Australia in December Trip Report

[DCPhotoGal]

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.

 

[BluesTraveler]

Loved this report. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it!

 

[Tsunami]

*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.

I’m going to comment more about the trip in general once I get home and get myself together, but your comments are spot on, and I found this one especially true. My 10 year old son has some special needs (which Disney knew about in advance and were fairly good at working through) and the combination of long flights, many very early wake-ups + junky foods and snacks resulted in some dysregulation. My 12 year old did better, but was also tired by Day 9.

We have travelled on other group trips where there was a lot of moving around, but this one was more extensive due to the nature of Australia, and just trip itself was more “commercial.”

More later on all of this as we had a couple other families we got to know (both with older kids) and they were not impressed with ABD on this trip in comparison to their experiences with other companies or even on other ABD trips.

Australia is absolutely stunning, however, and we had a great time overall.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

More later on all of this as we had a couple other families we got to know (both with older kids) and they were not impressed with ABD on this trip in comparison to their experiences with other companies or even on other ABD trips.

Australia is absolutely stunning, however, and we had a great time overall.

Wow, interesting. Looking forward to hearing more specifics.

OP thanks for the great trip report. Looks like you had an amazing trip.

 

[acndis]

We are just finishing our last day today! What a great trip. Get here as soon as you can. I won’t write a trip report because Grifdog and DCPhotoGal have done such a great job. I will write a summary and tell you about New Zealand and our upcoming post days in Hawaii. I am also happy to answer any questions.

We did love meeting Tsunami and her family. They are awesome. I will agree with her that there was some dissenting opinions in our group about the trip. For us, it is exactly what we expected and we loved it!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

We are just finishing our last day today! What a great trip. Get here as soon as you can. I won’t write a trip report because Grifdog and DCPhotoGal have done such a great job. I will write a summary and tell you about New Zealand and our upcoming post days in Hawaii. I am also happy to answer any questions.

We did love meeting Tsunami and her family. They are awesome. I will agree with her that there was some dissenting opinions in our group about the trip. For us, it is exactly what we expected and we loved it!

How many travelers were in your group? Was is also small like ours?

 

[acndis]

How many travelers were in your group? Was is also small like ours?

We had 28. It was a very nice, manageable size.

 

[BluesTraveler]

We are just finishing our last day today! What a great trip. Get here as soon as you can. I won’t write a trip report because Grifdog and DCPhotoGal have done such a great job. I will write a summary and tell you about New Zealand and our upcoming post days in Hawaii. I am also happy to answer any questions.

We did love meeting Tsunami and her family. They are awesome. I will agree with her that there was some dissenting opinions in our group about the trip. For us, it is exactly what we expected and we loved it!

I will be interested to know what the other opinions are. People are so different in their travel habits/expectations, sometimes you read a complaint, and you think, "oh, that wouldn't bother me at all," but sometimes you read one and you think, "yes, that would be an issue for me, too, I'd better think twice about that one."

 

[acndis]

I will be interested to know what the other opinions are. People are so different in their travel habits/expectations, sometimes you read a complaint, and you think, "oh, that wouldn't bother me at all," but sometimes you read one and you think, "yes, that would be an issue for me, too, I'd better think twice about that one."

So true! My perception was a lot of the complaints had to do with the luggage restrictions in Australia. They are hardcore. In my opinion, this is not the trip to bring a lot of stuff.
Because of how we traveled (lots of in trip flight), there was also a perception that we had to lug our bags more than other trips. This was not a problem for our family. I did not feel we had to move our bags more than other trips but we did not bring a lot of stuff and often chose to move our bags to our room.

I am not sure about the other issues. I think some didn’t like the activities and some did not like the Disney-ishness of the trip but the bags were the main thing that filtered down to me.

Despite this, it was a nice group and a great trip.

 

[Tsunami]

We are just finishing our last day today! What a great trip. Get here as soon as you can. I won’t write a trip report because Grifdog and DCPhotoGal have done such a great job. I will write a summary and tell you about New Zealand and our upcoming post days in Hawaii. I am also happy to answer any questions.

We did love meeting Tsunami and her family. They are awesome. I will agree with her that there was some dissenting opinions in our group about the trip. For us, it is exactly what we expected and we loved it!

AHHH! I know who you are now! We loved meeting you and your family as well and hope to be on another adventure with you in the future. I hope you are enjoying the rest of your vacation and can't wait to hear about it!

I will be interested to know what the other opinions are. People are so different in their travel habits/expectations, sometimes you read a complaint, and you think, "oh, that wouldn't bother me at all," but sometimes you read one and you think, "yes, that would be an issue for me, too, I'd better think twice about that one."

So true! My perception was a lot of the complaints had to do with the luggage restrictions in Australia. They are hardcore. In my opinion, this is not the trip to bring a lot of stuff.
Because of how we traveled (lots of in trip flight), there was also a perception that we had to lug our bags more than other trips. This was not a problem for our family. I did not feel we had to move our bags more than other trips but we did not bring a lot of stuff and often chose to move our bags to our room.

I am not sure about the other issues. I think some didn’t like the activities and some did not like the Disney-ishness of the trip but the bags were the main thing that filtered down to me.

Despite this, it was a nice group and a great trip.

Apologies for taking so long to get back to this. We had quite the time getting out of Australia. My husband threw out his back on Sunday, New Year's Eve, after the Disney portion of the trip had concluded and we had to get a doctor to come to our hotel room and wheelchair for him. (On a side note, a hotel visit by a doctor on a Sunday was only $150 USD and the pain medication was only $7 USD. Could not believe it!). Then mid-flight on our way home my son started violently vomiting, which continued for the next 5 hours. We were so thankful we were in first class and he could have a bathroom basically to himself. We ended up at a hotel in LA for an extra night until he could recover. Glad this happened AFTER our trip!

Anyway...definitely agree on the travel expectations. My family has been used to traveling with Backroads, which has a lower guest:guide ratio (1:7 versus 1:14 on this trip) and is overall very different in how they approach experiences. It took a bit for us to reset on this and settle in to the advantages that Disney offers, which are also many.

An example. Our favorite day was the Great Barrier Reef, but the beginning of this day was absolutely crazy with 440 guests on the boat. I felt it was very poorly organized. They (Quicksilver, not Disney) kept insisting they coordinated the experiences and we would be fine, yet the helicopter ran late and my daughter and I were 20+ minutes late for our dive, which upset the other divers in our group, felt very rushed, and resulted in us not getting lunch. It was still our favorite day, and the diving is something we will remember forever. Backroads would not have put us on this chaotic of an experience. HOWEVER, I completely see why Disney does have us with such a large group as there is truly something for everyone of all ages offered - snorkeling, diving, helicopter, submarine, helmet diving, etc. It made sure everyone could enjoy their day. We were also able to board the boat first, which ensured that we could reserve the added experiences we wanted.

Outside of resetting expectations, as acndis mentioned, the luggage restrictions were difficult for some. This was also not an issue for us as we had purchased small and light bags before going, and having the in-room laundry at Palm Cove was a dream. One of the families, however, had intentionally brought extra luggage with the expectation of paying the fees. This worked fine the first two internal flights, with them paying approximately $60-70 for the extra bag. The third flight was on a discount airline (not even sodas included) and they were charged $435 for their bag. The airline told them it would have been only $43 if they had booked the bag in advance, but Disney said this was not possible due to the discounted group rate. This was certainly not the fault of the guides, and the family was going to seek reimbursement at a higher level. This family had also been on another Disney trip where the bags were handled less by the guests, but I think this may have had to do with the restrictions at Australian airports. I also think the airports in general were really crowded due to the Christmas holiday, which is to be expected.

Other things that filtered down to us:
- On the Uluru day, it was extremely hot (think "feels like" 117 degrees F in the sun). One of the guests fainted on the hike and had to be helped back. After the hike, we had lunch...outside. The family was really upset that we couldn't get into the air conditioned restaurant and had to eat pasta/pizza/etc. in the heat (it was shaded and had fans, but still very warm).

- The same family was traveling with their children and grandchildren. They were often separated due to last names being different. This happened on the internal flights (as it did to us as well), but the biggest issue was them not having rooms nearby in the last hotel, which was very sprawling. Since the hotel was full, they were unable to be moved. This is a detail Disney probably should have handled, and hopefully will in the future.

- Another family wanted to bungee jump on the Gold Coast. The guides said they were arranging this for them, and continued to say this for days, until the day we arrived when they found out the company no longer existed. The family was really disappointed this had gone on so long, and decided to skip the Byron Bay day to skydive instead. They would have loved Byron Bay, and ended up hating Mount Tamborine (I think the quote from one was he would have rather sat at home on his couch), so I think they would have appreciated better guidance from the guides on which to miss. In their opinion, the guides sold Byron Bay as being too strenuous, which resulted in them and another family skipping this day, and they were all disappointed when we raved about it. (Side note, My husband and I skipped Mount Tamborine for an extra beach day with our daughter who gets motion sick, but my son went with my parents and he loved it, especially seeing kangaroos and a python - eeek - in the wild. Shows that there is truly something for everyone).

- There were a couple minor things like running out of water on the bus, with one of the guests going out to buy some instead of the guides doing so, but I think these things were exacerbated with the other frustrations.

Overall, I think this is probably a trip we could have planned on our own as there weren't a lot of "exclusive" experiences and no language barrier, but I'm glad we didn't have to as it would have been a lot of work and coordination. Looking back, we had so many amazing and varied adventures, it's hard to even rank them. I also really enjoyed our group and it was great for my son to have friends his age (there were three 10 year olds on the trip).

After I wrote my last message about my kids being tired, they rallied for the last days and we all especially LOVED the kayaking in Byron Bay. The water was easily the most gorgeous I have ever seen, a fact I repeated far too often to my poor 12 year old paddling with me. My son shared a kayak with my husband and also really enjoyed this adventure.

I also won't write a formal trip review as others have done such a great job, but would be happy to answer any questions.

 

[Tsunami]

And thank you, thank you, thank you DCPhotoGal for your detailed and lovely trip report. It was truly helpful and right on!

 

[sayhello]

Apologies for taking so long to get back to this. We had quite the time getting out of Australia. My husband threw out his back on Sunday, New Year's Eve, after the Disney portion of the trip had concluded and we had to get a doctor to come to our hotel room and wheelchair for him. (On a side note, a hotel visit by a doctor on a Sunday was only $150 USD and the pain medication was only $7 USD. Could not believe it!). Then mid-flight on our way home my son started violently vomiting, which continued for the next 5 hours. We were so thankful we were in first class and he could have a bathroom basically to himself. We ended up at a hotel in LA for an extra night until he could recover. Glad this happened AFTER our trip!

OMG, so glad all this stuff was after your trip, but this certainly isn't the type of stuff you want to deal with on vacation. And $150 for a house call and $7 for the meds? So that's what it's like in a country with real health care...

Outside of resetting expectations, as acndis mentioned, the luggage restrictions were difficult for some. This was also not an issue for us as we had purchased small and light bags before going, and having the in-room laundry at Palm Cove was a dream. One of the families, however, had intentionally brought extra luggage with the expectation of paying the fees. This worked fine the first two internal flights, with them paying approximately $60-70 for the extra bag. The third flight was on a discount airline (not even sodas included) and they were charged $435 for their bag. The airline told them it would have been only $43 if they had booked the bag in advance, but Disney said this was not possible due to the discounted group rate. This was certainly not the fault of the guides, and the family was going to seek reimbursement at a higher level. This family had also been on another Disney trip where the bags were handled less by the guests, but I think this may have had to do with the restrictions at Australian airports. I also think the airports in general were really crowded due to the Christmas holiday, which is to be expected.

How the heck did they justify FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS for an extra bag??? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in AGES!

Thanks for adding your thoughts!

Sayhello

 

[RSM]

How the heck did they justify FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS for an extra bag??? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in AGES!

Thanks for adding your thoughts

There really is no justification. Jetstar does not charge by the bag, they charge by the weight. We did the same thing. We were more than willing to pay the $50 or so for an extra bag. The problem was when that extra bag was 20 Kg (44 lbs). I think it was $15 or $20/Kg. We tried being nice, frustrated, dumb, etc. and the best we did was got the charge dropped to $150. Even carry on weight was checked. You wouldn't mind if we were flying on a puddle jumper, but these were jets (727's). It is a pure money grab. We got similar messaging from the airline, that you can select the weight limit of the baggage when you purchase your ticket and it is very inexpensive to go from 20 kg to say 30 kg/bag. They said ABD purchases the cheapest ticket they can. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual to change the ticket because technically we didn't purchase the ticket, ABD did, so they would have to change it. After the first flight we tried to get ABD to change our reservations on subsequent flights and they wouldn't (obviously, we would have paid the incremental cost).

 

[sayhello]

There really is no justification. Jetstar does not charge by the bag, they charge by the weight. We did the same thing. We were more than willing to pay the $50 or so for an extra bag. The problem was when that extra bag was 20 Kg (44 lbs). I think it was $15 or $20/Kg. We tried being nice, frustrated, dumb, etc. and the best we did was got the charge dropped to $150. Even carry on weight was checked. You wouldn't mind if we were flying on a puddle jumper, but these were jets (727's). It is a pure money grab. We got similar messaging from the airline, that you can select the weight limit of the baggage when you purchase your ticket and it is very inexpensive to go from 20 kg to say 30 kg/bag. They said ABD purchases the cheapest ticket they can. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual to change the ticket because technically we didn't purchase the ticket, ABD did, so they would have to change it. After the first flight we tried to get ABD to change our reservations on subsequent flights and they wouldn't (obviously, we would have paid the incremental cost).

Wow! That's definitely something to keep in mind. That is just highway robbery!

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

AHHH! I know who you are now! We loved meeting you and your family as well and hope to be on another adventure with you in the future. I hope you are enjoying the rest of your vacation and can't wait to hear about it!





Apologies for taking so long to get back to this. We had quite the time getting out of Australia. My husband threw out his back on Sunday, New Year's Eve, after the Disney portion of the trip had concluded and we had to get a doctor to come to our hotel room and wheelchair for him. (On a side note, a hotel visit by a doctor on a Sunday was only $150 USD and the pain medication was only $7 USD. Could not believe it!). Then mid-flight on our way home my son started violently vomiting, which continued for the next 5 hours. We were so thankful we were in first class and he could have a bathroom basically to himself. We ended up at a hotel in LA for an extra night until he could recover. Glad this happened AFTER our trip!

Anyway...definitely agree on the travel expectations. My family has been used to traveling with Backroads, which has a lower guest:guide ratio (1:7 versus 1:14 on this trip) and is overall very different in how they approach experiences. It took a bit for us to reset on this and settle in to the advantages that Disney offers, which are also many.

An example. Our favorite day was the Great Barrier Reef, but the beginning of this day was absolutely crazy with 440 guests on the boat. I felt it was very poorly organized. They (Quicksilver, not Disney) kept insisting they coordinated the experiences and we would be fine, yet the helicopter ran late and my daughter and I were 20+ minutes late for our dive, which upset the other divers in our group, felt very rushed, and resulted in us not getting lunch. It was still our favorite day, and the diving is something we will remember forever. Backroads would not have put us on this chaotic of an experience. HOWEVER, I completely see why Disney does have us with such a large group as there is truly something for everyone of all ages offered - snorkeling, diving, helicopter, submarine, helmet diving, etc. It made sure everyone could enjoy their day. We were also able to board the boat first, which ensured that we could reserve the added experiences we wanted.

Outside of resetting expectations, as acndis mentioned, the luggage restrictions were difficult for some. This was also not an issue for us as we had purchased small and light bags before going, and having the in-room laundry at Palm Cove was a dream. One of the families, however, had intentionally brought extra luggage with the expectation of paying the fees. This worked fine the first two internal flights, with them paying approximately $60-70 for the extra bag. The third flight was on a discount airline (not even sodas included) and they were charged $435 for their bag. The airline told them it would have been only $43 if they had booked the bag in advance, but Disney said this was not possible due to the discounted group rate. This was certainly not the fault of the guides, and the family was going to seek reimbursement at a higher level. This family had also been on another Disney trip where the bags were handled less by the guests, but I think this may have had to do with the restrictions at Australian airports. I also think the airports in general were really crowded due to the Christmas holiday, which is to be expected.

Other things that filtered down to us:
- On the Uluru day, it was extremely hot (think "feels like" 117 degrees F in the sun). One of the guests fainted on the hike and had to be helped back. After the hike, we had lunch...outside. The family was really upset that we couldn't get into the air conditioned restaurant and had to eat pasta/pizza/etc. in the heat (it was shaded and had fans, but still very warm).

- The same family was traveling with their children and grandchildren. They were often separated due to last names being different. This happened on the internal flights (as it did to us as well), but the biggest issue was them not having rooms nearby in the last hotel, which was very sprawling. Since the hotel was full, they were unable to be moved. This is a detail Disney probably should have handled, and hopefully will in the future.

- Another family wanted to bungee jump on the Gold Coast. The guides said they were arranging this for them, and continued to say this for days, until the day we arrived when they found out the company no longer existed. The family was really disappointed this had gone on so long, and decided to skip the Byron Bay day to skydive instead. They would have loved Byron Bay, and ended up hating Mount Tamborine (I think the quote from one was he would have rather sat at home on his couch), so I think they would have appreciated better guidance from the guides on which to miss. In their opinion, the guides sold Byron Bay as being too strenuous, which resulted in them and another family skipping this day, and they were all disappointed when we raved about it. (Side note, My husband and I skipped Mount Tamborine for an extra beach day with our daughter who gets motion sick, but my son went with my parents and he loved it, especially seeing kangaroos and a python - eeek - in the wild. Shows that there is truly something for everyone).

- There were a couple minor things like running out of water on the bus, with one of the guests going out to buy some instead of the guides doing so, but I think these things were exacerbated with the other frustrations.

Overall, I think this is probably a trip we could have planned on our own as there weren't a lot of "exclusive" experiences and no language barrier, but I'm glad we didn't have to as it would have been a lot of work and coordination. Looking back, we had so many amazing and varied adventures, it's hard to even rank them. I also really enjoyed our group and it was great for my son to have friends his age (there were three 10 year olds on the trip).

After I wrote my last message about my kids being tired, they rallied for the last days and we all especially LOVED the kayaking in Byron Bay. The water was easily the most gorgeous I have ever seen, a fact I repeated far too often to my poor 12 year old paddling with me. My son shared a kayak with my husband and also really enjoyed this adventure.

I also won't write a formal trip review as others have done such a great job, but would be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much for following up. I really appreciate hearing the not-so-great parts of trips along with the good. Glad to hear that overall you enjoyed the trip, but I have to admit a few of the issues you mentioned are kind of turn offs for me. This trip is more on my husband's list than mine, but I think I'll be putting a few ahead of it The cost for the extra bag is ridiculous and ABD should do much better. At a minimum facilitating a way for guests to buy up on the weight.

 

[Grifdog22]

- Another family wanted to bungee jump on the Gold Coast. The guides said they were arranging this for them, and continued to say this for days, until the day we arrived when they found out the company no longer existed. The family was really disappointed this had gone on so long, and decided to skip the Byron Bay day to skydive instead.

I think these folks were asking a bit much of ABD to arrange and schedule these additional activities. These are outside the realm of the types of things ABD does, and while they may assist in coordination, this should have been done by the participants in advance. There are insurance and liability issues, safety issues, etc. that really are up to the participants to handle for extreme sports like this. I can tell you it was hard finding trip insurance that would cover this if something went wrong (THANKS AGAIN Say Hello and the Board!) We spent a great deal of time on advance planning and coordination for our planned deviations on the trip, all the while coordinating directly with ABD Lisa our vacationista, and moved things around based upon availability. We found that Australia is a lot more laid back than the USA, and schedules change easily and sometimes they don't always seem to think its important to contact you - but leave it up to you to follow through.

If you ask, ABD can and will give you a lot more detail about the days plans in advance so you can make determinations on what and where you will be. ABD Lisa had gone so far as to give us landing times for the Jetstar arriving at the Gold Coast so we could coordinate a direct and immediate pickup for skydiving - again something we scheduled and coordinated on our own. All that said, the guides asked and wanted to make sure we were taken care of and not stranded, and gave me their phone number to call if things did not go well. But they are not really responsible for us outside of the planned activities.

My view is that ABD lays out clearly what expectations are - luggage size and weights restrictions are made very clear - and it is unreasonable to expect that these don't apply after all. I certainly asked for more details on this, and was put through to Jetstar where they told me of their extreme charges - so we chose to do laundry instead. Just my two cents.

 

[cheryllarsen]

How amazing! Now I want to visit!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks for posting. Very informative and entertaining style!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

My view is that ABD lays out clearly what expectations are - luggage size and weights restrictions are made very clear - and it is unreasonable to expect that these don't apply after all. I certainly asked for more details on this, and was put through to Jetstar where they told me of their extreme charges - so we chose to do laundry instead. Just my two cents.

I agree on this. Our guides arranged with the airlines to average the weights of the entire group's bags in order to avoid a couple of people in our group having to be charged for extra weight. My kids had super light bags, so we "covered" for some of the others in the group with heavier bags so nobody ended up having to pay. I would have been frustrated with a huge luggage charge (I agree that it's crazy!) but we were given warning and it sounds like some travelers chose not to heed the directions. Perhaps if you really need an extra bag that should be arranged with the Vacationistas before the trip, so the bag can be prepaid?

I also agree on the point that it sounds like the guides were expected to help a lot with off-itinerary activities, which is not part of what is expected of them. Our guides were helpful and interested in hearing about our plans for on-our-own time, but we didn't expect them to be very involved in the execution of those plans. I booked the bridge climb, koala gardens, and observatory on my own from here in the US, I just got the scheduling info from the Vacationistas in advance.

Thanks for posting. Very informative and entertaining style!

Thank you!

 

[Tsunami]

I think these folks were asking a bit much of ABD to arrange and schedule these additional activities. These are outside the realm of the types of things ABD does, and while they may assist in coordination, this should have been done by the participants in advance. There are insurance and liability issues, safety issues, etc. that really are up to the participants to handle for extreme sports like this. I can tell you it was hard finding trip insurance that would cover this if something went wrong (THANKS AGAIN Say Hello and the Board!) We spent a great deal of time on advance planning and coordination for our planned deviations on the trip, all the while coordinating directly with ABD Lisa our vacationista, and moved things around based upon availability. We found that Australia is a lot more laid back than the USA, and schedules change easily and sometimes they don't always seem to think its important to contact you - but leave it up to you to follow through.

If you ask, ABD can and will give you a lot more detail about the days plans in advance so you can make determinations on what and where you will be. ABD Lisa had gone so far as to give us landing times for the Jetstar arriving at the Gold Coast so we could coordinate a direct and immediate pickup for skydiving - again something we scheduled and coordinated on our own. All that said, the guides asked and wanted to make sure we were taken care of and not stranded, and gave me their phone number to call if things did not go well. But they are not really responsible for us outside of the planned activities.

My view is that ABD lays out clearly what expectations are - luggage size and weights restrictions are made very clear - and it is unreasonable to expect that these don't apply after all. I certainly asked for more details on this, and was put through to Jetstar where they told me of their extreme charges - so we chose to do laundry instead. Just my two cents.

I can see your point. I'm not sure how the conversation arose, however both the family and the guides were lovely, so I'm sure it was a misunderstanding of some sort. It was the family's first ABD, as it was ours, and the other tour operators I've traveled with are more involved in OYO time (provide restaurant and activity lists and vendors, etc.) so perhaps that was the assumption here as well. Again, not sure. Just the messenger.

Regarding the luggage, I agree Disney was very clear on the restrictions with both weight and dimension. I would have followed up as well if bringing an extra bag. This family had been on ABD trips before and were charged a more reasonable fee. I do think the $435 was exorbitant. I will be interested to hear how they do with the reimbursement request from Disney.

Side note. Grifdog, I forgot to mention also that I am so glad I read your trip report and went for the bridge climb despite my fear of heights. Like your wife, it was a piece of cake once I got there! We had a gorgeous day and our guide was a retired school teacher who was loving life and passed that joy along. Such a fun experience.