Enjoying an empty Sistine Chapel was just 1 reason why Adventures by Disney in Italy was a ‘best trip ever’ experience

One morning this summer, we walked inside the Vatican and marveled at the Sistine Chapel before virtually anyone else was allowed in for the day.

We made pasta and drank wine in Tuscany by day and watched our children squeal and play ball with other kids outside by the pool under a Tuscan sunset by night. We explored Venice on foot, by gondola and by water taxi, and we even made Venetian masks together with newfound friends.

We were guided around historic Florence and had a meal in the Italian hillside town of Orvieto (a destination I’d never previously heard of and surely would have missed if left to my own devices) that felt so special, you knew you’d never forget each bite as it was happening.

And … I didn’t really have to plan a thing.

I didn’t move our bags between locations. I didn’t research or pick the hotels. I didn’t pore over restaurant reviews. I didn’t have to tell everyone when to be up and ready, summon taxis, find all the hidden gems, pack the snacks or even serve as my family’s de facto tour guide.

All I had to do was show up and trust my trip to the experts: the Adventures by Disney team.

If you dream of one day taking an epic trip where you don’t have to be the one in charge and get to do things like enjoy the Vatican without the crowds, this article — and this type of trip — is for you.

What is Adventures by Disney?

Let’s not go any further without talking a bit about what Adventures by Disney is — and what it isn’t.

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SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY

Adventures by Disney is not you walking around somewhere like Europe, Alaska, China, Egypt or even South Africa with Mickey Mouse, though that would certainly be entertaining.

Other than some light touches at the welcome reception (and maybe a few special themed pins … but I won’t spoil the surprise there), it really has almost nothing to do with Mickey or the Disney theme parks, for that matter.

Instead, think of it as Disney service and magic taken out of the parks and onto the streets of Italy, Iceland, the American West and well beyond.

Adventures by Disney involves you experiencing iconic destinations around the globe in a small group setting led by an Adventures by Disney guide who is trained in outstanding service (a Disney hallmark), along with a guide who is local to the destination you are in. Sometimes, you’re also joined by some hyperlocal guides for the day.

But the two main Adventures by Disney guides who are with you the whole trip will handle virtually every detail, activity and logistic imaginable, enabling you to just show up and enjoy where you are instead of constantly facilitating the trip you are on while you are on it. (Maybe think of it like a trip your kids or partner often gets to enjoy if your family is anything like mine and you are the planner extraordinare.)

Examples of Adventures by Disney itineraries start with shorter “escapes” that take place just in one location, such as the four-day Barcelona escape that includes highlights such as a private tour through La Sagrada Familia and a trip to Montserrat, Spain, where you get to visit the basilica and ride a funicular to the mountaintop. Then there are the longer trips, such as the 10-night journey through South Africa that includes time in Cape Town, Knysna and Kapama Private Game Reserve.

On our seven-night Italy trip to Rome, Tuscany and Venice, one of the company’s popular itineraries, we took a private bus, a high-speed train and even a private water taxi, all of which were included.

Also covered and booked by Adventures by Disney were the three hotels on the trip, starting with Rome’s Villa Agrippina Gran Melia, which was a very welcome sight after an overnight flight from the U.S. and within easy walking distance of the Vatican.

In Tuscany, our group all stayed at the Hotel Borgo di Cortefreda, a property that was a bit on the quaint side but made up for it with the Tuscan ambience.

And to conclude the trip in Venice, we enjoyed a couple of nights at the recently renovated Hilton Molino Stucky, located on the calm island of Giudecca.

Again, the hotels are all booked for you, meaning anyone who needs multiple rooms, like my family did due to occupancy rules in Europe that often limit a room’s occupancy to two or occasionally three people, won’t have to worry about arranging multiroom reservations.

Related: I thought river cruises were just for retirees, but a Disney river cruise proved me wrong

Highlights of an Adventures by Disney trip through Italy

My mom (who is in her 70s), my two kids (ages 15 and 10) and I went on the seven-night Adventures by Disney trip through Italy. This experience started in Rome, went through Orvieto in Umbria on the way to Tuscany, included a day trip to Florence and then ultimately culminated with a few days in Venice.

I could write multiple essays about this once-in-a-lifetime trip that our three generations experienced together, but for now, I’ll try and stick to a few highlights that simply became core memories I never knew I’d get to have.

Enjoying an empty Vatican before the crowds entered

It’s hard to oversell the cultural and historic significance of the Vatican.

Millions of visitors file through the gates of this awe-inspiring site each and every year. And it’s reasonable to expect that if you are lucky enough to be one of those visitors, you’ll be sharing the experience with thousands of others visiting at the same time.

But we were able to enter not only the Vatican — but also the Sistine Chapel — before the public crowds early one morning.

If that isn’t a headliner experience for this Adventures by Disney trip, I don’t know what is. Photos were not allowed in the Sistine Chapel itself, but it was every bit as grand as you’d expect.

In fact, this happened just days after the new pope had been selected, so it was absolutely surreal to enter such a special, sought-after, breathtaking and iconic chamber and be able to truly see everything around you without having to shuffle along with the crowds, peer over a shoulder or rush through in need of some fresh air. My kids would have hated that experience, but they loved this way of experiencing the sanctuary without all those detractions.

Not only did we get to experience so much of the Vatican before the official opening that morning, but we had an expert guide to tell us all about what we were seeing.

As we were leaving later that morning, after breakfast in the garden, it became even more evident how priceless our early morning experience had been as we walked past the lines of other visitors streaming in that stretched all around the perimeter.

Having evening gelato in Rome

While in Rome, we also had a chance to see the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, among other iconic sites, with the group — and those are absolutely worthwhile moments.

But a different magical moment from that part of the trip stands out for me. It was actually on an evening we had on our own, when we just wandered out from the hotel and found a spot for gelato that we enjoyed together on a stoop. It was a small, quiet moment, the kind I don’t normally get on a trip like this halfway around the world, as I’m normally using the downtime to put together the main events.

This time, however, the only real decision I had to make that day was which way to wander through town that evening and which flavors of gelato to order. That lack of normal decision fatigue set this up to be a charming Italian moment.

Lunch and the afternoon exploring Orvieto, a charming hillside town

Orvieto is a medieval city that sits on a volcanic cliff between Rome and Florence. We only had a few hours here, but every minute was almost unbelievable. It felt like we had stepped into an Italian fairy tale of sorts, as everything was so scenic and beautiful.

Our lunch, which was held in a private room at Ristorante Maurizio, consisted of course after course (and perhaps glass after glass) of cheese, sliced meat, pasta, bread and more. This is probably a good time to mention that on this Italy itinerary with Adventures by Disney, all of your breakfasts, plus four lunches and four dinners, are included during the week.

And they are generally pretty epic meals. In fact, now that I am reliving this journey through the keyboard, I really think I need to place an order for some wine and olive oil from one of the restaurants we visited in order to have a taste of this moment again at home.

But it wasn’t just the food in Orvieto that enchanted me; it was also the architecture, the roaming around town and the shopping for locally made goods that were some favorite moments from the trip.

Downtime in Tuscany … both for the adults and the kids

On our first night in Tuscany, a special treat was in store, as the adults — and only the adults — got to enjoy a lovely, leisurely meal and local wine tasting at our Tuscan hotel with the other grown-ups on the journey. While this was going on, the Adventures by Disney guides put together a special evening just for the kids in a different part of the hotel.

That meant the adults could slow down and enjoy the moment while the kids were entertained nearby with an Italian soda tasting, dinner, a Disney movie, activities and more.

Getting a micro vacation within the vacation just to slow down and take in everything while the kids were making supervised memories with their new best friends was both rare and memorable.

Learning to make pasta (and then eat the pro’s pasta)

Our day at Fattoria Poggio Alloro, a working farm with its own winery in the Chianti wine-growing region, was another experience to remember.

The day started with the owner showing us how to make all sorts of pasta.

This part made me feel like a kid again in all the best Play-Doh-inspired ways. But it got even better as we tried our hand at making pasta without the cleanup or potential downside of having to eat the products of our own inexperienced craft.

Lunch was enjoyed a la hillside, where, again, course after course of antipasti, pasta and dessert, plus several glasses of wine, kept appearing. And true to Adventures by Disney fashion, the kids got to enjoy an olive oil-making activity nearby so they didn’t get bored during a portion of the somewhat leisurely meal.

Making Venetian masks in Venice

There were many, many “pinch me” moments in Venice, especially since this was my first time in the City of Water.

But one memory that I don’t think we would have come close to recreating on our own was when we entered an enthralling shop full of traditional Venetian masks. That alone was an experience I never knew I’d get to have.

But then, we were given all the supplies, support and freedom to sit down and make our own masks in a private experience.

It was so much fun seeing what everyone was creating — and the team there unquestionably knew how to make our work look even better. When the masks were given to us, dried and wrapped, later that night, they looked way better than you’d think a first-timer might be able to create.

That’s the kind of “Disney magic” that happens on an Adventures by Disney trip.

Ending the journey on a pirate ship with new friends

While in many ways it is in a league of its own, Adventures by Disney is still a high-end small-group tour provider, which might understandably make you a little nervous if you aren’t sure if you will like that type of environment on your vacation. And, to be fair, I wasn’t sure how much I would or wouldn’t like small-group travel either.

But based on what we learned from our guides and saw and experienced with our own eyes and hearts, by that final night together, you may very well be sad not only that your adventure is ending, but that the week you’ve had with your new friends on all of these amazing experiences together is as well.

On our final evening, we set sail with the other adventurers on board the chartered Jolly Roger pirate ship for some fun, food, sights and dancing. As the sun set, the day concluded with a slideshow that looked back on the week we all had together.

It was a precious moment when you wanted to freeze time but knew you couldn’t do anything except sit back and enjoy it while it was happening.

When the boat docked back at the hotel, not everyone was ready for it to be over, so the “pack” of teens took off together to walk around the little island and spend some more time together to delay the inevitable.

Bottom line

I’ve had the joy and privilege of planning and embarking on many trips, both with and without my kids. We’ve been to Europe, Asia, New Zealand and beyond, and we’ve certainly enjoyed our share of trips to the Disney parks and on Disney cruises, too, both in and out of the U.S.

We love and trust the Disney brand and travel experience, but we also love having adventures that go a little beyond the gates of Cinderella Castle.

And what an incredible match made in fairy-tale heaven Adventures by Disney turned out to be for someone who lives and travels within those two realities.

Being able to create the memories with my kids like the ones we had with Adventures by Disney in Italy while not being the one “in charge” of every logistical detail, from wake-up times to keeping up with admission tickets to ground transportation and every snack and meal, was truly a dream come true.

And as it turns out, I love small-group trips.

I actually think that sharing the journey with several other families and couples was additive to the experience in many delightful ways. It was a type of fun I didn’t know that we would get to have layered onto the experiences my family was having together.

Adventures by Disney trips are not inexpensive by any stretch of the imagination. The shorter three- or four-day getaways start around $2,799 per person, and the longer trips, such as our weeklong Italy adventure, range from $6,000 to $7,000 per person.

Given the price, there’s certainly no guarantee I’ll ever have the opportunity to do something like this again.

But if we are ever in a position to do so, you better believe we will be just like some of the families on our recent trip who have been on multiple Adventures by Disney trips around the world. We would start packing my trusty Adventures by Disney backpack again so quickly that even Lightning McQueen wouldn’t be able to keep up.