By Erin Foster
March 2009
My family and I recently returned from a week-long Adventures by Disney excursion to Costa Rica, the Path to Pura Vida. As a longtime Disney park-goer, I was well aware of the level of the attention to detail and family friendly service Disney provides. We chose Adventures by Disney because we wanted to have that level of service while branching out to show our children (three girls ages 12, 9, and 9) a bit more of the world. The trip exceeded even our very high expectations.
Day One:
We awoke predawn and after a relatively quick four and a half hour direct flight from frigid Newark, we arrived at sunny Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose Costa Rica. Right from the start we were met with great Disney service. A representative holding a sign with our name on it met us as we exited the plane. She pointed us to the baggage claim and immigration, both of which were finished within 15 minutes. Another representative then greeted us and immediately put us into a comfortable, air-conditioned van for the 20-minute ride to the Hotel Intercontinental.
Our two Adventure Guides for the week, Mike and Bernal, met us at the hotel entrance. Much more about them later, but suffice it to say that they were two of the warmest, most charming individuals you’ll ever meet. Bernal handed us cool, fruity drinks and told my daughters about our itinerary, while Mike helped my husband Jeff with the check-in. Before I knew it, we were in two connecting rooms overlooking the hotel pool.
That first afternoon we were on our own. We dined at one of the Interncontinental’s world-class restaurants, Factory Steak and Lobster. While we waited for our entrees, our server brought us complimentary house-made made empanadas. Yummy! The steaks, salmon, and fresh corn we ordered did not disappoint.
After lunch we went for a stroll to the nearby Multiplaza Escazu, the largest mall in Costa Rica. My kids had never been to a non-English-speaking country before, so even the familiar stores (Benneton, Hallmark) seemed interesting with Spanish signage. Their favorite spot was a large toy store where they enjoyed looking at Hannah Montana merchandise in Spanish.
When returned to our room, there were gifts for us from Disney, two nice tote bags with binoculars, and some books for the kids. The girls swam at the hotel in the evening and we all turned in early to get rested up for our adventure.
Day Two:
We packed our bags and left them in the room for the hotel staff to transport to our Mercedes Benz coach bus that would be our main mode of transport for the week. Then, we headed downstairs to a private dining room where we would have breakfast and meet the other members of our tour group.
Breakfast was typical of the morning meals we would have every day: a buffet with eggs, pastries, bacon, cereal, fruit and yogurt, along with ever-present rice and beans and plantains. Our guide Mike introduced me to the national sauce of Costa Rica, Lizano. This all-purposed flavoring is everywhere and is used as a topping for eggs, meat, rice, and just about anything else you can think of.
There were 27 members of our tour group. Four couples with no children, a family with 11-year-old twin boys, a family with an 11 year-old girl, a family with a 6 and 8 year old girls, a couple with their 13 year old granddaughter, and our family of 5. The mix of adults and children balanced well and we were all fast friends.
Our first stop on the tour was to have been the La Paz Waterfall and butterfly gardens. However, an earthquake a few months earlier had made access to that area difficult, so we first made our way, via bus, to the Espiritu Santo coffee plantation tour in Naranjo (Disney had informed us of the switch several weeks before our departure.)
Our guide Bernal, a Costa Rican native, had grown up on a coffee farm so he was able to give us an entertaining and informative history of coffee in Costa Rica on the bus ride to the tour. We were greeted at Espiritu Santo by samples of four different coffee roasts grown just steps away from where we were standing. Even the children had fun tasting the different intensities of coffee ranging, from very mild to Wake-Up-Right-Now.
We then got to see every step of coffee production, from the planting of seedlings, through harvest of the beans (they look like cherries on a bush), cleaning, drying, roasting (23 minutes for a light roast), and packaging. The entire crop of the farm we toured Arabica beans sold exclusively to Starbucks. I have a two-Venti per day Starbucks habit, so when I heard that I felt like the mother ship was calling me home.
After the coffee tour, we made a brief stop at a park next to the church at Zarcero. This is the site of a fanciful topiary garden filled with larger-than-life stylized birds, lions and other creatures.
We then made our way through mountainous terrain (many thanks to our patient and skilled driver) to the Hotel Kioro Arenol at the base of the active Arenol volcano. We were immediately shown to our rooms in one of several small outbuildings. These rooms were easily the largest standard hotel rooms I had seen in my life, larger than several apartments I’ve had over the years. Each room had two queen-sized beds, a large daybed, a spacious sitting area, a writing desk, a bathroom, a separate shower area with a rainshower-style head, plus a full-sized hot tub. Because we were a party of five, we were required to have two rooms. Our connecting accommodations took up the entire first floor of a building. But the best feature of the hotel was the view from the rooms. This was taken while I was sitting on my bed:
The grounds of the Hotel Kioro were lush with tropical plantings. Other features included two pristine pools, a seven-level hot spring, a small gym and game room, restaurants, and a spa with a menu of services as thick as a phone book. Our package included two free tropical fruit masks, but I we never did get to use them because we were too busy relaxing in the hot springs.
Dinner with the group was in a private dining room in the hotel. Most of the adults chose fresh fish from the menu and there were some typically American choices available for the children. After dinner we were treated to a performance by a native dance troupe and members of the tour were invited to learn some Costa Rica dance moves.
Day Three — To be continued … zip lines, rafting, pineapple farm tour, up close and personal with monkeys …
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Erin Foster lives with her husband and three daughters just outside New York City. She has been to Walt Disney World at least 30 times. In late 2007, Erin was selected to be part of the first ever Walt Disney World Moms Panel. Since then she has answered nearly 4,000 questions from guests about every aspect of Disney World travel at disneyworldmoms.com. She is not a Disney employee and her postings here, there, and everywhere are her own and do not represent the positions or opinions of the Disney Company. Costa Rica, the Path to Pura Vida, is her first Adventures by Disney trip.
Thanks for sharing this great trip with us…looking forward to hearing more!