Adventures By Disney Escapes: Magic In Some Of The World’s Best Cities?
Love Disney but want to explore beyond the parks? Adventures by Disney Escapes might just be the perfect vacation for your family.
We’ve often named Walt Disney World as the place where our love for family travel began.
The parks inspired us to explore by recreating real places and designing imaginary ones. And they did it with Disney’s signature style. That means fantastic customer service and a little pixie dust along the way.
So when we heard there was a way to travel with Disney beyond the parks, we were all in.
We’ve now done a couple trips with Adventures By Disney, Disney’s travel company. And we think their escape trips are one of the best ways to get your feet wet with this fantastic way to travel.
Barcelona was our pick for our ABD Escape.
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What is “Adventures By Disney”?
Adventures By Disney is the group tour company owned by the Disney corporation.
The company travels to the world’s most iconic destinations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
New vacations are added every year with over 40 destinations currently offered.
Trips are offered in three different categories:
Land Adventures
These trips range in length from 7 to 12 days. Destinations include over a dozen European countries and three to five itineraries in Africa, North America, Asia, South America, and Australia. Many land adventures entail exploring a few different destinations in one trip.
River Cruises
The company’s river cruises sail on the Rhine, Rhône, Danube, and Seine Rivers in Europe. These are 8-day small ship cruise experiences.
Escapes
Adventures By Disney Escapes are shorter land trips designed to experience just one city destination.
The Barcelona Escape packs all the best places to see in the city into one trip.
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What Makes Adventures By Disney Escapes Different?
Escapes are Adventures By Disney’s shortened version of what’s offered on their longer vacations. Trips range in length from 3 to 4 days.
Instead of exploring several different places on longer land adventures, guests on Escapes go to just one destination.
While they may be condensed, Escapes are chock full of things to see and do. Itineraries include the highlights of the destination.
So, on a longer land adventure to Italy, for example, you can expect to see Rome, Florence, and Venice. You’ll travel via coach or train to the different cities or towns. And you’ll stay in 3 different hotels over the course of 8 days and 7 nights.
On the Escape to Rome, however, you’ll spend 4 days and 3 nights exploring just Rome, Italy. You’ll stay in one hotel throughout your stay.
Most often escapes are paired with another trip.
Many times guests embark on a Disney Cruise before or after their escape.
Or they go on their own to somewhere else easily accessed from the city where the escape was located.
One family on our Barcelona Escape stayed in the city we were exploring for their remainder of their vacation. They just visited different places within Barcelona, other than the ones highlighted on the Escape.
Current Escapes are offered in:
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Our Favorite Things About Our Adventures By Disney Escape:
Ok, so here’s the nitty gritty. What was it about Adventures By Disney that made us come back for seconds? For us, it was:
Skip-the-line access
This was the one huge perk we kept hearing about from other travelers before we booked our Escape. While traveling on an Adventures By Disney Land Excursion to Costa Rica, our fellow adventurers raved about city adventures.
The named the ability to skip the line at major tourist attractions to be one of their favorite things. For some adventures, this even means arriving before the location opens to the general public.
Our adventure felt like a VIP experience because there was very little waiting in line.
Two tour guides throughout the trip
Adventures include two tour guides - one from the U.S. and one from the place you’ll be visiting. Two guides mean the guest to guide ratio is low, so our experience felt very personalized.
In true Disney fashion, the guides provided amazing customer service and attention to detail. The made our trip fun and memorable.
In addition to the two guides who were with us at all times, other guides joined us for day tours. These guides were experts on the specific attractions we were visiting.
Hassle-free planning
Chances are if you’re reading this post that you are the travel planner in your family. Virtual fist pound to you, because I too wear that hat with my crew. From booking hotels to making sure I have bandaids in my carry-on, I’m that gal.
Handing over the reins to all the planning was a big “pro” for our trip.
No time-consuming google search comparing hotel prices.
No checking opening times and buying tickets for each place we wanted to go.
No worrying I somehow booked the wrong date for something on our to-do list. (Yep. I’ve been that gal too.)
Close to an all-inclusive price
Although not all expenses are included in your ABD price, many are. For 4-day trip that meant 7 meals - 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners - were pre-paid. (Yes, this includes alcohol for the adults.)
The price paid per person also includes all accommodations, tours, transportation to activities, and gratuities except those for adventure guides.
Transfers to and from the airport or cruise port are included as well. However, if you’re traveling to the train station or another location, transportation is not included.
Less expensive than a longer adventure
One of the best things about Escapes is that they’re much less expensive, of course, than longer ABD trips.
It’s a great way to try out the company without committing to a more expensive purchase.
An added layer of safety
On both of our Adventures By Disney trips, we felt a little more secure that we may have felt traveling on our own.
Disney adheres to stringent safety protocols. And they keep up on any safety concerns associated with the area of travel.
It’s a little like having some extra guardrails in place for your trip.
Guides serve as your personal photographer
Our tour guides were really good at ensuring we had great photos from our trip.
Our guides took pictures with our camera anytime we asked. They also provided us access to a file with lots of other photos they took.
So, for example, we could just be in the moment at the Sagrada Familia. We didn’t have to worry about trying to get the perfect angle for a picture of it.
Meeting other adventurers
Adventures By Disney trips appeal to a certain type of traveler.
You can pretty much guarantee that you will be with other Disney fans who value the experience of traveling with the company.
Yet we were still surprised at how much we connected with the other families.
We even adventured with two families who met on a previous trip and who now travel together when they can.
Don’t be surprised if you leave your vacation with some new friends.
Disney difference
Hands down the thing that keeps us going back to Walt Disney World is the way every trip feels special. Likewise, it’s one of the things that made us choose Adventures By Disney for our group tour.
Snacks on the bus rides, collectible pins, and a little surprises along the way make ABD stand out among the crowd.
Culturally immersive Experiences
These experiences are really made for people who believe travel is learning. We learned so much about the city and country we were visiting. I also felt like we traveled in a socially conscious way because our group was not huge and local customs were respected.
Adventures By Disney does a great job of creating activities that highlight the culture of an area.
Accounts for a variety of activity levels
Planning for a bit of a larger family means not everyone enjoys the same things.
Escapes, and longer adventures, take this into account.
So, for example, when we explored Monserrat, there was an option to hike down the mountain where the monastery is located. There was also an option to ride a funicular for those who wanted to skip the hike.
Our guides, Marco and Billy, were fantastic guides.
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Is an Adventures By Disney Escape Worth It?
For us, yes, our Adventures By Disney Escape was worth it.
We were able to experience a luxury vacation to a place we had never been and truly experience the culture.
We could see all the city highlights with the special touches Disney knows how to deliver.
We felt safe traveling internationally and didn’t have to worry with all the planning details ourselves.
We loved meeting our tour guides and other adventurers and spent less than we would have on a longer adventure.
These trips pack a ton in, so they’re not for those who don’t want a busy schedule on a trip. But, for us it was a great way to see a large city before we explored a small town on our own.
