Disney Exclusive Dog Musher v. Dog Sledding on Mendenhall

[CaliforniaGirl09]

In reading through some of the excursion reviews and the Disney description, it's very hard to see what the differences are between the two tours beside (1) location (2) time on the glacier (3) cost--$120 pp difference.

From the description it sounds like the "exclusive" part of the excursion is a look behind the scenes look at the dog camp. Can someone tell me more about this? How much time sledding v. behind the scenes activities.

Anyone have an opinion on which glacier/area is more scenic? Mendenhall v. Norris?

Thanks!

 

[jlwhitney]

In reading through some of the excursion reviews and the Disney description, it's very hard to see what the differences are between the two tours beside (1) location (2) time on the glacier (3) cost--$120 pp difference.

From the description it sounds like the "exclusive" part of the excursion is a look behind the scenes look at the dog camp. Can someone tell me more about this? How much time sledding v. behind the scenes activities.

Anyone have an opinion on which glacier/area is more scenic? Mendenhall v. Norris?

Thanks!

Do not bother with booking it through Disney. A glacier is a glacier is a glacier. We used Coastal Helicopters and they were wonderful. PLlus a good 100 dollars cheaper than Disneys reg dog sled/helicopter. Better service less people at one time.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thanks! But I'd still love to hear from someone who's been on the Disney Exclusive to get a feel for the extras.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Anyone been on the Exclusive? Would love your opinions...

 

[jlwhitney]

Anyone been on the Exclusive? Would love your opinions...

There probably won't be that many people who did it because there were very limited spots for it and it booked fast. Only one time for it.

I can't see the extra stuff can justify the cost. With Coastal they showed us around the camp and introduced us to alot of the dogs. There were only like 2 tents there. One for sleeping and one for cooking/eating (which they showed us).

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Great point, I didn't really think about that, but you're right, not exactly a huge sample pool, LOL!

Thanks for more details on the private. Nice to know that you had a chance to look around a little with coastal. Some of the descriptions seem pretty quick: helicopter, short dog mush, back on the helicopter.

 

[brandysmommy]

We haven't done it but it seems limited or popular or both. We are gold and logged in right at midnight and there was not availability. DCL will not tell me how many guests the tour accommodates. I liked the extra time with the vet, food, care, etc... as I have an aspiring vet. Will look into Costal Helicopters though. DCL appears to be using ERA Helicopters for the exclusive. I contacted them directly and they "sell" all their spots to Disney when the ship is in so you can't book directly with them on a Disney port day. Good Luck!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Wow, that is disheartening that it was gone for the golds. I thought we'd have a shot, but we're only silver. I guess we better get plan B in the queue just in case. Did you go for the other helicopter/dog sled rides or just the Disney Exclusive? I think there are three in Juneau (including the exclusive) and one in Skagway, right?

 

[ame]

Wow, that is disheartening that it was gone for the golds. I thought we'd have a shot, but we're only silver. I guess we better get plan B in the queue just in case. Did you go for the other helicopter/dog sled rides or just the Disney Exclusive? I think there are three in Juneau (including the exclusive) and one in Skagway, right?

I'm a silver, logged on at midnight and there was no availability. I chose to do one of the other ones in Juneau. I have an animal mad DS travelling with me and hew would have loved the additional behind the scenes how it happens stuff, oh well... I'm sure hewon't be disappointed with the other one as he never knew.

 

[brandysmommy]

Wow, that is disheartening that it was gone for the golds. I thought we'd have a shot, but we're only silver. I guess we better get plan B in the queue just in case. Did you go for the other helicopter/dog sled rides or just the Disney Exclusive? I think there are three in Juneau (including the exclusive) and one in Skagway, right?

We are doing the other one in Juneau. I've searched and talked to a bunch of helicopter companies in Alaska and it seems Era is the only one that spends more time there. They apparently designed the excursion for DCL and do it days that DCL is not in port based on demand but when DCL is in port they only service DCL. We'll still have a great time - just wish that we could see more behind the scenes.

 

[Fivepin]

We did this last July. Yes it cost more, but we had a great time. It's limited to 12 people-5 were mine. There were 2 families on the mini bus to the helipad. It seemed like the dog mushing time was pretty long. My 3 boys had never seen snow before or been in a helicopter!! We had one guide and a sled to ourselves. Our guide was awesome-actual iditarod racer. He stopped every so often so we could switch out who was dog mushing. The Disney exclusive a lunch with the guide. We had our own heated tent and a boxed lunch was provided. When we stopped for lunch the kids got to actually help unharness the dogs. They got to have a snowball fight. It was just catered to more what we wanted to do. After lunch they got introduced to each dog and helped harness them back up and put the mitts back on their paws. More mushing back to the camp for a short tour of the 2-3 tents. We stopped whenever we wanted to take pics and such. There were other groups dog mushing, but the 2 families took off in a different direction, and I know we got more mushing than they did.
This is just my opinion, but my kids absolutely loved it!! Well worth it. Plus my youngest was scared of dogs, and even the morning of tried to get out of it saying his stomach hurts. Let me tell you, he was not scared when he got introduced to each dog. There were 2 he really liked and he continued to play with them. The dogs were so well behaved.
Side note, my youngest, without me knowing, put a snowball in one of his gloves to take back to the ship. I found out about it in the helicopter when the pilot said, ok I'll let you bring that onboard.

Gotta run for now. WIll try to post pics.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We did this last July. Yes it cost more, but we had a great time. It's limited to 12 people-5 were mine. There were 2 families on the mini bus to the helipad. It seemed like the dog mushing time was pretty long. My 3 boys had never seen snow before or been in a helicopter!! We had one guide and a sled to ourselves. Our guide was awesome-actual iditarod racer. He stopped every so often so we could switch out who was dog mushing. The Disney exclusive a lunch with the guide. We had our own heated tent and a boxed lunch was provided. When we stopped for lunch the kids got to actually help unharness the dogs. They got to have a snowball fight. It was just catered to more what we wanted to do. After lunch they got introduced to each dog and helped harness them back up and put the mitts back on their paws. More mushing back to the camp for a short tour of the 2-3 tents. We stopped whenever we wanted to take pics and such. There were other groups dog mushing, but the 2 families took off in a different direction, and I know we got more mushing than they did.
This is just my opinion, but my kids absolutely loved it!! Well worth it. Plus my youngest was scared of dogs, and even the morning of tried to get out of it saying his stomach hurts. Let me tell you, he was not scared when he got introduced to each dog. There were 2 he really liked and he continued to play with them. The dogs were so well behaved.
Side note, my youngest, without me knowing, put a snowball in one of his gloves to take back to the ship. I found out about it in the helicopter when the pilot said, ok I'll let you bring that onboard.

Gotta run for now. WIll try to post pics.

Wow, it sounds great. My DD12 would absolutely *love* this. I would LOVE to see pics if you get a chance. Also, what status were you when you booked? I'm afraid my "lowly" platinum isn't going to cut it in this case.

 

[AquaDame]

For something so wildly popular I'm surprised there aren't more opportunities. We want to do this for certain as well but are also silver... seems very much a consistent theme for us

 

[jlwhitney]

Wow, it sounds great. My DD12 would absolutely *love* this. I would LOVE to see pics if you get a chance. Also, what status were you when you booked? I'm afraid my "lowly" platinum isn't going to cut it in this case.

Alot of it will depend on how busy the cruise is and how many higher level people there are. We had no problem at Gold but didnt want to pay that much and wanted free time in town. At platinum as long as you go on right at midnight EST def no problem

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Alot of it will depend on how busy the cruise is and how many higher level people there are. We had no problem at Gold but didnt want to pay that much and wanted free time in town. At platinum as long as you go on right at midnight EST def no problem

I hope you are right! With three to choose from in Juneau, I'm hoping at least one is available. I think our cruise is pretty full. I agree Aquadame--but maybe the "exclusive" factor helps keep the cost up. For four people it sure is a lot of money! I really wish ABD had kept it as part of their program. I would have jumped all over that.

 

[Fivepin]

Here are several pics. I was platinum when I booked.

Main part of the sled, trainer stood in the back of this one and when Christopher wasn't dog mushing he was standing with the trainer

This was the attachment behind the main sled. This is where we kept alternating who got to mush.

Alot of interaction with the dogs-were not hurried at all. Kids even had a snowball fight with our guide since they had never played in snow. Just noticed in the picture my youngest has a snowball in his hand. Maybe that was the one he snuck into his glove

This is my little man that was scared of dogs-not today

The people in the background were the other Disney exclusive family. They were just leaving the lunch tent. We only saw them during our whole time of mushing.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

What wonderful photos! Thank you so much for sharing, now I'll be crossing my fingers even more when my booking window opens up. Although given your CC status and what others have said, I'm not holding out much hope

 

[mkladypink]

I agree...awesome pics! A couple of questions...when did you travel (I leave in 3 wks)...you look really bundled up, how cold was it (I live in the Cleveland area so 'cold' to me means something different...it has been 1 week since my kids last saw snow!) Exclusive was already booked so we signed up w/Coastal.

Thanks!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Exclusive was already booked so we signed up w/Coastal.

So disappointing to hear that! So I can obsess even more, LOL, would you mind saying whether you were gold, sliver or x? Did you try right at midnight? Were the other disney heli/dog sled tours filled as well?

 

[mkladypink]

Silver, right at midnight for Excl....sorry. I think the other DCL dogsledding was available. However, I asked Coastal Helicopters to tell me why their tour was better than DCL 'plain' dogsledding and they sold me on it.