Alaska - is Alaska vacation right for my family?

I am debating whether or not to book a trip to Alaska next Summer. Since airline miles are being devalued every day & I will shortly have enough miles on NW to take my family to Alaska. It is some place I have always wanted to go, but not sure if we could find something the entire family would enjoy to make it worth the trip. If I book, I will book before Sept. 15 & book for some time next May-August.

We have taken a Disney vacation & have another one planned. We have also visited NYC, Hawaii, SF, & PHL in the past couple years. All of those destinations provided plenty for us to do. My wife is not the outdoorsy type, which may mean Alaska isn't for us. My kids will be 6 & 8, so we would need some attractions geared towards them. I do not want to spend much money once we get there, so most cruises would probably be out.

With all of that being said, does anybody think we can find something to do for about 5 days or so to make it worth our trip?

Yuo don't need to be the outdoorsy type to enjoy Alaska, although it helps (and the stunning scenery might even persuade the most sedentary city-dweller to get out a little bit). And it is possible to plan an Alaska trip that will keep the kids more than occupied--IIRC, there is thread or two in this very forum wherein that same question was asked and verbosely answered. Try this one:

http://flyertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=576861

Also, to start off with, here is my index of some threads that have good information on visiting Alaska:

http://flyertalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8165779&postcount=8

There are many more threads that I haven't indexed, so try clicking the following link to display more threads than the normal forum shows, and scroll through the list and look for ones with interesting titles and a lot of activity:

http://flyertalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=449&pp=200&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

And also the same info, but sorted by number of replies, which shows you the most active threads toward the top:

http://flyertalk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=449&daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=replycount

Great. Thanks. I will check those out tonight.

I am debating whether or not to book a trip to Alaska next Summer. Since airline miles are being devalued every day & I will shortly have enough miles on NW to take my family to Alaska. It is some place I have always wanted to go, but not sure if we could find something the entire family would enjoy to make it worth the trip. If I book, I will book before Sept. 15 & book for some time next May-August.

We have taken a Disney vacation & have another one planned. We have also visited NYC, Hawaii, SF, & PHL in the past couple years. All of those destinations provided plenty for us to do. My wife is not the outdoorsy type, which may mean Alaska isn't for us. My kids will be 6 & 8, so we would need some attractions geared towards them. I do not want to spend much money once we get there, so most cruises would probably be out.

With all of that being said, does anybody think we can find something to do for about 5 days or so to make it worth our trip?

To answer the question in your thread title: YES, YES and YES!!!

I am far from the outdoors type (having been born and raised in Manhattan, NYC!) and my wife and I loved Alaska.

Listen to Jackal on this forum. He gives great advice and suggestions. Alaska is a must see for everybody. It will be a trip your children will never forget. And you must do the bus tour of Denali National Park and Preserve!

Go. You will never regret it. :)

My only negative on this plan is that 5 days is not enough time. You won't be over jetlagged and settled in to the idea of where you are! Your children need a bit of time to rest so they are not all worn out. They will love Alaska once they get used to the idea that it is not a zoo. The animals are scattered over thousands of acres and are not waiting in a coop to be seen.

Can you spare more time?

Even if you can't spare more time, you can do a bit of Alaska. On my first trip, we flew into ANC then drove down to Homer. We spent a night on the way, stopped and looked at the eagles and the bears, looked at glaciers. Great trip. As my son says, the first time is exploration, the rest nostalgia.

I spend a couple of days in Sitka and then Juneau last year. Sitka is lovely. There is so much to see and do. It may just whet your appetite for more.

My only negative on this plan is that 5 days is not enough time. You won't be over jetlagged and settled in to the idea of where you are! Your children need a bit of time to rest so they are not all worn out. They will love Alaska once they get used to the idea that it is not a zoo. The animals are scattered over thousands of acres and are not waiting in a coop to be seen.

Can you spare more time?

Yes, we could do 7 days. I just wanted to make sure there was enough to do for at least 5 days. 7 days would be even better.

Yes, there is certainly enough to cover 7 days! Just look through some of the threads I linked to. There's enough for weeks without getting bored.

And oldpenny, animals spread over thousands of acres? I'd say thousands of square miles! :D

I've been waiting to chime in here to see if anyone else would comment or suggest waiting until your children are just a little bit older. My thought is that six may be a little young to really enjoy or later appreciate the experience and world around her. I saw many kids in that general age range (six to eight) who simply seemed to grow tired or bored with the adventure or activity, after just a few hours. If you do go with them still at this young age, you may want to keep that in mind as you plan for activities that are longer than probably four or five hours. This would include wifelife/glacier cruises and just about anything inside Denali NP.

Regarding the timeframe you're considering, I would suggest later than earlier. May may be too cold and limiting in terms of things to see and do. Depending on your interests, I would suggest late June through August.

Best wishes on a fantastic trip!
Von


p.s. For our next trip we're planning three weeks; two down on the Kenai Penn and a third up in the Interior, between Denali and Fairbanks. There is plenty to do so go with as much time as you can afford (in time and money).

I've been waiting to chime in here to see if anyone else would comment or suggest waiting until your children are just a little bit older. My thought is that six may be a little young to really enjoy or later appreciate the experience and world around her. I saw many kids in that general age range (six to eight) who simply seemed to grow tired or bored with the adventure or activity, after just a few hours. If you do go with them still at this young age, you may want to keep that in mind as you plan for activities that are longer than probably four or five hours. This would include wifelife/glacier cruises and just about anything inside Denali NP.

Regarding the timeframe you're considering, I would suggest later than earlier. May may be too cold and limiting in terms of things to see and do. Depending on your interests, I would suggest late June through August.

Best wishes on a fantastic trip!
Von


p.s. For our next trip we're planning three weeks; two down on the Kenai Penn and a third up in the Interior, between Denali and Fairbanks. There is plenty to do so go with as much time as you can afford (in time and money).
Von has a point--I skimmed over the OP and didn't see that the youngest kid was 6. Waiting a couple years might not be a bad idea.

I'd narrow the window for the trip to late June through late July. This is the period through which you are most likely to have consistently clear, warm weather. At the very end of July, the weather starts to turn rainy, and by mid-August (state fair time), we've said goodbye to the sun for another 11 months. ;) However, a visit during the state fair is not a bad idea and may hold more interest for the kids...