Grand Canyon West Sky Walk Is A Total Tourist Trap!
I went on vacation to Las Vegas. My husband and I rented an SUV and drove the 2 hours to take a tour of the Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk.
After a horrible ride for 40 minutes on a dirt trail we got to "Checkpoint Charlie". Security guards force you to park your car 8 miles from the edge of the Grand Canyon.
You can either go back to Vegas, or pay money to go further. The big hype is the glass-floored Sky Walk, and they hit you for $75 per person! That includes a bus ride and food on a paper plate.
Then you get loaded onto a bus and driven to "Checkpoint Delta". A heavily-muscled security guard keeps tourists at least 30 feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon...just far enough away that you can't take a photo of the bottom. They herd you into a building and will not let you go further unless you rent a locker for $1 and put all your belongings into it.
Note: ALL of your belongings. Photography is BANNED at Grand Canyon West Skywalk.
Why no cameras or cellphones? A sign mentions to protect the sanctity of the Canyon...
Note: there is no cell phone reception at Grand Canyon West Skywalk.
They then run you through a metal detector with two more security guards. Just in case a camera phone slipped through. Then they put paper booties on your shoes. And you walk out onto a glass horse shoe.
The view is quite stunning. Quite like what it was like 2 years ago when you could simply drive out on your own and hike the trails along the edge of the Grand Canyon which had been there for 90 years.
Walking the glass Skywalk takes about a minute, 2 minutes if you clutch the railing and act nervous. 4 security guards are on the Sky walk to answer questions, and to WORK THE CAMERA! That's right. Security guards take away your camera, but charge you $20 for a picture that they take!
What was amazing was how polite and pleasant all the staff were at Grand Canyon West Skywalk. I guess when they are gouging you from every direction they have to be. With a hotel being built attached to the Sky Walk, and a new airplane landing strip, I guess they need the money.
They have porta-potties set up, and there is mess every where from the construction. The place looks like a garbage dump.
I'll never set foot at the Sky Walk again. It's one of the biggest tourist traps I've ever seen. You will be so pissed off if you take the Grand Canyon West Skywalk tour, you'll want to tell all your friends to skip it too!
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4 comments:
Thank you for writing this review. I had no idea. You corroborated another comment from someone on trip advisor about no cameras - that is absurd.
I guess I'll be going to the south rim!
I can corroborate this post too. Although my experience at West Rim wasn't all the same as yours, I agree that it's a scam and a tourist trap. I know it is because I've been to South Rim too, which is a National Park.
West Rim
$43 per person
park at their entrance
forced to ride the tour bus, two stops
experience "Indian culture", mud huts, illicit substance smoke, overpriced souvenirs ($1400 for a feather headdress)
South Rim
$20 per vehicle
park at their entrance (same)
free shuttle buses, over five stops, countless trails
experience the Grand Canyon
I hate West Rim so much, that I'm finding every review site I can get my browser on and pasting my experience all over the web. Don't make the same mistake I did.
I absolutely agree with this review. I was dumb enough to drive all the way out there without reading the reviews. This is the one time fodors has let me down. I mean as Fodors says "if its in this book its worth seeing". Well this was not worth what I had to pay. They know youre stuck out there because its a long drive and you will just go ahead and pay the insane costs instead of turning around and going to grand canyon south. Trust me, this is not a government funded park and it shows! Ripoffs everywhere and way way overpriced. I saw the skywalk on the show "Build it Bigger" and had high hopes. Oh well. By the way two of the glass panels were randomly covered with steel treadplate. I think some of the panels had cracked and this was to covere them up. They were just two random panels. Whatever....
I found this to be a bit of a con. You end up paying quite a lot of money for what is a very limited site access. You are not allowed to take your camera onto the SKYWALK and they charge you $25 for each picture!. Also, you cannot even get a glimpse of the Canyon without paying the entry level package which is $44+ per person. That amounts to more than $150 for a family of four! They advertise the three attractions as part of the $44 that includes Eagle Point, Guano Point and the Ranch. The Ranch is a waste of time. It is just another way of them getting you to spend more money. Guano Point is very good with some superb views. Dont get fooled by the higher packages. If you do want to spend your money, you are better off going to the Grand Canyon South (or if you have the time Grand Canyon North). Those are much better views and value for money. If you are to visit Grand Canyon West, you are better off going for the smallest package they have and not bothering with the SKYWALK.
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