What the heck is going on at Magic?

5. It is how you get new people there and grow the mountain's popularity.

Magic said:

My family and I have been a part of magic for years now and it saddens me to see the poor management over the past years. It is so obvious to see the issues, but maybe some people are just too close to the situation to "see through the forest".
1. The bar and food makes a fortune, yet if you have to wait 15 minutes or jump up and down for a beer-people walk away frustrated. Open the annex area with a few kegs like you did a few years ago.
2. Utilize the pizza oven and kitchen upstairs- easy and huge profit.
3. No more tables up stairs with people bringing crock pots full of food. They are taking up space from paying customers who want to dine. Let them sit downstairs without taking up primo space for paying customers.
4. The store could be great- sad that it had not been utilized correctly. Bring back Dick and his staff.
5. People skiing with "comp passes" like crazy or no ticket at all. No more freebies!!!
6. Paid Oversight/Management staff should be addressing these issues instead of chatting up friends at the bar.
7. Tell the truth- nothing worse than facebook or website stating tubing is open, we rush to get there- and closed! Just be honest and transparent with issues.
8. None of us want a "corporate" Stratton like atmosphere, but mountains that make money are not lax with supervision and accountability of staff.

Click to expand...

What is the annex you speak of? The little bar area near the bathrooms upstairs? I've never seen that open in the 4 yrs I've been visiting Magic.
I agree sometimes it can take a while to get lunch served but I feel the quality and speed both improved this past yr.

Pizza upstairs would be good I agree esp if they already have the oven.
Store probably requires investment up front for inventory which they may not see a return on. I dunno---it does seem like it is very underutilized though.

xwhaler said:

What is the annex you speak of? The little bar area near the bathrooms upstairs? I've never seen that open in the 4 yrs I've been visiting Magic.
I agree sometimes it can take a while to get lunch served but I feel the quality and speed both improved this past yr.

Pizza upstairs would be good I agree esp if they already have the oven.
Store probably requires investment up front for inventory which they may not see a return on. I dunno---it does seem like it is very underutilized though.

Click to expand...

Quality of food is fine. I just think sometimes it's better to start small- just have pizza upstairs. Poor wait staff is running around like nuts trying to accomodate everyone. let people go downstairs if they want more The $$ is in the booze. Focus on that!
The best quality clothing were the magic shirts provided by Greg- high quality. Simple things turn people off- if I need hand warmers and the store is closed on a Saturaday afternoon- I'm pissed. Running the place on a shoe string budget is difficult and it's easy for me to say what needs to be done- but sometimes you have to ask your customers what they want. The dreams of a new beginner area and magic carpet are not happening anytime soon, but getting back to delivering good customer service starts from the top!

Magic said:

The dreams of a new beginner area and magic carpet are not happening anytime soon

Click to expand...

I am a big fan of the skiing experience at magic, but the lack of beginner terrain is an obstacle for my family. When we do family ski days this year, magic will unfortunately not be an option. It's a shame, because I really love the vibe there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's been said many times, but it's a shame the old chair on Little Dipper was removed. That was a fantastic learning area.

Magic, well said. Now who the hell are you? Clearly you know me? Pm is fine. Just curious is all. Deadheadskier, that was the best learning area there was. Produced such skiers as me.

Magic, have to agree with your comments. I think that over the past couple of years management has been focused on bigger issues, namely Red, Black and snowmaking issues. There's new management this year so it will be interesting to see how things run vs previous years.

RustyGroomer, how are things looking up there? I haven't been up since 1st Volunteer day with you and crew clearing some of the West Side.

slatham said:

RustyGroomer, how are things looking up there? I haven't been up since 1st Volunteer day with you and crew clearing some of the West Side.

Click to expand...

Looks pretty good to me.

That does look good. Can't figure out where it is so it looks like I'll be buying you a bribe beer when I see you at BLT.

Bump for some Magic love in Ski Vermont.

Nice Rusty, thanks for posting. I'm interested to know the other 9 - have to figure MRG single and Bush CastleRock made it? Hope it's on the web.

Can't wait to see old red turning, with me on it!

Not much positive here...

Dear Friends of Magic:

As is normal in Londonderry, we are getting natural snow storms soon followed by warm rainy days that melt all the snow. The surrounding areas are well into their snowmaking cycle and have even started skiing and riding. It is true that manmade snow is denser and survives a melt better than natural snow, but that said this year Magic Mountain is very short on funds and we could not have afforded even a limited loss. Since we had not turned on our guns we watched none of our limited money turn into mud. Another year I very much hope that base area snowmaking can start prior to Thanksgiving thereby having something for us to use on that weekend.
The mountain is looking very ready for winter. Because the trails are all mowed, it now takes little snow to cover the short grass and the little bit of natural snow we had did make the trails look white. The folks that hiked up and skied down reported a smooth ride down with no grass sticking up through the snow to help them estimate snow depth.
I’ve said this before but I’ll repeat, early season pass revenue plays the major role in funding pre-opening snowmaking. Throughout the note I’ve used the ‘we’ word meaning it to include myself, the mountain staff and you the customers. Magic is special in that its customers are every bit as interested and invested as are other mountain’s investors. As such you deserve and will get the level of detail that other mountains might reserve for the “insiders”.
A lot of this year’s season ticket revenue (that sold between March and July) was spent cleaning up costs for last year’s operations. That cleanup was necessitated by the extensive high interest rate loans taken out in the fall for mountain opening. We are not doing that this year. But if we are not going to take out loans for opening and I’ve invested all I can afford then snowmaking will depends upon how fast we can sell season passes. Comparing ticket sales this year with last year it seems that many are either not going to buy season passes or are putting off the purchase until Christmas week. If that is what customers are planning then we will have to be slow starting snowmaking. It might not be important, huge natural snowfalls could get us open without snow making, but all should recognize the risk that entails. Even with huge natural snowfalls between now and Christmas a bit of ‘buy season passes now’ would do wonders for fixing the Black Chair and getting compressors on order for west side snowmaking. If you are planning to arrive Christmas week and then buy your tickets and you can possibly buy sooner please do, you will be investing in December snowmaking and enhancing your Christmas week skiing and riding.


Think Snow!

- Tom B

Have to appreciate the honesty but it doesn't sound too good. Though I had heard that Tom would be taking a much more conservative approach on controlling expenditures vs Sullivan.
I hope to be at Magic sometime during x-mas week but w/o much snowmaking before then it appears that may not be in the cards.
Regardless, as long as they spin the lift when the natural is there Magic is the best place to ski in S VT and folks will be happy.

The message from Tom is making me very edgy about my season pass investment. This year the plan appears to be that you pay more for your pass and get less. I am going to be very cold blooded about evaluating Magic's performance this year. If they don't get Trick to Showoff open for Christmas week - strike one. If Talisman does not get sufficient snow making in due course, strike two. Since apparently Magic is down to one lift, if Red has problems, strike three. I appreciate that Tom has stepped in and is attempting to right the ship. That being said, I paid more for my pass this year than last and apparently that money was applied to the sin's of the past rather than assuring a quality experience this year.

Better start praying and making sacrifices for good snow in Southern Vermont this year......................................
And that doesn't sound good for the Black..........................hope they get that fix past the inspector.

What is actually up with the Black Chair this year?
Last year Red the year before that the black. So is the red one going to be the one next year?

They better hope they have a winter like last year or it doesnt sound good at all. I really want to make it there but i feel its always day to day on whether a lift will spin that day regardless if snow. We were headed there 2 years ago only to find out that the black was down with the red already being down. We went elsewhere but wish we didnt have to


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

Now of all things, check their FB page. Guns on this evening. This is all nothing new. Just the fact Tom put it out there like he did. Magic December panic happens every year. I wouldn't make too much of it.

RustyGroomer said:

Now of all things, check their FB page. Guns on this evening. This is all nothing new. Just the fact Tom put it out there like he did. Magic December panic happens every year. I wouldn't make too much of it.

Click to expand...

Black lift issue

Smellytele said:

Black lift issue

Click to expand...

I don't know exactly & would be foolish to speculate. I'm far from an engineer/lift guy. I DO know they've been working on it regularly. Last I heard was the inspector "took a ride" the other day. The lift was spinning Monday. Crap info I know. Apologies, best I have right now.