Polar Expedition Tour??

[Marshay]

We are thinking about adding on the Polar Expedition Tour to our day at SW. Has anyone done this? If so, what did you think?

 

[Marshay]

bump.

If anyone has done this tour, how much time do you really spend with a penguin and backstage of Wild Arctic? I know it's only an hour tour but want to make sure it isn't like 40 minutes of watching a movie or sitting in on a lecture, since we'll have our 2 yr old with us...

 

[highlander447]

Hi I did this in march we loved it, here's a part from my trip report on that day

There where 19 people in our tour group, Gillian was our guide and she had been working there for 18 months, the first part of the tour deals with the Beluga whales but we only got a talk on them as the ones they have just now are new and they are still being trained,

next part was the seals where we saw 3 seals and got a talk on them, we also saw the toys they use to help train the animals

After the seals we went onto the polar bears, we struck lucky as there where 2 bears in their den, these creatures are huge and look so impressive up close you view the bears through one way glass so they can't see you or hear you, Gillian told us that these creatures where the only animal that no one interacted with as they where so powerful and aggressive

We spent awhile with the bears, then it was onto the penguin's, this is the part of the tour that everyone has booked for as you get to pet a baby penguin, one piece of trivia u need to know before petting the penguin is that they projectile their poop so u need to avoid touching their behind and making them skittish

the tour ends after the penguin part lasting about an hour in total, I can totally recommend this tour and for those with young kids we had a kid about 3 on our tour if not younger, after the tour I headed to the hospitality house for another sample just to make sure that I liked it you understand,a few beers later and the kids wanted to go to premium outlets so

 

[Marshay]

Thank you for the report! I think based on your report, I will wait until my DD is older. I know she will not sit/stand still during the information sessions and I was hoping the tour would be smaller than 18 people (I don't want to disturb 18 other folks if she is having a rough day...)

But I will definitely keep this in mind for the future!

 

[aj2hall]

Thanks for all of the helpful info. My 6 year old absolutely loves penguins and we've been thinking about the tour. I think actually touching a penguin would be the highlight of his day. Thanks again!

Does anyone know how frequently the tours are offered or at what time?

 

[Marshay]

When I checked the SW site, they had about 5 daily tours during busy season (summer) and only 2 during slow season (Sept). They did provide times for the current ones (ie. Sept 18th when we are going did not have times yet).

Go to SW website and you can find the info

 

[vafarmmom]

We did this tour in may with a 4.5 year old. He was really in to penquins since happy feet! Anyway it was fun, and he did well. The rep told me the tour is each day at 10, then if they have additional interest they add tours. We were running late, so they bumped us to a 12 tour (which they had said did not exist a few days before). Our tour guide was great and answered a ton of questions for ds. It wasn't very expensive, and I will probably do it again when ds is older as well. Oh - our penquin was not a baby - but still very cool.

 

[aj2hall]

Just one more question - how far in advance do you need to book the tickets? We're planning to go in December.

 

[highlander447]

The tours do get booked up quickly, I'm pretty sure you can book now