If you had to do it over again would you have chosen ABD for your vacation?

[GirlfromTN]

What are the complaints about the food? Is the food bad on all the trips or just Europe trips specifically??

 

[redzinner]

What are the complaints about the food? Is the food bad on all the trips or just Europe trips specifically??

The food is not bad it's just geared for 'everyman's' palate. We like to dine at nice restaurants not chain restaurants. We were expecting great Italian dining, we got plain ordinary meals for dinners. Thank God the wine was good. On the nights we were on our own we found great local restaurants. In all fairness to the Italian establishments, when 40 people are booked for one seating I guess they need something quick and generic.

Edit: The luncheon in Tuscany with wild boars meat was very good and real Italian.

 

[kristilew]

I have to agree with this. The best meal we had in Peru was the last night on our own.

 

[TDC Nala]

No issue with the food in Australia. The group dinners were all good. The food at the Sea Temple is great. The ABD dinner in Uluru was surprisingly good. There is a cafe called Geckos there that has the best pizza I have had in a long time for your on your own dining. The in flight lunches though were, well, airline food. At least they were edible.

The Sydney leg had a dinner at the Summit restaurant, a "fine dining" establishment with quite good food (and magnificent view); however that dinner is apparently being changed to a "family style" restaurant.

 

[kjd469]

We were on the final Peru trip for 2008, and perhaps they had "tweaked" the food menu by then, as we found all the meals to be excellent, as did everyone on our tour...much better meals than we have experienced on tours with other companies...we got to try many Peruvian specialties, including "cuy" - guinea pig....although I passed on that one

 

[Pakey]

What are the complaints about the food? Is the food bad on all the trips or just Europe trips specifically??

I think it depends on what you are wanting out of your trip and how important food is to you. My husband and I enjoy our food. We travel often and the food is a great portion of what we want from the culture we are discovering. When we did AbD, we found that the group meals were very generic, safe middle of the road items at restaurants that the locals probably would have never chosen. Example: our last "included" dinner in Paris, we had the choice of roast chicken or sea bass. Both dishes were very bland. There were no delicate French sauces, no pate, no escargot, no fois gras, no squab, etc. Sure, they were feeding 40 people at once, but I was still extremely disappointed in the minimal choices and the quality.

 

[grumpy-1]

We did the Viva Italia tour last Sept. where we met Redzinner, who posted earlier. We loved the trip and the friends we made. We would go with ABD again without reservation.
I do have a few questions. There were 4 who thought they could do better on their owm... My question is HOW? Unless you don't mind schlepping your bags from place to place, and trying to find transportation to the different places you visit, and waiting in long lines to visit the sites that we saw.Then you can't do better !
My second question is...did anyone else notice that the percentages don't add up? If you add them it comes out to well over 100 %..

 

[nunzia]

No complaints aobut food on our backstage magic..of course that was American, so just what we expected. I would imagine that ABD pretty much has to have the food middle of the road to suit the varied tastes of the group, not to mention that overall anytime there is a large group the restaurant will insist on choosing the choices and how many options to aid in preparation time and so that all meals can be served at once. That said, we did have several opportunities to eat on our own at BSM..is that not the case on other tours?
All our meals were great..I have to say I was really impressed with Jim Henson studio's meals..wish I'd had a doggie bag...

 

[WeLoveABD]

We've done three ABD tours (Italy, China, Knights) and never wanted for food of any sort--we took advantage of the nights out on our own to go with local fare, and found the food selections when with the group to be sufficiently varied (accepting there are limits when with large groups including children). Of course these tours won't be for everyone, nor will every meal be the meal of a lifetime--but it is all an adventure, and you make the most of it, right? Reading these threads is always interesting--lots of good info, occassional comments that give me pause--but overall from the people I have met on these trips and from most of the comments on this blog, it is clear that the majority of folks who have travelled on ABD have discovered that Disney has done an excellent job putting together detail-oriented, hassle-free trips. Cheers!

 

[disneytraveler]

This summer will hopefully be my 3rd ABD trip. First one being Viva Italy and then the Austria/Czech Tour. There was noway i could compare the 2 even when other travelers asked me. I loved each one and this year i was planning the Germany adventure.