Is a helicopter glacier tour in Alaska worth it? — featuring Krause Mouse Adventures
In this video: Is the price worth it? Helicopter to Glacier! Disney Alaska Cruise
Krause Mouse Adventures · 1 year ago
Is the $379 price worth it compared to the Disney booking at $579?
The video creators investigated both options and found that Alaska Shore Excursions uses the exact same helicopter operator (Temsco) as Disney's official tour, making the $200 savings per person a smart choice.
What this video answers
Is the $379 price worth it compared to the Disney booking at $579?
Mendenhall Glacier Helicopter Tour: A Juneau Adventure Worth the Cost
This Alaska cruise port excursion combines a scenic helicopter flight over snowy peaks and glaciers with a landing on Mendenhall Glacier itself—one of Southeast Alaska's most stunning natural attractions. The video documents a full day in Juneau that starts with an aerial tour of the ice fields, includes an on-glacier walk with a guide, and concludes with exploration of downtown Juneau, local restaurants, and a Mardi Gras celebration back on the Disney ship. This experience suits anyone wanting dramatic mountain and glacier views, outdoor adventure without extreme technical difficulty, and the chance to stand on ancient ice while learning about glacial geology.
The video shows the tour booked through Alaska Shore Excursions (the same operator as Disney's official JU38 port adventure), costing $379 per person—$200 less than Disney's direct booking. The family's honest feedback covers everything from the helicopter ride and glacier time to the town exploration afterward, helping you decide whether this adventure fits your cruise schedule and comfort level.
Key Moments
Highlights of the Mendenhall Glacier Experience
Helicopter flight over snowy mountains, multiple glaciers, and ice fields, with views of an eagle soaring nearby
Walking on Mendenhall Glacier itself (roughly 1,000 feet of ice underfoot), with a guide explaining glacier formation, movement, and the distinctive blue color caused by compressed ice
Drinking fresh glacier water straight from the ice and experiencing a "glacial facial" using fine glacial silt as a natural exfoliant
Downtown Juneau exploration, including fudge at the Alaskan Fudge Company and a visit to the historic Red Dog Saloon (operating since the Gold Rush era)
Surprise wildlife sightings: a bear spotted in town and a whale tail fluke visible from the ship's dining room at dinner
What to Know Before Booking Your Glacier Tour
Duration and logistics: The excursion spans several hours; a van picks you up at the port and transports you to the airport, then returns you to the ship with a guaranteed on-time arrival
What's provided: The operator supplies waterproof traction shoes, walking sticks, and a glacier guide. Wear warm layers, gloves, and waterproof outerwear—it's chilly on the ice, though the video shows weather was not as freezing as expected
Glacier time: While the helicopter ride is thrilling, some visitors wished the actual time spent walking on the glacier were longer
Booking savings: Alaska Shore Excursions offers the same helicopter company and route as Disney's official tour but at a lower price; you meet the group independently rather than departing directly from the port
Best for: Visitors comfortable with heights (helicopter flight), moderate physical activity (glacier walking), and cold conditions; families with children can participate
Eagle and wildlife viewing: The helicopter route offers chances to spot eagles, and the glacier region is connected to a large whale population through ocean nutrient cycles
Frequently Asked Questions About This Glacier Excursion
Is the $379 price worth it compared to the Disney booking at $579?
The video creators investigated both options and found that Alaska Shore Excursions uses the exact same helicopter operator (Temsco) as Disney's official tour, making the $200 savings per person a smart choice. The only trade-off is meeting the group independently rather than departing from the port, but the operators guarantee on-time return to the ship. Most reviewers in the video felt the experience was remarkable enough to justify the cost either way.
How long does the entire excursion take?
The video doesn't specify an exact duration, but it shows the tour spanning a substantial portion of the day: helicopter transport to the airport, the flight itself, glacier walking time with a guide, return flight, and then independent exploration of downtown Juneau before returning to the ship for dinner. Plan for most of your port day.
What should I wear and bring?
Wear warm layers, gloves, and waterproof outerwear. The video shows participants in cold conditions on the glacier, though they noted it wasn't as freezing as expected. The operator provides traction shoes and walking sticks, so you don't need to bring those. Sunscreen and a camera are strongly recommended for the stunning aerial views.
Is the glacier walk difficult or dangerous?
The video shows moderate physical activity—walking on relatively flat glacier ice with traction shoes and a guide. A professional explains the ice formation and points out crevasses and features. No technical climbing skills are required, and families with school-age children participate comfortably. The main discomfort is cold rather than difficulty.
Can I see wildlife on this tour?
Yes. The video documents an eagle spotted during the helicopter flight, and the guide explains that the glacier's nutrient-rich silt supports phytoplankton, krill, and a large whale population in the region. The video also captures a surprise bear sighting in downtown Juneau and a whale tail fluke visible during dinner later that evening.
A large tidewater glacier near Juneau, Alaska, visible from above and accessible by helicopter and ground access.
Glacial silt
Fine powder (about 1,000 times finer than sand) created when boulders are ground by glacier movement, eventually flowing into the ocean as a nutrient source for marine life.
Traction shoes
Waterproof footwear with special grips or crampons attached, provided by the tour operator to safely walk on slippery glacier ice.
Ice field
A large area of interconnected glaciers and permanent snow in high mountains, such as the Juno Ice Field surrounding Mendenhall Glacier.
Port adventure (shore excursion)
An organized tour activity offered to cruise passengers during a port stop, often bookable through the cruise line or independent operators.
This video is invaluable because it answers the question most cruisers ask: "Is it really worth nearly $600 per person?" The creators provide transparent pricing, show you exactly what you'll see and do, and explain how to save money without sacrificing the experience. They film the helicopter views, the glacier walk, the guide's explanations, and their honest reactions—so you know what to expect before committing.
What impressed me most was the detail about glacier geology (the blue ice, the silt, the connection to whales) presented by the guide, making it educational as well as spectacular. The family's candid feedback—loving the scenery and helicopter ride while wishing for more glacier time—feels authentic and helpful. If you're on an Alaska cruise and want a once-in-a-lifetime aerial adventure with actual glacier walking, this is a genuinely worthwhile choice to book now.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
Today, we’re in for an absolutely epic adventure! We’re taking a helicopter ride to the stunning Mendenhall Glacier, soaring over breathtaking snowy mountains and rivers of ice – the views are out of this world! After an incredible walk on the glacier, we explored the charming town of Juneau, grabbed a bite at a historic bar and restaurant, and even had a surprise bear sighting in town! To wrap it all up, we ended the day with a festive Mardi Gras party at Tiana’s restaurant. It’s going to be an unforgettable day – so come along for the ride!
We used Alaska Shore Excursions. It's the same as Disney's Helicopter Glacier Walk About (JU38) Port Adventure.
0:00 Intro
0:42 Juneau & Bear
1:24 Helicopter Excursion
6:47 Juneau Town & Fudge
7:24 Red Dog Saloon
8:48 Our Thoughts on the Excursion
12:02 Pool Deck & Game
12:33 Frozen Musical
14:04 Dinner at Tiana's Place
17:50 Mardi Gras Celebration
20:12 Towel Animal
20:54 Bloopers
Video transcript for “Is the price worth it? Helicopter to Glacier! Disney Alaska Cruise” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
today we're in for an incredibly epic adventure we're taking a helicopter ride to the stunning menen Hall Glacier Soaring Over breathtaking snowy mountains and rivers of ice the views are out of this world after an incredible walk on the glacier we explore the Charming town of Juno
grabbed a bite at a historic bar and restaurant and even had a surprise bear sighing in town to wrap it all up we ended the day with a FES of marra party at Tiana's restaurant it's going to be an unforgettable day join us good morning we are in Juno Alaska it's a sunny day looks like we have
great weather a little bit chilly and windy but it looks like it's going to be a great day we had breakfast at Cabanas this morning and now we're going to head over to a helicopter to go to a [Music] glacier this the Alaskan Hotel
established in 193 13 oh wow there's a bear on the staircase they have bare resistant trash cans here to go up the tram it's $55 for an adult and go up to a high viewing spot we met a van at the base of the tram
that took us to the airport give us Glacier boots to put on grips [Music]
[Applause] oh [Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music] la
a glacier like a giant River of ice it's just flowing constantly downhill eventually to the lake down below it's a mile and a half across right here does anybody have any guesses of how much ice is underneath us right now so right now we're on about 1,000 ft of ice if you go all the way back to that Juno ice field
um it's home to the deepest and thickest Alpine Glacier in the world which is the taku glacier and that's 5,000 ft thick of solid ice well how is that was how was that formed uh snowfall as snow falls over time it gets about 100 ft of snowfall a year takes about 30 ft of snow for every foot of Glacier I and
then over hundreds and thousands of years that build you can make a slushy for yeah we know why our Glacier is blue like I said this Glacier Ice was compressed over hundreds of years makes it really really dense squeezes all the air out and so the glacier ice is about 10% air whereas
this ice on top is like the ice in your freezer it's about 90% air the air in the ice scatters every wavelength um but the clear blue ice is so dense that it absorbs every wavelength except for blue there's a big hole here to try it how is it it's good but my hands are
freezing glal water here we go that's good fresh water oh your hair it good how's that I think that's a better method got our Glacier putty glacial putty what happens is these
Granite mountains around us Boulders are pulled off by the glacier and it pulverizes them into this silt it's about a thousand times finer than sand eventually our Glacier will take this all the way out and make its way to the ocean where it's a source of nutrients for phytol Plankton phytoplankton are
then eaten by Krill which is eaten by what wh whales exactly I don't know if you guys have seen any whales on your Cru yet but a big whale population here in Juno connected to our glaciers because of its fine texture and the minerals in it makes a wonderful exfoliate so if you guys want to take
some of it rub it around in your fingers a little bit apply it on your cheeks go around this way call it the glacial facial takes 10 years off of your appearance I'm turning 97 it's my granddaughter
[Music]
we're walking around the town again it's so pretty how you can see the waterfall is coming down the side of the mountain it's interesting a salmon donut we're going to the Alaskan fudge company this is recommended by our server o it smells amazing in here look at that big slab of fudge oh my gosh getting the
mount Juno mint chocolate mint and the Gold Rush peanut butter and chocolate chips oh it's a little knife insane how cute oh that's delicious rich and [Music] creamy we're going to the famous Red Dog Saloon it's been around since the Heyday of the Gold Rush era gents need to check your sidearms
ladies you're welcome huh if our drinks are not up to your standards lower your standards and saw us on the floor says don't shoot the piano player he's doing his best
says checked but never claimed this weapon was checked at the US Marshalls Office in jun0 in 1900 by the notorious gunfighter Wyatt her people in Texas like to claim things are big in Texas but Alaska is much bigger than Texas so alaskans make fun of that here is an Alaskan mouse trap
next to a Texas bear trap this interesting menu this is the glacier Margarita this is the Alaskan K ale all right got some nachos with brisket all right so that Excursion was incredible I loved it it was amazing the
helicopter ride was so beautiful just just going right over those mountains we saw an eagle as we were flying the eagle was just just slightly below us the scenery was gorgeous um getting on the glacier it was pretty chilly but we we had great weather definitely gloves and warm clothes is is helpful they give you
walking sticks they give you traction shoes special shoes for the glacier that are waterproof and have extra traction and uh there was a glacier guide up there who talked to us about the glacier um about how big it is and about its movement and its formation it's really interesting we got to drink glacier
water delicious fresh glacier water hopefully we didn't eat some um like million-year-old parasite that had just uh come out of the ice it was just unbelievable I loved every minute of it flying of course I love Aviation and the scenery and uh stepping on that Glacier it's like being on another planet yeah
Rebecca said it's like being on a Hoth from Star Wars um so just an amazing experience as alen already said that was just amazing I was hoping for some like a really good experience I didn't know quite what to expect it was so scenic it was beautiful see several glaz and see how the whole width of the glacier CU I
don't think you can really experience the whole width of it and the Grandeur of it when looking um at it from down up um and then stepping off and walking around the glacier was just amazing you can't really even describe it I looked at the price um at the Disney Excursion and I thought oh my goodness $579 this
is ridiculous so I did my own investigation and I found just through Alaska Shore Excursion um we could book through them and it was $379 to $200 less per person and they used the exact same helicopter tour company which I didn't know when they booked it but it's Tesco which was great the only
difference is that um we had to like meet them where this one comes directly to the port but that was super easy and it's there was no problem or wor that you weren't going to get back to the ship on time and they have guaranteed anyways just in case yes I agree it was amazing it was really pretty and cool
but it was it wasn't like that cold I was expecting it to be like fre freezing my eyebrow I wish the um the time we had on the glaciers was a little longer though but it was fun and it was fun to drink from the water nice cool fresh water and drinking from the glacier water was really cool but it was really cold out
there the helicopter Rod was a lot more fun than airplanes he seemed to be hugging the mountains pretty closely it was pretty fun it was a fun ride especially coming back when we came back to the airport and we were like wee right down to the airport that was fun the helicopter was
really cool and a great View and you can see all like the snow on the mountains which is really pretty and all the different glaciers and everything and it was cool and how like it was in the front and I could see the controls and stuff and it was also cool how you could see like the texture like the glacier
and it was really really cool and the background with like the snowy mountains and then the glacier and the ice everywhere a really unique experience beautiful sailing out of Juno right now we're back on the pool deck for some chicken strips and french fries and ice cream we got some pizza margarita pizza
these are glutenfree chicken strips there's a seal chasing salmon he just Dove down we're going to the D Lounge for game who's behind the curtain the contestant gets to ask 10 yes or no questions to figure out who's behind the curtain hello everybody so make some noise we're in the Walt Disney Theater
tonight to see Frozen frozen was really good but we've seen it recently I know the story pretty well so like it wasn't as good like I like the gold to Mickey's better because it was a new story that I didn't know already I really enjoyed Frozen um the talent in the show is amazing the set
pieces the um all the projection that they do with the special effects um the snow is extra Frozen was good and like the actors were really good and it was cool in the beginning like with like the puppets of Kristoff and Spen and the like with the ice and everything I think it was cool like how Elsa's dress um
changes quickly and her Cape like floats away all those special effects were cool I really enjoyed the Frozen musical I'm not even a big frozen fan cuz I thought it's so overdone but they do such a great job with the storytelling and the puppetry and like how they play play Anna and El in the beginning with
puppets and then they use the puppets again for Olaf um so it's really creative how they portray it Anna was amazing I guess the U Broadway um musical theater person traveler was Olaf who he was good but I don't think he actually was as good as Anna but overall it's I like the traditional storytelling
musicals it's really well done storytelling how they start out with the puppets and they get bigger puppets and they do the the real life characters Talent the show is really good even though we've seen Frozen many many many times it's still a really good show to see we're in Tiana
[Music] tonight kids get trombones for their menu and we get beads for the Marty gr celebration the beautiful view outside wa look at this
[Music] bread this is Mama od's creamy tomato soup with chopped cilantro the soup was delicious I finished it all and it was fun dipping the bread in the soup too this is a sweet corn chowder I thought the corn chowder was like medium um it's basically clam Chad but instead of clam chunks it's corn
chunks this is the kids mini cheeseburg Burger served with french fries and broccoli and this is the kids pizza served with french fries and broccoli this is the pepper pot soup this is a sauteed golf shrimp and grits with andol sauces grilled green onions and a smoked barbecue sauce the
soup was fine it was a tomato based soup um it was so good I thought it was fine it was it's like a tomato creamy soup uh the Shing grits I liked more it was pretty good it was very unique with the barbecue sauce on it I never had barbecue flavor shrimp and grits but I enjoyed those shrimp and grits so I did
not order the what was this pepper corn Pepper Pot soup Pepper Pot soup but that was a pleasant surprise he brought it and I liked it more than the shrim shrimping grits um the pepper pot soup had lots of flavor lots of different um Seafood there was a scallop a shrimp calamari and then I don't know what the
other thing was do you think it might have been oyster I'm not sure but it was very flavorful really uh popped in your mouth and then the shrimping grits I actually ordered and I was disappointed in it mine was a little bit like lukewarm I thought the shrimp was slightly overcooked and the Grits were
like okay but I didn't like the barbecue sauce in it I thought it took it away so I would not get that again and I would get the pepper poot um [Music] soup that was cool we just saw a whale out the window that was pretty cool we saw yeah we saw it full tail fluke that was neat this is a Cajun spice SE bash
on shrimp jumbalaya with Cris fennel salad and rolda I thought that the Cajun um seat bass was a little disappointing I thought it was going to have more flavor but it's pretty bland it didn't taste Cajun at all the jumbalaya was similar to the jumbalaya I had the first night which was good and the shrimp was good
in that but the sea bass was like blah I wouldn't get that one again so I enjoyed the SE bass jumal and shrimp but it was pretty bland especially the seab bass it needed a lot more of that Cajun flavor um the jumal was nice the shrimp was nice but they definitely could have kicked up that that cajun spice all
right for tonight's puzzle we're starting with five squares we have to move two crayons and end up with four squares so you move the orange one over here yeah and then you move and then the other orange wowy hi Tiana I going so far it is going great
they look good on the menu for the shrimp and grits were great all right it's one of my favorites on the menu and the se pepp [Music] you the whole FR corner with you my friend don't be afraid to get those fun okay it's time to celebrate everybody this the biggest
[Music] [Music] [Music]
it's a fun show not a whole lot of action going on not like Rapunzels Tiana just comes out here and there and at the end she dances with people but it's fun to have the live musicians everyone just kind of danced around and had fun and they had the limbo at the end no real show just live music which is kind of
nice this is Tiana's buttermilk beet dusted with powdered sugar and served with chocolate espresso dipping sauce this is Mama od's white chocolate bread pudding with praline sauce and vanilla ice cream the viget didn't look like the normal viget you would find at like downtown Disney or the parks but it
tasted the same and it was really good I just wish there was like a little more powdered sugar all right so I got the bread pudding um the vanilla bread pudding which was good I was hoping for a little bit more of the praline sauce so cuz that's the part I thought would be the best so it was good it wasn't
anything great I did have a little bite of the uh beignet and I thought it was good like Rebecca said but it needed a lot more powdered sugar it was very light on the powdered sugar but it was a little more dense than I think it's supposed to be and they made me a special gluten-free chocolate cake my
glutenfree chocolate cake was delicious dense and chocolatey nice with those berries Donald bye Donald you all right we got pixie dusted we got some postcards it looks like yeah I think they bought these today and then decided to pixie dust yeah that's nice oh wow yesterday we got pixie dusted with an off
towelette all right here's our towel animal our state room Hostess included some other animals looks like she made us a bear next to Duffy and Minnie and Stitch very cute dey's a bear too yeah it's appropriate because we did see a bear today all right we had an amazing day in Juno best Excursion ever going on
in that Glacier tomorrow we are in katakan we're going to walk around the town and see the salmon run we have a lot of fun things planned if you enjoyed this video make sure you give it a thumbs up and subscribe so you can continue to join us on our adventures and we'll see you next
[Music] time person next to me she's like she slapped my like wa what so this was amazing cuz this you're a person
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