Denali Kantishna Experience or Regular Park Shuttle to Wonder Lake??

[Halvo]

Is it really worth the extra $$ for the Kantishna Experience tour or will we experience Denali just as well on the shuttle to Wonder Lake?

We're in our late 30's and not too concerned about bus "luxury".

We just want to see the Park landscape and hopefully lots of wildlife.

Are both these trips so long simply because they travel slow and make frequent stops?

Do they allow enough time to step out and take a few photos if the opportunity presents itself?

Are most Park shuttle operators adept in spotting wildlife and giving their own "tour"?

 

At the moment, I'm leaning towards doing this:

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Wonder Lake 86 Miles One Way, 11 hours Round Trip

Adult: $42.95, Young Adult (15-17) $21.50. Children 14 and under – Free

Reserve here!

Created by retreating glaciers, Wonder Lake is aptly named when the weather cooperates and the mountain is visible. Along the road, alder and willow-carpeted hills are dotted with kettle ponds often frequented by water fowl and other wildlife. Please note that to access Reflection Pond for photos – you will either have to hike approximately 2.5 miles in each direction or take the Kantishna Bus.

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Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks.

[Yukon]

The Kantishna tour has been the worst value of any of the many, many trips I've made into the park. Even beyond the fact that the driver was terrible (new in town and knew virtually nothing about Alaska/Denali), it was a heck of a price to pay for a lunch (albeit an excellent lunch) and a guided walk through the forest with so many people that I couldn't hear the guide most of the time.

 

Although some folks here at CC have reported that their shuttle drivers haven't said much, mine have always been excellent, equal to the Tundra Wilderness Tours I've been on. Lots of stops are made, but the only time you can get off the bus is at rest stops - for photos you just slide the windows open.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Yukon

[eh2zed]

We had a good experience on the Kantishna tour but its true the driver/guide can make or break it. It is a long ride because of the distance, some road sections where you have to give way, wildlife sitings and scheduled stops. You gotta like school bus suspensions. I'm sure the Wonder Lake trip is good value.

[vbmom87]

Is it really worth the extra $$ for the Kantishna Experience tour or will we experience Denali just as well on the shuttle to Wonder Lake?

We're in our late 30's and not too concerned about bus "luxury".

We just want to see the Park landscape and hopefully lots of wildlife.

Are both these trips so long simply because they travel slow and make frequent stops?

Do they allow enough time to step out and take a few photos if the opportunity presents itself?

Are most Park shuttle operators adept in spotting wildlife and giving their own "tour"?

 

At the moment, I'm leaning towards doing this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wonder Lake 86 Miles One Way, 11 hours Round Trip

Adult: $42.95, Young Adult (15-17) $21.50. Children 14 and under – Free

Reserve here!

Created by retreating glaciers, Wonder Lake is aptly named when the weather cooperates and the mountain is visible. Along the road, alder and willow-carpeted hills are dotted with kettle ponds often frequented by water fowl and other wildlife. Please note that to access Reflection Pond for photos – you will either have to hike approximately 2.5 miles in each direction or take the Kantishna Bus.

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Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks.

 

With the shuttle, you can get off the shuttle and hike and then catch another shuttle to continue on your journey. The trip is long because it is 85 miles into Denali on dirt road for most of it. The road is narrow and buses have to pull over to let other buses go by. The drivers will stop whenever they see wildlife. YOu have bathroom stops about every hour and a half. I found the school bus to be quite comfortable. My DH, who has tailbone issues, would not agree. However, he enjoyed the trip inspite of the discomfort.

[cruiseej]

Lots of stops are made, but the only time you can get off the bus is at rest stops - for photos you just slide the windows open.

 

Yukon, is this true of the Kantishna tour buses as well as the shuttles? (That is, does the tour give any better opportunities for photos versus the shuttle?)

 

Are the buses used for the full-day tours (the ones run by the National Park Service concessionaire, or the ones run by Kantshina Roadhouse or the Backcountry Lodge) significantly more comfortable than the ones used for the shuttles? I thought I read that some of the tour buses have camera and LCD screens for viewing wildlife -- are these useful or a gimmick?

 

As expensive as the full-day tours are, I'd pay the premium price if it made this special one-time (for now, at least!) trip significantly better. If there's no real advantage (other than lunch!), then I have no desire to just throw money at this. Thanks in advance for any information or opinions.

 

-- Eric

[Yukon]

All of the buses (NPS shuttles, Tundra Wilderness Tours, Kantishna lodges, etc) make the same stops. The TWT and Kantishna buses are more comfortable but not significantly so. The TWT has recently rebuilt all of their buses with nicer cloth seats and a very cool video system with drop-down monitors ( http://www.explorenorth.com/articles/images/tour_bus-videos-5246.html ). Some people who haven't been on them think it's a gimmick or just silly but they actually work very well for finding distant wildlife and for getting close-ups of their behavior.

[nothriver]

I asked about this issue a few months ago, and against all advice I received on this board, I booked the Kantishna experience tour for my parents. My parents are nearing 70 and they are the classic "tour" type people. They liked the idea of someone arranging a meal, and someone being in charge of the excursion altogether. There is no way they would even consdier getting off at a stop, hiking around, and catching another bus. For them, they price difference was also not an issue especially if the tour bus provides even a small amount of extra comfort. I think they have some valid reasons for choosing a tour.

 

For most people, I think the park busses are fine. That is what every single poster advised me a few months ago. Personally, the park busses would be the way to go. That said, some people do have reasons to take tours. It just depends on what you want from the experience and if a tour is for you, go for the tour.

[greatam]

For a truly spectacular experience, you can bus into Kantishna and fly out.

 

I have done the RT bus trip-BORING, BORING, BORING and big waste of money, IMHO.

 

As Yukon posted, a darn expensive lunch. Dog sledding is free at the Park headquarters, there are a lot of places to pan for gold cheaply all over Alaska. One time when we were there, the fishing poles were mostly broken, so not even fishing.

 

But the drive in, fly out is truly spectacular.

 

http://www.katair.com/excurs.html

[vbmom87]

I asked about this issue a few months ago, and against all advice I received on this board, I booked the Kantishna experience tour for my parents. My parents are nearing 70 and they are the classic "tour" type people. They liked the idea of someone arranging a meal, and someone being in charge of the excursion altogether. There is no way they would even consdier getting off at a stop, hiking around, and catching another bus. For them, they price difference was also not an issue especially if the tour bus provides even a small amount of extra comfort. I think they have some valid reasons for choosing a tour.

 

For most people, I think the park busses are fine. That is what every single poster advised me a few months ago. Personally, the park busses would be the way to go. That said, some people do have reasons to take tours. It just depends on what you want from the experience and if a tour is for you, go for the tour.

 

You are so right. There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to vacations. The best way to plan, is to get educated about the choices and then pick what you think matches your style the best.

[muffy6445]

Well said. We chose the Kantishna Experience since we were with my parents and our two kids. We were concerned with getting off the shuttle and waiting for 6 seats on the same shuttle to go back from Wonder Lake. I also didn't want the hassle of getting lunch picked up for the 6 of us. I didn't want to get all six of us to the shuttle. I liked being picked up at our hotel. I also used the dog sledding demo and gold panning as an incentive for the loong trip for my kids. It worked. My kids loved it. I loved having lunch ready for me and the homemade cookies and hot cocoa on the drive into the park at a potty break.

 

Had it just been the two of us, I probably would have opted for the shuttle. Travel with six people just makes logistics a little harder, especially with kids.

 

Our tour guide from Kantishna was Fantastic. She was from Haines and was a Tinglit native. She had great stories and was incredibly knowledgable. She spotted animals that most of us couldn't see!

[kenish]

We took the shuttle as far as Eielson Visitor Center. My concerns that the trip would be uncomfortable or boring (especially with a teenager) were unfounded. The trip was over before we knew it.

 

We stayed with the same bus all day; our driver had been doing it for 15 years and his narration and ability to spot wildlife was great. If you don't like the driver you can catch another bus at a rest stop or along the road....just be sure to tell your original driver you won't be reboarding. Also if you decide you've had enough you can get off and catch an outbound bus (nobody on our bus did that).

 

When we went last July anyone taking the shuttle farther than Eielson had to get off there and transfer to a different bus. Also, anyone who decided on impulse to travel farther into the park could extend their ticket for just a few dollars, either before the bus left or when they reached the original ticketed point. FYI, they did warn that Wonder Lake had killer mosquitos that day.

 

These are not options with the Kantishna or TWT bus...you are on the same bus for the duration.

[Yukon]

I have seen people get off a TWT bus at the turn-around point and continue on a shuttle bus, though.

[Halvo]

When we went last July anyone taking the shuttle farther than Eielson had to get off there and transfer to a different bus. Also, anyone who decided on impulse to travel farther into the park could extend their ticket for just a few dollars, either before the bus left or when they reached the original ticketed point. FYI, they did warn that Wonder Lake had killer mosquitos that day.

 

This is great to hear. Very interesting.

Is this ALWAYS an option (to extend trip to Wonder Lake) or was it just by chance that day?

 

(Regardless of weather we'll go to Eielson but if conditions are perfect, I'm sure we'll want to head to Wonder Lake as well)

 

Thanks gang.

[vbmom87]

 

This is great to hear. Very interesting.

Is this ALWAYS an option (to extend trip to Wonder Lake) or was it just by chance that day?

 

Of course you have to be going on a day that the Wonder Lake shuttle was operating. Next, there would have to be room on a Wonder Lake shuttle. If it were me, I would buy the ticket to Wonder Lake and then if the weather was not conducive to going all the way, I would head back from Eilson.

[kenish]

Eielson Visitor Center had re-opened less than a week before we arrived (after being demolished and rebuilt), so they may have still been adjusting the bus logistics. Not really sure. Agree with vbmom, the cost difference is so small I'd just book all the way to Wonder Lake. The mountain was out most of the morning but clouded over while we were eating lunch at EVC....combined with the skeeters there was no compelling reason for us to extend. Also we wanted to get back to HQ in time for the 4pm dog kennel tour.

[wolfie11]

There is always the option to upgrade at Eielson. The cost is around $9. Out of around 6 trips I made to Eielson last summer, only one day was it good enough to go on to Wonder Lake. And I maximize my trips to Denali to take advantage of good weather. Of course, the weather last summer was particularly rainy and cold....

[imadriver]

I am a driver of the kantishna Experience and some of these kind people have this all wrong. I read all the posts and they talk about Dog Demo and Gold Panning. None of these are offered on the kantishna Experience. They are confused. They are talking about one of the tours offered by one of the lodges in Kantishna. We do not have inexperienced drivers driving the kantishna Experience. We are all long time Drivers. I have heard the same thing they are talking about from some of those folks at the rest stops and they are unhappy with their choice to do the lodge tours sometimes. The Kantishna Experience is operated by Doyon/Aramark Joint venture and has a program provided by National Park Service included in the day. It is a full experience and some of the people writing in have made a mistake. All the drivers of the Kantishna Experience are Certified Interperative guides. You can get real information about your day through the Denali National Park website. This is the real information about the trip. I hopes this helps clear up some of the confusion.

[portiemom]

I'm not sure why you are dredging up posts from 2009. When I was researching, I'm not even sure I came across that thread. But I agree there is misinformation in there.

 

I posted a review of my perspective on the Kantishna Experience Tour from July 2012 here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1683604

 

BTW, our driver was Joe Seebacher (sorry if I misspelled it) and he was terrific! :)

[firstalaskatrip]

Went to Denali last week. We were on a cruisetour (which was great for us- saw a lot in a short time), but we had decided to use the shuttle busses for Denali thanks to advice on this board. Despite a lot of advice to consider wonder lake and shorten as needed, we were concerned that after a 9-10 hour train ride the day before a long bus ride to Wonder Lake would be too much so booked two tickets to Eilson. Our shuttle bus driver to Eilson was great. He didn't talk incessantly but talked what we thought was the perfect amount - giving us important info, telling us what animals we might see in what area, and stopping as soon as anyone shouted out a sighting. The bus ride to Eilson flew by, so when we got off the bus there, we decided to go on to wonder lake. We spoke with the dispatcher who put us on a bus (only 20 min later than our bus back to the entrance would have left), so we ate lunch and walked around for a bit. We were then surprised to find that we were the only two people on the bus. Didn't really need to worry about seats that day, and the mountain was out, so we were suprised there weren't more people deciding to go farther. Turned out our bus was a sweeper bus, so it took just us out, picked up two more at wonder lake, and then picked more people up at Eilson on the way back. Our new bus driver didn't say much - ie didn't narrate at all- but he answered questions and was very nice when we stopped at wonder lake - encouraged us to walk around for a bit and not worry about him leaving without us. Anyway, bottom line - I really liked the shuttle system for it's flexibility - easy to lengthen or shorten your trip as you see fit - and I found it nice to just appreciate the scenery without a lot of narration.

[firstalaskatrip]

Just realized I didn't answer the posters other questions. yes, the busses stop every 1-1.5 hours for about 10-15 minutes which gives you enough time to use the bathroom and snap a few photos. Along the way, the bus stops for any wildlife the passengers spot or if someone asks to stop for a picture. You can get out and hike anywhere except where wildlife is spotted. For safety, no one is allowed off the bus when wildlife are spotted. Oh, and we were really happy we went all the way to Wonder Lake. The whole trip was beautiful. Have fun!

[jamscckmc]

Firstalaskatrip, how did you find the busses, comfort and legroom?

[firstalaskatrip]

They were similar to school busses, but I didn't find them to be too bad. That being said, I don't have a great back, and after leaning forward for the entire ride looking for wildlife, my back did hurt a bit at the end. Totally worth it though, and it was probably more my fault than the seats. Leg room was fine for me, but I'm short, so not sure how the tall people felt about leg room. Also- I definitely recommend bringing good binoculars (preferably one per person). We saw a lot of wildlife, but almost all was in the distance. People without binoculars had no idea which animal they were viewing while those with good binoculars could really see the animals well.

[travelManiac26]

Hello sir.... can you please answer one of my question... I am about to book the Kantishna Experience for 6th of July... So I am worried whether the bus will stop at all the main visitor centres like Eilson, Wonder lake etc. Specially Wonder lake campground, will I be able to get out of the bus and have enough time to take photographs and roam around? Does it stop at the Reflection pond as well? Otherwise I would like to go with the Shuttle bus...

[donaldsc]

If you have the time and they have the space (we booked in January and they only had a few rooms available), take the bus to the end of the road and stay for a few nights but not at the Kantishna Lodge which is way overpriced but at the Skyline Lodge - http://www.katair.com/skyline.html -

 

WE stayed there for three nights at less than half the cost of the Kantishna Lodge. The rooms are not fancy but the atmosphere there is wonderful.

 

DON

[mapleleaves]

Hello sir.... can you please answer one of my question... I am about to book the Kantishna Experience for 6th of July... So I am worried whether the bus will stop at all the main visitor centres like Eilson, Wonder lake etc. Specially Wonder lake campground, will I be able to get out of the bus and have enough time to take photographs and roam around? Does it stop at the Reflection pond as well? Otherwise I would like to go with the Shuttle bus...

 

If you want to 'roam around", take the shuttle. This will enable you to hop off at ANY location, not just rest stops, and hop on the next bus with an empty seat.

Tour buses and shuttle buses will always stop for wildlife sightings but only stop for 10-15 minutes at the scheduled stopping poiints, and 35-40 minutes at Eielson. Easy to find a seat if you're travelling solo as there is usually an empty seat on any bus. Harder to do if there are 3 or 4 of you and you don't want to split up.