White Pass Railway

Our journey into Skagway, Alaska meant another early morning as we had a day-long excursion aboard the White Pass Railway, followed by what Rebecca had been waiting for all trip -- a chance to pet Alaskan sled puppies. After breakfast in Cabana's, we met in the Walt Disney Theater and walked off the ship to our awaiting train. Our guide, Goldbeard, directed us into our coach and we grabbed seats on the left side of the train to get the best views of the canyons going up. The train ride was relaxing and filled with beautiful scenery. Both our guide and the train navigator kept us informed about the gold rush in British Columbia and the issues the men faced coming up over the mountains from Skagway in search of their fortunes. We made a slight incursion into Canada at the end of our northbound journey, flipped the seats over and switched to the other side so we could see the mountain scenery on the way down. Goldbeard provided us some snacks while the engine was decoupled and switched to the other side and then we sat back and relaxed (and slept a little) on the way back to Skagway.

Gold Panning

A bus was waiting for us at the pier when we exited the train and it took us to Alaska360 for the second part of our excursion, which was gold panning. This was pretty cheesy and we all struggled with the instructions. J. R. and Rebecca switched pans because she was losing too much gold which meant she scored $12 worth and J. R. ended up with only $3.

Sled Dogs

Finally, it was time to see the sled dogs. After downing a couple of protein bars we had brought with us, and fresh chocolate chip cookies from the snack bar, we were led into a room to watch a movie about the Iditarod. We were not pleased to see another excursion join us, mainly because it contained the same group of obnoxious children we'd encountered the day before when whale watching. Our excursion group was already rather large and adding the other group made it difficult to see the movie.

We were escorted into another room where various equipment from the Iditarod was on display. Matt Hayashida, a musher who has run the race several times, came out and explained how the race worked, his equipment, how he cared for the dogs during the race and what it was like out on the trail. Then he took us over to the dog runs and brought out his sled team. The dogs were excited and began running up and down the runs but eventually most settled down and came over and allowed themselves to be petted. The staff leashed a few so they would walk next to the fence for guest to pet.

A few dogs were harnessed to a sled and taken out on a small gravel track. This part was disappointing as the musher did only one small loop and we weren't able to come out along the track to see the dogs in action so basically you saw very little of the run. But this was quickly forgotten as the five-week-old sled puppies were brought out and handed around to pet. Rebecca was in heaven and got to hold several of the cute dogs who just sat in your arms and soaked up the attention.

Skagway

We took the bus back to the ship with plans to relax. Rebecca went off with her friends and J. R. was going to take a run on deck 4 but they had it closed off for maintenance. So he decided to take a walk into Skagway and after running into Janie on deck 3, she decided to join him. So the adults walked into town to look around and do a little shopping.

Evening on the Wonder

At 5:15, Spiderman Homecoming was showing in 3D in the WD Theater. We'd seen it already at home but wanted to see it again so we went up to the theater for an encore. After that was the "Freezing the Night Away" deck party. We found a table on deck 9 to watch this. It was the typical deck party with characters and cast members leading the kids in dances. The deck parties used to be a lot better on DCL but now they all seem the same. It is really strange to have the Frozen deck party on a different night from the Frozen show and the Frozen dinner menu. Would make far more sense for this to be all on one day/night.

For dinner tonight, we were back in Triton's. We all had the King Crab appetizer and Janie asked Sofia for a second order in lieu of soup or salad while J. R. tried the Braised Oxtail soup, which was not very good. Dinner was lobster tail, which was cooked slightly overdone, a habit for DCL chefs. Lava cakes were the specialty dessert so the ladies had to each have one, with Rebecca adding a Mickey bar alongside hers. The adults finished off the night with the Frozen Phrases show in Azure but skipped out on the physical comedy of Michael Holly and headed off for a nightcap and bed.

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