Tauck Bridges Alaska versus ABD versus Austin Adventures?

Twodogs - we decided NOT to do Denali on our trip next summer. Read on for the explanation.

I've looked at all of the itineraries for Alaska and after a lot of going back and forth, decided to DIY the trip. Could not justify the premium to have ABD (or any other provider) transport me around. Also, none of the itineraries ultimately hit enough of what I wanted to experience in Alaska. A week just isn't enough time to even hit the highlights.

Instead, I'm planning a 10 day trip, for likely about half the cost and less transportation time. We are not doing Denali this trip (can't imagine my DH or 2 DDs handling a bus ride into the park for any length of time, and you aren't guaranteed to see the mountain or any animals). So, we are heading south from Anchorage and will experience Kenai NP (and Resurrection Bay), the Alyeska area (with many of the same things on the agenda as the ABD there). We will not have a white water rafting excursion, but will instead kayak in Resurrection Bay and do a glacier boat ride. We will see sled dogs, animals (including at the same conservation center), the same things in Anchorage (and likely some more), be able to enjoy the trip to Seward, and hike, at our leisure.

I love planning trips - and this all seems pretty do-able without too much effort. (Or maybe more accurately, I already did alot of the work trying to figure out what we wanted to see and whether any of the itineraries worked for us, so now it is just confirming the hotels and activities that I want.)
 
All of this information has been so helpful to me! I have thought about doing what @Donalyn is doing and just building my own trip, but I am leaning towards doing a group for the first adventure in Alaska with the possibility to return and do more on another trip or cruise. Alaska is so huge that it would take months to even hit the highlights, so we are just going to have to pick and choose. Getting my husband to take 10 days off is like pulling teeth, and it is not much easier for me to take 10 days off either. So we may just have to do what we can this time and then plan to return! Any other insights are much appreciated!
 
Sorry I'm catching this so late. We went on the ABD in June 2018. We came in one day early and added a bear-watching excursion to Lake Clark. Highly recommended for families who want to see animals. I blogged our trip, if you want to scroll through for idea and photos. http://travel.veralana.com/2018/06/28/alaska-anchorage-talkeetna-and-denali/

We used our OYO time in Denali for hiking (and that's when we saw the moose in the wild) and also for more hiking in Alyeska (we did the cart bridge). I didn't feel like it was too much on our own, as the hiking was part of what we wanted to do there. My girls were about the same age as your kids when we went.
 
All of this information has been so helpful to me! I have thought about doing what @Donalyn is doing and just building my own trip, but I am leaning towards doing a group for the first adventure in Alaska with the possibility to return and do more on another trip or cruise. Alaska is so huge that it would take months to even hit the highlights, so we are just going to have to pick and choose. Getting my husband to take 10 days off is like pulling teeth, and it is not much easier for me to take 10 days off either. So we may just have to do what we can this time and then plan to return! Any other insights are much appreciated!

We did Tauck Alaska in July 2018 and LOVED it. Off with Tauck again this summer to Italy and probably will do another in 2021! We were very happy with our choice. We too debated v ABD but like you had concerns about the itinerary. I will say I am a complete planner but for some trips where there are a lot of logistics - train, boats, flights - I just do not have it in me to figure it all out. I work full time as well and planning a trip of that nature would be very consuming. (On a side, I have copied ABD and Tauck with a winter trip we did to Jackson Hole and a summer trip to Montana last year. Saw what hotels they stayed at and realized their activities were based out of hotel concierge so super easy to plan bc there was little to no logistics! I could not have done the same with the Alaska trip).

We did not see many animals either but did spot some. However, that was because we were in Alaska during a heat wave! Temps were in the 80s every day and we never saw a drop of rain. Nancy (who I think is still the tour guide on this Alaska tour) said that was the first week that she never had to resort to Plan B for any day. That raises a good point - for instance for some tours they could not do the flightseeing over Denali bc of weather. If I had booked that on my own I would need a back up plan for the day. Again it was very nice not to think of those things. As for Denali we were of the lucky 3% (or whatever the data shows!) that saw ALL of Denali for all the days we were in the area! Our pilot on the flightseeeing trip said it was the clearest day he had seen in at least 7 years. So while we didn't see a ton of animals the view of Denali is one we will never forget.

I did the same as you and got input of ABD v Tauck. We are a huge Disney family (DVC owners, annual pass, etc) but when I broke down the itinerary and the extra cost for Disney it seemed like Tauck was a better fit for us. We were not disappointed at all!
 


As for Denali we were of the lucky 3% (or whatever the data shows!) that saw ALL of Denali for all the days we were in the area! Our pilot on the flightseeeing trip said it was the clearest day he had seen in at least 7 years. So while we didn't see a ton of animals the view of Denali is one we will never forget.
That's *very* cool! :) The data is, of the people who go to see Denali, only 30% see it at all, and only 10% see it totally clear. I'm in the 10% too! :thumbsup2

Sayhello
 
We are in that 10% too - it was amazing.
I had gotten into the 30% club when I did my Alaska cruisetour, and I thought that was fabulous. Then I got into the 10% club during my Alaska ABD, and that was truly spectacular!!

Sayhello
 



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