My family of 4 recently stayed on the McKinley Chalet Resort in Denali, Alaska at the end of June, 2007 for 2 nights. The resort is more like a bunch of motel rooms which resemble cabin like lodging. The location is very nice in a forest type setting in the mountains, but our room was very remote where we had to take a shuttle to get anywhere. The wait for the shuttle was about 20-30 minutes. And our room was only accessible by stairs, so if you had alot of luggage or handicapped forget about it. Room was decent, but small w/ 2 twin beds in the bedroom & a double pullout bed in the living room (when you opened it up took up the entire living room). The beds were a just a little comfortable. The bathroom sink was located in the bedroom, not the bathroom.No pool, no jacuzzi, no spa/excercise center and its called a resort. Tried the luncheon buffet and it was ok and the service was so-so for $15/pp. The dinner show was fun at the hotel, but pricey. Overall, an ok place to stay for a night or 2, but that was it.

What a disappointment! When we tried to check in we were told that some guests fell ill and extended their stay, so there were no rooms available for us. We made our reservations directly with the hotel back in February, so I thought we were safe. No such luck. We were sent 8 miles away to the McKinley Lodge...not a bad place, but not what we had counted on. So beware when you have reservations at the McKinley Chalet. They want your money in full when you book the room but don't care if they actually have a room for you when you arrive.

We had reservations at this hotel for mid-June and when we showed up were advised that "some guests extended their stay and by law we can't kick them out" so we have no rooms for you. Instead we were "upgraded" to the Grande Denali cabins where we had to hike down a dirt road or a very steep path to access our accomodations which are not at all as described on Aramark's website. They have a queen bed, a sofa bed with a 2 inch thick mattress and a loveseat bed with a marginally better mattress. The "kitchenette" consists of a dorm size refrigerator and a microwave, no utensils, plates, glasses, cookware, etc. We met 3 other families who also got "upgraded" from the McKinley Chalet resort, one of whom said this was the second time it had happened to them. The "tour desk" consists of a rack of brochures on the wall next to the registration desk. When I asked the front desk clerk for assistance, she advised just to take the brochures and call them myself. The service in the Alpenglow restaurant was extremely slow and the food only mediocre; definitely not worth the price. I highly recommend booking non-Aramark properties at Denali.

Based on other TripAdvisor posts, I had serious concerns about the property before we arrived. Fortunately, we got an upstairs room toward the river, and while the lodge is busy and the rooms are certainly well-used, we were pleasantly surprised by our 2-room suite with a couch in the main area, and a double and single bed in the sleeping area. The staff at the lodge were very helpful, and the food in the bar area is super--you can't beat the view, and you can order from either the bar menu or the restaurant menu. We appreciated the free computers, even if they were busy frequently, as well as the shuttles to the rooms.
Our only negative experience was leaving the room at 6:30 a.m. and returning at 8 p.m. (after a 13-hour bus tour deep into Denali) to find that our rooms had not been touched. A call to Housekeeping cured that within the hour.
Denali is a busy place, and the focus should be on the outdoors. The room was clean, comfortable and adequate for our needs (and we appreciated the Starbucks coffee in each room).