ABD with teens?

[PPFQP]

I would love to get some feedback from families that have done an ABD trip with teens. We are considering a Europe trip in 2010, but I am worried that my daughters (twins - will be 15 at the time) are too old and that the tours are aimed at younger audiences.
They are very social and like kids of all ages, so the idea of a group tour has some appeal, plus I appreciate the attention to detail of Disney products.
I'd love any insight from other families who have done these trips with teens. Thanks!

 

[clarabelle]

My DD 14 enjoyed our trip. (Ireland)
She hung out with the adults mostly. (she kind of does that anyway)
The teenagers are not expected to hang out with the Junior Adventurers or do the movie night unless they want to.

Aside from the movie night there weren't really a lot of "just for kids" things going on. The kids got to feed the baby lambs on our Ireland trip -but this only took a couple of minutes while every one watched.

The movies on the bus are Disney movies that we are all familiar with. Many did not watch them -and listened to I-pods or played with Nintendos.

There is also a feeling of group camaraderie by the end of the trip -so you are hanging out together a good bit.

If you have social kids -I wouldn't worry about it. We had a couple of teenagers that really kept to their own family circle -and they still seemed to enjoy it.

 

[Grifdog22]

I agree with Clarabelle. My son is a 20 year old VMI cadet, along with twin 10 year old sisters. His answer to our first trip was, "I'm not going on any **** disney trip." In Costa Rica, kayaking, he agreed that this was alright. Zip lining through the rain forest, etc., he thought was great. The kids were all ages, from 7 and up on our trip, and even the princesses of the group did well together. There are always options on trips. Our second trip was to Peru, with only three kids - but we found that there were more adults than kids participating in the kids stuff. The side options ensure that all ages are happy. We watched and found it was a great (re)bonding family experience as well. I've lurked over these boards for a couple of years and have never seen a post where your kids age group was reported to not have a great time. Indeed, if they are like many, they'll be keyed in just on the "shopping" opportunities. Enjoy!

 

[clarabelle]

I wanted to add that even some of the activities that sound child-like (for example the farm tour on the Ireland trip) was really very interesting for adults and children alike.

I loved seeing the sheep (we don't have many here) and the sheep dog was amazing.

Also the adult only dinner had my teen and some college age kids and was not stuffy. I don't think the other guests minded having my daughter hanging out with them.

I think ABD does a good job of appealing to all ages.

 

[mwebsite]

We just completed the Viva Italia tour with our 13 yo daughter, and she enjoyed being with another 13 yo and two 15 yo twins on the tour. It depends on the activities as to if the teens are with the junior adventurers. For example, during the jr adventurers dinner and movie night, the adults were having wine tasting, so the teens played bocce ball and had dinner and watched the movie with the jr adventurers. I know she liked the jr adventurer food better than she would have liked our dinner. While I don't think they particularly enjoyed the movie, they enjoyed being TOGETHER, and I didn't hear any complaints. I thought the ABD tour gave us a nice mix of my daughter enjoying being with other teens and spending quality family time.

 

[SLK1]

I just returned last week from Viva Italia and took just my 15 yo son. He has three younger sisters of various ages, and I think the having the other kids was fun for him as he's used to having littler ones around. About three days into it, the kids all relaxed and swam, played Ghost In The Graveyard, etc., and felt more comfortable together. The ages in our group were 5 up to 19 (two girls, the rest boys!), and all seemed to get along great. The teens did not really do the "jr. adventure" stuff but I know deep down they probably wanted to! We both agreed we would do another ABD trip in a heartbeat...even him, and he's pretty much an introvert!

 

[hoffman]

If you do a back check on this subject you will find a thread with MANY replies.My kids are 14 and 15 and we did Costa Rica as a family and had the BEST time ever.Nothing is totally kid related except kid nite and mine didnt even go.To uncool of course.My kids were as sad as us when it over.

 

[PPFQP]

Thanks everyone! Your input is really helpful. I am not sure whether we will choose an ABD trip, a cruise (not Disney unfortunately!), or to travel on our own. But this feedback is definitely convincing that ABD is a good option for us!