Adventures by Disney Portugal: The Anatomy of a Trip

I’m back from my 11th Adventures by Disney trip; this time it was the 9-day tour of Portugal. As always, my family had a wonderful time. As cloyingly cliché as it sounds, we really did make memories to last a lifetime.

The Adventures by Disney (AbD) website has one of Disney’s better interfaces; the site is easy to navigate and the trip descriptions are thorough. There are comprehensive lists of all the daily activities and even the names of the hotels and some of the trip’s restaurants are included. You can click the link above to see where we went and what we did each day. So rather than giving you a “trip report” style post, with a duplicative chronologic recounting of our experiences, I’m going to describe the overall composition of an AbD trip, with examples from this Portugal journey.

What exactly is Adventures by Disney?

AbD is luxury group touring to destinations around the world, with Disney-trained guides. The key words in that sentence are “luxury,” “group,” and “Disney-trained.” I’ll explain more about each of these topics below.

Currently there are trips to destinations in North, Central, and South America; Asia; Africa; Australia and New Zealand; and Europe. The Adventures by Disney umbrella includes 3-day “escapes” with deep dives into single cities, land journeys of 6 to 12 days exploring a particular country or region, river cruises, small ship expedition cruises, and U.S. National Parks visits. Most trips are designed for families, but each year there are adults-only versions of a few dozen itineraries.

What’s the deal with the guides?

Our group of 31 guests on my Portugal trip had the full time service of two guides for the entirety of our experience, plus the services of expert local guides at individual locations.

As is typical with nearly all AbD trips, one of our guides was an American, well versed in American culture and American guest comfort needs, and one guide was a local, fluent in the language, history, and culture of our host country. Both guides got to know us as individuals and were able to point out details of our site visits of particular interest certain guests. And significantly, both guides quickly got to know the food needs of particular guests (allergies, vegetarians, food fears, etc.) and could run point on this at every restaurant, rather than individuals having to explain this dozens of times over a week+ long vacation.

The AbD guides are often the creme de la creme of regular parks staff (in the off season many work in the parks or on DCL), so they’re well versed in Disney attitude and service, plus they also receive oodles of specialized AbD training. But the best part of all is that they’re real people and will adjust their behavior according to the circumstances. If you tell them that you want to sleep on the bus, they’ll leave you alone. They’ll act like grown-ups around the grown-ups and like kids around the kids. They’ll make all your vacation problems go away, you’ll never see them sweat, and they’ll find you the best cocktail in town at the end of the day. If I had an AbD guide in my real life, I could rule the world.

A Well Balanced Trip

Aside from the fantastic personal service, one of my favorite things about AbD is that their trips are well balanced. By that I mean that there is a variety of experiences and activities that are well spaced out across the trip. For example, you’ll have a day of physical movement followed by a museum day, so that your body and mind are both engaged and neither is worn out. I’ve planned trips on my own that were all museum all the time. Despite my love of art, that kind of overload can quickly lead to burnout.

Indeed, most AbD trips include some combination of physical/sporty activities, historical experiences, arts-related experiences, culinary experiences, and general sightseeing. Shopping is not specifically part of most trips, but in many locations you’ll be given an hour or so of personal time where you can check out the local wares.

By way of example, my Portugal trip included these items in our mix:

Physical Activities

There is always an alternative for strenuous activities. For example, a few guests on my trip opted not to climb the bridge. Instead they were treated to a gondola ride ride over Porto. Due to its similarity to WDW’s Skyliner, my family opted to do this on our own during some free time because we wanted to compare/contrast the experiences. Spoiler alert: They’re exactly the same.

Art-Related Activities

Historical Experiences

Culinary Experiences

General Sightseeing

I happen to love the variety of activities on a typical AbD trip. For example, I’m not a sporty person by nature so I’m happy that someone is “forcing” me to build movement into my trip. If I were planning this trip on my own, I probably wouldn’t have booked kayaking, but I’m glad this opportunity was included.

On the other hand, the well-balanced nature of AbD trips might be reason enough for some people to avoid them. If you’re a big history buff, you might prefer a trip that was all key battle sites. Or if you’re a more active person, then a trip that’s primarily focused on biking or running, for example, might be preferable to you. Consider AbD to be a great survey course on a particular destination. If you want the equivalent of a senior seminar in a niche topic, AbD might not be for you. Similarly, if you just want to lounge on a beach or to take it slow in general, an AbD trip may not fit the bill. These are busy vacations, not leisurely lounging trips.

Special Access Experiences

Disney has arrangements with venues around the world that allow them to arrange special access for AbD guests. For example, some AbD trips in Italy get a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. When I took an AbD embedded excursion on a Disney Cruise Line trip that stopped in St. Petersburg, Russia, our little group got a private after-hours tour of the full Hermitage museum. (For obvious reason, that adventure is no longer available.)

During this Portugal trip we had two special access experiences. The first, in Porto, was a FastPass-style ticket into the Lello Bookshop. Regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores, Lello had an entrance line wait of about two hours when we arrived. Via a wave of Tinker Bell’s magic wand, we walked in with no delay – and we were each allowed to choose one special edition book with our entry.

More significantly, our group had a private after-hours tour of Pena Palace in the Sintra Mountains near Lisbon. This stunning Romanticist castle includes an eclectic mix of painted terraces, decorative battlements, and mythology-themed statues. It also features narrow hallways that are difficult to navigate with crowds. But that didn’t matter because there was no one there but us. My video game designer daughter took a zillion photos from every possible angle, with no one obstructing her view, knowing that the mood there might provide inspiration for a game’s scenic backdrop someday.

If you travel with AbD, will you have Disney forced on you 24/7?

I’m a Disney person, but even I don’t want Mickey Mouse infused into every moment of my day. The presence of Disney characters has been minimal during all of my AbD trips. During my 9-day trip to Portugal, I can think of exactly four instances where Disney was mentioned. All but one of them could be entirely ignored.

• Each day, every guest was given a trading pin themed to that day’s location or activity. The pins depict a Disney character. Pin distribution takes less than three minutes per day. Most folks enjoy collecting the pins, but if that’s not your thing, you’re welcome to refuse them, throw them out, give them away, or sell them on eBay.
• On most trips, there is a “Junior Adventurers” night where the trip guides offer to take children under age 12 to do an activity or watch a movie, so that their parents can have a date night. The movie shown will be a Disney or Pixar film. If you don’t have young kiddos you may not even know this is happening.
• During longer city-to-city transfers by bus, the guides may play a Disney movie on screens above the seats to help pass the time. The volume is low and you’re welcome to ignore it. My husband napped during this time and had zero awareness that The Little Mermaid had been showing on our bus ride from Lisbon to the Algarve.
• On the last night of our trip, our guides created a friendly Jeopardy-style game with trivia about our week together. Categories included historical facts about our site visits, geography, food, and so on. One category was general Disney trivia. That two minutes of this game was the only non-ignorable Disney content of the entire trip.

The “Disney” part of Adventures by Disney comes into play almost solely in the guides’ training where they are coached in providing high quality guest service, safety, and care.

Aren’t these trips expensive?

It depends on your perspective. Are these trips big ticket items? Generally, yes. It’s almost certainly possible to cobble together similar itineraries on your own for less money.

However, when you consider that you’re staying in the poshest hotels in town, have access to activities not available to the general public, and have the expertise of experienced guides, those are value-added items that are worth paying extra for. If you are pricing a build-your-own itinerary vs. an AbD trip, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples, noting that AbD includes airport transfers, luggage transfers, photos, tips for many of the service workers, some swag, and guides throughout the trip.

Is it weird traveling with a group?

As a card-carrying introvert, I have to say that this was biggest fear before embarking on my first Adventures by Disney trip. I mean, what if I’ve paid all this money and then I’m stuck hanging out with a bunch of jerks for a week. Won’t that ruin my family vacation?

The first thing to remember is that everyone else is in the same boat (possibly literally). They’ve all also paid big bucks for the trip and they don’t want their vacation ruined either. This effectively means that all participants are on their best behavior. The land-based AbD trips typically include 25-40 guests (40 is the maximum). This is small enough so that you can have a chance to chat with everyone if you want to, but large enough so that if someone is not to your liking, you don’t have to spend much time with them.

While initially reticent about group travel, I’ve now come to enjoy meeting new folks almost as much the trip itself. I’ve maintained decade-long friendships with several of my former trip mates. I’ve also run into former trip-mates at Aulani, on Disney Cruise Line ships, and at Disney parks. In 11 trips I can only think of one family that moderately ruffled my feathers and I was easily able to minimize contact with them.

Also, an unanticipated perk of group travel is that there are often other kids for your kids to hang out with. My daughters have found similarly-aged people to bond with during all our AbD vacations. So, much like on a cruise, they’re occupied with their friends, as well as with you. This gives parents a little bonus grown-up time. Yes!

The age-mate bonus was true during our Adventures when my children were small, as well as now when they’re young adults. During this Portugal trip my twins were 24 years old. Another family on this trip traveled with their 21 and 24 year old daughters – a happy coincidence.

The group situation is also particularly good for families with just one child, or for families with children with a wide age disparity. You’re on a family trip, but the youngsters don’t feel completely deprived of peer companionship. I’ve also had several single parents on my AbD trips. The group situation allows some time for them to relax, either alone or with other adults, while their children are happily engaged with the other kids.

I don’t have kids. Will I be overwhelmed by them on an AbD trip?

There are adults-only AbD vacations, if that’s what you’re looking for. However, on all my AbD trips (none of which were adults-only) there have been childless couples or small groups of adult friends that seemed to be having a great time. There are age minimums for the AbD trips, which means that there won’t be tiny babies crying or anything like that. On this Portugal trip, there were three adult parter couples traveling without children as well as two adults traveling with their older adult parent. None of these folks seemed in any way bothered by the presence of the elementary-age and tween members of the group.

How are the hotels?

They’re fantastic. All the hotel names are published on the AbD website, so you can go check them out for yourself on TripAdvisor. The AbD hotels are almost always in the top five for the region. In Costa Rica, our hotel had panoramic windows so that while lying in bed we gazed out at a garden of hibiscus and the Arenal volcano beyond – truly breathtaking. The hotels we stayed at during my China Adventure will likely be the nicest I ever visit in my lifetime.

During this Portugal trip we stayed in three hotels. All were lovely.

What’s the food like?

Food is so subjective that your opinion may be quite different than mine, but I’ve always been happy with my AbD food options.

Adventures by Disney breakfasts are usually offered via your hotel’s main buffet, where you can eat as much or as little as you like. These are typically lush affairs with many options (eggs, breakfast meat, fruit, pastries, yogurts, cereals, fresh juices, etc.) to suit all palates. This Portugal trip was no exception.

Here are photos taken at the breakfast buffets at our hotels.

For the included lunches and dinners, you’re typically dining in local establishments, eating local food. Not surprisingly, you’ll find predominantly Chinese food in China, Greek food in Greece, and so on. You’ll nearly always have a choice, but it might be a choice between two or three items rather than dozens. On this Portugal trip many of our options were fresh fish.

AbD strives to include the local delicacies as part of your meals. For example, Francesinha is the star dish in Porto, made with layers of bread and assorted hot meats covered by melted cheese, a warm tomato-and-beer sauce, and possibly an egg. Had I been on my own I might not have known that this was the thing to eat in Porto, nor would I have ordered it. But having the AbD guides explain the situation and provide it as a main course option, I was glad I got to sample it. (Only one person in our group was able to finish their massive sandwich.) Similarly, we learned that the Pasteis de Nata, a custard tart is the national pastry of Portugal. We were served these at several meals and we all finished many of them.

Here are some of the lunch and dinner foods we were offered during the Portugal trip.

Some special diets can be accommodated in most AbD locations. Children are offered the local food but may also have something like plain chicken or pasta as an option. I’ve had vegetarians on my trips who found plenty to eat. And on my Mediterranean trip, a gluten sensitive guest was provided with gluten-free dough during our pizza-making activity. I have found the quality of the food to be good to excellent during all my AbD travels, including one of the best buffet-style meals of my life at the Fairmont Monte Carlo. However, if you’re a seriously picky eater or you have severe allergies, you’re going to want to ask a lot of questions before booking.

Do you feel like you’re missing something by not dealing directly with the locals?

Maybe. However, many trips have down time built into the schedule where you can go off to explore on your own. Other trips include opportunities for you to meet with local people. For example, during my China AbD trip, we learned a craft in a small local home. Check the individual itineraries for specifics.

On the other hand, I have to be honest and say that I’m happy to forgo some aspects of local color. For example, the AbD folks do lots of research and know where there are clean, American-style toilets at every excursion venue.

What happens if something goes wrong during your trip?

On a few of my AbD trips, there have been guests impacted by minor illness or injury. Disney has access to qualified local doctors and hospitals at every destination. Of course you should make sure that your own medical insurance is up to date and that you have access to information about your own prescriptions and other medical needs.

For other types of trip irritations, the guides have the power to problem-solve on the fly. For example, one of my Costa Rica guides told us that on a previous trip a local transportation accident (not involving the AbD guests) forced them to be stuck on a bus for four unanticipated hours. This type of thing could happen to anyone during travel (it has happened to me on the New Jersey Turnpike several times), but the AbD guides walked to a local farm stand and got fruit and water for everyone. They pulled out a ball and frisbee from the back of the bus and turned a disaster into an impromptu countryside picnic.

AbD will also work with you if you have a flight delay or other transportation mishap, though as with cruising and international travel in general I recommend that you plan to get there a day or two in advance. I also recommend trip insurance for an expenditure as large as an AbD trip. My own Mediterranean AbD trip return home was delayed by several days due a hurricane in the United States. Our trip insurance covered the hotel, meal, taxi, and personal care costs we encountered because of the delay. You should read the fine print of any policy carefully, but it’s certainly worth looking into.

What do you like most about AbD trips?

During a discussion about AbD with Touring Plans fearless leader Len Testa, he mentioned that he’d be reticent to take an AbD trip because he’s a control freak (his words, not mine) and wouldn’t want to leave planning his trip to someone else.

In my mind, Len’s objection is AbD’s biggest selling point. As a busy mom, all I do all day, every day, is plan things. I love my family, but once in a while a girl needs a break, ya know. On an AbD trip, I don’t plan anything; I don’t schedule anything; I don’t cook anything; I don’t drive anyone anywhere; I’m not even plotting out how to get my next Lightning Lane Multipass reservation. Someone else is taking care of all that. For me, it’s the only time I get a REAL vacation.

So what’s the downside?

Well, the trips aren’t cheap. And you may have some personal interests in a particular area that can’t be accommodated due to the tour schedule. For example, when you go to the Louvre with AbD, you’re there with a guide for a specific amount of time. You can’t linger for hours over one stunning Monet. And there may be portions of the trip that are outside your comfort zone – though there are workarounds for most situations.

What are your questions about Adventures by Disney?

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