Stop #31: Park City RV Resort, Park City, UT
- Denisse Storti
- Feb 18, 2024
- 10 min read
On December 19th we drove from Salt Lake City to where we would be spending our first Christmas in our RV: Park City, UT! The kids had wished for a white Christmas, a first for them and we hoped to deliver. As we made our way we did start to worry a bit as there wasn't much snow in sight and Park City is merely 30 mins away from Salt Lake.
The drive was quick and easy and soon enough we were pulling into Park City RV Resort. While there was some snow on the ground the mountains around us were pretty bare, raising the question about whether the conditions would be good enough at the ski resort for skiing. We would find out soon enough.
At the RV resort, we had a site with mountain views. It was a corner site which made it a bit odd with the other two adjacent sites angling towards us. Thankfully those sites were not always occupied but when they were, we felt a bit cramped. This RV resort did have some amenities, including a hot tub, a pool (which was closed for the season), and a gym. However, the best thing about it was its location. From this home base we were minutes from restaurants and grocery stores, right across from the outlets, and about 15 minutes from Park City Mountain Ski Resort. Location, location, location!
Park City delivered with all the Christmassy vibes. It's truly a magical place during this time of year, with lights around every corner, holiday decor, and plenty winter activities for all ages. We spent the first few days around our campground. The kids got themselves busy playing with the snow - they had plenty of space to sled and build forts around our site and in the lower area adjacent to the river which was closed for the season. We stayed busy cleaning and decorating for the upcoming holidays. By day three, we were ready to adventure out a bit and decided to check out Park City Mountain. We arrived later in the afternoon so a reservation was not required for parking. You can make reservations for the open lot in advance and parking is free when carpooling (4+ occupants in the vehicle). We explored the base of the mountain, getting a glimpse of the different lifts, establishments, and activities. We found the outdoor ice skating rink which while a tad small is great for kids (plenty of adults enjoyed this too). Our kids had a great time ice skating past sunset with Christmas music in the background. The cost is $25 including rentals. Paul and I watched from the seating area next to the fire.
The following day, we decided to give skiing a try. The snow machines had been working so we hoped for the best. The greens were groomed though a bit icy. Many of the more advanced runs and lifts were not open yet and some runs that were open should've remained closed (with too many exposed plants and sticks). Our son, named it Rock City because of all the rocks in sight. We hear that this time last year the resort had more snow than they could manage. Oh well. We still made the most of it and enjoyed skiing together. Since our Epic Local passes have restriction dates and we wouldn't be able to ski between Dec 26-31 we returned to the mountain on the 23rd and 24th. We ended up with colds but we had a blast.
Christmas in the RV was truly not much different than years past. We had a tree, stockings, and lights. We played Christmas music, built a gingerbread house, opened presents, and the kids spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys. With it being a small space, it did look like a hurricane had gone through our home with all the torn wrapping paper, boxes, and toy packaging here and there. But the good thing is that it gets cleaned up just as fast.
While the kids and us were excited for Christmas, we might have been even more excited about what was to come: our friend's visiting from Miami. They arrived on the 27th and we had activities and meals planned throughout their stay. They stayed at Hyatt Centric in Canyons Village which was about 10 minutes away from us. This hotel is a ski in/out hotel which one of our friends took full advantage of while the rest of us did stuff with the kids. Our friends son slept over on their first night in town which was super fun for our kids. The following morning they enjoyed sledding together at our campground before we all hit the outlets so they could stock up on some winter gear they needed.
On the next day, we went to Park City Mountain to give the Flying Eagle Zip Line and Mountain Coaster a try. For context, this was during high season and we didn't get there till 3p which was close to when the lifts close so, for those reasons, the lines were super long for both of these rides. We noticed it wasn't as bad earlier in the day as well as after the holidays. You can buy tickets for these online or at the ticket booth at the base of the mountain. We purchased the combo packs (1 zip line + 1 mountain coaster ride) for the kids - no Epic discounts for these unfortunately. The zip line ended up being too short but the kids still loved it. I would skip it for the adults. The mountain coaster, which I skipped as I wasn't feeling great but Paul and our son did, was worth it. Similar to the one we did in Vail, the ride was long enough and delivered on the thrills. Since we were already at Park City Mountain, we ended the day with ice skating so the kids could burn some energy.
Tubing was on our list which we ended up booking at Woodward Sports Hub which was only a few minutes from our campground. They have short and long lanes and prices are for 2 hours of tubing (which is plenty). However tickets are pricey ranging from $40 - $80 depending on the day. Our campground host had advised that Soldier Hollow Nordic Center offered tubing for a quarter of the price but we weren't able to find tickets last minute for the days that worked for us. Book these in advance, people!
Woodward is a pretty cool place though and well run. In addition to tubing, they also have an adventure ski park with ramps, rails, and hills, plus an indoor sports hub with a gymnastics area, trampolines, bike and skate park. They also have a restaurant and bar which overlooks the indoor play areas for parents to comfortably sit in while the kids have fun. All access tickets (for all activities on site) range from $119-$139. Woodward is also a good option for ski lessons which are much more affordable than those offered at the ski resort. Our friends booked some for their son who hadn't ski'd in a few years and his teacher did great. We joined him on the afternoon of the 31st since Woodward offers half day tickets for $40. This was the only opportunity we'd have to ski together before they left on the 2nd so we went for it.
From below the ski park looks a bit overwhelming with the huge hills and ramps galore but once we got to it the kids did great. My friend and I ski'd around the tricks and focused on capturing our kids having a blast. I tried a small jump and felt it on my back so that was my sign to leave the jumps to the young ones. lol While the ski park only has one lift, a rather slow one, it was still enjoyable to ski there together. We ski'd till about 4p. It was New Year's Eve so we had to get ready for the evening festivities.
For New Year's Eve, Canyon's Village put on a great show with live music and fireworks at 7:30p. The ambiance was festive and family friendly. The fireworks show was wonderful and quite lengthy. Following the show, we returned to our friend's hotel to have the food we had purchased at Whole Foods. We didn't feel like paying for a lavish New Year's Eve 'experience' at a restaurant and all other restaurants not offering experiences were booked. We had a great spread, with champagne included, and the hotel allowed us to set it all up in the lobby area. The kids were able to participate in the activities the hotel had set up in the playroom, while the adults chatted nearby. It was a quiet evening, but just what we needed.
We had originally booked a snowmobiling tour for the 26th but had to move it when our friends had to postpone their trip by a couple of days. We booked with Park City Peaks Snowmobiling and they were really accommodating when we asked to change the date for our outing. We booked the three hour tour departing at 2p. We were worried about there being enough snow for snowmobiling but they assured us they did and while it wasn't deep powder like when we snowmobiled in Pagosa Springs, we still drove through beautiful wintery scenery. While I thought three hours would be a bit too long on a snowmobile, we stopped mid way at a log cabin they had recently built in the mountain to warm up and have some snacks. After this break, we were ready to go again. Our guide got the tours mixed up and ended up taking us back a bit early. When we returned the coordinator noticed and the guide took those that chose to continue back out to the tracks. My friend and I, plus two of the kids were good, so we stayed behind at the office warming up with hot chocolate and tea. The others went back out for another half hour of ripping around in the snow. Plus, we got refunded for those of us that didn't do the full tour. Do check them out if looking to snowmobile near Park City. They have the most terrain for this and their customer service was great.
Our friends were leaving the following day so the kids enjoyed another RV sleepover with their dear friend. They loved this time together. We spent the following morning together and then bid them farewell, thankful for having met up in Park City for part of the holidays.
By coincidence we found out that another of our friends was in town, who the kids happened to also love as she's also the counselor at the school they used to attend in Miami Beach. While she's not into skiing, she enjoys snow shoeing so we agreed to meet for a day of that which was to be a first for me. I welcomed some girl time, so I was the only one to join. We rented snow shoes from White Pine Touring for $25 each. Rentals closer to the mountain can be more than double the price! The kids and Paul dropped me off so they could see Mrs. P (as they call her from their time in school). They were so happy to see her, as she was to see them. They invited her to come check out our RV which she did after our adventure.
While we had all the intention to go on a fun snow shoeing adventure it didn't quite work out as expected. Mrs. P thought we could take the gondola from Canyon's Village to eat at the restaurant and snow shoe from there but once we got there the gondola was broken. We ended up having lunch at the base while they fixed it, keeping a close eye on the gondola from our table. Once they fixed it, we enthusiastically walked over only to find out that snow shoes were not allowed on the gondola. We set out to find a snowshoe trail in the nearby area (Google had some options) but ended up empty handed. We found one of the trails but it didn't have much snow on it. After driving around some beautiful neighborhoods we ended up at Park City Mountain. Since we didn't want to return to the rental place without doing at least a bit of snowshoeing, we put them on at the base of the mountain, had a nice lady take some fun pics of us, and snowshoed up a bit on a closed slope with people gawking at us as we did so. lol Without a doubt we were the only snow shoers on the mountain. Our friend had booked a snowshoeing tour a few days prior which she says was great, so that's probably the way to go... or scouting the trails before hand to ensure one will work on the day of your adventure. On the back of White Pine Touring there's also some terrain where you can snow shoe so that's another option to consider. We wanted to be more adventurous but maybe should've stayed right there. :)
While the kids had gone tubing at Woodward, we all wanted to give it a go as a family but this time around at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, where the tickets were significantly less at $25 per person for a two hour session. They have a magic carpet that takes you up the slope and about six lanes of tubing fun. We went several times tied up together which was fun, as well as in separate lanes to race each other. The long lanes at Woodward are slightly longer than these but considering the price difference I think it's definitely worth driving a few more minutes to this location.
A snow storm finally came through, dumping quite a bit of snow at our campground and on the mountain. Snow ball fights, sledding, and more fort building ensued. We finally got our true winter wonderland! We skied a few more times at Park City Mountain, discovering our favorite trail: Jupiter Access... a magical trail that takes you in between trees. It was snowing when we skied this which made it look like a scenery right out of a snow globe. It's a blue run but an easy one. Don't miss out on it when visiting Park City!
While our friends were in town we did quite a bit of dining out. Being a holiday week it was hard to get reservations at most restaurants so keep that in mind and book in advance if traveling during the holidays. We did still get to enjoy some good meals with them and later on on our own. Here are some we really liked:
Blind Dog - A mix of American and Asian in a trendy setting.
Twisted Fern - Creative new American cuisine - homey feel.
Tekila Mexican Grill & Cantina - Mexican cantina on Main Street (depending on the day of the week parking could be tricky)
Overlook Restaurant - Locally inspired new American cuisine. Great ambiance and views if visiting during the day.
Vessel Kitchen - A healthy, casual option, where you can either order from the menu or build your own nutritious dish.
A few days before leaving, we finally stopped at Park City Gardens, a super cute coffee shop and nursery. We drove by this place every time we went skiing and loved how it looked, specially leading up to Christmas as they had the most whimsical Christmas tree farm. I should've stopped then for photos. :( Alas, we stopped when we did and took pictures outside of the cute sign and nurseries. Look them up when in town. They also put on events and workshops that could be fun to attend.
The storms had passed and it was time to move to our next location. At this point I would've welcomed a break in warm weather but we were heading north!
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