I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest but until last month, I had never taken the Ride the Ducks tour! My son has always been intrigued by the unique vehicles he’d seen touring the city so this Christmas break, we finally took the plunge — literally!
Our tour guide told us all about the city of Seattle and it’s history as we drove through town. We drove past the Seattle Aquarium, Big Wheel, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square where we learned about the big fire and Seattle Underground and so much more! As natives, most of this wasn’t new to us but it was still fun to hear and the tour guide made if fun and interesting.
We did learn some new things too! Fremont is the actual Center of the Universe according to Google Maps. Interestingly enough, we also drove right past the Google office which was just on the other side of this bridge. We also learned about these bikes we kept seeing all over the city. They can be rented via an app and used to navigate the city via bicycle!
Our favorite part of the tour was the water portion. We drove right into Lake Union! It was really neat to see these houseboats right in the lake.
We got a great view of Gasworks Park from the water and learned that the grassy hill is often rented for wedding ceremonies and is quite inexpensive!
Even as Seattle are natives, it’s rare that we get a view like this of the Seattle skyline from the water! If the Space Needle looks a little odd to you, it’s because it’s currently under construction having a glass bottom floor added to the restaurant!
During this portion of the tour our tour guide asked how many children were aboard. He proceeded to draw each child a fish character with increasing number of eyes. My kids were the first three. The last child’s fish had 8 eyes! No matter how many times you take this tour, it will be unique thanks to the amazing tour guides!
We took our tour the day after Christmas. It was a beautiful but chilly day. We dressed warmly and were quite comfortable aboard the duck. The atmosphere is school bus-like but the windows are permanently open. Wool blankets are provided for comfort. Duck billed quackers are available for purchase inside the ticket office and are highly recommended. Not only is it fun to quack at pedestrians along the route, they are also used for interactive participation. We quacked out a Christmas song together with our tour guide.
Whether you’re a Seattle native our a tourist, this tour is a MUST!
courtney hennagir says
I love this tour! It’s so much fun to take friends and family when they come to visit.You learn a lot and it is fun as heck.
Calvin says
Neat, must be new, last time I went to seattle I didn’t see this
Rosie says
I haven’t heard of this before, but it sure looks like fun. I would love to do this someday!
Veronica Lee says
Looks like a fun ride! Adding this to my bucket list.