Does anybody know about the Kroschel Films Wildlife Center in Haines?

[morebeaches]

Some friends who went of a cruise that stopped in Haines said they really enjoyed the Wildlife Center. We will be stopping in Skagway, I know we can take the Ferry from Skagway to Haines, but is there transportation available from Haines to the Center, about 28 miles? Also we are scheduled to be in Skagway from 7:00am to 8:30 pm, would there be time to do both the Shorter White Pass RR and go to Haines and go to the Wildlife Center? (in either order)

[morebeaches]

I thought at least Budget Queen might chime in on this...anybody?

[jer_l]

We'll be in Haines late June and this is one of the things we are considering. If we go I'll be sure to post when we return.

[karatemom2]

We are visiting the center when we are in Haines on June 30, so we'll provide a report as well. Steve has been very nice about returning my emails and even adjusted the tour time so we could make it on our itinerary. We are really looking forward to it. We are renting a car and driving there on our own.

[Napi's Mom]

We went on this tour in '04. His place is a marvelous place to visit...talks about his animals, his movies that he trained animals for, and now the avalanche filming work. What he's been doing since then I don't know, in fact I was excited to know he was still having his tours. We can't go this cruise but really enjoyed his talk and tour.

[Host Michell]

We visited Steve's place in 2008, but our ship had a port call in Haines. There's information on it in the review linked in my signature, and many photos of it at the Alaska photos link there as well.

[morebeaches]

Thanks for the replies and info and pics. I am definately going to investigate this further!

[tkwbear]

I visited Kroschel's animal farm last week, and I was very pleased with it. Personally I would love to spend more time in Haines as Skagway seems limited to the train and shopping. We did the train in 2002, it was fine, but once is enough.

There is a water taxi with a regular schedule between Skagway and Haines, you should be able to squeeze both in, but if I had to pick, I would do the animal farm!

[JerseyJaguar]

I think you should decide between the train and Kroschel's Wildlife, there are good points to both I'm told (I only did the Wildlife thing) but it'd be tight getting to and from Haines, our whole time (bus ride to and from dock included) was about 4 hours, add the 20some minutes each way for the Ferry, plus the Train experience and you're looking at needing everything to be perfect for it to work.

I am very glad I went to Kroschel's, the baby fox and baby Lynx and the year old bear made the whole thing worth it, but he has many more animals than just that and he and his assistant seem very devoted to doing their part for Alaska wildlife.

[canadarocks]

So good to hear the great reviews! We're going in August and I'm really looking forward to it !

[lilmiss]

Its been asked before but hasn´t been answered...how do you cover the 28 mile stretch from Haines to the Kroschel Wildlife Center ?? Are there buses or independent companies that have transportation available ???

[canadarocks]

Originally Posted by lilmiss

Its been asked before but hasn´t been answered...how do you cover the 28 mile stretch from Haines to the Kroschel Wildlife Center ?? Are there buses or independent companies that have transportation available ???

As far as I know the only ways to get there are through a ship excursion, renting a car, or a taxi (which would obviously be ridiculously expensive).

[Napi's Mom]

Originally Posted by canadarocks

As far as I know the only ways to get there are through a ship excursion, renting a car, or a taxi (which would obviously be ridiculously expensive).

That's how we got there, but, and that's a BIG but....it seems trying to do this from Skagway might be awfully time consuming, do you have enough time in port? Like was quoted, at least 2 hrs each way on bus, and probably about 1 1/2 hrs at the place at most, Plus the ferry TO Haines, might be 20 min trip but I'm sure it doesn't run every 20 min?? We docked in Haines, and thus was offered the tour as a shore excursion.

[tkwbear]

Here's something to consider - the ship charged $119/each for this excursion. From what I can tell, it's only $30/each to visit, so renting a car might be a cheaper option, though you would have to schedule the visit with the animal farm directly. http://www.kroschelfilms.com/

If and when I get back to Haines, I will get the car, play the golf course, and visit Kroschel and friends for about what I paid for the shore excursion. Beyond that, there is incredible scenery on the way out!

[karatemom2]

Originally Posted by lilmiss

Its been asked before but hasn´t been answered...how do you cover the 28 mile stretch from Haines to the Kroschel Wildlife Center ?? Are there buses or independent companies that have transportation available ???

Since we are doing a B2B cruise we will have two days in Skagway. We decided to use the second day to explore Haines. We are taking the ferry ($68 roundtrip for adults) at 8 a.m. and picking up our rental car at 9 a.m. We are then driving ourselves to the Kroschel Wildlife Center for a 10 a.m. tour and then will be using the car to explore the area and see the Eagle preserve before heading back into town to do some sightseeing in Haines and catch the 5 p.m. ferry back to Skagway.

[canadarocks]

I sent an email to Steve Kroschel a few months ago asking about the difference in pricing. He responded that he would not accept independent travellers at the $30 price when there were cruise ship tours scheduled. He very politely explained that it was the ship tours that keep his place operational. Reluctantly, I did accept this and I do understand his position.

However, if there are people who have been or are going to his place and only paying $30 while ships are docked in Haines, I would be very interested in knowing that!

[karatemom2]

Originally Posted by canadarocks

I sent an email to Steve Kroschel a few months ago asking about the difference in pricing. He responded that he would not accept independent travellers at the $30 price when there were cruise ship tours scheduled. He very politely explained that it was the ship tours that keep his place operational. Reluctantly, I did accept this and I do understand his position.

However, if there are people who have been or are going to his place and only paying $30 while ships are docked in Haines, I would be very interested in knowing that!

There is no ship docked in Haines the day we are there. We are coming from Skagway at our own expense and so it is likely there are no ship tours for his center on the day we will be there. That is why it probably worked out for us to visit independently.

[Napi's Mom]

Originally Posted by karatemom2

Since we are doing a B2B cruise we will have two days in Skagway. We decided to use the second day to explore Haines. We are taking the ferry ($68 roundtrip for adults) at 8 a.m. and picking up our rental car at 9 a.m. We are then driving ourselves to the Kroschel Wildlife Center for a 10 a.m. tour and then will be using the car to explore the area and see the Eagle preserve before heading back into town to do some sightseeing in Haines and catch the 5 p.m. ferry back to Skagway.

We drove along the river slowly to see all the eagles just standing on the sandbars, in trees and flying. Guess it's the same river the float trip is on, but is on the road to Steve's. Noticed Avis had an ad for car rentals in Haines when you searched for the one in Skagway. Our tour was in a small bus instead of a 60 passenger.

[morebeaches]

I spoke to steve on the phone and there would be no ships in Haines the day we would be there and he did off to do a "private" tour. However as appealing as this sounded, we opted to play it safe and stay in Skagway. I was going to do the helicopter/dog sledding tour out of Juneau. But I found other tours that interested me in Juneau, and now we will be doing the helicopter tour out of Skagway with Temsco and then the 4:15 White Pass tour. I thank everyone for their responses and now i gues i already have a reason to go back.

[quiescentlyfrozen]

Can I get a little clarification on getting from Skagway to Haines? (My ship doesn't offer the excursion, so I'm having to put this together myself).

I'm totally happy to rent the car... but it seems like you need to take the ferry, but it also seems like the ferry won't let you bring on a car... so then what do you do on the other end? Or is there some way to drive there without a rediculously long drive that doesn't take the ferry?

Any help would be greatly appreciated; I spoke with STeve but he didn't really have any reccomendations for getting there from Skagway unfortuantely. Though he was super helpful, and is setting up a private tour on that day for us... just so long as I can figure out how to get us all there!!

Thanks in advance :-)