I’m looking for any suggestions for a family vacation/resort for my Floridian family (myself, wife, 2 kids (4 and 6 years old). The kids have never seen snow, and our primary goal is to take them somewhere where they can get the full “winder wonderland” experience - tubing, sledding, etc). We’re thinking 3-4 days would be enough.
Neither one of us skiis, though I would not mind giving it a try. Everything I’ve found seems to favor skiiing (over more kid friendly activities). And of course, ski resorts are pricey. Are there any more kid friendly recreation areas/parks/resorts that we can count to have snow (real or manufactured) in mid-January? To limit travel time we’re leaning to the east coast.
Mont Tremblant - outside of Montreal - has both powerful snowmaking and one of the best ski schools on the east coast. It’s a fully self contained resort with a kick ass indoor water play space and spa, ice skating, snow tubing, and a cute little faux mountainside/alpine village with shops & restaurants.
Btw, 4 and 6 is not too young for skiing. There’s nothing “unkid-friendly” about skiing!! I know people who started at 3.
Mont Tremblant is gorgeous. I’ve only ever been there in summer and it’s gorgeous then. Winter would be amazing.
We’ll definitely have snow in January here in Michigan’s UP, and there’s plenty of stuff to do with the kiddies. Anything from skiing (cross country and downhill), snowshoeing, and sledding, to short hikes to ice caves to dogsledding to snow-sculpture competitions.
What you won’t find here are big fancy resorts, but there is plenty of lodging. Price-wise, I’m guessing it’s relatively cheap up here. Not as ritzy as east coast, nor do we have the name recognition, but fun if you’re looking for a more casual down-homey winter vacation.
Tremblant. Can’t say enough good things about the place. It is the oldest ski resort in Canada (some runs cut by Jackrabbit Johansen!) with the oldest ski school, and it is owned by Intrawest (which runs very good ski resorts). Aside from the ski hill, there are many independent outfits at Tremblant that offer a variety of activities, such as dog sledding, sleigh rides, tubing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. (Check out The Activity Centre to find out which outfits offer which activities.)
Tremblant is very family friendly, but with all the stuff adults like, and as with much of Quebec, the food is amazing. Get you passports in order to be let back into the USA. You don’t need to know French, but it can be handy. The only down side is that there is no longer a ski train going there, however, both Porter and Continental fly there.
A word about learning to ski – ski schools are worth their weight in gold. Seriously. Mt. Tremblant’s snow school offers lessons for people of all ages down to as young as three. Group lessons, family lessons, individual lessons, guiding – it’s all available, so make use of it, for it will turn frustration in to fun.
A big part of stating to learn to ski is getting comfortable standing and moving about on skis, for they will feel long and slippery. Alpine (downhill) skis and boots are fairly heavy, and lets face it, going down a hill can be scary at first, so you might wish to consider spending a couple of hours on lightweight cross country skis on a flat surface before you try alpine skiing down hills. Getting used to wandering about on cross-country skis will make it far easier for you when you then try alpine skiing.
Probably not for you, but if your kids fall in love with snow, once they are a few years older you can have some terrific fun for very little money by winter camping combined with cross-country skiing and other winter activities. For example, concerning Tremblant, I had a delightful time when on one occasion I went to race there but chose to camp out in the adjacent Tremblant National Park. Tranquility, beauty – it really is something special if you are into snow and wilderness.
I am totally not a winter person, but my stepbrother borrowed my own snow-deprived kids for a winter vacation in West Virginia, and all had a grand time. I think the name of the resort was something like Flattop? I’ll ask when the kids get home. If your travel time is limited, West Virginia might be a better option for your family than Canada, or even New England. From my home in SE Georgia, it’s only about an eight or nine hour drive, so it might be pretty manageable for you, too, just in case you or the kids fall in love with winter.
Are you planning to drive or looking for cheap flights?
If you’re driving, there are ski areas in Tennessee and North Carolina (a fact which blew my mind when I learned it). I’m guessing the skiing isn’t exactly world class, but it doesn’t matter that much if you’re just learning since you’re not really going to tackle any of the serious terrain. I’d think that also means that if you can rent a cabin nearby from VRBO or similar, you ought to have reliable snow for sledding, snowballs, etc.
If you were going to go further afield, I’d add that New Mexico is only slightly further than the places in New England and Canada. If you are driving, the drive to New Mexico is going to be a lot more pleasant weather and traffic wise, and the winter recreation and scenery around Taos is genuinely good.
If the air is dry, man made snow can be blown at well over freezing, so lots of places with marginal temperatures blow snow at night and pack it down for use the next day. Here’s a graph that give you an idea.
A simplified version is that dead bacteria are mixed in with the water and blown out over the hill with compressed air guns. The dead bacteria form the nucleus of ice crystals.