Hi

I visited Winter Park in Jan 2005 staying at the Winter Park Mountain Lodge.
The hotel was great as I stayed in the new part, but understand the old part wasn't so good. It was great value, but we did have to catch a bus to the slopes- but not a big deal. There were snow mobils available to hire behind the hotel- which were great fun.
Nightlife isn't great if you are looking for that. There are a few small nightclubs in the actual town, a number of restaurants and bars.
Ski-ing was excellent with very good beginners slopes and plenty of instructors around. The lifts had no queues and the slopes were nice and wide and at the time the snow was fantastic with lots of nice powder and regular snowfall.
I will visiting again in January 2008 staying at the Mountain Lodge again after getting a £50 a night rate for a King size room looking over looking the slopes.
There are a few shops at mountain base with the usual ski gear and groceries. I don't think there were many shops in Winter Park town, but there were trips offered to the outlet shops near by.
You might want to get your ski equipment from the place nearest to the slopes, as the first place as you enter the mountain base is quite a walk from the beginners ski area.
There were lockers available for skis FOC near the slopes if you hire the skis
All costs for hire, lessons and the snow report can be found at the Winter Park website.

If you require any more information then let me know.

Cheers

Paul

Welcome to HT Smiler!

I've requested the Winter Park Mountain Lodge be added to the reviews section, please feel free to add your review HERE once it appears!

Pippy

Thanks Paul.

As I have never been skiing before-it's all going to be very new-I'm looking forward to it-with trepidation.

I don't know if you are english or american -but we have a long haul flight before we get there-which really throws me out of kilter for the first 5 or 6 days. I'm in Florida right now-been here for about 12 days and feeling great-but the first 4 or 5-tired, jet lagged-and I was in the sunshine and not skiing-lol!

If you have never been skiing before-is it something you can easily pick up in one trip-or do you need lots of trips before you become proficient.

Alison

Have a look in the Activity/Specialised forum HERE, you may find some skiing tips

Pippy

Alison

It takes a while to become really proficient and different people learn at different speeds.
I used to work as a ski instructor in Austria/Germany and found that children and young men often progressed the quickest. Adult women were often more aware of the dangers and a bit more nervous in the beginning. The first few days can be really hard work, you usually fall over a lot and it gets tiring picking yourself up with heavy clothing and ski gear and people often want to give up, but persevere and after a few days of instruction you will be having a great time, really enjoying yourself and definitely be able to ski, using the lifts, doing turns and zooming down the slopes.
Have a great holiday.

You mean I'm going to fall!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!

And I leave on Sunday!

Got all my ski equipment (I hope) that cost an arm and a leg.

Just got back from Florida last week-2 weeks sunshine to perk me up a bit before I go-but here I am coughing again.

I get it every winter-hope I am going to be ok when I'm there!