31 Days of Disney: Why Adventures By Disney

Anyone who has traveled from a Walt Disney World Resort to the Orlando International Airport on the Magical Express in recent years has watched the video introducing Adventures By Disney, trips to various locations around the world led by Disney Adventure Guides. My family has the segment memorized from the part where we learn that they’ll get to sleep in a castle in Germany to the moments when the adventurers get to make their own pizza in a Tuscan estate. Many of my family vacations are the result of a last minute decision, but from the first time I saw the Adventures By Disney video, I knew that they needed to become part of our family wish list, a goal worth our planning and saving. Last summer my family had the opportunity to experience a truncated version of the Adventures By Disney vacation, Quest for the West, as part of a media tour. Along with other members of both new and traditional media, we set out to learn more about the magic behind those few moments my family had seen so many times on the shuttle bus back to the airport. I was so incredibly inspired by the time we spent together as a family on our trip that I wrote “Take Your Kids and Go,” but there is so much that I want to share specifically about the trip, from the details cared for in the way only Disney can, to the activities and experiences specific to the Wyoming ABD offering.

Why Adventures By Disney

I enjoy planning my own family vacations. When we planned our first family trip to Walt Disney World in 2008, I bought multiple WDW guides, scoured websites, studied calendars, and created spreadsheets before we settled not only on the week of our trip (the week after Thanksgiving – I highly recommend it!), but also on our step by step daily activity list. We marched through the Magic Kingdom following a careful ride order that I had mapped out on the legal pad that I carried with me into the parks. Unbeknownst to the happy children in the stroller below us, we experienced little to no wait times for rides because of the insanely orchestrated planning that took place for months before the week of our vacation.

I enjoyed planning trips like that. But I was ready to not plan. Ever. Ever again.  And this is the beauty of Adventures By Disney.

In the weeks leading up to our vacation, ABD sent us everything we would need to prepare for our trip from the itinerary to a suggested packing list to backpacks to use on the trip.

Upon our arrival to the Jackson Hole airport, we were met by an Adventures By Disney guide who assisted us in retrieving our luggage and making our way to the van taking us to the first night’s hotel.  The local driver gave us an amazing history of Jackson, Wyoming on our way into town, pointing out various sights along the way from the “Sleeping Indian” on the mountain to the bison standing on the hillside.

From our first steps in Wyoming to the moment when the vans dropped us back off at the Jackson Hole airport, my only job was to enjoy my time with my family.  As the parent in charge of family vacations, this was a bigger blessing than I can begin to describe in the words of this blog.  I will be the first to admit that I do not hand over the family vacation reins easily, but after a lifetime of vacationing at Walt Disney World, I knew that the Disney Adventure Guides would do an amazing job of taking care of all of our needs.

Thank you, Adventures By Disney guides Tiffany and Drew!

Emma deep in conversation with ABD Guide Tiffany.

Visit the 31 Days of Disney home for more posts from this series.

Adventures By Disney covered most of my family’s expenses for this press trip. All opinions are my own.

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