esulerzy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2001
Pre-Trip and Sunday, August 3rd
My spouse and I booked this adventure over a year in advance (booking date 7/26/2013). It was a trip to celebrate my 50th birthday. We are DVC owners and have taken a few Disney Cruises but have never taken an Adventure By Disney (ABD) trip.
Because we had limited flights to choose from (Baltimore, MD to Glacier Park International Airport (FCA)), we decided to go a day early. We booked flights, via Delta, on 9/6/2013. We went through Minneapolis/St. Paul. We also made a trip to AAA to buy a ‘cash pak’ – just to have a little Canadian money in our pockets. It cost us $124 and we received $112 in Canadian funds.
I had researched hotels in the area and found The Lodge at Whitefish Lake (http://www.lodgeatwhitefishlake.com/).
This was an expensive choice but well worth it. We booked a lakeview room which was ready at 4 pm. Located just 15 minutes from the airport, they provided free transportation to/from the airport and had a nice lake-view restaurant on site – so no taxis/rental cars necessary. We contacted the concierge desk about two weeks in advance of the reservation to request the shuttle pick us up from the airport and then take us back the next day to meet the tour group. Worked very well for us.
Monday, August 4th – Day 1 – sunny and high 80s
Arrival and welcome dinner
We had a nice relaxing morning at The Lodge and didn’t need to leave for the airport until 1 pm (we had scheduled to meet our Guides at 1:30 pm at the airport). Once we got to the airport, most of the group had arrived. While we waited for a few more folks to arrive, we met our Guides (Mariah and Kaley) and numerous members of the group. In total, we had 31 adults, 2 guides, and 1 bus driver (Paul) – the bus held 57 people so we had lots of room to spread out. Two folks were not able to make the trip at the last minute due to a family emergency. At this point, we turned our luggage over – basically for the rest of the trip! Once everyone arrived, we made our way to the bus, met Paul, and headed to Glacier Park Lodge. We had a 1 hour 45 minute drive to the Lodge and saw some amazing scenery on the way.
On the way, we were asked whether we wanted to raft or float the next day, what we wanted for lunch afterwards (steak, chicken, veggie burger) and what box lunch we wanted on Day 4.
Our guides arranged to get our room keys and our breakfast and dinner vouchers for the next couple of days while we toured the Lodge.
Dinner was at 6 pm in a private room in the Lodge. Beer, wine, water, ice tea, lemonade, coffee, and hot tea were available. The buffet included potato salad, cole slaw, garden salad, corn muffins, vegetable bean soup, salmon, chicken, beef, corn on the cob, and huckleberry crisp for dessert. We had a nice guitar/piano player as entertainment.
SPOILER: We received our lanyards and our first pin during dinner.
About the Lodge – the grounds and views were beautiful. The Lodge was built in 1913 and is very rustic. There is no air conditioning (fans were in each room) and no TVs. There is limited, if any, internet access. Some folks in our group had 4 beds in the room (with no door to the bathroom); others had 3 beds. Be prepared.
Tuesday, August 5th – Day 2 – sunny and high 80s/low 90s
River Rafting, Picnic Lunch; Red Bus Tour; Storytelling; Dinner at leisure
We were up at 5:45 am – breakfast buffet began at 6:30 am and we were to meet in the lobby at 7:30 am.
The buffet consisted of eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon, biscuits/gravy, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, sausage, and muffins – this was standard breakfast buffet food for most of the trip no matter which hotel we were at.
We ended up with 27 folks rafting; 4 folks took the float trip; and 2 went out hiking on their own. I should note that you always had the option to opt out of any activity. We choose rafting. I did not take my camera on the rafting trip but the guides did as did one gentleman in our raft that was filming the trip. We had 3 rafts of 9 folks each plus a rafting guide. We went through 7-9 rapids on the 8 mile trip; 1 was rated a 3 and the others were rated 2 (on a scale of 5). It was a lot of fun and one bear sighting occurred! The rafting company provided wet suits, jackets, and booties. We were our bathing suits under our clothes and changing rooms were available – we brought a change of clothes as we were not heading back to the Lodge until just before dinner. The water temperature was about 40 degrees so we opted for the wet suits and booties only. After we were finished, we were provided clear plastic bags for our bathing suits and towels to dry off. We always had the bus available to keep clothes backpacks, etc. – it was always locked or our bus driver was with the bus. This was very convenient and occurred throughout the trip.
After rafting, we drove a short distance to the outdoor picnic area of the rafting company who cooked us steaks, chicken, and veggie burgers along with salsa/chips, cookies, water, lemonade, pasta salad, and broccoli salad.
After lunch, it was off to Glacier National Park and our Red Bus Tour.
The views from the Road to the Sun were amazing! We made several stops along the way for photos. Total, it was a 3 hour tour. It was a little hazy due to wildfires that were burning in Washington State – the smoke was drifting over Glacier National Park.
After our spectacular trip to Logan’s Pass, we met up with our bus and had about an hour drive back to the Lodge. Dinner was on our own (but paid for) and included soup or salad, entrée, dessert, non-alcoholic beverage. Lots of huckleberry items on the dessert menu
To be continued in this thread....(and I'll try to add photos when I'm done with the day-to-day reports)
My spouse and I booked this adventure over a year in advance (booking date 7/26/2013). It was a trip to celebrate my 50th birthday. We are DVC owners and have taken a few Disney Cruises but have never taken an Adventure By Disney (ABD) trip.
Because we had limited flights to choose from (Baltimore, MD to Glacier Park International Airport (FCA)), we decided to go a day early. We booked flights, via Delta, on 9/6/2013. We went through Minneapolis/St. Paul. We also made a trip to AAA to buy a ‘cash pak’ – just to have a little Canadian money in our pockets. It cost us $124 and we received $112 in Canadian funds.
I had researched hotels in the area and found The Lodge at Whitefish Lake (http://www.lodgeatwhitefishlake.com/).
This was an expensive choice but well worth it. We booked a lakeview room which was ready at 4 pm. Located just 15 minutes from the airport, they provided free transportation to/from the airport and had a nice lake-view restaurant on site – so no taxis/rental cars necessary. We contacted the concierge desk about two weeks in advance of the reservation to request the shuttle pick us up from the airport and then take us back the next day to meet the tour group. Worked very well for us.
Monday, August 4th – Day 1 – sunny and high 80s
Arrival and welcome dinner
We had a nice relaxing morning at The Lodge and didn’t need to leave for the airport until 1 pm (we had scheduled to meet our Guides at 1:30 pm at the airport). Once we got to the airport, most of the group had arrived. While we waited for a few more folks to arrive, we met our Guides (Mariah and Kaley) and numerous members of the group. In total, we had 31 adults, 2 guides, and 1 bus driver (Paul) – the bus held 57 people so we had lots of room to spread out. Two folks were not able to make the trip at the last minute due to a family emergency. At this point, we turned our luggage over – basically for the rest of the trip! Once everyone arrived, we made our way to the bus, met Paul, and headed to Glacier Park Lodge. We had a 1 hour 45 minute drive to the Lodge and saw some amazing scenery on the way.
On the way, we were asked whether we wanted to raft or float the next day, what we wanted for lunch afterwards (steak, chicken, veggie burger) and what box lunch we wanted on Day 4.
Our guides arranged to get our room keys and our breakfast and dinner vouchers for the next couple of days while we toured the Lodge.
Dinner was at 6 pm in a private room in the Lodge. Beer, wine, water, ice tea, lemonade, coffee, and hot tea were available. The buffet included potato salad, cole slaw, garden salad, corn muffins, vegetable bean soup, salmon, chicken, beef, corn on the cob, and huckleberry crisp for dessert. We had a nice guitar/piano player as entertainment.
SPOILER: We received our lanyards and our first pin during dinner.
About the Lodge – the grounds and views were beautiful. The Lodge was built in 1913 and is very rustic. There is no air conditioning (fans were in each room) and no TVs. There is limited, if any, internet access. Some folks in our group had 4 beds in the room (with no door to the bathroom); others had 3 beds. Be prepared.
Tuesday, August 5th – Day 2 – sunny and high 80s/low 90s
River Rafting, Picnic Lunch; Red Bus Tour; Storytelling; Dinner at leisure
We were up at 5:45 am – breakfast buffet began at 6:30 am and we were to meet in the lobby at 7:30 am.
The buffet consisted of eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon, biscuits/gravy, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, sausage, and muffins – this was standard breakfast buffet food for most of the trip no matter which hotel we were at.
We ended up with 27 folks rafting; 4 folks took the float trip; and 2 went out hiking on their own. I should note that you always had the option to opt out of any activity. We choose rafting. I did not take my camera on the rafting trip but the guides did as did one gentleman in our raft that was filming the trip. We had 3 rafts of 9 folks each plus a rafting guide. We went through 7-9 rapids on the 8 mile trip; 1 was rated a 3 and the others were rated 2 (on a scale of 5). It was a lot of fun and one bear sighting occurred! The rafting company provided wet suits, jackets, and booties. We were our bathing suits under our clothes and changing rooms were available – we brought a change of clothes as we were not heading back to the Lodge until just before dinner. The water temperature was about 40 degrees so we opted for the wet suits and booties only. After we were finished, we were provided clear plastic bags for our bathing suits and towels to dry off. We always had the bus available to keep clothes backpacks, etc. – it was always locked or our bus driver was with the bus. This was very convenient and occurred throughout the trip.
After rafting, we drove a short distance to the outdoor picnic area of the rafting company who cooked us steaks, chicken, and veggie burgers along with salsa/chips, cookies, water, lemonade, pasta salad, and broccoli salad.
After lunch, it was off to Glacier National Park and our Red Bus Tour.
The views from the Road to the Sun were amazing! We made several stops along the way for photos. Total, it was a 3 hour tour. It was a little hazy due to wildfires that were burning in Washington State – the smoke was drifting over Glacier National Park.
After our spectacular trip to Logan’s Pass, we met up with our bus and had about an hour drive back to the Lodge. Dinner was on our own (but paid for) and included soup or salad, entrée, dessert, non-alcoholic beverage. Lots of huckleberry items on the dessert menu
To be continued in this thread....(and I'll try to add photos when I'm done with the day-to-day reports)
We did this trip a few years ago and loved it. Unfortunately we were unable to drive the Road to the Sun for it was still under 15 feet of snow at the end of June. Looking forward to more of your great review so I can relive our trip. 
