Trip Report - Zaandam plus land tour June 17- July

Thanks for your review! We are going on the Disney Wonder next month with our boys who are 4 and 6 - so similar ages to yours.

A couple of questions:

- where exactly was that great playground in Juneau? Or do you remember what it was called? We are also renting a car and driving to Mendenhall Glacier, and a finding a good playground would be fantatsic

- Was the nugget falls trail easy for kids to do? How long did it take you to hike it with them?

- Did you stop anywhere else in Skagway? Dog cart, Carcross?

Thanks!

Hi! I am loving your review! We'll be traveling the same itinerary next year with our 6 year old son. Any "adventurous little boy" tips would be much appreciated!!

 

Also, can you give me any additional info on the apartment you rented in Seward through VRBO? It sounds perfect! We much prefer homes/ B&Bs/ apartments to hotel rooms when traveling w our son. Did it have a washer/ dryer available? We'll be doing a 1 week land tour before the cruise and I'd love to stay somewhere in Seward where we could do some laundry.

Thanks! Katie

 

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The rental is at this link

https://www.vrbo.com/568180

The rental had a washer and they even supplied detergent. I booked during Fall 2015 for the following summer. I would think you should book pretty early as this one is pretty popular if you decide you like it. It was not actually in Seward so you would need to have a rental car.

For you 6-year make sure to bring rain boots and maybe a rain suit. My son enjoyed jumping in puddles in Ketchikan and while you may get lucky and have perfect weather it more likely that you will have some rainy days.

Also, bring sandals or watershoes for Mendenhall Glacier and hike to Nugget Falls. The beach area there is perfect for kids. Finally, make sure and check out the kids club on the ship. My son loved it so much and he is not the outgoing type. I hope you have a great trip!

Thanks for your review! We are going on the Disney Wonder next month with our boys who are 4 and 6 - so similar ages to yours.

A couple of questions:

- where exactly was that great playground in Juneau? Or do you remember what it was called? We are also renting a car and driving to Mendenhall Glacier, and a finding a good playground would be fantatsic

- Was the nugget falls trail easy for kids to do? How long did it take you to hike it with them?

- Did you stop anywhere else in Skagway? Dog cart, Carcross?

Thanks!

The playground is pretty easy to spot. It is on the right across a little lake as you drive to Mendenhall Glacier. I think the park is called Twin Lakes. Here is a facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Project-Playground-at-Twin-Lakes-60654337275/

To get there on the way back we turned left at a light and then turned on a road on the other side of the lake that paralleled the main highway. It is big and colorful enough that I think you will see it and be able to figure out the way there.

The Nugget Falls trail was mostly level with maybe a little ups and down. It was generally a nice wide path. We had to carry our 3 year back as she was tired from playing at the beach. I am not sure how long it took to hike there (maybe 30 min). But it is totally worth it. Plan to spend at least that much time at the beach and it is very nice and kid friendly and incredibly scenic.

Regarding Skagway, we stopped at several pull outs and at the Carcross Desert but not at the dog carts. We got kind of a late start on the drive and wanted to make sure we had time to see the Gold Rush Cemetery. It was a beautiful drive. I think it would have been nice to stop and hike there somewhere, but I am not sure if there are good trails.

We were docked with the Wonder in Skagway. There was a seal in the water close to the ship and my 3 year old was convinced that it was actually Mickey Mouse and he was going swimming. I hope you have a great time on the cruise!

Wednesday we headed to Girdwood for one and made a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way. Once we got settled in our ski condo we hiked the Winner's Creek trail from the top down (it is a little shorter this way). This hike has a really fun hand tram that you have to use to cross a gorge. You and one other person get into a little metal cage and then use a cable to pull yourself across. Others waiting to cross usually help. We crossed the hand tram, hiked a little ways and turned back and crossed it again.

 

To be continued...

I wish we had got a better picture of the hand tram. It was very different and a neat little activity with the family. But our photos came out a little out of focus from the motion.

The next day we checked out of our ski condo and backtracked to the Byron Glacier Trail. The Byron Glacier trail is mostly flat and parallel a nice mountain stream. The scenery is very nice and it is perfect for families. The kids and I loved playing in the snow.

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We continued on toward Denali and we knew the forecast was for deteriorating weather. There was a weather advisory predicting 3 in or rainfall over the next few days. We stopped at the turn outs from the Parks Highway and tried to get a peak of the mountain as the rain clouds rolled in

The Denali National Park area was our last area to explore. Even with rain/clouds and no view of the mountain we had a great time! A couple of forum posters had warned us that Denali is not easy for family and discouraged us from taking a shuttle bus into the park due to past experience with unruly kids on the shuttles. A few others were very encouraging and helped us to figure how we could go to Denali have a great time and even with a long bus ride into the park. We are very thankful for the advise and information as it helped prepare us for the long shuttle bus ride etc. I am copying some of this text from a review of tripadvisor as I originally posted it their to share out experience.

We spent Friday exploring the entrance area. We spent an hour or so at the visitor center (the kids really liked it), went to a sled dog demonstration and drove the park road. The road was initially open only to mile 13. It was closed beyond that point due to a bear that the rangers were trying to recondition to avoid humans. In the afternoon, we drove the road again and found it was open to Savage River. We thought the portion of the road from mile 13 to Savage River was particularly scenic. We decided to hike the 2 mile river loop trail. The kids really enjoyed the hike. Especially my 3 year old who loved to jump over all the streams along the way.

On Saturday we had 1 PM tickets to Eielson. We picked up snacks and supplies for the trips (particularly a loaf of bread and peanut butter). We made it to the WAC a little early and were the first in line. We had to bring a car seat for my daughter and booster seat for my son, which was a bit of a pain but not a huge deal. We took a row of seats near the front of the bus. My brother-in-law had a seat to himself as the bus was not full.

I was a worried about how the bus ride would go with the little ones. As I mentioned I had been warned that it wasn’t appropriate for them and they might cause others not to get to see wildlife. But that was not the case at all. They behaved better than some adults on the bus (who got a little excited and squealed and yellled when we had some of the closer sightings). The little ones watched DVDs, snacked, and played games and hardly made any noise. They got off the bus at most every rest stop. And they were happy to look at the animals that were spotted (particularly bears and reindeer). We spotted several grizzly bears (most were in the last stretch the road near Eielson). One was asleep by the road. Another was running in a field across the creek (or maybe river) and while watching it, we spotted a wolf that appeared to be running from the bear. That was cool to see and others on the bus (with the fancy cameras) were able to get pictures of the bear and wolves (turned out there were at least two).

At another location, we spotted a grizzly by the road and it circled our bus like a shark. It obviously was used to seeing the buses and was not afraid. We saw a large group of reindeer from the Eielson Visitors center (looked like 100+) and a moose near the park entrance. I was surprised by how fast the day went and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are some photo highlights

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Wide open spaces with rain clouds rolling in

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Moose calf near entrance

Savage River Area

The Denali National Park area was our last area to explore. Even with rain/clouds and no view of the mountain we had a great time! A couple of forum posters had warned us that Denali is not easy for families with young children and discouraged us from taking a shuttle bus into the park due to past experience with unruly kids on the shuttles. A few others were very encouraging and helped us to figure how we could go to Denali have a great time and even with a long bus ride into the park. We are very thankful for the advise and information as it helped prepare us for the long shuttle bus ride etc. I am copying some of this text from a review of tripadvisor as I originally posted it their to share out experience.

We spent Friday exploring the entrance area. We spent an hour or so at the visitor center (the kids really liked it), went to a sled dog demonstration and drove the park road. The road was initially open only to mile 13. It was closed beyond that point due to a bear that the rangers were trying to recondition to avoid humans. In the afternoon, we drove the road again and found it was open to Savage River. We thought the portion of the road from mile 13 to Savage River was particularly scenic. We decided to hike the 2 mile river loop trail. The kids really enjoyed the hike. Especially my 3 year old who loved to jump over all the streams along the way.

On Saturday we had 1 PM tickets to Eielson. We picked up snacks and supplies for the trips (particularly a loaf of bread and peanut butter). We made it to the WAC a little early and were the first in line. We had to bring a car seat for my daughter and booster seat for my son, which was a bit of a pain but not a huge deal. We took a row of seats near the front of the bus. My brother-in-law had a seat to himself as the bus was not full.

I was a worried about how the bus ride would go with the little ones. As I mentioned I had been warned that it wasn’t appropriate for them and they might cause others not to get to see wildlife. But that was not the case at all. They behaved better than some adults on the bus (who got a little excited and squealed and yellled when we had some of the closer sightings). The little ones watched DVDs, snacked, and played games and hardly made any noise. They got off the bus at most every rest stop. And they were happy to look at the animals that were spotted (particularly bears and reindeer). We spotted several grizzly bears (most were in the last stretch the road near Eielson). One was asleep by the road. Another was running in a field across the creek (or maybe river) and while watching it, we spotted a wolf that appeared to be running from the bear. That was cool to see and others on the bus (with the fancy cameras) were able to get pictures of the bear and wolves (turned out there were at least two).

At another location, we spotted a grizzly by the road and it circled our bus like a shark. It obviously was used to seeing the buses and was not afraid. We saw a large group of reindeer from the Eielson Visitors center (looked like 100+) and a moose near the park entrance. I was surprised by how fast the day went and thoroughly enjoyed it. 8 hours on the bus flew bye. The kids never complained and us adults had a great time enjoying the scenery and wildlife.

Here are some photo highlights

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Wide open spaces with rain clouds rolling in

[/img]

Moose calf near entrance

Savage River Area

Thank you for the review. We are doing same cruise itinerary next May on HAL Noordam, so appreciated reading about another HAL ship. We have cruised with HAL before and enjoy that they are not mega ships. I also liked knowing what we can expect in Denali, though we are extending through HAL and not doing DIY. Your photos and narrative are very enjoyable!

Thanks for sharing your experiences. We hope to do something similar in the future. (DIY on land then cruise) In the mean time we have a cruise to AK planned for next year & your photos made me seriously consider packing rain gear! (Our last AK cruise was sunny.)