well my dears !!

Thanks to all of you on this forum I can now present our "almost" final itinerary. First trip to Alaska from UE with 2 kids.
Further comments still very appreciated !!

8/16 Seattle-Glacier Bay (Glacier Bay Lodge)
8/17 afternoon Pt Adolphus whale watching cruise
8/18 Glacier Bay Cruise + evening flight to Anchorage
8/19 Anchorage-Talkeetna
8/20 Talkeetna-Denali
8/21 Denali Wonder Lake shuttle bus tour
8/22 09.00 am Mt. McKinley flightseeing tour from Denali + drive Denali-Girdwood
8/23 PWS cruise (still to choose)
8/24 Girdwood-Seward via Exit Glacier
8/25 Northwestern Fjords Cruise
8/26 Seward - (open day, maybe Hope ?)
8/27 from somewhere in Kenai to Homer
8/28 Katmai bear flightseeing from Homer
8/29 Homer - Cooper Landing
8/30 Cooper Landing-Anchorage for the 3:00pm flight back to EU !!

for lodging:

- Glacier Bay Lodge
- Anchorage 1 night still open
- Talkeetna 1 night still open
- Denali Park Hotel 2 nights
- Girdwood Alyeska Prince Hotel 2x1 toursaver
- Seward Holiday Inn Harbor 2x1 toursaver
- Homer 2 nights The Heritage Hotel
- Cooper Landing 1 night still open

Toursaver 2 x 1, in addition to above lodging:

- Glacier Bay Cruise
- Mt. McKinley flighseeing Talkeetna Aero Service
- NW Fjords Cruise
- still open one PWS cruise from Whittier on 8/23

now we cross fingers that weather will not destroy our plans with cruise or flightseeing re-schedule !! I would then have torevise the lodging as well in the hope not to pay too much cancellation fees !! This is our nightmare and why we never fixed so much in the past !!
We are usually independent travellers but listening to variuos opinions on this forum at the end I opted to fix at least our top priorities. I hope I did not overplan !!
Will post our feedback in september once back home !

thank you again !!

There isn't much in Cooper Landing for lodging, but I would suggest Gwin's for some real Alaska. http://www.gwinslodge.com/

I would "see" Hope on the way to Seward from Girdwood, no sense in doubling back, it's a quick look anyway.

As for the scheduling- go with what you have and hope for the best. But it is unlikely you are going to be able to "reschedule" Girdwood if you have a later flight. I would say, if it is a priority for you, then have a back up Denali Park reservation and inquire if the 8-22 is open?? Then just stay the one night in Girdwood and loose out on the free night. Would be the best option probably with out a lot of lodging changes.

thank you BudgetQueen

I will check for Gwin's lodge.
As regards re-scheduling I mean 8/21 we are having Denali WL shuttle bus and 8/22 morning flightseeing. Alyeska Prince in Girdwood has a 48 hrs cancellation policy. If I have to re-schedule WL shuttle bus on 8/22 then I should also re-schedule the 8/22 flightseeing and cancell one night in Girdwood but before 8/20 to avoid penalties, or ??
Other option might be to have the Mt. MkKinley flightseeing tour on 8/20 from Talkeetna and having 8/22 free for possible re-schedule of WL shuttle bus from 8/21

I wrote wrong !!

WL shuttle bus would not be re-scheduled for weather !!
I will try to have the flightseeing on 8/20 and "in case" to be rescheduled for 8/22 so that I can keep the 8/22 for Alyeska in Girdwood

I would strongly suggest you just schedule your Mckinley flight from Talkeetna. Since you are overnighting there you should have no problem rescheduling if necessary since you have the whole next day to get to Denali Park. So essentially 2 days for the flight, almost certainly will make it.

yes I will try to re-schedule the flight from Talkeetna on 8/19 afternoon with possible chances also for 8/20 morning or again 8/22 from Denali in the worst case, so I have 3 options and having the flight from Talkeetna 19 or 20 allows us more time on 22 for the long drive Denali-Girdwood. Now I have still to find lodging in Talkeetna for 8/19....
thank you...

Well Fabio, you have put a lot of work into this trip and I'm sure with all your planning and the help you have gotten, it will be great. Take time to enjoy it and go with the flow. I expect to see a detailed review and photos when you return since I don't get to go this year. Wife wants to do Kauai for our anniv. So while you are busy enjoying Alaska, I will still be doing small details for Hawaii!!! Good luck.

Hi jq

Thank you for all your support !!
Now only 12 days left to leave ..!! can't wait !!!

Kauai ??? great !! We were there last year in June. We visited 4 islands in 3 weeks Big Island, Oahu, Kauai and Maui. Kauai is absolutely our favourite and you will find a lot of posts on the Hawaii forum !!

Do not miss: helicopter tour on Na Pali coast and Waimea canyons. Try also the boat tour to na Pali but we had a bad experience with Kauai Sea Tours and I do not recommend that operator.
Kauai is the wettest spot on earth !!
You will find rain on the east and sunshine on the west ..!!

It will be great !!