As regional manager with Adventures by Disney, I have had the opportunity to develop new itineraries from the ground up, as well as redesign and enhance existing itineraries. I’m not sure which is more fun: One of them gives me the opportunity to open up parts of the world for our guests, while the other lets me take something our guests already enjoy and bring it to the next level.

Cities of Knights and Lights has been delighting our guests with the sights of London and Paris for many years. We always look to our guests for information and feedback and based on their input, we’ve added visits to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, as well as a ride on the London Eye. At first I thought my aversion to heights would keep me from enjoying the views from the London Eye or even keep me grounded entirely. But once I boarded the capsule and felt how smooth the ride was, those concerns vanished. I now find myself taking a ride on the Eye (that’s what the cool kids call it) every time I’m in London.

We also added a two-night stay at the Foxhills Hotel & Resort in Surrey to give our guests the experience of staying on an English countryside estate. When I stayed at Foxhills earlier this year, I fell in love with the property and the plethora of activities available for every member of the family. I don’t think our guests will want to leave – I know I didn’t. I love how the new version of Cities of Knights and Lights experiences the bustle of London, then visits the quieter English countryside before moving on to the cosmopolitan city of Paris.

There are many memorable dining experiences on this trip and one highlight is our celebration at the famous Ladurée restaurant in Paris, which, aside from the opulent décor and the delicious food, offers the best macaroons in the world. They are definitely one of my favorite treats.

When I think about bucket-list destinations I’ve traveled to for Cities of Knights and Lights, the list goes on and on – Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Versailles, and more. When I’m developing a new itinerary or making enhancements to an existing one, if I have a “pinch me” moment, I know it’s a good addition because, most likely, fellow travelers will feel the same. I think guests on the Cities of Knights and Lights will be pinching themselves every day. I know I did.

For a look at other exciting destinations offered by Adventures by Disney, check out the posts below:

• Adventures by Disney Travels to Egypt, Part 1
• Adventures by Disney Travels to Egypt, Part 2
• Adventures by Disney Launches New Destinations

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Filed: Adventures by Disney, Vacation Planning

I eventually learned from the Egyptologists who escorted my tours of the monuments that many ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses took the forms of animals. Hippopotamuses, hawks, cobras, jackals, crocodiles, vultures and even the lowly scarab (also known as a dung beetle) took on deep religious significance, and within the temples and tombs their images can be seen everywhere. The images weren’t confined to just the walls and ceilings. There are also magnificent sculptures. Here’s one of my favorites, the god Horus who takes on the form of a falcon or hawk, and who is known as the All Seeing Eye as well as the God of the Sky, the God of War and the God of Protection:

I have a number of other animal-related stories but none of them “tops” the experience I had in Upper Egypt near Aswan, a beautiful city on the Nile River. This region of southern Egypt is home to the Nubians, a people who in ancient times were known for their vast wealth, military prowess and advanced civilization. I visited one of their villages and was invited into a café to get out of the deadly heat and enjoy a glass of refreshing mint tea. This is what the café looked like from the outside:

And here’s a view of the inside where it was remarkably cool and just as brightly colored as the outside:

I noticed a low-walled cement basin in the middle of the room – half filled with water and holding two small Nile crocodiles. I thought, “Wow, that’s pretty cool!” The owner of the café was a friendly guy who decided to join my Egyptian companion and me at our little table. When he noticed my interest in the crocodiles he became animated and picked one of them up. A few minutes of discussion in Arabic followed with my companion and it was translated to me that the Nubians want to protect the endangered crocs, so they raise them as youngsters in their homes up to a certain age before releasing them into Lake Nasser, the vast body of water that was formed when the nearby Aswan High Dam was built in the early 1960s. As this story was being shared with me the owner placed the crocodile on my head and motioned to my camera – I quickly understood that he wanted to take my picture. Here’s the moment, as it was captured. It’s one of my all-time favorite pictures:

The next day, visiting one of the ancient temples near Aswan, I was astonished to be introduced to another Egyptian god known as Sobek – characterized as a powerful man with a crocodile head. In thinking about my “croc encounter” on the previous day I had a very odd sensation of feeling like I knew exactly how the ancients had come up with their vision for Sobek:

Thanks for reading my Disney Parks Blog posts. I hope you enjoyed hearing about some of my travels in Egypt and that you’ve gotten a sense of the amazing things to be discovered there. Please visit us at www.AdventuresbyDisney.com to learn more about our trip to Egypt and consider joining us for this phenomenal experience.

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Filed: Adventures by Disney, Vacation Planning

As a Trip Operations Manager for Adventures by Disney, I was part of the team that put together our new Pyramids, Pharaohs and Ancient Treasures trip. This was a dream come true because from an early age I had long sought to travel to this fabled land of vast deserts and ancient monuments. When I arrived in Cairo to begin exploring how we could put an amazing adventure together, I fully expected to be wowed by the monuments of antiquity – the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, the elaborately decorated tombs and fascinating temples clustered along the banks of the Nile River that I had seen in books that first captured my imagination as a child. Everything I saw was just as extraordinary as I had ever imagined. I experienced any number of “pinch me, I can’t believe how truly awesome this is” moments as I found myself walking among the splendors of what many say are the world’s most iconic ancient treasures. Words like Tutankhamen, Luxor, Aswan, Giza and Cairo took on new meanings as I saw for myself what so many had discovered before me in this fabled land where tourists have been coming for centuries.

One thing I had not anticipated during my initial site inspections around Egypt was experiences that involved interactions with animals. Animals are everywhere in Egypt, certainly much more so than I’m used to seeing in my daily life in Los Angeles. Perhaps the first awareness I gleaned were all the donkey carts weaving through the impossibly jammed streets of Cairo, most of them heaped with fresh vegetables brought daily into the city from the fertile fields lining the Nile.

Next came the famous pyramids at Giza, where I discovered that camel rides and horse-drawn carriages are big business. With one of the most famous backdrops in the world – well, it’s impossible to resist having one of the best all-time souvenir photos ever (and by the way, my camel’s name was Mickey Mouse!):

Soon after touring the pyramids I visited several ancient tombs located in the desert outside Cairo that are dated to 4,200 years ago. The walls of the temples were covered from floor to ceiling with extraordinary carvings and hieroglyphics. Many of the scenes represented the daily life of Egyptians, and there were animals galore, domesticated and wild. Here’s a sample panel from one of the rooms in the tomb of Mereruka who was Chief Justice and Vizier for the Pharaoh Teti. It appears to show a variety of Nile waterfowl and a hunter grasping the tail of a river otter:

Please check back tomorrow for my second-half look into of our Pyramids, Pharaohs and Ancient Treasures adventure. In the meantime, head to www.AdventuresbyDisney.com to find out more about this and many of our other fabulous destinations.

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Filed: Adventures by Disney, Vacation Planning