Evening Tour with Vancouver Trolley Co. ???

[Jen & Kim]

Has anyone ever done one of the evening tours with the Vancouver Trolley Company? We are thinking about doing the "Essential B.C. Evening Tour" (info posted below). Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Essential B.C. Evening Tour

Experience the Native culture and history of our region, walk across the suspension bridge and then live the fantastic treetops adventure some 100 feet above the forest floor.

 

Afterwards, enjoy a salmon, steak or chicken barbeque dinner as well as dessert,

coffee and tea at at Capilano's Logger's Grill.

 

 

Starting in the late afternoon you will be whisked by trolley from downtown Vancouver to the pristine forests of the North Shore mountains. You are greeted at Capilano Suspension Bridge with a First Nations welcome ceremony and then and taken on a guided tour of the park. There will be additional time to explore the Bridge, Treetops Adventure and Capilano’s wonderful gift shop. You can have your dinner right after the guided tour or after you have finished your exploration of the park. The evening ends with a ride back to downtown and a tour through the western part of Stanley Park and English Bay before you are taken back to your downtown hotel.

Tour includes free pick-up and drop-off from selected Downtown Vancouver hotels. Youth rates apply to those 13 to 16 years. Child rates apply to children ages 2 to 12 and includes a special child’s menu; under 2 may ride free in an adult's lap. Meal gratuities included. Rates are per person in Canadian dollars and include tax.

[Putterdude]

Vancouver Trolley is a very good and reputable hoho tour operator. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is well up on the list of the 5 most popular tourisit attractions in Vancouver. I live there so I have never taken the tour but it is one that I am sure you will enjoy.

[FritzG]

We had a horrible experience with them on June 7th. First of all, they sold us tickets without telling us that Stanley Park was closed due to a triathalon. Then our driver was very strange--he kept a running commentary of every thought that came into his head. He kept insisting that he could still get into Stanley Park even though he had been told repeatedly that it was closed. When he got to the intersection for the park, and it was closed he decided to make up his own tour. He took us all over neighborhoods that made no sense. At one point he took us to the "rich" neighborhood, and then he told us that he wasn't allowed to go there because the rich people didn't want trolleys in their neighborhood. He added that they're rich so we should be able to see how they live. At one point he went down a side street, and then backed out into a main road to turn around. We had no idea where we were, and at one point he saw us looking at the map on the brochure. He told us not to bother looking at the map because we were not anywhere on the map. When we got to Granville Island which was the first location we recognized on the map we got off asap! Half of the passengers got off there, too, and I noticed that not one person left a tip! We called the company immediately and got a refund, but they deducted $2 for a service charge. It wasn't worth a fight for $2, but I'd sure never take a tour from them again.

[Urban trekker]

Fritz - sorry that your tour experience in Vancouver left you disappointed - unfortunately the one day that you decided to tour was the one day that the entire Stanley Park drive was closed for the Triathlon - the walkways and trails in the park were for the most part open to the public - why the Vancouver Trolley company didn't advise people of this change I don't know as the Triathlon was a week long event - I know I worked as a volunteer on it - as for the comment that the bus couldn't go into certain neighbourhoods that regrettably is true - we have some folks that complain to City Hall if for Gosh sake some people from another society invade their space.

 

As for the driver and his opinion - does sound like he was a little over the line but I have to admit that I have taken tours in Juneau and NYC where the drivers have started to personalize the tour with their views so you did the right thing by getting off at the next stop and not filling the tip jar.

 

I hope that you have a chance to return to our beautiful city in the future and get to see the wonders of Stanley Park.

 

Dennis