the adventure began THANK YOU!. A few weeks before our trip I decided that didn't want to get up at 3am to catch a 5:30 flight to Phoenix and be worried about travel delays and not meeting up with the group. So I re-booked our flight and got a one night stay at the
https://www.druryhotels.com/locations/phoenix-az/Drury-Inn-and-Suites-Phoenix-Airport. Well worth the investment. We arrived at 9:30PM their time which was midnight for us, but i was able to sleep pretty good and wake to a breakfast buffet. I was refreshed and ready to meet the tour that first day and not feel stressed. Turns out the guides also stay there the night before too(I found out later). They have an airport shuttle that is free 24 hrs a day. I did not reserve a pick up or delivery but it was still off season. If you do use this service, I suggest calling and confirming both. We had them bring us back to baggage claim by 11 am. We met our guides Doug and Landon and had lunch at the airport until the rest of our group arrived. This was an adults only adventure and while we are all over 18, some were barely over 18 and some were in their 70's but that didn't matter, we had a great group of Adventurers. Once we assembled we met our Coach Driver - Dena. She was GREAT and if you are going this summer, you will have her, she is booked for this tour through August. Doug and Landon are great guides but we also had Lorraine and Samantha as shadow guides since they will be guides starting next week. They will not be together but I think Samantha will be with Doug. Not sure about Lorraine.
Not sure if I should post a trip report here or someplace else but suffice to say that Mark and I felt that it was probably
the best vacation ever. Our guides were GREAT,the resorts were awesome and while the places we visited were a dream come true for us, part of that was made more special because we spent it with new friends we met on the tour. I remember booking this trip, pricing out everything on our own, even staying at those resorts etc, some food and extras and the price was of course lower but not by that much. One thing you can't put a price on is the weariness from driving all over creation. Knowing where to go, getting yourself there and moving luggage around, all those little things that you have to do yourself but you don't have to with Disney. The hardest part of this vacation and the only thing required is show up on time for the next part of the tour. For me being on East Coast time, that was never a factor. The local guides they bring in to share their local knowledge is a great part of the tour.
Because of family issues recently, I know if I hadn't booked through Disney I probably would have cancelled this trip. BUT, with Disney you lose everything(with no travel insurance) so the family survived without us for a week and we got a much deserved vacation from Stress and Conflict.
If you have any hesitation about this trip, as my husband said to me many months ago - just pull the trigger and book it. So I did. It was life-changing for us.
I will try to answer any questions you have but remember, ours was an adult only tour so I have no idea about trip with children. I'm sure they are a little different.
denise