Disney is known for producing entertainment for the whole family, National Geographic brings expeditions into your home, and ABC News makes the world feel more connected. In a way, the new Disney+ original series Rogue Trip blends the unique qualities of all three brands into one series. ABC New correspondent Bob Woodruff and his son go on a National Geographic trip to exotic locations in a family-friendly series that will widen your world.
If you aren’t already familiar with Bob Woodruff’s story, the series will recap it for you in the premiere episode. The ABC News correspondent traveled the world, putting himself in treacherous situations to bring stories from across the globe into American living rooms. A landmine encounter in Iraq in 2006 left the journalist with severe head injuries and a long road to recovery. As the journalist shares in the prologue, he had to rely on his kids to help him learn to speak and walk again.
Bob Woodruff’s fellow adventurer is one of his four kids, his 28-year-old son Mack. The most heartwarming moments in the series come from their bonding as adults. As Bob shares repeatedly, he’s not the same person who raise his son and Mack will often talk about seeing his father on TV in some of the exotic and remote places they travel to in the series.
Being a National Geographic series, each episode brings Bob and Mack to a part of the world they can explore together. They’re diving in head first, learning as much of the culture as they can, living among the people, and meeting the wildlife. It’s also a look at the challenges the people in these areas have endured and the trials that await them in the future. The common theme that emerges over and over is industry and greed putting ways of life and entire species at risk.
From exploring remote regions of Colombia that recently opened up to tourists after years of war to a cannibal skull cave in Papua New Guinea, father-and-son Bob and Mack Woodruff are on the trip of a lifetime and you’re invited to join them. With the world more-or-less closed for travel, Rogue Trip offers a way for families to have a safe staycation at home while also enjoying a condensed Adventures by Disney-style trip with another family, the Woodruffs. Join them as they visit the “Most beautiful, surprising, and coolest places on the planet.”
I give Rogue Trip 4 out of 5 stylish neck gaiters.
All six episodes of Rogue Trip premiere Friday, July 24, only on Disney+.