Big Sky, Montana

[jdkdorn]

We are trying to exchange for Summit at Big Sky for any time summer of 2007. Has anyone stayed there? If so what is is like. We are going because Yellowstone is only 18 miles away and my parents really want to show our kids Yellowstone.

If anyone has been there let me know your opinion.

Th anks
Judy

 

[lovewdwdvc]

We Big Sky several years ago. Beautiful. However, the 18 miles to Yellowstone is a very, very long 18 miles.

 

[JimMIA]

A better option might be staying inside the park. There are a number of National Park Service concessioner lodges in Yellowstone to fit just about any budget. Some are probably rather expensive, but many are not at all.

Go to www.nps.gov/yell and click on "Plan Your Visit" on the right side of the home page. Then look for "Lodging" on the left side of the next page. National Park lodges usually offer exceptional value -- and you're already familiar with the benefits of staying on-site! National Park lodging usually offers a range from tent cabins, to rustic cabins, to regular hotel rooms, to very elegant $400-600 suites. I've done all but the elegant accommodations, and I've enjoyed every one. In a park, the room is NOT your vacation, and frankly any decent place to sleep is better than staying miles away.

If you go to Yellowstone, don't miss Grand Teton! It's only about 35-40 miles south of the southern border of Yellowstone, and it's gorgeous. It's one of those rare places in the Rockies where the mountains rise right up out of glacial lakes, and it's really stunning. Teton is one of my favorite parks, ranking only behind Yosemite and Glacier on the scenic beauty scale.

The best flying destination for Yellowstone is Jackson, WY, which is just south of Grand Teton. There are regular major airline flights into there. Also airfares to Jackson are probably half what they would be to Helena or other cities out there. Except for Jackson or Salt Lake City, it's a pretty hard place to fly to.

Good luck and have a great trip.

Ranger Jim

 

[jdkdorn]

As a child we went to Yellowstone for 2-3 weeks every summer. We drove from Wisconsin to California and back. We have been to the Teton's, and many of the other national parks along the way. While I would love to stay in the park we are are trying to limit our costs by exchanging out our DVC. My parents want to show my kids what we saw as children without the rustic camping that we had to do.

While I agree that staying onsite is always better the cost difference, 220 points, compared to $2-300 per night x 2 rooms is too much at this time.

I really appreciate the information though. I really want to know if Big Sky is worth the exchange.

Thanks
Judy

 

[JimMIA]

Regardless of which park (s) you take your kids to, be sure and ask about the Junior Ranger program. Just about every park has one.

I was a little disappointed to see that Yellowstone charges $3 for their program, but I guess that's the way of the world these days. For $3, the kids get their Junior Ranger book, and a cool patch when they complete the program.

Kids go absolutely berserk over the Junior Ranger program -- I just awarded Everglades badges to two Junior Rangers the other day, and it was badge #11 for the older boy.

Also, many parks have special programs for kids, in addition to the Junior Ranger program. Many of the larger parks have backpacks families can check out. Usually they are called Discovery Packs or Family Packs. They contain items like a compass or binoculars, and lots of activities to help the kids understand the park. It varies from park to park, but at Everglades you can check out a pack for the day and it costs absolutely nothing.

These packs have magical powers -- they draw the entire family all scrunched closely together working on projects. The family pack often ends up being the best day of the vacation. We'd like to pretend that's because it brought you closer to our park, but the real reason is it brought you closer to each other...and we'll gladly settle for that.

If you go to a park Visitor Center and don't see family packs or Junior Ranger materials...ASK. In some parks, they are kind of squirreled away and only given to those who ask. In Everglades, we're right in your face with the kids stuff, but not everybody is like that.

 

[JimMIA]

My parents want to show my kids what we saw as children without the rustic camping that we had to do.

While I agree that staying onsite is always better the cost difference, 220 points, compared to $2-300 per night x 2 rooms is too much at this time.

I'm not sure what you're looking at, but when I look at the lodging pages at Yellowstone, I see cabins from $59 up, and hotel rooms from about $100-150. The cabins I'm talking about are NOT tent-cabins, they're regular wood cabins with real beds,etc. May not be what you are looking for, but it's an option to consider.

Even more than WDW, there definitely IS an onsite advantage. At Yellowstone, the advantage is not having to make an hour-long 18-mile drive to get to the park, and then a 3-hour, 40-mile drive to get where you're going! Everybody has their preferences, but I'd rather just have that first cup of coffee and walk outside and photograph elk.

 

[JimMIA]

Big Sky may, in fact, be 18 miles from the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. HOWEVER...that's the extreme NW corner of Yellowstone, in Montana, where US 191 enters the park.

From the park boundary, it is 31 miles further to West Yellowstone, just outside the West boundary of the park...that's 49 miles so far. If you look at the map, you will see that there is nowhere else to go except to West Yellowstone.

Unfortunately, West Yellowstone is still "nowhere." It is 30 miles further to Old Faithful, 28 miles further to Norris, and about 50 miles further to either Mammoth, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Hayden Valley, or Lake Yellowstone. In the summertime, plan on 10-20 miles per hour if you're lucky.

[ETA: The above distances are one-way, so the total round-trip mileage would be roughly 160 miles to Old Faithful or Norris, and about 200 miles to the rest of the locations listed. Those are long day trips.]

Don't underestimate the distances out West, or the amount of time it will take you to get from Point A to Point B inside Yellowstone during the summer.