Where is the school vacation crowd?

[billski]

Not here

In my town of Lexington, which was closed for 3 days of the "blizzard", we still had vacation as usual... We''re not aware of any schools that cut short this vacation. It really T.O.'s families to do something like that last minute. They might shorten/cancel the spring vacation.

I can tell you the malls are mobbed. I have a dream schedule this year - ski midweek, home for the weekend.

It seems the flatlanders are finally getting used to regular snowfall (read: 6 inches). There is still bread and milk in the stores and people are actually going to work rather than wimping out.... :wink:

It's very curious, where is everyone - all three areas I went to in the last 7 days were quite empty. Maybe they all went to Disneyworld....

 

[foamythesquirrel]

I think some school systems in CT screwed kids out of the full week of Feb vacation because of snow days...probably more so in Mass because Boston has gotten much more snow than us.

Yepers (They actually took away February break after the snowy year we had last year.) We had Tuesday off for a teacher work-day, but that's all. We don't have spring vacation until the 18-22 of April.... Just in time for most ski resorts to close, right?

 

[Zand]

We're not getting screwed out of vacations here. We've had 4 snow days and they don't plan on cutting any vacation days or Saturdays.

As for vacation crowds, Wachusett was almost dead considering it's vacation. I couldn't believe how small the crowds were this week.

Even today, a beautiful Saturday, the amount of people was minimal. Saturdays there have been known to have lift lines over 45 minutes, but they barely had "lines" today.

 

[hammer]

As for vacation crowds, Wachusett was almost dead considering it's vacation. I couldn't believe how small the crowds were this week.

Even today, a beautiful Saturday, the amount of people was minimal. Saturdays there have been known to have lift lines over 45 minutes, but they barely had "lines" today.

That's surprising -- my son wanted to go to Wachusett this week, but after suffering though 20 - 30 minute lift lines when we went during vacation week last year I decided against it.

We went to Ragged instead, which is further away for us, but there were no crowds or lines at all and the conditions were great.

As far as April vacation is concerned, my wife and I usually make plans several months in advance, so if the schools try to have class during that week they're welcome to do so -- just don't count on my kids showing up. :wink:

 

[teachski]

Pine Ridge was busy this week! It completely sold out of rentals on Tuesday. They bought more used rentals from Wachusett (who has been a great help to them as they get the place going again) on Wednesday. On Thursday they sold out again. They had a good crowd every day of the week. There were also plenty of people there with their own equipment. Friday Night was also quite busy, not only on the slope, but in the newly opened UpperDeck Sports Bar and Grill. I did not make it there Saturday and have not heard yet.

Pine Ridge is a small area. It was actually on Chronicle on Wednesday night so some of you may have seen it. It's nice to hear that they had such good days this week. That is important for it's continued success.

 

[billski]

at Stowe

The crowds are at Stowe. On-site word was that yesterday, Sat. 2/25 stowe was mobbed and the parking lot was "chock-a-block". There may be some credence to the destination resort hypothesis.

Midweek skiing however wasn't very crowded. Maybe people are just taking weekend jaunts. Will be interesting to see how the smaller area check in for the weekend.

 

[awf170]

I heard rumors around my school about canceling vacation, i dont know how they could cancel it though because lots of people go away and they would miss a week of school, also i heard they will add 15 minutes. It is a pain but i think it is better than missing vacation.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Re: Not here

In my town of Lexington, which was closed for 3 days of the "blizzard", we still had vacation as usual... We''re not aware of any schools that cut short this vacation. It really T.O.'s families to do something like that last minute. They might shorten/cancel the spring vacation.

The schools were closed. The rest of the town was working :wink:

My friends at Sratton reported a great weekend and a very solid week. I was there for a few hours Thursday and heard a figure of around 7000. Late in the day there were no lines to speak of, and only some of the trails had significant traffic. Speaks to their outragous capacity.

Friday had the Red chair full at Magic, with a short line most of the day. (Also, a constant debate about opening the Black chair, but they ran with just the red.)

I'd guess that the destination resorts did fine, as people book those way in advance. The conditions were great, but it doesn't sound like the areas w/o lodging on site did as well.

 

[hiroto]

...

As for vacation crowds, Wachusett was almost dead considering it's vacation. I couldn't believe how small the crowds were this week.

Even today, a beautiful Saturday, the amount of people was minimal. Saturdays there have been known to have lift lines over 45 minutes, but they barely had "lines" today.

I was there today and I would say it was about average crowds. Definitely
much less than the peak crowds we had this season but still far from being "dead", but again, I was expecting the peak crowd for this week.
I also like to hear how other "vacation destinations" were doing
such as Sunday River, Loon and Killington.

 

[stomachdoc]

Saturday was minimally busy at Waterville; longest wait was about 5 minutes for the quad. Today was completely dead. I rode up the chair with a senior instructor who says that, thus far, skier visits at Waterville are basically the same as last year but the ski school has been much busier this year than last year. Perhaps that's good news; putting more future skiers in the pipeline.

This was the best week of February vacation skiing I can remember in the Northeast! Great conditions and scant crowds. Great for the skiers, but perhaps not so great for the parent corporations!

I skied at Burke on Friday; the glades were fantastic. There were few people there....

 

[ski_resort_observer]

vacation week

Here at the Bush we were pretty busy...most of our lodging was booked. We had about 45,000 skier days over the vacation week which is good.

 

[awf170]

i think everyone in this area went to utah, it seemed like half the people you saw were from Boston.

 

[thetrailboss]

i think everyone in this area went to utah, it seemed like half the people you saw were from Boston.

Lucky for those folks in Utah. :lol:

 

[Bkroon9175]

Our school pulled the February vacation away from the kids due to snow days. We kept the kids out and went to Canada (Mont Ste. Anne and Le Massif). There was absolutely no one there and we had three straight days of snow. The two previous years we went to Tremblant during the same week and it was HELL with crowds. I'm not sure where everyone went.

 

[billski]

Crowds

While the crowds seemed at bay during the Mass. vacation week, they were definitely out in force during NH vacation week. See my 3/2 Loon Report. Cross my fingers they aren't in force this weekend at Bolton Valley and Stowe where I'll be headed.

 

[hiroto]

Re: Crowds

While the crowds seemed at bay during the Mass. vacation week, they were definitely out in force during NH vacation week. See my 3/2 Loon Report. Cross my fingers they aren't in force this weekend at Bolton Valley and Stowe where I'll be headed.

Then they should make this week holiday rate and not the last week :idea:

 

[billski]

Love

There is definitely a love-love relationship between instate skiers and the resorts. There are usually discounts to be had for the locals in most New England states.

BTW, A shop owner who had just come from a Loon Marketing meeting was told that skier visits over Mass vacation week were just about even with last year. Maybe we just weren't watching closely enough.

 

[thetrailboss]

Re: Love

There is definitely a love-love relationship between instate skiers and the resorts. There are usually discounts to be had for the locals in most New England states.

Largely a different market. Less $$$ to spend and skiing patterns are different. Trust me...most locals up there do not drive new Mercedes. :wink:

 

[thetrailboss]

Re: Crowds

While the crowds seemed at bay during the Mass. vacation week, they were definitely out in force during NH vacation week. See my 3/2 Loon Report. Cross my fingers they aren't in force this weekend at Bolton Valley and Stowe where I'll be headed.

Then they should make this week holiday rate and not the last week :idea:

Some places, such as Pats Peak, HAVE set both weeks as vacation periods. But destination resorts don't get lots of locals booking condos since they are day visitors. Jack up that day rate too high and you'll lose whatever local business there may be.

 

[hiroto]

Re: Love

There are usually discounts to be had for the locals in most New England states.

Except MA