McKinley Chalet... is it worth it?

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Permalink Reply by Rob on April 22, 2009 at 8:46am

I worked at the Chalets the last two seasons, I could give you some info. The housing is a little rustic, but not horrible, the most important thing is to get a good roomate, the living quarters are a little small. The bathrooms are a little bit of a walk away, but not really in the woods, it's just next to the employee dining room. There are a few different buildings, some are older, some are newer. The employee dining room is not too bad, the food can be good, you have a salad bar and soup every day, so even if you don't like the food, you have that. They will make pizza and cold sandwiches about every day as well. As for working at the courtyard Cafe, it's a buffet that's open 7 days a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you work breakfast, plan on getting up at 4:00 in the morning, it starts early. It is the busiest restaurant on the property and most of the guests are eating on vouchers with tip included, so even though it's buffet service you will make good money, but you will be packed with people 24/7. The F&B manager, Adam Ashley, is very cool, I worked for him the last two season, you will love him, as for the other managers, if you have the same as last season, you will like them. The head dining room manager is named Lionel, is from the Caribean, he's very cool to work for. You will have to walk up a hill to get to work in the beginning, but a shuttle will start running when the guests start arriving. The employee housing has a really nice new rec room with all kinds of video games including wii and rock star, a couple flat screens and a pool table. If you want more info and pics go over to my site and I'll get more for you. Good Luck! Have a great summer.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey on April 22, 2009 at 9:06am

Thanks so much for the info Rob. I guess when I came on here and started reading about the accomodations from people that have previously worked there it concerned me. One other thing I wanted to ask is there an opportunity to switch restaurants or is one committed to working at the restaurant they are hired for the entire summer?

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Permalink Reply by reggie on April 22, 2009 at 9:31am

i work there in 07 aslo with rob everything he said is correct u can transfer to another resturant but its aslo depends on there needs to and if u get lucky and get into the 900's which is alot better u have your own bathroom but u will have to share it with the people accross the hall though take advantage of the tours that we get some u get free some u get an very good discount with the accomodations is just an place where u sleep u be doing alot more then spending time in your room

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Permalink Reply by Rob on April 22, 2009 at 9:53am

Lindsey, you didn't say what you were doing, are you a server? Sometimes you can transfer, it all depends on the needs of the restaurant. I transferred last year and I was really happy. I worked at the Nenanna View restaurant next to the Courtyard Cafe, if you can get in there you will be lucky, it's only open lunch and dinner and they have a really cool bar with live music and an incredible view of the river. Great food too.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey on April 22, 2009 at 12:07pm

I am a server. I am pretty sure that both the Courtyard Cafe and the Nenanna View are under new management. I used to work for Norwegian Cruise Lines and was actually hired by one of my old bosses from the ship I was on, Daniel Stock. He informed me that both restaurants are going to be under the management of people that I used to work for on the ships. Thank you so much for all of the information. I'm not too worried about everything, but a friend of mine is. We emailed ahead of time about being able to room together so hopefully, that will take care of the room mate situation.

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Permalink Reply by Rob on April 22, 2009 at 3:10pm

I worked for Daniel Stock at the beginning of last year, I transferred away from his property to work at the Nenana View . Adam Ashley is the boss now. Adam was the F&B for the Gande Denali Lodge the last few years, but he went to work the Olympics last May and Daniel took over. Now Adam is taking over the Chalets. If you have a chance to work at the NVG, I would take it.
I worked for a few NCL managers that were cool, one of them, Mike, is an assistant cruise director in Hawaii, he was way cool. You'll have tons 'o fun!

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