Yellowstone!

[Hidden_Mickey]

UPDATE: Trip Report - starting with post 36!

We have been planning this trip for over a year. We are a few weeks out and now I'm getting down to the details.... what hikes/activities on what days, etc. based on our location. DH would like to do a ranger led photo safari at Old Faithful. Has anyone done that? I see that you can register ahead of time at the visitor center but it looks like you have to get there first and register in person for the next day. Well, the Disney planner in me wants to reserve now! Is that possible? We will be getting there late the day before and I don't want it to fill up before we get there.

Thanks!

 

[minkydog]

I would, if it's possible to do so. Activities fill up fast at Yellowstone, particularly in the summer. Are you going to do the Chuck Wagon up at Roosevelt? This was the MOST fun we've ever had. But you have to get reservations in advance. You will NOT be able to get in as a walk up.

Have a great time. We were out there 3 years ago for 10 days and still didn't see everything. We are hooked! In fact, we're hoping to go back out there next summer.

 

[perdidobay]

Try not to plan too much of every day....sometimes things can change and make you change your plans. Like a sighting of moose by the river that will make you want to stop and watch, or a buffalo traffic jam that forces you stop, these usually seem to happen when you have somewhere you want be.
Enjoy your trip and be sure to share some photos with us when you get back.
Yellowstone is my favorite NP and I haven't been there in years!

 

[Simba's Mom]

We have been planning this trip for over a year. We are a few weeks out and now I'm getting down to the details.... what hikes/activities on what days, etc. based on our location. DH would like to do a ranger led photo safari at Old Faithful. Has anyone done that? I see that you can register ahead of time at the visitor center but it looks like you have to get there first and register in person for the next day. Well, the Disney planner in me wants to reserve now! Is that possible? We will be getting there late the day before and I don't want it to fill up before we get there.

Thanks!

You'll have a great time. We've been to Yellowstone 3 times and loved it every time. We didn't do the photo safari. The only activities I remember doing were one ranger-lead hike, can't remember the name of the trail (Storm Point?), near Lake Yellowstone; an hour-long boat tour of Lake Yellowstone; and an evening yellow bus tour from Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We enjoyed all of them. But mostly we toured on our own, sometimes spending hours with a spotting scope overlooking Hayden Valley or the Mammoth area. Wait til you see how similar to WL Old Faithful Lodge is. And wait til you see the REAL Artist Point. Feel free to PM me if you have more ?s.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

I would, if it's possible to do so. Activities fill up fast at Yellowstone, particularly in the summer. Are you going to do the Chuck Wagon up at Roosevelt? This was the MOST fun we've ever had. But you have to get reservations in advance. You will NOT be able to get in as a walk up.

Have a great time. We were out there 3 years ago for 10 days and still didn't see everything. We are hooked! In fact, we're hoping to go back out there next summer.

I just found it on the Xanterra site - they are 5 hour safaris! Holy cow, that's too long for me, never mind the kids, lol. I prefer to wander on my own.

Yes, we have already made the resevation for the Roosevelt chuckwagon. We are doing another one in Jackson as well.

I'm trying to schedule something for each day, even if it's a hike we are doing on our own. Storm trail is on the list.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

You'll have a great time. We've been to Yellowstone 3 times and loved it every time. We didn't do the photo safari. The only activities I remember doing were one ranger-lead hike, can't remember the name of the trail (Storm Point?), near Lake Yellowstone; an hour-long boat tour of Lake Yellowstone; and an evening yellow bus tour from Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We enjoyed all of them. But mostly we toured on our own, sometimes spending hours with a spotting scope overlooking Hayden Valley or the Mammoth area. Wait til you see how similar to WL Old Faithful Lodge is. And wait til you see the REAL Artist Point. Feel free to PM me if you have more ?s.

Yes, I'm looking forward to staying at Old Faithful Inn and hiking to Artist Point, although I've never been to Wilderness Lodge, I've seen photos of it. I think I will have to check it out the next time we are at WDW.

 

[SunshineOR]

We just got home today from a trip to Yellowstone. We had such a great time! We didn't really plan anything or do anything coordinated, just drove and stopped when something looked interesting. Took a walk or little hike when we felt like moving and just meandered in the car when we were tired. If we'd been hustling through, we wouldn't have stopped at the spot where we spotted a mama grizzly bear with her 2 cubs. We sat and watched them for almost a half-hour and it was amazing! Anyway, can't help you with your question, but I'd say don't plan too much because you just don't know what will appeal to your family. We were surprised that our kids got pretty bored with geysers and hot springs, but loved spotting wildlife.

We rented a Gaper Guide and found it totally worth the money. Look into it. Maybe it's not for everyone, but we really enjoyed having it. We had dinner at the Old Faithful Inn. The dinner was good, but the atmosphere and building were spectacular.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes, I'm looking forward to staying at Old Faithful Inn and hiking to Artist Point, although I've never been to Wilderness Lodge, I've seen photos of it. I think I will have to check it out the next time we are at WDW.

Just a note, but you can't really hike from the Old Faithful to Artist Point....although you can drive closer to Canyon Village and hike from there. You might want to think about staying at different places in the park for different days. Some of the locations really are distant from each other. For instance, last fall it took us about 45 minutes in the car to get from Canyon Village to Old Faithful.

I didn't take any tours when I went last year, but we did do some hikes. For the more adventuresome hiking up Mount Washburn is pretty cool. For a bit more leisurely hike try the Fairy Falls trail and extend it out to Imperial Geyser. On that trail there's also a place where you can climb up the hill a bit and get a bird's eye view of the Grand Prismatic Spring which is just spectacular.

There's good info (and amazing photos!) at http://forums.yellowstone.net//index.php?sid=1c74d2556462a040c9691838c6e6adb6 .

It's like the Disboards for Yellowstone. Enjoy your trip!

 

[J Le]

I've only been once but it was an incredible week - we stayed at three different places in the park because it was so huge. Allow time for driving and like a previous poster said animal sightings and buffalo jams as well as construction delays.

If you get the chance, take a drive south to the Grand Tetons!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Here's our itinerary:

Thurs: fly into Jackson, stop at grocery store in Jackson, stay 2 nights at Signal Mountain Lodge in the Tetons
Friday: Drive up Signal Mtn Road to see the view, go to Colter Bay visitor center - hike around lake or swim in the am, have lunch, go on a 90 minute lake cruise at 3:30, dinner???
Saturday: drive up to OF, stopping along the way to do a short hike near Grant Village
Stay at OF Sat & Sun, dinner at OF dining room Sat, hike around the area, maybe go swimming in the Firehole River, see Grand Prismatic Spring
Monday - Drive to Mammoth, stopping to hike around Artists' Paintpots along the way
Monday afternoon: whitewater rafting trip out of Gardiner
Stay at Mammoth Monday & Tuesday
Tuesday: hike around Mammoth, dinner at Roosevelt chuckwagon
Wednesday: Drive to Lake Yellowstone Hotel, stopping to hike around the Canyon area on the way (Artist Point!!)
Stay at Lake Yellowstone Wednesday and Thursday
Thursday: no solid plans - just enjoy the lake & relax
Friday: drive to Jackson, stopping at the National Museum of Wildlife Art just north of Jackson on the way
Friday night: do a chuckwagon dinner near Jackson
Saturday: fly home!

What do you think? Too ambitious? I've planned some of the hikes for in between locations so that we don't have to drive out of an area once we get there. The drive to the next place is part of the adventure, lol.

I have a question about the hikes. The books say the ones I chose are "easy" and take about an hour, but does that mean a family with 2 slow kids can do it in a hour, or does it mean that someone doing it "commando style" (lol) can do it in an hour? I'm thinking we will do some slowly, but some will be more commando, when we are eager to get to the view and get back out. The one around the canyon to Artist Point is the longest one I have planned, but I think it will be worth it. If the Imagineers can base a restaurant around it, I think I will trust them!

 

[Sorsha]

If you have young kids, be sure and do the Junior Ranger program. We did that and my kids loved it. They get a booklet that they have to fill out; they have to see a program by a ranger, take a hike, see a certain number of animals, visit a waterfall, etc. Once they have completed their obligations they take it to park headquarters and there is a ceremony where they are made an official Junior Ranger and presented with a patch and other goodies. Great way to get the kids involved in really "doing" the park.

 

[cabanafrau]

This is the big trip we had planned for this summer, but never had time to properly plan so we've postponed for now. Your thread is making me jealous that we're missing it this year. Have a wonderful time.

 

[minkydog]

I second the Junior Ranger programs. They are awesome. Your itinerary sounds pretty good. I think you are wise to limit the formal tours, since you have young kids. I had always wanted to take a float trip down the Snake River--until I found out it was 5-8 hours, depending on how high the river is running. Well, there is NO WAY we're going to be able to keep Christian seated in a raft for 5 hours! Heck, we had a hard time keeping him seated while we took a 1hr boat ride around Lake Yellowstone.

We did kinda like you're planning, about one small "event" each day. We did lots of walking on the boardwalks to see the thermal features. One of the best "events" was when we got to Old Faithful. It was about 20 min before the next eruption, so we headed over to Old Faithful Inn to look around. They have a small ice cream shop, so we got our ice cream and took it upstairs to where there is an open deck facing the thermal grounds. HA! We had the best seats in the house! We enjoyed it so much we sat up there and watched it erupt AGAIN!

I think you can get the restaurant where you're staying to pack you a picnic if you want. You can also get those supplies(bread, sliced ham, chips, cookies, plates) at the General Stores in the park.
The Firehole River sounds and looks very inviting, and we thought we might do that too. Until we got over there and found that it is a hearty climb down some steps on the side of a cliff to get down to the water. There was no way my DH or DS15 could manage it, so no swimming for us. But we did have a lovely afternoon picnicking alongside the Yellowstone River and splashing around in the shallow area. Bring your watershoes, the bottom is covered with rocks OH, and that water is COOOOOLLLD.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Here's our itinerary:

Thurs: fly into Jackson, stop at grocery store in Jackson, stay 2 nights at Signal Mountain Lodge in the Tetons
Friday: Drive up Signal Mtn Road to see the view, go to Colter Bay visitor center - hike around lake or swim in the am, have lunch, go on a 90 minute lake cruise at 3:30, dinner???
Saturday: drive up to OF, stopping along the way to do a short hike near Grant Village
Stay at OF Sat & Sun, dinner at OF dining room Sat, hike around the area, maybe go swimming in the Firehole River, see Grand Prismatic Spring
Monday - Drive to Mammoth, stopping to hike around Artists' Paintpots along the way
Monday afternoon: whitewater rafting trip out of Gardiner
Stay at Mammoth Monday & Tuesday
Tuesday: hike around Mammoth, dinner at Roosevelt chuckwagon
Wednesday: Drive to Lake Yellowstone Hotel, stopping to hike around the Canyon area on the way (Artist Point!!)
Stay at Lake Yellowstone Wednesday and Thursday
Thursday: no solid plans - just enjoy the lake & relax
Friday: drive to Jackson, stopping at the National Museum of Wildlife Art just north of Jackson on the way
Friday night: do a chuckwagon dinner near Jackson
Saturday: fly home!

What do you think? Too ambitious? I've planned some of the hikes for in between locations so that we don't have to drive out of an area once we get there. The drive to the next place is part of the adventure, lol.

I have a question about the hikes. The books say the ones I chose are "easy" and take about an hour, but does that mean a family with 2 slow kids can do it in a hour, or does it mean that someone doing it "commando style" (lol) can do it in an hour? I'm thinking we will do some slowly, but some will be more commando, when we are eager to get to the view and get back out. The one around the canyon to Artist Point is the longest one I have planned, but I think it will be worth it. If the Imagineers can base a restaurant around it, I think I will trust them!

On Friday for dinner, I'd suggest you stop at Jackson Lake Lodge. Even if you decide to eat elsewhere, I'd recommend stopping there-the views from the lobby are amazing. You might be able to have dinner in their dining room, which has beautiful views. It's expensive, but you'll get this-

When you're at Lake Yellowstone, they have a very inexpensive general store down by the lake with a counter. Good, inexpensive food. Also, we walked over to the Lake Lodge Cafeteria to eat several times. Good variety and nice views. I really didn't like the little lobby sandwich shop at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. And at OF Inn, there was a general store I liked. It had tables to eat at, and you could look around the gift shop while waiting for them to bring your food. And at Mammoth Hotel, I thought the breakfast buffet was prettu good, and relatively inexpensive for a hotel.

 

[minkydog]

OH, I forgot about Jackson Lake Lodge!! We didn't want to take Christian into the nice sit-down restaurant there but they have a counter service cafe in there where you can sit up at the diner-like counter. We chose to order our food to-go and took it out to the lobby where we sat in front of their huge picture windows and watched the wildlife go by.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Here's our itinerary:


Monday afternoon: whitewater rafting trip out of Gardiner
Stay at Mammoth Monday & Tuesday
Tuesday: hike around Mammoth, dinner at Roosevelt chuckwagon

We went in 2006 and the favorite thing for my girls (and best memory) was the whitewater rafting. You will have a great time!

And my biggest regret was NOT doing a chuckwagon dinner, so have a great time there as well.

My biggest tip? It will often rain in the afternoon so get up and get out in the morning! Also, we were very thankful we stayed at the Old Faithful Lodge because when we first got to Old Faithful in the afternoon it was a ZOO. Several HUGE parking lots, too many people, hard to even get a good view of Old Faithful. Later in the evening and in the morning it was so much more relaxed and "ours".

Have fun!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

On Friday for dinner, I'd suggest you stop at Jackson Lake Lodge. Even if you decide to eat elsewhere, I'd recommend stopping there-the views from the lobby are amazing. You might be able to have dinner in their dining room, which has beautiful views. It's expensive, but you'll get this-

When you're at Lake Yellowstone, they have a very inexpensive general store down by the lake with a counter. Good, inexpensive food. Also, we walked over to the Lake Lodge Cafeteria to eat several times. Good variety and nice views. I really didn't like the little lobby sandwich shop at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. And at OF Inn, there was a general store I liked. It had tables to eat at, and you could look around the gift shop while waiting for them to bring your food. And at Mammoth Hotel, I thought the breakfast buffet was prettu good, and relatively inexpensive for a hotel.

Ooooo that's adorable! Yes, I was considering the Mural Room at JLL for dinner that day. I heard that room is really pretty. I wasn't sure if we wanted to schedule that after the lake cruise though.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

I second the Junior Ranger programs. They are awesome. Your itinerary sounds pretty good. I think you are wise to limit the formal tours, since you have young kids. I had always wanted to take a float trip down the Snake River--until I found out it was 5-8 hours, depending on how high the river is running. Well, there is NO WAY we're going to be able to keep Christian seated in a raft for 5 hours! Heck, we had a hard time keeping him seated while we took a 1hr boat ride around Lake Yellowstone.

We did kinda like you're planning, about one small "event" each day. We did lots of walking on the boardwalks to see the thermal features. One of the best "events" was when we got to Old Faithful. It was about 20 min before the next eruption, so we headed over to Old Faithful Inn to look around. They have a small ice cream shop, so we got our ice cream and took it upstairs to where there is an open deck facing the thermal grounds. HA! We had the best seats in the house! We enjoyed it so much we sat up there and watched it erupt AGAIN!

I think you can get the restaurant where you're staying to pack you a picnic if you want. You can also get those supplies(bread, sliced ham, chips, cookies, plates) at the General Stores in the park.
The Firehole River sounds and looks very inviting, and we thought we might do that too. Until we got over there and found that it is a hearty climb down some steps on the side of a cliff to get down to the water. There was no way my DH or DS15 could manage it, so no swimming for us. But we did have a lovely afternoon picnicking alongside the Yellowstone River and splashing around in the shallow area. Bring your watershoes, the bottom is covered with rocks OH, and that water is COOOOOLLLD.

Yeah, I stayed away from those float trips for the same reason! The rafting trip we are doing is 3 hours, which includes being driven to/from the river from the rafting company's office.

Do you think 10 & 12 year olds can make it down the stairs to the water?

Where did you go into the Yellowstone River?

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

We went in 2006 and the favorite thing for my girls (and best memory) was the whitewater rafting. You will have a great time!

And my biggest regret was NOT doing a chuckwagon dinner, so have a great time there as well.

My biggest tip? It will often rain in the afternoon so get up and get out in the morning! Also, we were very thankful we stayed at the Old Faithful Lodge because when we first got to Old Faithful in the afternoon it was a ZOO. Several HUGE parking lots, too many people, hard to even get a good view of Old Faithful. Later in the evening and in the morning it was so much more relaxed and "ours".

Have fun!

Yes, we plan to do this commando style - up and out early to beat the crowds! The rafting should be fun. I hope the water isn't too cold!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

OMG I just looked at photos of the Mural Room online - gotta go there!