Private Yellowstone Wildlife and Photo Tour’s Upper Loop Cody Wy

Seth was an amazing tour guide! His wealth of knowledge of Yellowstone and the surrounding area was so extensive! He was very accommodating and made the tour personalized to our family!

Just finished the Grand Loop Yellowstone Wildlife and Photo Tour with Kim as our guide and driver. Fantastic experience starting with a pickup at my hotel with a wonderful smile. The tour couldn’t have been better, we saw elk, bison, deer, geysers, bears and some of the most beautiful scenery God has created! Kim was very knowledgeable and caring, always asking if we needed anything, asking our input on stops and opening the windows on the van. The deli-style lunch was just right with sandwich, fruit, dessert and a drink. Kim was the icing on the cake. I highly recommend the tour and asking for Kim to be your guide!!

Unfortunately, the weather in Yellowstone for Memorial Day Weekend was very cold and there was a lot of snow. When we first got into the park on our tour, there was heavy snowfall. We were told that the south road was closed and that Old Faithfull was closed also. All of us guests were concerned about moving on. There were 2 tour guides, one was training. They were apprehensive about the weather and never reassured any of us or ever said that it would be safe to carry on. All they would say is "this weather wasn't supposed to be here until later tonight". None of us had a sense of reassurance from them with this situation to carry on or not. If the tour guides were more aggressive and took charge, I think we all would have felt better about it. Instead, they left it up to the guests to decide if we should turn back or not and they took a poll. There were 5 in the other party which included the grandparents, parents and a 4 year old. So it was 4 vs. 2 (my husband and I) adults for the decision. They took a poll. My husband and I agreed and my answer to the poll was that we’d prefer to “err on the side of caution”. The mom of the child expressed she also felt better to go back because of the young child. The grand parents did not say much except they said “we don’t care, we’ve been to Yellowstone before, we were just doing it for them” pointing to their children. No one put up any kind of resistance about going back. That was the whole poll and all agreed to go back. I messaged the business owner, Sonny, to request a partial refund due to the trip being cut short and not seeing much of anything in Yellowstone. I guess the other guests asked for a refund due to the weather before I asked for ours. Sonny pushed back about giving them a refund just for the bad weather. I know this because we met the people in the airport when flying out. They said to us at the airport "we probably wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway". Sonny also told me that she does not refund just because we hit some bad weather as she says she states on her website. As you will see below, it seems as if the other party used us as an excuse to enhance their plea to try and get their money back. Seems as if Sonny fell for it. Sonny wrote me back saying "I was told that this tour could have continued but didn’t because of you guys were scared". The other guests in the van were very upset because they do not get to finish their tour because of your actions". "I feel bad for the other guests because they were not able to continue their tour because of your actions which is very sad because they missed their vacation". "This was your decision to stop. I felt bad for the other guests in the vehicle because their tour was shorted because they were doing what you wanted. I did give them a partial refund because of the situation that they were put in and I felt bad. It was your decision to stop the tour and go back. You could have still seen everything. But you chose not to". "From what the other guests and guides said was that you were acting extremely nervous and freaking out a bit and then the other guests were put into an awkward situation because you were afraid". HOW WAS THIS JUST MY CHOICE AND MY DECISION? WHY WOULD I HAVE SO MUCH POWER? And, I was not acting "extremely nervous" and if anyone knows me, I don't freak out, it's not my nature. As the business owner, throwing in our faces that the decision to turn around was all of my fault and accusing me of ruining the other tourists’ experience is so wrong and unfair. I was unjustly accused of happenings that did not happen the way it was conveyed to me. Furthermore, this was all concluded without Sonny ever chatting with me about what happened. It's so wrong that Sonny decided to give them a refund and we did not receive one. To put this so heavily on me and accuse me of behaving a certain way is just wrong without ever talking to me and terrible customer service. So, in conclusion, I don't know what the tour would have been like in a different situation and I never will, but I would not recommend handing any money over to this tour company when there are so many other tour companies to choose from that may handle any problems that could arise more professionally, more fair and with better customer service.