Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Walking around Skagway

Date of Visit: July 15, 2011

Skagway was the main port we explored with Mik. Getting into town was a short walk, although there are several sets of train tracks you have to cross over on the way. Some of them are a kind of oddly lined up with the sidewalk, so that if you try to cross them straight on you aren't lined up right with the cutout onto the sidewalk on the other side of the tracks. The Free Wheel came in handy this day, although kind of annoying in the shops since we don't yet have the bracket to put in on back of chair when not using.

Once over the last train tracks you are in town and it is overall was easy to go around, except the Klondike Gold Rush National Park Visitor center not having a cutout way up on one of it's corners. Skagway was also a pretty flat town, especially compared to Juneau.

Getting off in Skagway the gangway was on Deck 4 and was rather steep, but they always had someone that would roll Mik down backwards for us at the ports. When we got back the Gangway had been moved to a lower deck due to the change in tide and it was only a tad steep. The only thing to watch for is that everyone is up into the ship, so you don't end up waiting on the steep gangway while they are checking IDs and going through security. I waited to push Mik up and did not let anyone pass us until I knew we could roll into the ship when we got to top.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Klondike Gold Rush National Park, Skagway

Date of Visit: July 15, 2011

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway was the one and only thing Mik wanted to see in Alaska. It was not bad, but the museum part in Seattle is much better. However, the movie they show in the main visitor center building by the train station is pretty good.

The Visitor Center is up on a raised platform from the street. You have to go up to it on a ramp from the side by the train tracks or back around halfway down the block on the other side. Not a big deal and they have signs to point out that it is the accessible way to the visitor center. However, it does mean you should cross the street by train tracks to go further into town without having to awkwardly cross mid street where there tends to be regular tour vehicle traffic.

There is not really much to the Visitor Center. There is a room they show a 30 minute movie about the Klondike Gold Rush. The movie was totally worth seeing, but it is not well laid out for wheelchair access. You just end up with the wheelchair next to wherever you sit, which mostly blocks the aisle.

There is also a little museum next to the Visitor Center. This is well laid out with plenty of room to roll around, but there really isn't much in it, especially compared to the part in Seattle. It does have a cool look into a safe where gold was stored, though.

The most interesting part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Park in Skagway in our opinion was the restored Mascot Saloon a couple blocks further into town. This building is set up to look like the original saloon that was on this site. It includes some artifacts found under the floorboards during restoration. This building also has plenty of open space for navigating through no problem and the entrance was propped open, so even easier to get into than the Visitor Center.

Of course, one of the highlights of the visit was stamping our 25th Anniversary National Park Passports, which we are using only for 2011. The Klondike Gold Rush National Park not only had the standard cancellation stamp, but there was also a 25th Passport Anniversary stamp and a special logo design Klondike Gold Rush National Park stamp.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Skagway, AK

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Cruisin' for Trivia and Pirate Trivia

Date of Visit: July 16, 2011

I love the trivia sessions in the Promenade Lounge. I think I went to them all, but I couldn't get Mik to go to all of them. On July 16, he made a deal with me that he would go to them all and skip going into Juneau. One of the sessions was Cruisin' for Trivia. Since it was a port day, very few people showed up to play. The questions were some random stuff and some Disney stuff. It was multiple choice, which also helped. We ended up with 20 out of 25 right and won. Mik was happy to get the keychain for winning, as was I, although I kind of wish we won one of the sessions that gave away the Mickey medal necklaces. The Disney Cruise keychain is nice, but the Mickey medal is really cool.

We did come close to winning later with Pirate trivia, but Mik was listening to his iPod and didn't do a good job of getting my attention when he knew the answer and I guessed wrong on a few he knew. So close to a Mickey medal!!! Oh well, even if we had lost them all, trivia is still great free fun on the cruise.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? In Studio Sea

Date of Visit: July 14, 2011

Mik and I both enjoyed Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? on our first Disney cruise, so this was one activity we had really been looking forward to doing again. We didn't get in the hot seat, but that didn't matter as they still give our the same pins as we got before, although I guess if you actually win you get something better. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to quietly guess amongst ourselves in the audience. Of course, it was a lot of Disney trivia we knew and somehow the Disney trivia sessions that everyone plays on teams in we knew fewer answers for.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Island Dinner at Parrot Cay

Date of Visit: July 14, 2011

Mik didn't really like dining in Parrot Cay, although not because of the food. It was because the lights were very bright or at least for were he was sitting. He kept trying to steal my hat during dinner and he hates wearing hats.

Mik had the Baked Crab Dip Martinique for his appetizer. He had trouble dipping the chips in the dip, but he did really enjoy the plantain chips. The banana bread as the bread was also interesting.

For the main course Mik had the Island Spiced Grilled Rib Eye of Beef. He thought it was okay, but really liked the potato. I enjoyed the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms.

I forgot to photograph the dessert menu, so I cannot remember exactly what the desserts we had were called, but Mik had a S'More thing and I had a French Toast thing. Both were good, although the French Toast was quite sweet. I really liked the Coconut ice cream that was served with the French toast.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm

Date of Visit: July 14, 2011

Our second full day at sea was a scenic cruise day. We were supposed to go into Tracy Arm, but when we got there it was too foggy, so we turned around and went into another nearby fjord, which I think was called Endicott Arm.

The scenery of the fjord was great and at the end we got to see a pretty good glacier. Mik was too lazy to go out on the verandah much, but it was nice that we had one, as he wouldn't have seen any of it if we hadn't.

I enjoyed seeing the various icebergs and bergy bits. The really fun part, though, was eating ice cream while cruising through the fjord.

The best part of the day was seeing whales. We saw at least 10. We mainly saw the blowholes, but also saw a few of the tales.

Disney Wonder Alaska Cruise: Golden Mickeys in Walt Disney Theater

Date of Visit: July 13, 2011

The Golden Mickeys was the first show I got Mik to go to on the Disney Cruise. I remember going to it on our first cruise, but only Dad and I saw it. This time just Mik and I saw it. They have a small section for wheelchairs to sit off to the side in the back. There is a ramp up to the area before you get to the stairs. If you get there right when the doors open or soon after there is a cast member there to direct you to it and will set up a chair next to the wheelchair for a companion.

We sat in the section near the right/starboard side entrance. It is a good view, as you are far enough above the last row of seating that even a tall person doesn't block your view. You are far from the stage, but you still get a great view of it all.

The Golden Mickeys is basically a pretend award show. It features a variety of popular Disney characters and has an interesting part with Bob Iger on the movie screens as if he is participating live. Mik enjoyed it, but the show is late with us having first dinner and he almost fell asleep. He would have rather watched it in the cabin, but the television was acting up a lot during our cruise, especially the day of the Golden Mickeys and watching anything was pretty much impossible or at least frustrating with the audio and picture coming in and out.