ABD Japan July 14-26 (with Tokyo Disneyland Extension): Trip Report and Impressions

[BluesTraveler]

Such good information in your posts. Thank you!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I'm with you on the "food tour". We usually do actual food tours in cities that we visit, and the ABD one was lame in comparison. I can recall a small sample of miso soup, a very small piece of tofu (that the guide had with him and we ate in the street), some kind of meat on a stick, the thimble of sake and the candy. We didn't have an ABD guide with us on the food tour and our assigned guide didn't seem to understand English well. I asked him at the end where we could have a nice lunch and he suggested back at the bus station (???) where there weren't really any restaurants. I asked him where the restrooms were and apparently he didn't know. We ended up finding the police station and the policeman at the desk was able to show us where the restrooms were.

I agree with you that this activity needs to be either seriously improved or scrapped from the itinerary. I would've rather spent my time wandering the shops then waiting for a food tour that didn't really exist. We never got an explanation as to why we didn't have an ABD guide on the tour -- one was on the bike ride and the other was MIA (either stayed with the calligraphy group or as we heard, went back to the hotel because someone forgot something). This is the part of the trip where dd got really sick, so some ABD support would've been really appreciated. Luckily I was able to get her back to the bus station (which took forever because she was so sick) and lay her down on a bench in the blazing sunlight. After 30 or so mins on the bench I spotted Tomomi and Ken coming back from the bike tour and thankfully they were able to help a bit with dd.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

The traffic along the beach in Kamakura was HORRIBLE. Literally crawling for at *least* an hour. You could tell James and Tomomi would probably have gotten out & pushed the bus if it would have helped!

Sayhello

Sounds horrible. I probably would have been begging to get out and walk, LOL. That's road didn't feel that long.

for those wondering about the airline mile advice here is a video on it actually (Just showed up on my youtube feed) mods feel free to move it if necessary its a video explanation of the ana sweet spot for miles

Great timing! Thanks for linking. Hopefully it will help someone. It really is a great deal. I was able to take advantage of a bonus transfer so we made that sweet spot even sweeter.

Such good information in your posts. Thank you!

Glad you are finding it helpful--thanks for reading along.

I'm with you on the "food tour". We usually do actual food tours in cities that we visit, and the ABD one was lame in comparison. I can recall a small sample of miso soup, a very small piece of tofu (that the guide had with him and we ate in the street), some kind of meat on a stick, the thimble of sake and the candy. We didn't have an ABD guide with us on the food tour and our assigned guide didn't seem to understand English well. I asked him at the end where we could have a nice lunch and he suggested back at the bus station (???) where there weren't really any restaurants. I asked him where the restrooms were and apparently he didn't know. We ended up finding the police station and the policeman at the desk was able to show us where the restrooms were.

I agree with you that this activity needs to be either seriously improved or scrapped from the itinerary. I would've rather spent my time wandering the shops then waiting for a food tour that didn't really exist. We never got an explanation as to why we didn't have an ABD guide on the tour -- one was on the bike ride and the other was MIA (either stayed with the calligraphy group or as we heard, went back to the hotel because someone forgot something). This is the part of the trip where dd got really sick, so some ABD support would've been really appreciated. Luckily I was able to get her back to the bus station (which took forever because she was so sick) and lay her down on a bench in the blazing sunlight. After 30 or so mins on the bench I spotted Tomomi and Ken coming back from the bike tour and thankfully they were able to help a bit with dd.

We didn't have an ABD guide either, but fortunately our guy had pretty good English. Sounds like a nightmare for you and DD. So sorry to hear about that. We had one young adult on our trip get pretty sick on the Hiroshima day I felt so badly for her.
I think you are right in your memory of what was on the food list. The guide carried the tofu and the candy, and we had a small cup of miso, and a thimble of sake. Our sample wasn't meat on a stick--they were some kind of chewy dumpling. I was most disappointed about the sake as I was planning to buy one after tasting a few. But after the small tasting we were hustle out of there. I thought about going back, but without anyone to interpret it would have been pretty useless.

 

[sayhello]

I'm with you on the "food tour". We usually do actual food tours in cities that we visit, and the ABD one was lame in comparison. I can recall a small sample of miso soup, a very small piece of tofu (that the guide had with him and we ate in the street), some kind of meat on a stick, the thimble of sake and the candy. We didn't have an ABD guide with us on the food tour and our assigned guide didn't seem to understand English well. I asked him at the end where we could have a nice lunch and he suggested back at the bus station (???) where there weren't really any restaurants. I asked him where the restrooms were and apparently he didn't know. We ended up finding the police station and the policeman at the desk was able to show us where the restrooms were.

I agree with you that this activity needs to be either seriously improved or scrapped from the itinerary. I would've rather spent my time wandering the shops then waiting for a food tour that didn't really exist. We never got an explanation as to why we didn't have an ABD guide on the tour -- one was on the bike ride and the other was MIA (either stayed with the calligraphy group or as we heard, went back to the hotel because someone forgot something). This is the part of the trip where dd got really sick, so some ABD support would've been really appreciated. Luckily I was able to get her back to the bus station (which took forever because she was so sick) and lay her down on a bench in the blazing sunlight. After 30 or so mins on the bench I spotted Tomomi and Ken coming back from the bike tour and thankfully they were able to help a bit with dd.

I don't think getting rid of the food tour is the answer. I think they need to re-think it, and fashion it as a true food tour, where you go into the shops and into the restaurants, and get full tastes of whatever it is that location specializes in. Taking us to a Tofu shop and then pulling out a 3mm square tidbit of tofu is *not* how most true food tours work. I love to take food tours, too. It's become one of my favorite pre-day activities. For what we pay for these trips, they can pay these shops to provide fresh, decent sized portions of food! I don't know if the fault is with ABD, or with the company providing the local guides, but it really needs to be changed.

So sorry to hear about your DD getting sick. Was it the heat? Something she ate? We didn't have an Adventure Guide with us on the food tour, either, until the very end of the tour, when Tomomi met up with us to help us finish up & get back to the bus. But our local guide spoke wonderful English. The local guides are *supposed* to be their representatives at this point, and I would have thought they could have contacted the Adventure Guide who wasn't on the bike ride and gotten some help for you. They all have phones, after all!

Sayhello

 

[scottmel]

I too always do a food tour and usually book a private one for my family. Great way to get to know the city, etc. I am guessing though ABD can't take you into stores, etc. too many people? I can't see moving 40 people into a store or a restaurant for sample tasting. I think, and I could be wrong, that the next move ABD makes will be to differentiate the tours with small group vs. regular. My beef with this is the cost is such premium a 20 people max should be a given...but I bet they try to increase the cost to offer fewer than 22

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I too always do a food tour and usually book a private one for my family. Great way to get to know the city, etc. I am guessing though ABD can't take you into stores, etc. too many people? I can't see moving 40 people into a store or a restaurant for sample tasting. I think, and I could be wrong, that the next move ABD makes will be to differentiate the tours with small group vs. regular. My beef with this is the cost is such premium a 20 people max should be a given...but I bet they try to increase the cost to offer fewer than 22

Just wanted to clarify, half of our group of 39 was doing a bike tour; then ABD split our group further -- half did the calligraphy while half did the food tour, then switched. I think there were maybe 10 or 12, including dd and myself on this pretend food tour. It wasn't horrible, just not great.

I didn't mind our group size. Everyone got along very well -- we had a great group, probably one of the best groups I've been with on an ABD. To me it didn't make an impact. Now if you have some slow movers in the group then I can see a group of this size being an issue. It may have helped having Ken along as a shadow guide since he was very hands-on.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I don't think getting rid of the food tour is the answer. I think they need to re-think it, and fashion it as a true food tour, where you go into the shops and into the restaurants, and get full tastes of whatever it is that location specializes in. Taking us to a Tofu shop and then pulling out a 3mm square tidbit of tofu is *not* how most true food tours work. I love to take food tours, too. It's become one of my favorite pre-day activities. For what we pay for these trips, they can pay these shops to provide fresh, decent sized portions of food! I don't know if the fault is with ABD, or with the company providing the local guides, but it really needs to be changed.

So sorry to hear about your DD getting sick. Was it the heat? Something she ate? We didn't have an Adventure Guide with us on the food tour, either, until the very end of the tour, when Tomomi met up with us to help us finish up & get back to the bus. But our local guide spoke wonderful English. The local guides are *supposed* to be their representatives at this point, and I would have thought they could have contacted the Adventure Guide who wasn't on the bike ride and gotten some help for you. They all have phones, after all!

Sayhello

I think a combination of being over-tired, hungry and hot. Not fun being sick in a foreign country with a language barrier and on your own. I will say that Ken and Tomomi were amazing when then they arrived (I remember Ken sprinting across the street towards us when he saw us alone on the bench and realized we were 90 minutes early for the bus!), working up to clean up the mess and just being super helpful. They called James to take me to get a take-out lunch since there wasn't much around the area that I could see and I didn't want to venture too far from dd. Not the most fun experience of the trip, but it would have been *much* worse if we weren't with ABD, that is for sure. I think this is an example of some of the behind-the-scenes things that go on that most people aren't aware of since they aren't directly impacted. For a young, single guy Ken didn't flinch at all at the mess and situation in general, so kudos to him (he said they see everything in the parks -- I suppose they do!).

 

[scottmel]

Just wanted to clarify, half of our group of 39 was doing a bike tour; then ABD split our group further -- half did the calligraphy while half did the food tour, then switched. I think there were maybe 10 or 12, including dd and myself on this pretend food tour. It wasn't horrible, just not great.

I didn't mind our group size. Everyone got along very well -- we had a great group, probably one of the best groups I've been with on an ABD. To me it didn't make an impact. Now if you have some slow movers in the group then I can see a group of this size being an issue. It may have helped having Ken along as a shadow guide since he was very hands-on.

Oh sorry I forgot about the tour split. My NYC group was HUGE and it was difficult. Glad they at least split it...But still the guide ratio I feel should always be 2...but at least you had a shadow guide. We did not. We had one guide constantly assisting a few in need leaving the other guide dealing with 35 people. Glad that was not your case

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I don't think getting rid of the food tour is the answer. I think they need to re-think it, and fashion it as a true food tour, where you go into the shops and into the restaurants, and get full tastes of whatever it is that location specializes in. Taking us to a Tofu shop and then pulling out a 3mm square tidbit of tofu is *not* how most true food tours work. I love to take food tours, too. It's become one of my favorite pre-day activities. For what we pay for these trips, they can pay these shops to provide fresh, decent sized portions of food! I don't know if the fault is with ABD, or with the company providing the local guides, but it really needs to be changed.

I too always do a food tour and usually book a private one for my family. Great way to get to know the city, etc. I am guessing though ABD can't take you into stores, etc. too many people? I can't see moving 40 people into a store or a restaurant for sample tasting. I think, and I could be wrong, that the next move ABD makes will be to differentiate the tours with small group vs. regular. My beef with this is the cost is such premium a 20 people max should be a given...but I bet they try to increase the cost to offer fewer than 22

Totally agree. I love doing food tours and I was really looking forward to that part of the itinerary. That and/or a cooking class are definitely on our list of "must do's" in countries we visit.

Our group was broken down, too, but I totally agree with you Scottmel about the need for ABD to differentiate small tours. They have tried to do so with "private tours," but the price was pretty ridiculous. I'd love to see tours of 22 or less for a slight increase.

Just wanted to clarify, half of our group of 39 was doing a bike tour; then ABD split our group further -- half did the calligraphy while half did the food tour, then switched. I think there were maybe 10 or 12, including dd and myself on this pretend food tour. It wasn't horrible, just not great.

I didn't mind our group size. Everyone got along very well -- we had a great group, probably one of the best groups I've been with on an ABD. To me it didn't make an impact. Now if you have some slow movers in the group then I can see a group of this size being an issue. It may have helped having Ken along as a shadow guide since he was very hands-on.

But still the guide ratio I feel should always be 2...but at least you had a shadow guide. We did not. We had one guide constantly assisting a few in need leaving the other guide dealing with 35 people. Glad that was not your case

Ours was broken down that way, too. I think we had 12 on our food tour/caligraphy.
I think the third guide was probably a huge factor. There were many times I also thought the guides were stretched too thin. Same thing happened in the Baltics.

For a young, single guy Ken didn't flinch at all at the mess and situation in general, so kudos to him (he said they see everything in the parks -- I suppose they do!).

I can totally see him springing into action. He's a great guide.

 

[TeeKo]

Continued Activities Day 2-4:
The much looked forward to “hike” in Miyajima was a big disappointment. They should have billed it as climbing two staircases since that’s what it was. I thought we were climbing to the top of the mountain. That needs to be changed in the itinerary.

Thank you for your trip report!

My family went on our first Thompson Family Adventures this summer, partly due to your postings on this site! We have been on several ABD trips and wanted to try something different. We went on the Canadian Rockies TFA trip. I didn't realize how I interpreted the TFA itinerary through an ABD lens until we were on the trip. We knew we would be in a much smaller group but didn't appreciate a difference in the activities. On Day 2, my DH and DS12 went on the cave exploration while DD19 and I went on the easy hike. After the caving, DH asked...Um, what kind of trip did you book for us? They had a strenuous hike followed by repelling into a cave followed by crawling, climbing, clawing, wiggling for three hours. The easy hike took three hours.
The next day, we had river rafting. At this point, we had a sense that it would be different than rafting with ABD. Sure enough, Class 4 rapids for 2 hours! As we got into our raft, our guide said, "Now this ain't no Disney ride!" My family totally cracked up. We found we really enjoyed the more strenuous activities. Even though we went into thinking "hike" would mean about two staircases!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

It was my friend @Calfan who has done Thompson, but I'm definitely looking at them as well. It sounds as if it would be a great trip for us. I'm LOL at the description of the cave hike and river rafting. Sounds much more our cup of tea. Was it a fun trip? I'll have to add it to my list. Canada is supposedly beautiful.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Days 8-11: Tokyo!

It took me less than 24 hours in Tokyo to fall in love. What an amazing city. As my daughter adroitly (and sadly) put: This is what San Francisco could be like. When we came home the differences were all that much more pronounced. ☹

Hotel:
The Peninsula Tokyo is one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at. I told Ken that I needed a change of address card because I was moving in. The funny thing is that my husband walked on the bus a few minutes later (he hadn’t heard me), and said he was moving in to the Peninsula, too. Too funny. Great minds ☺.

The hotel was reminiscent of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Peninsulas but didn’t feel as stuffy and seemed more comfortable. Like The Shanghai Peninsula, the dressing room was HUGE. There was also a great seating are with a loveseat in front of the TV. One of the good things about all the free time in Tokyo was that we had some time to enjoy the room. I’m not a bath person, but it was so amazing that I actually took two! I love that ABD has these type of luxury hotels on the Asia itineraries, and the Tokyo Peninsula more than anything else made me feel as if I was on a “special” VIP type of tour. It was a perfect way to end the trip and was probably what ended up making the trip for me.




For breakfast you could either eat at the buffet on the lower floor or in the main dining room in the lobby. Both were delicious. The buffet was definitely easier and faster, but it opened a little later.

Activities:
I really loved the first night activities in Tokyo. After dinner at the very fun and festive Gonpachi (more about that later), we went to Shibuya to take our pictures at the busiest crossing in the world. I loved the vibe and energy there, and maybe because of the beer and drinks flowing at Gonpachi, the group really seemed to have a fun time ☺. It was a lot of people to corral though and one of our group got left behind. She was able to call one of her family members before we reached the bus, and Ken went running back, but it did take a while to find her. It was all fine though, and she seemed more embarrassed than upset or distressed.



On Day #9 we went to Hamarikyu gardens—which was really pretty—and did a short walk before arriving at a tea house to have the tea ceremony. There wasn’t enough room inside for all of us so my family sat outside. I missed most of the instruction, but Tomomi came by and explained what we were supposed to do. We really enjoyed it, and it was a really peaceful environment.

Gorgeous!




The sushi making lunch was super fun, and the type of activity I really love with ABD. We made Tamago (omelette) again, Kappa Maki, Tekka Maki and CA rolls. We devoured ours in about 5 minutes flat and were still pretty hungry. I've made sushi a number of times before, but I would have loved the opportunity to make nigiri and/or more rolls. It was really fun, but I could have stayed there a lot longer cooking. I’m hoping that with them losing the cruise next year, they might have more time for lunch?



We took pictures under the famous lantern of Senso-Ji Temple, but it wasn’t really a temple visit. There was a huge market there, and it was billed as one of our last places to get Japanese souvenirs. You could have gone to the temple instead of shopping, but we found St. Arbucks, and Melon Pan(!) and were super happy just walking around.


I was really looking forward to the cruise. I love seeing a city from the water. But this one was a little flat—we just kind of sat there. I think there was someone talking but we couldn’t hear any of it so we had no idea what we were passing. I suspect guides are not allowed to talk and you have to listen to the ship person. I wasn’t surprised to hear they’d eliminated it from the itinerary next year, but it’s a shame. A good boat cruise would be fun.


After that we had the rest of the afternoon. I want to say we were back around 4 pm. As we had a dinner that night we just went back to the hotel to rest and enjoy the room.

Meeting time for the Meiji Shrine and Ceremony on the day #10 was 7 (or maybe 7:30). The problem was that they didn’t open the buffet breakfast until 7:30 so you had to eat in the main restaurant, which opened at 6:30. The main restaurant is slow. So rather than wake up really early and be rushed for breakfast, we decided to skip the last day. I’d heard the shopping after the shrine wasn’t the great, and since the shrine wasn’t a big draw for us, I’m really glad we did. We had a really fun day before meeting for our farewell dinner. We weren’t the only people to skip, and I think it has happened quite a bit in past trips. I will say that some people found the shrine and ceremony really interesting. A couple on our group thought it was the best part of the trip so YMMV.

For me, I was happy sleeping in, visiting the Tokyo Fish Market to buy a new knife and check out the craziness of the famous market. I was surprised that we weren’t going to the old fish market (the location of the actual fish market changed in the last year), but with the crowds, I suspect ABD doesn’t want to take a big group. After the fish market, we checked out a fancy Japanese department store in Ginza looking for my vinyl grandma slippers (couldn’t find them ☹), and then took a 25 minute subway trip to a baseball store to by Japanese team baseball hats. Strangely, you can’t find hats unless you go to a stadium or specific shop. A lot of people wanted hats, but I think we were the only ones that did the trip to the store. It was easy enough—the Tokyo subways are super easy to navigate—but it did take about 1.5 hrs.

You can't tell from this picture but the Tokyo Fish Market was packed--such a cool place though.


Continued in next post...

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Food:
Our first meal in Tokyo at Gonpachi, the restaurant made famous by Uma Thurman’s scene in Kill Bill, was a blast. The food was good, but it was the atmosphere and entertainment (drum show) that really set it apart. We also had surprise drinks included (finally!), which was really nice. What a fun evening, and if you want the best birthday celebration done by a restaurant ever, go to Gonpachi. We had a birthday in our group and it was awesome.

If you've seen Kill Bill this will look familiar:


The drummers were incredible.


For the dinner on our own on night #9, we’d made a reservation at the new sushi restaurant at the hotel on the suggestion of the Peninsula concierge after she couldn’t secure reservations for us as Jiro (Thank you Tokyo Station Hotel!). It’s called “Sushi Wakon” and it’s the second iteration of the two-starred Michelin restaurant by the same name in Kyoto. Here’s what it says on the website: “The exclusive restaurant is operated by Wa Creations and helmed by two Michelin-starred Chef Rei Masuda, a disciple of world-famous Sushi Master Jiro Ono of Sukiyabashi Jiro, under whom Chef Masuda honed his techniques. Sushi Wakon at The Peninsula Tokyo is sister to the original sushi restaurant of the same name at the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto.”

It was excellent, but coming so close after our epic meal at Jiro it fell a little short. We preferred the bigger rice portion with the nigiri at Jiro, and there were a few pieces of fish that we really tasted the difference on. Interestingly, I quizzed the family separately, and the overlap was pretty much the same on the ones they didn’t love. Who knew we were so discerning? At dinner, they also do things other than nigiri, and we preferred the nigiri only. But we are splitting hairs here, the dinner was delicious and the restaurant has a fresh, very hip atmosphere.

The ABD farewell dinner on our last night was held at an absolutely lovely venue. We had a chance to walk around a little, and I loved the bonsai trees and pond. Unfortunately, for me, the food was a little disappointing in comparison (think banquet/conference food). There was free alcohol, which was nice, but I had to ask repeatedly to have someone refill my glass (it was done once) and the pour was about ¼ cup. Sigh. I gave up. I thought I had a picture or two of the venue, but I think my phone had died. I think this was the only meal I didn't really care for. The one on the beach wasn't what I would choose, but the food was good. But one meal out of 21 or so is excellent so I'm not complaining

There was a doll painting activity that surprised me. It’s on the itinerary as before dinner, but we did it after dinner—which was a little odd. It kind of interrupted the flow of conversation. It would have been more fun maybe as a separate activity, and seemed out of place after a meal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this dropped, but the kids did seem to like it so maybe they could put it somewhere else.

Up next: Tokyo Disneyland Add-on

 

[scottmel]

Loving this report. Super helpful to me, thank you! Both of your Tokyo hotels sound lovely. I made a note originally based on your recommendation to book Tokyo Station but the other Tokyo looks amazing too. For a home base on a 5 night stay, which do you recommend for conveience?

I just got home from the Japanese hotel HALEKULANI in Waikiki and it is amazing. Our second year there. It is all Japanese and it had the same tub you had in your last hotel. Trouble is when I got out of it, I forgot how deep - i.e high off the floor it was so I wasn't thinking about that when I stepped out of it and almost went headfirst into the vanity. I just wasn't expecting such a deep step down.

Super tips and glad you enjoyed that last day. Sometimes breaking away is nice. Glad you will get some on our own time in Disneyland. Excited to read that . Thanks! Melissa

 

[Chirple]

Great trip report @CaliforniaGirl09!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Loving this report. Super helpful to me, thank you! Both of your Tokyo hotels sound lovely. I made a note originally based on your recommendation to book Tokyo Station but the other Tokyo looks amazing too. For a home base on a 5 night stay, which do you recommend for conveience?

I just got home from the Japanese hotel HALEKULANI in Waikiki and it is amazing. Our second year there. It is all Japanese and it had the same tub you had in your last hotel. Trouble is when I got out of it, I forgot how deep - i.e high off the floor it was so I wasn't thinking about that when I stepped out of it and almost went headfirst into the vanity. I just wasn't expecting such a deep step down.

Super tips and glad you enjoyed that last day. Sometimes breaking away is nice. Glad you will get some on our own time in Disneyland. Excited to read that . Thanks! Melissa

We really enjoyed both Tokyo hotels and both are ideally located in central Tokyo. The Peninsula was a solid #1 of the hotels in our stay and probably the nicest hotel I"ve ever stayed at. The Tokyo Station Hotel was also very lux feeling, but it didn't have the space of the former. The Tokyo Station Hotel is attached to one of the big train stations so that's nice, but there is a subway station super close to the Peninsula so you don't have to walk too far if you are moving around a lot. It basically comes down to room size and $$. I just looked on booking.com and the Peninsula is about double the cost of the Tokyo Station. Wow! The size of the room in the Tokyo Station hotel was much smaller, but it had really high ceilings and a "grand old dame" hotel feel. I would read reviews and look at pics to see what you would prefer.

Here's a pic I found of the hotel room at the TSH.


This was our view:


Oh no about the tub--yikes! But the hotel sounds great. Love Waikiki and Hawaii in general.

So glad you are enjoying

Great trip report @CaliforniaGirl09!

Thanks so much--and thanks for reading

[Edited to add pictures]

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I really enjoyed the shrine on the last day -- it was one of my favorite shrines. We saw the priests (?) coming from morning prayer in their robes walking towards another building. I found the blessing we got (only maybe 15 from our group went for the blessing) to be a very moving experience. However I understand it's not for everyone. What a shame ABD eliminated this.

We had quite a few families skip the last day -- I can think of at least 3 off the top of my head and there was another family where half stayed back.

We had a family in our group also go to the stadium to get the baseball hats! They are quite nice!

Loving your trip report!

 

[Calfan]

[/QUOTE]

It was my friend @Calfan who has done Thompson, but I'm definitely looking at them as well. It sounds as if it would be a great trip for us. I'm LOL at the description of the cave hike and river rafting. Sounds much more our cup of tea. Was it a fun trip? I'll have to add it to my list. Canada is supposedly beautiful.

Yes, my family did China with Thomson in 2016, and we are doing Japan with them in 2020. @TeeKo I wasn't able to quote your message, but I had to smile when reading your description of the activities on your Canada trip with Thomson. I can't tell you how many times on our China trip one of my family members remarked that we wouldn't be doing a certain activity with Disney, lol. One example was the cooking class we did while we were in Yangshuo. We had 10 people on our trip, 4 adults and 6 kids, and we all did the cooking. This included the kids all using huge cleavers and cooking over hot oil. But it was well supervised and super fun and no one got hurt We also did some hikes and bike rides that might not make the ABD cut. Glad you enjoyed your trip!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I really enjoyed the shrine on the last day -- it was one of my favorite shrines. We saw the priests (?) coming from morning prayer in their robes walking towards another building. I found the blessing we got (only maybe 15 from our group went for the blessing) to be a very moving experience. However I understand it's not for everyone. What a shame ABD eliminated this.

We had quite a few families skip the last day -- I can think of at least 3 off the top of my head and there was another family where half stayed back.

We had a family in our group also go to the stadium to get the baseball hats! They are quite nice!

Loving your trip report!

Thanks so much! It was a great trip, and I'm already missing Japan.

Too funny about others in your group doing the baseball hats, too. We had a number in our group who wanted to do that, but I don't think had time. I'll try to take a photo when I get home (I'm in Lake Tahoe right now). We all picked different teams I love the one I ended up with.

I'd forgotten that ABD had eliminated the shrine on the last day. From the reports I had, it definitely was one of the better shrine/temple visits, and it is too bad that they eliminated it. From what i heard, they should have kept the temple and eliminated the shopping time that day. I'm sorry that temple was so near the end of the trip. By time it came around, we were pretty done.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

@Calfan You are definitely going to have to do a TR for your Japan trip. I'm going to be very curious to how it compares with the ABD itinerary.

I was happy that we all got to participate and cook on this ABD for the cooking activities, I just wished there was more food, LOL. And no cleavers were involved! I remember you telling me about that.

Our bike ride probably wasn't as "off road" as the one in Scotland, if I"m remembering that one correctly. But on this one there was a slightly scary section where you go along the river and there's a good size drop on the other side. I remember thinking: please don't anyone crash here. We did have a teen crash, but he was in a different group and I didn't see it. He wasn't hurt. I don't think it was in the area I thought of since if he'd crashed there it wouldn't have been pretty. The ride was a decent length, too. I want to say 1.5 hours or so. I just wanted more of them, and from what you've said of Thompson, you had that.

EDITED to remove previous message quote as it wasn't offsetting and it was confusing. Tagged Calfan instead.