Oli's Trolley Inc — Attraction in Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor was a stop during our New England & Canada cruise, and knew Acadia National Park was a stop worth taking a tour off to see the natural sights. Oli's Trolley was a great price and well reviewed, and it was so easy! When our cruise ship "docked" it we took about a 15min tender boat to shore where Oli's Trolley booth is immediately visible. Check in was easy and we were given passes, a coupon for the gift shop, and instructions where we can buy a boxed lunch or snacks in the area before we left.

We're very glad we chose the 4-hour tour as we saw four stops with ample time to explore each and run to the bathroom if needed. It was only about 20 minutes between stops and very prompt, so we never stressed about getting back to the cruise ship in time. Our tour guide Jim was friendly, knowledgeable, and narrated our tour the entire time with good humor. He had so many personal stories integral to the tour it'll be a shame when he retires!

Our first stop was Cadillac Mountain where we could see our ship from! Plenty of time to walk a few paths and take in the view before backtracking to the parking lot. Our second stop was the Gardens which had restrooms close by, a water fountain, and a small nature center. The Gardens did not take long to walk through, so I suggest if you need to use the restroom or eat your packed food to do so at this stop. Our third stop was Thunder Hole which would need to traverse several steps or precarious granite. Be aware there is no restroom, water fountain, or comfortable area to eat here, but there was amazing sights! The last stop was Jordan Pond which has restrooms, seating to eat without having to be part of the restaurant, and a shop. Behind the building is a path too view The Bubbles mountains and loop back or backtrack to the parking lot.

I highly recommend...

This is a great way to experience Acadia Park & Bar Harbor if you are just passing through for the day and do not have a lot of time to stay and explore. Our tour guide was Kent and he was very personable and made the trip enjoyable. He talked the whole time but I still was able to pay attention and not get bored. We paid for the shorter 2 and a half hour tour and were able to see 3 fantastic spots at Acadia for 15 minutes each stop, not a lot of time but they have a longer tour with stops for half an hour each. I'd consider that one if you wanted more time to take in the scenery. Is the tour pricey? Maybe? But when you consider the fact of the cost to get into the park, the horrible traffic, the ridiculous parking AND that you can't go up to the top of Cadillac Mountain without an on line reservation and a separate fee then it's worth it. The trolley driver deals with all the traffic aggravation and you get a lot of information about the area. IMPORTANT TIP!! They do not have parking at the trolley and it is very difficult to find a spot on the street or the very few parking lots available. Leave plenty of time for parking. We actually missed our 1:00 tour because of it and thankfully they were able to get us on...

The tour itself and our tour guide Ken were great. Certainly, a beautiful place to visit. Where things lost their shine was on how they are treating their customers with respect to their time. Let me explain. My wife and I and 28 other people got to the trolley pick up area 15 mins early just like we were instructed. We loaded at 9 am for our tour. Then we sat on the bus for over 25 minutes waiting for two people that did not show up on time. After about fifteen minutes we all started asking our driver what the hold up was. He told us that we was not cleared by the owner to go yet. After about 20 minutes of sitting on the bus I went to talk to the owner (the whole bus was getting restless). I told the man with the large mustache (not sure of his name but he is the owner) that we had very little time (7 hours) to see this little town and whole bus really wants to get going. Sadly, we still sat there for almost another 10 minutes so they could get their money for two more riders. Our tour that we paid full price for ended up being 25 min short because they had another tour they had to get back for so they could make their money. We wish they cared about us getting what we...