Wonder lake shuttle bus

[Budget Queen]

Is your 30 minute recommendation even for the first shuttle of the morning?

 

Definately, unless you don't care what seats you get.

[fti]

Is your 30 minute recommendation even for the first shuttle of the morning?

 

Do note that what are the "best" seats on the bus is subjective and different people have different perspectives. For example Budget Queen likes the seat right behind the driver but I know people (myself included) who don't like that seat because your view is partially blocked by the driver's head and the height of the driver's seat.

 

The worst seats by far are over the wheelwell but other than that, there really isn't a "bad" seat.

 

John

[Beaniemom59]

We just did a HAL cruisetour in Aug '07. We left Fairbanks at around 9:00 on the train. We arrived at Denali approx 12:30, then were bused to McKinley Chalet Resort. We were scheduled for the Tundra Wilderness Tour at 2:30 that afternoon. We checked in and dropped our carry-ons, then caught the shuttle back to the main lodge to grab a bite to eat before the tour.

 

We were on the tour a full 8 hours, arriving back at the lodge at 11:00 pm.

We had the next morning free, but we were scheduled to leave at about noon, so we did the Husky Homestead Tour that morning.

 

Whether you can cancel the Tundra Wilderness tour and do the Wonder Lake Shuttle would depend greatly on your arrival and departure times, and what time your TWT is scheduled for. Budget Queen has said the Wonder Lake Shuttle is about 11 hours, you would want to make sure you will have the time there without missing your coach. In our case, we would not have been able to do this. If your cruisetour has 2 nights at Denali, it would be better.

 

If the time schedule doesn't work, you will still enjoy the TWT. It's a long ride on the bus, especially after the better than 3 hours on the train, but I knew that when I booked the cruisetour. The ride to mile 53 (Toklat ?) was more than enough for us, especially as we returned at 11 at night. It was a long tiring day, but we did see moose, caribou (singly & then a whole herd of them), Dall sheep, one lone prairie dog, 1 Golden Eagle, and about 10 bears and after dark a million rabbits everywhere.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

We are doing the cruisetour with Celebrity in September. We are scheduled to do the Tundra Wilderness Tour and I noticed you said it takes about 8 hours. Did you have to take a packed meal with you yourself or was it provided with the tour? Also, were bathroom breaks reasonable or were there extended periods of time between them. We are taking my parents in their 70's, who are both in good health, but just want to make sure that they will be able to do the tour.

 

Thanks.

[Budget Queen]

We are doing the cruisetour with Celebrity in September. We are scheduled to do the Tundra Wilderness Tour and I noticed you said it takes about 8 hours. Did you have to take a packed meal with you yourself or was it provided with the tour? Also, were bathroom breaks reasonable or were there extended periods of time between them. We are taking my parents in their 70's, who are both in good health, but just want to make sure that they will be able to do the tour.

 

Thanks.

 

Bathroom stops are about every 90 minutes. Definately take your own snacks. the box meal is limited.

[katredd]

As BQ said, you can just drop the land portion of your reservation. I called my TA last week and dropped the land portion of our princess trip. We kept the same cabin and kept our spot on the waitlist for the family suite we want. We did get a new booking number. It was easy and I figure doing the same stops on our own with a rental car and using coupons from northern lights and toursaver we just saved about $2,000 by making the switch (family of 4). Good luck!

[agabbymama]

We are doing the cruisetour with Celebrity in September. We are scheduled to do the Tundra Wilderness Tour and I noticed you said it takes about 8 hours. Did you have to take a packed meal with you yourself or was it provided with the tour? Also, were bathroom breaks reasonable or were there extended periods of time between them. We are taking my parents in their 70's, who are both in good health, but just want to make sure that they will be able to do the tour.

 

Thanks.

 

As BQ stated, we stopped about every 90 minutes for a restroom break. The box lunch is nice, but I'd call it more of a snack than a meal, and you only get 1 bottle of water. We had some chips and a sandwich we bought at glitter gulch, but I wish we'd have thought to bring another bottle of water. I'm sure your parents won't have a problem. We were all in our mid 60s and the breaks were plenty for us.