Do itineraries ever change for the better?

vikequeen

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 4, 2015
I've seen several posts here lamenting changes that seem to take away from trips. We are just back from Montana Yellowstone (which we loved), but the new itinerary is more Montana heavy, and takes away a few things we loved in Yellowstone. Makes me very glad we did it this summer and sad for future adventurers. I'm hoping someone will point out a change that made any trip better so that I feel better about planning my next trip. I'm not sure yet where we will go (Alaska maybe?), but I'm starting to get nervous that the trips are getting more and more watered down as time goes on so really just looking for some reassurance . . . or wondering if I should be looking more heavily at the "other options" thread.
 
I think every once in awhile they will "refresh" a trip or rewrite it entirely. Australia had been around as an ABD trip for a long time and they updated and refreshed the trip for 2017 and it was a very good trip. We had previously looked at the trip and the highlights were good, but Tasmania in their winter was just too cold. They replaced Tasmania with Byron Bay (Thor's home base and the Gold Coast) They promptly cut out our favorite part - Byron Bay - the following year - but some people didn't like it, so I guess they listen to the soft market. We took the last of the "original" South Africa trips (I think it was spring 2011), and thereafter they cut several days out and it is now a very different trip. The earthquakes a few years ago re-wrote what they could do in Costa Rica - one of the waterfall parks was totally destroyed - so they do update and revise these trips on occasion. I think the actual trips themselves need to speak to you - regardless of who is the provider - and then look from there.
 
They do *occasionally* improve them (I think a lot about the current Alaska trip is better than the trip I did in 2009, except for removing the Kenai Fjords cruise) but I think the number of trips that they've made less special is exponentially higher.

Sayhello
 
A quick note from the finance department reads "refined experiences"....... always got to make the numbers work....
 


We did the Costa Rica trip in 2016. After the Nature Air plane crash they eliminated Tortuguero. The night time turtle sightings were the highlight of the trip for us.
 
We went to Costa Rica in March 2018 - it was supposed to be the last trip with the old itinerary including Tortuguero but they moved us over to the new itinerary, probably because of the airline crash.

We have met 2 of the destination managers for ABD on our trips. I met the Destination Manager for Australia (we did it in 2017) and he shared his view that when he took over the itinerary, he noted the drive to Byron Bay was too long. As the destination managers rotate, I suspect they try to "freshen" up the trips according to their own judgement and based on the reviews coming.

I'm glad we got to do Ecuador/Galapagos this year... looks like they are stopping this itinerary all together in favor of focusing on the Amazon & Galapagos.
 

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