Wyoming Trip August '13

[marianng1]

New to Disboards Forum, although we have been reading posts for years, so please excuse my inexperience if I have posted this questions in the wrong place.

We are leaving on the trip in about 10 days, with 2 days add on at the beginning. If anyone could provide feedback on a few questions. 1.Since we will have about 2 full days in Jackson, what should we avoid doing if anything so we will not spoil the ADB guided experience. DH is slightly concered that we will have seen & done all there is to do prior to the start of the ABD portion.
2. For the rafting and water activites will we require water shoes or are they available from the different vendors.

3. Taking a age 16 DD who is not into the great outdoors, any hints as to what may make the outdoor adventure more enjoyable for her?

4. Will we need reservations for the evening on our own in Yellowstone?

 

[RSM]

New to Disboards Forum, although we have been reading posts for years, so please excuse my inexperience if I have posted this questions in the wrong place.

We are leaving on the trip in about 10 days, with 2 days add on at the beginning. If anyone could provide feedback on a few questions. 1.Since we will have about 2 full days in Jackson, what should we avoid doing if anything so we will not spoil the ADB guided experience. DH is slightly concered that we will have seen & done all there is to do prior to the start of the ABD portion.
2. For the rafting and water activites will we require water shoes or are they available from the different vendors.

3. Taking a age 16 DD who is not into the great outdoors, any hints as to what may make the outdoor adventure more enjoyable for her?

4. Will we need reservations for the evening on our own in Yellowstone?

Hi Marianng1--We did this trip in June and it was really spectacular. Regarding our questions:

1.) We had a full pre-day in Jackson. The only thing we really avoided doing was the white water rafting. We walked around town, did some shopping, went to the Snow King Resort, did a horse drawn carriage ride around town, went to the shootout in the town square (at 6 pm every night), and did a hot air balloon ride at Teton Village. About the only overlap we had with the ABD was taking the pictures under the antler arches in the center of Jackson. I would think with 2 days, you could spend some time in Teton Village also. As a recommendation for meals, we ate dinner one night at the Snake River Grill and the food/service was awesome (they have been featured on the Food Network). For lunch, I'd recommend Dolce (really good gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches). As a note, everything in Jackson is a 5-10 minute walk from the Wort (although the Snow King is probably 15 mins or so). Teton Village is a bus ride or car ride. There is a free public bus that will take you around Jackson.

2.) I think you need close toed shoes for white water rafting. We basically wore something like Keens water shoes. I don't recall specifically if they rent water shoes. But you can rent wet suits. The company ABD uses for the white water rafting is Barker-Ewing in Jackson. The shuttle takes you from the Wort to their office for check in. Then they shuttle you to the launch site. You could probably check the Barker-Ewing website to see if they rent water shoes.

3.) Given we have a 10 y/o son, not sure I can provide alot of insight on a teenage girl. Make sure you have bugspray and sun screen. Although, we didn't see a ton of mosquitos in Jackson or Yellowstone, we certainly did at Brooks Lake Lodge. Although there are alot of outdoor activities, it never feels like you are doing any given activity for a sustained, long period of time. The activities each day are broken up pretty well. There is a fair amount of walking and hiking, but it is not really all that difficult. One word of warning, at Brooks Lake Lodge if you elect to take the afternoon hike, make sure you find out if it is the 1 hour hike or 3 hour hike.

4.) No. The guides will make a reservation for you at one of the restaurants at the Old Faithful Inn or the Snow Lodge. We ate at the Old Faithful Inn and it was very good.

Hope you have as good a time as we did. It really is a fun adventure in a beautiful part of the country. Hopefully, you have either Tiffany and/or Carolyn as guides. Tiffany is wonderful on this ABD as she really knows the area well. If there are any other questions, feel free to reach out.

Have Fun!

 

[sayhello]

Welcome to the ABD Forum, marianng1!! You posted just fine.

I haven't taken this trip yet (although I've been eyeing it) but it looks like you've gotten some great answers from RSM!

Enjoy your ABD, and be sure & come back & tell us all about it!

Sayhello

 

[K and K's Mommy]

We did this trip last summer. We ate at Sweetwaters for lunch. It is really good and in an old historic cabin. For breakfast we went to the Bunnery. This was delicious but very crowded when we left. Luckily, we got there early because we were still on Indiana time. After rafting a bunch of us ate at Snake River Brewery. This, too, was really good. It is a very large place, and they were able to fit our big party fairly quickly.

I think your DD will like walking around Jackson. There is a ton of shopping - some expensive! We did the Alpine Slide and that was fun. We also went into Teton Village and took the tram to the top. If it is a nice day, this is fun to do. We did not go to the Western Art Museum, but I heard it was fabulous.

We all brought our own water shoes, but you can use the companies.My kids had the close toed water shoes, but my husband and I each had Teva sandals. They worked fine.

I agree very much about bug spray at Brooks Lake Lodge! If your DD does not want to do the activities at the Lodge, they have a spa! One person in our group did that, but from what I remember she did not love her massage. There is also a hot tub.

I wrote a trip report last year. If you go to the Trip Report sticky, it is linked at number 54.

Have fun!

 

[MortimerDisney]

New to Disboards Forum, although we have been reading posts for years, so please excuse my inexperience if I have posted this questions in the wrong place.

We are leaving on the trip in about 10 days, with 2 days add on at the beginning. If anyone could provide feedback on a few questions. 1.Since we will have about 2 full days in Jackson, what should we avoid doing if anything so we will not spoil the ADB guided experience. DH is slightly concered that we will have seen & done all there is to do prior to the start of the ABD portion.
2. For the rafting and water activites will we require water shoes or are they available from the different vendors.

3. Taking a age 16 DD who is not into the great outdoors, any hints as to what may make the outdoor adventure more enjoyable for her?

4. Will we need reservations for the evening on our own in Yellowstone?

We did this trip a month ago and it was amazing.

1.Exploring the Jackson area will not ruin the experience. The shoot out in town square was something my kids liked. We also went to the Aerial tram in Teton Village.

2.We came prepared with water shoes but they do provide water shoes at the rafting place. Wasn't to keen on wearing used shoes even if they were cleaned. Make sure you have a Disney guide on your boat as they take lots of pictures.

3.If you get a chance to see the play at the Jackson Theater it was an interesting experience and something she might like. There is also tons of shopping to be done in the Jackson area.

4.Our guides took care of our reservations for us. They'll take care of most everything I learned. We had Jamie and Geraldine as our guides and they were amazing. They have been with Disney for years and are extremely prepared, knowledgeable, and entertaining. Definitely some of the best employees they have. We hope to get them again in the future when we book our next trip.

You'll have a fun vacation for sure. Hope this helps.