kids only events on ABD trips?

[MicFam5]

We are considering an ABD trip and have noticed there are times where the family is split up, either for a separate dinner or separate afternoon event.
Is this required or can the kids tag along with adults or vice versa? I do not want the family split up doing different things.

 

[Jess_S]

The short answer is that you never need to do an activity you don't want to do. What trips are you considering. I am sure someone here can comment on how the specific activities on those trips worked. I know that in Scotland the only time kids and parents split up was the movie night, but my understanding is that we could have chosen to go to the movie with our son in lieu of the adult dinner if we had wanted.

 

[TeeKo]

You could skip entirely or the adults can definitely join the kids. I don’t know that young children could join the adult activity.
In Scotland, the adult activity was Whiskey tasting, Italy was wine tasting, Costa Rica was mojita making. The dinners that followed were set up at long tables for all the adults to dine together. It was really presented as a kid free event although I recall some older teens being present.

 

[2-pointdoe]

The time to hang out with other kids was part of what we loved out our ABD. We did Italy and while we were tasting wine and eating dinner, the kids were tasting Italian sodas, eating and playing some active games. Sure DD would have been fine at dinner and wine tasting but she had so much more fun hanging with her new friends. Our next wine tasting the kids went off to create their own infused oils then came back and joined us for dinner. The kids scavenger hunt at the Doges palace was a great break for them to be more actively engaged while the adults got a more in depth tour. Again she would have been fine but loved her time with her new friends.

I liked the fact that the kids time was always with our 2 disney guides while the adults were with the local guides. The biggest reason we chose disney was to allow her some time with others her age. (also our other 3 kids are grown adults so our daughter travels with us as an only child)

As someone stated above, you are never required to DO anything but you are talking about a few hours out of the entire trip.

 

[mapsd]

We are considering an ABD trip and have noticed there are times where the family is split up, either for a separate dinner or separate afternoon event.
Is this required or can the kids tag along with adults or vice versa? I do not want the family split up doing different things.

Realize that the kids activity is usually right next door in many cases.

I don't think kids at the wine-tasting would be appreciated by the rest of the group.

Don't be afraid to skip altogether and explore on your own if the activity doesn't appeal to you.
We had one couple that didn't drink and their family called a cab and they had their own mini-adventure that night.

 

[MicFam5]

Thank you to everyone for your input! We are considering the Italy trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I am happy to hear the positive experiences at the kids-only events. I reached out to ABD and asked them the same question. They were extremely helpful and said all activities are optional and there is flexibility with the events. In some cases, the adults can join the kids and other times, the kids can join the adults. We are still trying to decide whether ABD is the right fit for us, especially considering the price tag!

 

[2-pointdoe]

The $$$ is rough but I am so glad we went and used Disney. We could not have asked for a better trip. Again since we only had the one child with us, we wanted to make sure she had other kids to hang out with. It was so nice not to have plan each day or deal with luggage or transportation and to have some Disney magic. If you have any questions about that particular trip feel free to private message me as we just went in June.

Thank you to everyone for your input! We are considering the Italy trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I am happy to hear the positive experiences at the kids-only events. I reached out to ABD and asked them the same question. They were extremely helpful and said all activities are optional and there is flexibility with the events. In some cases, the adults can join the kids and other times, the kids can join the adults. We are still trying to decide whether ABD is the right fit for us, especially considering the price tag!

 

[leannak]

What about for the junior adventurer movie nights? Do they choose the movie based on the particular adventure location or age of kids? Do the teenagers sit and watch the same movie as the 5 year olds?? By the way, where are the movie nights held? In a hotel meeting room type of venue? Those floors are usually hard and the upright meeting/dining chairs not always the most comfortable for movie viewing.

I’m just wondering how the movie night plays out - we will be with a group with kids of quite varying ages. I’d sort of like some adult time so hopefully the kids won’t be refusing to go watch the movie.

 

[lpm23]

They usually do it in a conference room. half the time they don't end up watching a movie and they play games instead. the kids have a blast. i have seen them bring in bean bag chairs etc. I think they have a bunch of movies and let kids decide. On all the trips we have done all the junior adventurers (12 and under) have participated. usually a bunch of the teenagers will go too but sometimes the teens don't participate. It is always a disney movie and appropriate for the younger kids.

 

[minie_meese]

On our recent ABD there were no kids under 12 but a bunch between 12 and 17. They did a movie night for them with a movie teens would enjoy and most of them went. From what we heard the kids all enjoyed it.

 

[Donalyn]

We did the Italy trip that you are considering.

My kids aren't joiners, if you know what I mean. But the guides made the kid events fun, even for them. As stated above, some of the very oldest teens were with the adults for the wine-tasting event in Italy, but they were out of high school and legal to drink in Italy. My DD 15 was at the kids event, with the other 15 year olds.

I thought it was really nice to have some time with just the adults. The kids were entertained, active, outside running off steam. A win-win in my opinion.

Now, for the other kids events, they typically were pretty short. For instance, at the second wine-tasting event, the kids made some olive oil infusions. They were maybe 50 yards away for 25 to 30 minutes. Then they came and had lunch with us, although the kids were sitting together at the table behind us.

And when we were touring one location - they split the younger kids out from the main group to do a scavenger hunt. This split out at about 12 and younger went with the ABD guides and the older kids came with the adults and the local guide. We did run into their group a few times during the tour.

 

[disneyphx]

We have not done an Italy trip, but in our experience the Junior Adventurer nights vary quite a bit and don't always involve a movie.
Japan they are doing bowling and a dinner of fries, pizza, chicken tenders etc. Our trip only had one under 12 and a lot 13-22 - almost all of them opted to participate!
Norway was my daughters favorite - karaoke and dancing with the hotel band - held in the hotel nightclub and it opened early for them!
2nd favorite was South Africa where they made their own pizza and watched Lion King (which she had never seen!)
I think the hotels we were at in South Africa and China had kind of 'movie theaters' I think ABD looks for 'non-conference room' locations if at all possible......
As my daughter has gotten older, she will usually go to eat and then play it by ear - she is early to bed early to rise so we usually go check when we are done with our dinner to see if she wants to leave.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

we had movie night on the adults only South Africa - almost everybody wanted to watch the Lion King. It was kind of an all-purpose room at the resort, with a projection screen, but they had furnished it with beanbag chairs and cushy type armchairs. we got to bring wine from the buffet.