Tunnels Of Moose Jaw — Attraction in Moose Jaw

Our actor that guided us through the passage to fortune wasn't on point. Stumbling on words and unable to remember parts of his skit. It felt forced and corny, he didn't make the experience feel genuine (I know it's an exaggerated reinactment) but the lack of improv and ability to let the tourist feel immersed and taken back in time made for a very dull tour.

The tour felt extremely rushed. We were only in a party of two and the place was dead that day so with us being a small crowd and nobody scheduled behind us I felt like there was a missed opportunity for an intimate experience where lots of information could have been provided with lots of room for questions and conversation about the topic.

I also think it's a bit of laziness on behalf of the structure of the tunnel experience, to sit in the theatre room and watch an extremely dated, fictional corny video about the granddaughter who is greatful of her grandparents sacrifice to work in the tunnels. I personally think nobody wants to pay for a guided tour with real actors to be sat down for several minutes to watch something fictional. The tour should focus on the true facts about the slavery involved. This section of the tour feels like an extreme waste of money and I don't understand why it's involved unless it's just a gap filler.

I have been through this funnel years prior to this recent visit and the acting was great! They also provided so much detailed information to the topic which made it feel like a fun learning experience rather than a forced, rushed, put on act, just to get it over with for more or less. I remember leaving the tour where we got to walk through a room in the past, where they had many photographs of the real people involved and they gave us knowledge about the Chinese culture and lots of fun facts. And some time to admire the ones before us who sacrificed so much. It was a wonderful display that brought tears to my eyes and I'm not sure why they got rid of it.

Our guide also had extremely putrid body odour, which I can say was probably the most authentic part of the experience as I'm sure personal hygiene wasn't taken as seriously in those days compared to now.

I won't be keeping the tunnels on a high priority list to take family and friends to again when they visit moose jaw. Over $50 for 2 people to be rushed through a 15 minute experience which lacked enthusiasm and missed opportunities for educational insights, it felt like we were rushed through as quickly as possible without providing us with all the fascinating historical knowledge that draws me to the tunnels in general.

The cost is way too high for what is provided. If the actors aren't going to put in effort to submerse people into the experience perhaps just keep it as a guided museum tour with one person who's actually going to put some effort in education. Either way $25 for one person to see 1 funnel is an...

We did all three tours this past weekend because my wife had never been and we were in the area so I was excited to take her. I had done Chicago Connection and Passage to Fortune in 2007 when I was younger and enjoyed them quite a bit, so I was equally excited for Bunker 24.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this time around. We started with Chicago Connection and I was disappointed to see that right off the hop, the animatronics in Miss Fanny's club were not operational or functioning, so we were stuck with the actress introducing us to the scene with reading facts off of a paper.

When I booked the tickets, there was no mention of the animatronics of the tour not being functional. Sure, it's not a major issue, but it takes away a bit of the magic of the tour and a notification of the technical issues prior to booking would have been greatly appreciated. Despite that though, the actor that played our bootlegger contact, 'Gus', was phenomenal and nailed the role perfectly. His performance was the highlight of the tours so props to him!

Next we did Passage to Fortune, and honestly this one was the most complete out of the three tours. Our guide was great, although messing up or forgetting her lines a handful of times, it went smoothly and the animatronic was functioning on this one. One of the chairs in the viewing room was broken and hadn't been repaired yet, but those were the only issues.

Finally, we did Bunker 24 and I was excited to see this new tour because I hadn't experienced it before and heard good things. Unfortunately again, this tour was also having mechanical issues, but this time it was with the elevator that was supposed to take us 'down' into the bunker. Instead, we had to walk through the 'ending' area of the tour that completely spoils the big reveal of the room at the end. So again, because of mechanical issues that weren't stated anywhere during or prior to booking, the immersion of this tour was also thrown out the window. We had an older guide for this one and he knew his lines, but compared to the other actors playing their roles in the other tours, his performance was very cut and dry. There was little, if any, emotion in his performance and just felt like a robot reading a script.

All in all, I walked away feeling disappointed by the entire experience. You can really tell which actor's put in the love and effort into their performance, and the one's that just memorize the line's and want to get you through it as fast as possible. That, mixed with the mechanical issues that were never communicated prior to or during the experience, spoiled the immersion of the majority of the tours and left my fairly...

I went to all 3 tours over the weekend of 16-17 Dec 2023. There were less than 6 guests in each of those and I hardly had to wait for these tours. Though I am not sure of the maximum numbers of allowed guests for each tour, I think 10 will be a crowd inside those tunnels.

Each tour is walked by actors narrating the stories in period accent. The speed and accent could be difficult to catch for some. Also there are some videos played in these tours.

Chicago Connection explains how Moose Jaw was connected with underworld of US. The story is walked through by Miss Fanny who can be very intimidating with sudden change in tempo. The second part - Bootlegging is explained by Mr Gouse. This part contains most of the narrowest tunnels.

Bunker 24 is the story of WW2 and how bunkers were used. But, it also explains some stories from those days. This tour is walked by the person playing an army agent (whose name I couldn't catch).

Passage to Fortune - the most catchy of all tells the story of Chinese migrants and their hardship - either due to exploitation or by adverse law directed towards them. This is walked by Mia who switches between the roles of very gentle tour guide and a cruel handler of the slaves.

Though each tours begins from different adjacent buildings, all of them end at the same point, that's ticket counter. So, you don't have to worry if you buy tickets for back-to-back tours.

All of the tour guides stays in their character except Mia (who switches between the roles). Hence unlike a casual museum walk these tours add some theatrical element.

If you are new to Moose Jaw, I definitely recommend this along with a visit tot he museum which is just across the road in...