Denali Restaurants

[agabbymama]

I haven't been offered a meal plan - probably because it is only a 3 night land portion.

 

Eleanor' date=' I appreciate the menu prices you gave. We are traveling with our 2 grands, so it's nice to be forewarned. I will pack lots of filling snacks:D[/quote']

 

You're welcome tilly's mom. Snacks are a definite must. And you are probably right, with only 3 days, they may not offer a meal plan. We were on an 11 day cruisetour. Only 3 days on the ship and 8 days on land.

 

I was prepared for the higher meal costs (everything has to be flown in for goodness sakes), but was not prepared for the price vs size of meal. Folks on this board kept saying huge portions, and we did not find that to be true at all. We seemed to always be hungry. The coach tour really doesn't cater much to lunches. So those snacks you mention need to be plentiful. We even bought sandwich makings at a grocery store in Skagway.

 

I will say the meals on the dome train were excellent. While costly, there was plenty to eat. I had the best Prime Rib I've ever had at $28 pp. And the hamburger & fries in Dawson City Yukon at $15 was pretty filling too!

 

HAL provided 3 lunches out of the 8 days. 1 was just a sandwich with chips, 1 was a nice buffet spread of sandwich fixings with potato or macaroni salad, and the day we stopped at the Gold Dredge outside of Fairbanks was absolutely wonderful, all you could eat beef stew & biscuits with dessert (like the Miners would have eaten in the old days).

 

We generally found the breakfast to be the best meal at the best price $14.95 for the buffet all you can eat. Lunches were a little more in the $20 range and dinner was $28.00 up. But as long as you know and can budget accordingly, the trip to Alaska makes it worth it!

[Northern Aurora]

Beware of the walk from McKinley Chalet to the strip mall across the street. Remember you are at a different altitude than you might be used to. I do have mobility issues for that reason and didn't even want to attemp the walk.

 

While reading this statement I realized that while the elevation of Denali itself is frequently published (20,320 feet or 6194 meters), just what is the altitude of the area around the park entrance? I had no idea, so checked the NPS info guide for bicyclists in the park. The entrance of the road into the park is 1585 ft. in elevation. The highest elevation of the road is Highway Pass (3980 ft.). The road elevation at Sable Pass is 3900 ft. and road elevation at Polychrome Pass is a mere 3695 ft.

[CTDesign11]

The walks can be very steep. I was in no mood to hike up to Denali Bluffs from the highway. I ate a nice sandwich and a cool beer on the deck at the Bluffs. I believe there is a somewhat steep path up to the Grande and another restaurant as well.

[agabbymama]

While reading this statement I realized that while the elevation of Denali itself is frequently published (20,320 feet or 6194 meters), just what is the altitude of the area around the park entrance? I had no idea, so checked the NPS info guide for bicyclists in the park. The entrance of the road into the park is 1585 ft. in elevation. The highest elevation of the road is Highway Pass (3980 ft.). The road elevation at Sable Pass is 3900 ft. and road elevation at Polychrome Pass is a mere 3695 ft.

 

I have no idea what the elevation is (even where I live), but I did notice after about a block of walking uphill at McKinley Chalets, that I was immediately short of breath. Even flat walking in the parking lot took a toll. So while the actual figures sound low, I definitely noticed a difference from walking at home.

[debdiva]

The pizza place is directly across the highway from the McKinley Chalets where the HAL CruiseTour stays. My husband spent most of his time at the clinic next door to the McKinley Chalets with double pneumonia, but he managed to cross the street for pizza. Also, there is a shuttle for mobility impaired run by the hotel.