Egypt Meets Thread

[CaliKris]

Thanks for the information @Cousin Orville. We have had quite a wild ride trying to book the Egypt ABD, but are now on the September 15th Adults Only tour. @Magnum_PI I think we are on the same trip! Our group will be my husband and I and my two adult children. We were originally not able to get into the Egypt ABD on opening day. Then we were able to get on one of the additional trips added for June. Realized right at the 14 day mark that it conflicted with our nephew's college graduation. Had to cancel the June trip, got on a waitlist, and have been stalking the ABD website ever since. We were so excited to see this Sept trip pop up this week!!

 

[Magnum_PI]

@CaliKris Awesome, will be great to get to meet you and your family later this year! We're technically still waitlisted for Feb 2021, but I don't think we'll see openings there before we're due to pay the trip balance.

We've been on waitlists for this since opening day as well, and were just able to get into this new Sept date a few days ago! We got the message on my 30th birthday, felt like a sign it was definitely time to go. . Glad this worked out well for you too!

 

[CaliKris]

@Magnum_PI how funny! We were waitlisted for Feb 2021 as well. We tried to find out from ABD where we were on the waitlist but they wouldn't tell us. We did not get a message. Did ABD call you? I just happened to look at the website this week and saw the availability. My birthday is Thursday so I figured it was a bday gift as well! My son, 30, will be happy there are people his own age! My daughter will be 26 by the time we go. We are both in our 50's.

 

[Magnum_PI]

@CaliKris Happy birthday! Definitely a good birthday gift. My husband and I are both in our 30s, although that designation is still new to me - I'll have to get used to it, lol!

I believe we had an email message (I think it was sent on Monday, but we didn't see it until the following day), my husband said it seemed generic, like something that went out to loads of people, but we assumed we ended up on the marketing list because we were waitlisted.

 

[lovetotravel]

Has ABD had any confirmed trips to Egypt in the past that actually went or were all cancelled? I could not find any old trip reports. I am curious about the food on this tour.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Has ABD had any confirmed trips to Egypt in the past that actually went or were all cancelled? I could not find any old trip reports. I am curious about the food on this tour.

@lovetotravel The first trip is going near the end of April 2020, so I imagine you'll start hearing reviews/reports then. Unsure when they last time actually went was, I think they cancelled Egypt trips back in 2011 and haven't offered them again until now. But my understanding is the offering was quite new even at that time so I'm unsure if any trips departed in 2011. Even if you could find them, reviews from 9 years ago may not be relevant at this point.

 

[sayhello]

Has ABD had any confirmed trips to Egypt in the past that actually went or were all cancelled? I could not find any old trip reports. I am curious about the food on this tour.

@lovetotravel The first trip is going near the end of April 2020, so I imagine you'll start hearing reviews/reports then. Unsure when they last time actually went was, I think they cancelled Egypt trips back in 2011 and haven't offered them again until now. But my understanding is the offering was quite new even at that time so I'm unsure if any trips departed in 2011. Even if you could find them, reviews from 9 years ago may not be relevant at this point.

ABD first offered Egypt in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (at least according to the old brochures. 2014's brochure says to call for dates). There was a father/son on my Greece trip in 2013 who had switched to that Greece trip after their second attempt to take the Egypt trip got cancelled, as had their first attempt the year before. My understanding is, of all the departures, only one ever ended up going; all others were cancelled.

As @lovetotravel said, the first departure of this round will be in April.

Sayhello

 

[lovetotravel]

ABD first offered Egypt in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (at least according to the old brochures. 2014's brochure says to call for dates). There was a father/son on my Greece trip in 2013 who had switched to that Greece trip after their second attempt to take the Egypt trip got cancelled, as had their first attempt the year before. My understanding is, of all the departures, only one ever ended up going; all others were cancelled.

As @lovetotravel said, the first departure of this round will be in April.

Sayhello

It was actually @Magnum_PI who mentioned the April departure.

Thanks for the history @sayhello! I did't realize a trip actually went.

I realize that looking for an old trip report isn't useful and neither is comparing them. I did come across an old itinerary that mentions "rides" which didn't seem to make it in the new itinerary. Looking forward to everyone's upcoming trip reports!

Old itinerary: http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/w...-package-egypt-tours-adventures-by-disney.pdf

 

[sayhello]

It was actually @Magnum_PI who mentioned the April departure.

Thanks for the history @sayhello! I did't realize a trip actually went.

I realize that looking for an old trip report isn't useful and neither is comparing them. I did come across an old itinerary that mentions "rides" which didn't seem to make it in the new itinerary. Looking forward to everyone's upcoming trip reports!

Old itinerary: http://www.kingdommagictravel.com/w...-package-egypt-tours-adventures-by-disney.pdf

Whoops! My bad!

I don't know if anyone from this Forum went on that one departure. I've never seen a trip report.

Sayhello

 

[Magnum_PI]

@sayhello Not to worry, thanks for the background info!

@lovetotravel I feel like I've seen a blog post (maybe even on a Disney site) from an employee who went to some of the Egypt sites to research the trip before they started offering bookings back in 2011. Obviously not the same as the kind of trip report you're looking for (I am also curious about the food, lol), but maybe of interest. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

[Magnum_PI]

For anyone wondering, I tried reaching out to the Ritz to arrange a private behind the scenes tour of the GEM. The concierge advised me that these tours are on hold until the museum opens later this year. We’re on the Sept 15 trip, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing the GEM when we go. Maybe for those going later in ‘20 or in ‘21 will see it!

 

[Cousin Orville]

For anyone wondering, I tried reaching out to the Ritz to arrange a private behind the scenes tour of the GEM. The concierge advised me that these tours are on hold until the museum opens later this year. We’re on the Sept 15 trip, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing the GEM when we go. Maybe for those going later in ‘20 or in ‘21 will see it!

Thanks for the update. As I mentioned, I did book this tour. The Ritz Concierge hasn't contacted me, which is a little frustrating. I sent them an email to confirm and get a refund. That's disappointing, the tour looked really cool.

 

[Magnum_PI]

Thanks for the update. As I mentioned, I did book this tour. The Ritz Concierge hasn't contacted me, which is a little frustrating. I sent them an email to confirm and get a refund. That's disappointing, the tour looked really cool.

I know, we’re pretty disappointed too. Maybe since yours has already been booked the museum will still honor it? Let us know what you hear & good luck!

 

[CaliKris]

We were going to book it for our pre-day, but I guess we will wait and see what happens based on what @Magnum_PI was told. Did the concierge put you on a list just in case?

 

[Magnum_PI]

@CaliKris It didn't seem like, unfortunately. Honestly, I would try your luck and send them an email (@Cousin Orville mentioned it earlier in the thread). Maybe the person who responded to me wasn't fully aware of the options? It won't hurt to try. We were also hoping to book it for a pre-day (or post depending on availability... which appears to be null right now lol).

 

[Cousin Orville]

Just an update regarding our private GEM tour. I sent the Ritz concierge an email last week to confirm whether or not the private GEM tours were still being allow in. They booked us one for late April. No response. So, I'm not too impressed right now with their Concierge. Sent another email this morning. I suspect they've stopped all tours and just haven't notified us yet.

 

[Magnum_PI]

@Cousin Orville Thanks for the update. That's definitely frustrating. I hope you're able to get ahold of them soon...!

 

[Grifdog22]

I was surprised this morning to see that either additional dates have been added or a number of people of dropped off - there are now 6 trips with openings! All have exactly the same price point, which is odd. The first trip, departing May 5, is now listed as unavailable for booking which I think they do at 60 days out, right?

 

[neurosx1983]

I was surprised this morning to see that either additional dates have been added or a number of people of dropped off - there are now 6 trips with openings! All have exactly the same price point, which is odd. The first trip, departing May 5, is now listed as unavailable for booking which I think they do at 60 days out, right?

from my experience you can’t exactly go by what’s online. Those might all be waitlisted or sold out and they haven’t updated inventory

 

[lovetotravel]

They were able to add a few additional seats to the tours.