Skagway Excursions

[Rambler5678]

Which excursion would you choose?

White Pass Railway and Trail Camp or Gold Panning, Sled Dogs & Scenic Railway

 

[tutumomickey]

White Pass Railway, hands down. Not to be missed(IMHO) If you have time before or after, also grab a map at the visitors center and take the short hike out of town to the old cemetery and waterfall. not on any tors I'm aware of but fascinating and beautiful.

 

[vacationer1954]

I believe both of those excursions include the White Pass Railway.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/skagway-alaska-white-pass-railway-trail-camp/

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...ka-gold-panning-sled-dogs-and-scenic-railway/

The first includes a 95-minute one-way rail trip to Fraser, BC. (You take a bus back.)

The second includes a 210-minute round-trip rail trip.

I haven't been to Alaska yet so I'm interested to see what folks say. What I've read so far indicates to me that taking the bus one way is good because the bus follows more closely the actual trail of the prospectors that first terrible year of the gold rush, before the rail was built, so by going one way by rail and one way by bus you get both.

 

[Rambler5678]

Wanting more input on the gold panning and other entertainment. One is at Liarsville the other at ALASKA 360 former Klondike Gold Fields. Kids will be 7 and 14 at the time. The one with Liarsville is train up and bus down. Alaska 360 is Train RT.

 

[vacationer1954]

I hope you do get some input from people who have taken those excursions, as well as from people who have taken some of the others that are available.

The location of Liarsville and Alaska 360, both within 3 miles of the dock, doesn't match up with any locations from my reading about the Klondike Gold Rush, so both are clearly recreations. I always prefer authentic to recreations. The actual gold fields were in Canada.

Is the "Yukon Suspension Bridge, City and White Pass Railway" excursion available to you? That one attracts my attention because the extra activity there is closer to where the gold fields actually were (but doesn't include a hands-on activity) and it also includes engaging with First Nations people.

 

[Geomom]

We did the Chilkoot Charters Yukon bus up/train down with dogcart ride. I really felt that one way on the train was enough for us, especially for the kids; so I'd do the one that has a mix of bus/train as you should have a bunch of picture taking stops with the bus part.

 

[Disneyfriend]

We did the Chilkoot Charters Yukon bus up/train down with dogcart ride. I really felt that one way on the train was enough for us, especially for the kids; so I'd do the one that has a mix of bus/train as you should have a bunch of picture taking stops with the bus part.

Just did this excursion two weeks ago - with Chilkoot - and agree completely with Geomom. A lovely little excursion. The bus allows for different scenery and stops for pictures; the train provides a different vantage point and is a fun experience. Add the dog cart on - surprising fun for all four of us! Just a lovely way to spend the day.

 

[Rambler5678]

Thought about taking Chilkoot but my oldest daughter wants to pan for gold.

 

[vacationer1954]

There is one other excursion that includes panning for gold and the railway.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...aska-klondike-gold-dredge-white-pass-railway/

I have no idea whether Klondike Gold Dredge is better than Liarsville.

 

[yargrnhoj]

We did Gold Panning, Sled Dogs & Scenic Railway last week. You take the train right from the pier up to the Canadian border (and slightly over, but no passport needed) and then come back down. The train is not to be missed. There is great scenery on both sides of the train and they made us switch sides at the top so everyone got to see both sides. Once back at pier, you transfer to a bus to go to Alaska 360. There was never any gold found in Skagway so the place is a recreation. We went for the sled dogs (more in a moment on that), but the gold panning was cute. They give you a pan, show you how to separate the dirt from the gold and then you get a bunch of gold flakes. They weight it and tell you what it is "worth". My wife and daughter ended up with $12 each. I only got $3 (after I took my daughter's pan because she was dumping out too much water and likely "gold".) I doubt you could ever sell these gold flakes but my daughter got a kick out of having $12 worth of gold.

Then we saw a movie on the Iditarod and then a musher who had run it three times came out and talked about his equipment and experience. Then we went to see the dogs. You could pet them over a fence as they ran around. Then they hooked a few up to a sled and did a quick loop of a gravel track. The highlight was then the five-month-old puppies. You got to hold them and pet them for a few minutes and take photos. My daughter was in heaven. Be forewarned though these dogs are not the Siberian Huskies you might think. The musher explained very few sled teams use those dogs. Some were Alaskan huskies and some were other breeds.

 

[khsu]

Has anyone done the Skagway Evening Wildlife Expedition (SW44)? I initially had the Musher's Camp booked, but my daughter is very interested in seeing bears instead. This trip has a ferry to Haines and the excursion is 6-6.5 hours. I would love to hear from any reviews. My daughter is 8 and my son is 12.

We did the Gold panning, sled dogs and scenic railway last year. This year, I booked directly with Temsco for sled dogs/helicopter ride in Juneau (and crossing my fingers it doesn't get cancelled!).

Thanks, Karen

 

[pillow]

Scott just did a report on Liarsville. . . Disneycruiselineblog.com

 

[keighttf]

Has anyone done the Skagway Evening Wildlife Expedition (SW44)? I initially had the Musher's Camp booked, but my daughter is very interested in seeing bears instead. This trip has a ferry to Haines and the excursion is 6-6.5 hours. I would love to hear from any reviews. My daughter is 8 and my son is 12.

We did the Gold panning, sled dogs and scenic railway last year. This year, I booked directly with Temsco for sled dogs/helicopter ride in Juneau (and crossing my fingers it doesn't get cancelled!).

Thanks, Karen

We booked through Temsco to do the sled dogs/helicopter in Skagway for the first cruise of this year but it got canceled due to poor visibility. They allowed us to switch to the helicopter to glacier with glacier walk. We then booked a summer sled dog excursion through Disney for Juneau. You might want to consider booking that excursion in Skagway so you might be able to reschedule for Juneau if it gets cancelled if you really want to do it. Also FYI apparently the glacier walk helicopters get cancelled less frequently than the sled dog helicopters because they go to a lower altitude.

 

[GPaLarry]

We did the Liarsville with panning for gold and lunch. There was a tent there with a "Press" sign on it...could be the origin of fake news. While the kids and grandkids were panning I went in the gift shop. The woman there told me to look in the creek...no other details. I went over to that area and, sure enough, "gold" nuggets had been scattered in the creek. Our 7-year-old granddaughter filled her little plastic bag with some, then the word got out. People bailed from panning in the troughs and hit the stream. Maybe I shouldn't have started the stampede. The earlier show was a bit corny and the food was good. Geared toward kids, but fun for adults, too.