Princess has really done a great job of acquiring/leasing land and building their lodges. While they are all very similar and you feel immediately at home in each, there are of course some major differences:
- Copper River Lodge - the newest and smallest of the Princess Properties, this one is all contained (at least for now) in a single large building with ~130 rooms. The entire building is Wi-Fi with only a couple of computers available for guests (and naturally those were commandeered quickly by children satisfying their gaming fix).
- Denali Lodge - boasting over 650 rooms, the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is the largest hotel in all of Alaska. It is spread out over several buildings, including various shops and the Music of Denali theatre (where they serve an amazingly delicious breakfast buffet in the morning in addition to their fun dinner/theatre at night). Wi-Fi is only available in the Main lodge or in the satellite lodges for the out-lying room. Denali is actually a "city" with a vintage Alaskan strip mall directly across the highway (use the darn cross walk at the only stoplight for hundreds of miles please!) with a single gas station (again, no price posted because you pay whatever they charge!)
- McKinleyLodge - clearly the oldest, this lodge is also arranged with several buildings. The Main Lodge contains the more formal dining area, a bar and of course registration and the tour desk. Both Denali and McKinley lodges have small shuttle buses (or in Denali trolleys) that you just flag down in order to get quickly from one place to another. Gerry & I did a great job of continuing the our walking program in Denali logging many more miles between places, but since it is pouring rain here in McKinley we are opting to stay a bit drier and shuttling back and forth.
One of the best parts, for me, of staying in these lodges is chatting up all the seasonal help. Where you find people from all different countries working on the cruise ships, here you find kids from all across the states - either because they enjoy coming to Alaska each summer (many have done this for several summers) or because they've got student loans to pay off. Last night's server (Matt) was originally from Wisconsin but is currently attending ASU in Arizona. This is his second summer here and he really thinks he's got the best of both worlds - he summers in Alaska and winters in Arizona!
I truly appreciate Princess' efforts - they made sure that in each of the lodges we've stayed we would have had an excellent view of any mountains, had there been any mountains to see. I'm leaving Alaska wondering how the heck did anyone ever discover "the High One"? Seriously, they probably woke up one day and said "what the heck?" and then the next day saying "where did it go?"
Next time, we're coming in early May or late September. It might be colder but we might actually get to see a mountain!
~later, tw
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