Visiting Alaska for very little money......

[lolavix]

If you have a fourth grader this year, you can get a pass for him or her and that will allow the adults entry. The fourth grade pass is free.

 

See here for more details. If a fourth grader signs up now, the pass will be good through the end of August. You'd need to bring the paper with you when you get to Denali and they will give you the actual' Every Kid in a Park pass, which I think you could then use to refund the $10 park entry fees charged to adults if you book the Denali shuttle.

 

My family of five is going on a land-only trip to Alaska this year, and we are going to Fairbanks as part of it. The free or inexpensive things which look interesting to us include: Large Animal Research Facility, Creamer's Field, Museum of the North, the Pipeline Visitor's Center and Pioneer Park. We are probably going to do the Riverboat Discovery as well, which isn't as inexpensive as the other things I've listed. We'll also stop by North Pole on our way south.

[shorti503]

The thing about North Pole is (we have friends who used to live there) that it's just a regular town...people, houses, businesses, grocery stores, churches, etc...just like any other town. They have a few things there to capitalize on the name (a little village and gift shop) and the Post Office will stamp postcards you bring them... (you can buy a postcard. write a note "from Santa" then mail it to a child/grandchild and it will be postmarked from the North Pole...) but really, that's it. The people are very nice (like I said, we have friends who once lived there) but they're not 'elves'. :D:D:D and though there may be a guy dressed up in a red suit, it' NOT the real Santa (yes....I'm joking here....) ;)

If our friends still lived there, we would DEFINITELY go...and probably visit the tourist stuff while there....but with them no longer living there, to drive the extra miles just for the tourist things would not be worth the time/expense (just my opinion...for what that's worth...haha)

I DO understand why kids would think it was the GREATEST THING though... :hearteyes:

 

Thank you. We are now rethinking going to the North Pole. We thought our kids would enjoy it but we definitely want to make the most out of Alaska.

[shorti503]

It's the town of North Pole not THE North Pole. As others have said, not worth the time to drive there with kids. I wasn't too keen on Fairbanks either. Once and done for me.

 

I know it isn't THE North Pole but I also know that They do have a Santa and his reindeer you can visit and we thought the kid would enjoy it. We are reconsidering going to Fairbanks now. Looking into some other options after hearing people's reviews

[Robinhill]

We are just renting a car and touring on our own. We are spending 2 days in Denali and with young kids we thought the North Pole would be fun since we were so close. Age varies a lot we have 7 months up to 70 years. We know that we won't all be doing everything together though. My mom has a few limitations with having Parkinson's but nothing severe yet.

 

North Pole is really not as close as you think to Denali- it is up above Fairbanks so a fair amount of driving. If you are going that far- stop in Fairbanks and do the Discovery Riverboat cruise. It is not expensive and you will pass by a Reindeer farm, a dogsledding camp, and go to an Athabascan native village and see how they made things etc. You will also get a little treat from a float plane that will take off and come right up next to the riverboat before landing. The kids would love it.