Scotland Meets Thread (formerly Scotland: A Brave Adventure)

We are booked on the June 17, 2018 trip. My husband loves British Isles history, so this seems like the perfect trip to celebrate his 40th. Our almost 6 year old son is coming too.
We are set for June 2017. We leave in a few weeks. Cannot wait!
 
We are set for June 2017. We leave in a few weeks. Cannot wait!

June is usually a good month to visit. Our weather is faboulous at the moment which is unusual for a holiday weekend.I looked out some summer clothes today. We had a lovely walk by the canal this afternoon. It is 7:30 pm just now and it is still 27.5C (or 81F).
 
My family is booked for the June 7th 2018 all adults trip. It will be the second time for my oldest daughter and I to visit Scotland. We were with the last group that went to the Isle Lewis. We are looking forward to seeing the new things on this trip and taking my other two children with us who have never been. I have been on 5 ABD trips and this has been my favorite.
 


Last night I book my mom and I on the June 7, 2018 adults only trip and this is our first ABD trip. We are very excited!
 
Last night I book my mom and I on the June 7, 2018 adults only trip and this is our first ABD trip. We are very excited!
That is the one that me and my adult children will be on too. Looking forward to meeting you! We are excited. My oldest daughter too me on this trip a couple of years ago. We had so much fun that my other two children were quite jealous. With the change in itinerary, we are all going. We will take a few post days to go to the Isle of Skye since Disney has taken that part out.
 


That is the one that me and my adult children will be on too. Looking forward to meeting you! We are excited. My oldest daughter too me on this trip a couple of years ago. We had so much fun that my other two children were quite jealous. With the change in itinerary, we are all going. We will take a few post days to go to the Isle of Skye since Disney has taken that part out.
We will definitely be glad to meet you too! This is something that we have talked about doing since I was a little girl. We are trying to decide if we want to tack on a few days in London after the tour.
 
We will definitely be glad to meet you too! This is something that we have talked about doing since I was a little girl. We are trying to decide if we want to tack on a few days in London after the tour.
I suggest doing London prior to the ABD. I've found that I'm so spoiled by the Adventure Guides and "tinkerbell" that it's rough going back to doing everything myself afterwards. It's much easier before you get spoiled. :)

It's *really* simple to take the train from London to Edinburgh, also! (Although the new hotel is much further from the train station than the Balmoral was).

Sayhello
 
Last edited:
I suggest doing London prior to the ABD. I've found that I'm so spoiled by the Adventure Guides and "tinkerbell" that it's rough going back to doing everything myself afterwards. It's much easier before you get spoiled. :)

It's *really* simple to take the train from London to Edinburgh, also! (Although the new hotel is much further from the train station than the Balmoral was).

Sayhello
Off topic, but I had to chuckle about being spoiled by "Tinker Belle" and ABD! After our Spain ABD, we spent two extra days in Madrid. Taxi strike caused us to take the Metro to the airport - with a train transfer, lugging twelve days of luggage, to the airport! We kept looking for some pixie dust! :tinker:
 
Last I checked, the early booking discount was still available for the June 17 trip (My week) for those thinking about this trip.
 
Rather than starting a new Scotland related thread, I thought I'd post my questions here. I've started looking into what we're going to do during our on-your-own time during our June 2018 trip.

  • For those who have done Real Mary King's Close, how boring would it be for a 6 year old? My husband and I are very interested, but I'm wondering if I will spend the whole time keeping my son from whining rather than enjoying the tour.
  • The price for this ABD for our week has jumped quite a bit since we booked. Does this mean that the tour is filling up?
  • On our return flight, we are connecting through Amsterdam. What was originally a several hour layover is now a 21 hour layover. I'm not sure how the airline gets away with charging us if we cancel, when they can move our flight by 18 hours and act like it's no big deal. But I digress. We decided to make the best of it and get a hotel room for the night. Does anyone know how the bag check will work for this? Do our bags get checked through to the US? Or do we claim them?
  • Any thoughts on what to do in Amsterdam for an afternoon with a 6 year old? (Haven't been since college). We probably won't be getting there until 3 once you take into account whatever customs stuff we need to do at the airport, getting into town, etc.
 
  • The price for this ABD for our week has jumped quite a bit since we booked. Does this mean that the tour is filling up?
  • On our return flight, we are connecting through Amsterdam. What was originally a several hour layover is now a 21 hour layover. I'm not sure how the airline gets away with charging us if we cancel, when they can move our flight by 18 hours and act like it's no big deal. But I digress. We decided to make the best of it and get a hotel room for the night. Does anyone know how the bag check will work for this? Do our bags get checked through to the US? Or do we claim them?
  • Any thoughts on what to do in Amsterdam for an afternoon with a 6 year old? (Haven't been since college). We probably won't be getting there until 3 once you take into account whatever customs stuff we need to do at the airport, getting into town, etc.

I would guess the price going up means the tour is more full than others, so they raise the price to encourage folks to sign up for the other dates. If you call they will give you the current numbers, and the kids' ages if that is of interest to you. My kids are always asking, so I call several times before each trip for updates.

I've had annoying schedule changes--although never that bad. Did you try calling the airline for other options? When I called United about a recent schedule change, I believe they said that if it didn't work for me they would change my flights for free. I would guess you will need to go through customs/immigration so you will need to claim your bags. You probably would have to anyway because the first flight will be intra-EU? I always forget if the UK is part of the EU from that perspective, and not sure how all of the recent voting may have changed that either.
 
My first thought was to call the airline and argue that they should change our flight. Then the wait time to speak to someone was an hour and I chose the callback option. During that time, I thought it over and decided it could be a fun bonus adventure. The airline just called me back and they said our checked bag would go all the way through to the US without our having to claim it. I never 100% trust customer service folks because they could be based anywhere with or without having actually used the service they are selling. So if anyone has had a different experience with a layover in the EU after visiting the UK, I would love to hear about it.

I am going to call ABD as you suggested. I'm very curious about whether any other kids are booked.

ETA: I called and we have 6 other kids on our trip -- all in the 12-17 range. I'm hoping some younger kids book because I would love for my son to have company. But I'm very excited that we have other kids on our trip, even if they're older kids. (Plus I found out that we have 17 already booked on our trip, so it sounds like it's very likely to run as scheduled).
 
Last edited:
My first thought was to call the airline and argue that they should change our flight. Then the wait time to speak to someone was an hour and I chose the callback option. During that time, I thought it over and decided it could be a fun bonus adventure. The airline just called me back and they said our checked bag would go all the way through to the US without our having to claim it. I never 100% trust customer service folks because they could be based anywhere with or without having actually used the service they are selling. So if anyone has had a different experience with a layover in the EU after visiting the UK, I would love to hear about it.

I am going to call ABD as you suggested. I'm very curious about whether any other kids are booked.

I've gone the reverse route - US to Edinburgh with a layover in Amsterdam - and our checked bags went straight through.
 
We just did our final payment for our June 17 trip, so I thought I would bump this thread to see if any other Dis-ers are on the same trip. I confess that I kind of miss the planning part of vacation. With airfare and our pre-stay hotel booked, there's nothing for me to do but wait.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top