Uplands Golf & Ski Club — Attraction in Vaughan

2021: 1 star. Has anybody been able to get through for dec 2021 camp? Registered 5-6 weeks ago and still unconfirmed if I’m the darn ski kids winter holiday camp is happening tomorrow!!?? Can’t get through enail or phone msg for past month. Don’t kno whether to show up for class tomorrow or not!? So frustrated. Update: finally heard back week before Xmas holiday break 2021 that we weee in, but then of course got corona n had to cancel! But we got a refund which was nice.

Update 2024 - 4 stars: finally booked again dec 23 for Jan 2024 class. Weather was horrible for skiing no snow this winter so the hills weren’t good (they made snow and it was surprisingly white when all our homes and surroundings could see all grass, I figured they would cancel lessons because didn’t think they could make enough snow) but they did, some days was very icey . NOT their fault, They tried.

I don’t know if management changed but they are quite good in person now, and answered phone promptly etc unlike 2021.

The ski classes were good but inconsistent. There were a zillion teachers (mostly young kids) so that’s good sometimes in that paid a group class but 2 classes I got a private or semi-private) BUT the quality of teaching was inconsistent. Many days seemed like student teachers just stood around too. As teacher is randomly assigned upon arrival each week, could be 1 week have great teacher, another not so good kid teaching and it was a waste. For example first class skiing and we got a snowboarding teacher, was annoyed because my kid couldn’t understand what it should look like, but next class told my kid only follow a teacher who is skiing too so it’s easier for kid to follow. Some classes good but others not so great also bc weather and ice they barely went down harder steeper hill (they tried a few times but also fell bad bc icey conditions which spooked the kids) . Also even length of class varies, supposed to be 50 min class. one teacher didn’t go back up to do another 1 last run and ended after 40 min, but another week I got 60 min because teacher chose to do 1 more run. Some weeks did the runs many times like came down 6-8x? Other weeks only came down like hill like 2x not so active it seemed (they would do a really slow activity at top of hill after ski lift which we couldn’t see as spectators)

All in all it was a decent $ deal for a beginner and all about the local convenience (driving 15-20 min in winter , instead of 60-90 min) to a real ski hill , and for a beginner, esp getting used to a ski lift for first time . Next year would probably go to a bigger hill since finding out kids now like skiing and are comfortable on lift now. Rating: 3 to...

Enrolled both of our kids in the 8-week kinder ski program of Winter 2022. We were extremely disappointed on how disorganized the program was on the first session. They were short staffed, and we had no idea who our instructor was 20mins into the program. They say we have 1-hour lesson time and 2-hour free time per session.

Our kids were finally introduced to an instructor after 20 mins of waiting (just standing there) in an extremely crowded area during Covid-19 Omicron wave - we are talking about close to 100 people in an area less than approx. 30ft by 70ft area, that was the area they had in place for lesson time. Social distancing was impossible. Everyone was pretty much 1 feet from each other.

Then all the kids had to walk sideways on 2 ramps. That's right, just 2 single-lane ramps for all the kids. Because it was so crowded, it literally takes about 10 mins for a kid to go up the ramp.

So for the rest of the lesson time - 40 minutes - our kids lined up, went up the ramp for approximately 5 times (length of the ramp is about 30ft), and the instructor had the kids coming down the very mild slope. And that was it.

We were then told to leave that area after the lesson time was over. There's really nowhere else to go for the remaining 2-hour of "free time". When we asked the staff where should we go to spend our free time, the staff had no idea and just told us to leave as they have the next batch of people coming in.

The area that our kids had access to was literally no bigger than our backyard. Overcrowding + short staffed meant the ability for the instructors to teach and guide the kids is extremely limited. Our kids basically did the following 5 times:

Climb up the slope on the ramp sideways (no lift/moving rope of any kind) Coming down the slope making "French fries" and "pizza" shapes

It takes less than a minute to come down the slope. Which means our kids spent 50+mins over the 1-hour lesson time just standing there without an instructor or climbing the ramps slowly due to overcrowding.

We can probably teach our kids the same thing but with much better and safer environment at the school playground close to our home, instead of paying close to $1,000 on such disorganized program. We thought a paid program would be better and safer than public programs. Absolutely not the case with this place/organizer. Would have given 0-star if it...

After I left the first review about the way me and my child were being treated in Upland, I was contacted by the program director with a blocked caller ID. I explained my concerns again and the fact that we were told lies about the program. The director once again started refuse responsibility and repeating old excuses that this is the head office that is responsible, at the end threatened me to sue me because of slandering! I asked the director to proceed with it!

Then on the last session of the training program, the program director contacted me and my wife. I was in a meeting but director talked to my wife in a very aggressive ways and asked her to pick up our son which my wife refused. They didn’t let my son to participate in the training.

They kept him sitting in the administration area. They also asked him about me and my wife’s profession and started making fun of us in front of him. It really heart his feeling. Obviously, they didn’t provide him the program graduation certificate.

My son was very upset when he came back home seeing other kids practicing and getting their licenses while he was just sitting and seeing program administrators disrespect his parents.

The original Review:

As other reviews, I had a very bad experience. Very unprofessional, rude and irresponsible staff.

I registered my son for Ski Apprentice program and completed application late last November. I was told that after training, they will be assigned to teach younger children and will be paid on hourly basis.

When classes started, they said he is 13 so he is not eligible. The program manager said they used this "trick" to motivate 14 years old!. Talking with other parents I found that this it the trick to get people money. They LIED to everyone.

It was supposed to be 6 sessions, however, they counted the orientation meeting as one session.

The class started without any notice. After several days and lots of telephone calls and voice messages, I finally got the manager's email.

His answer was even more reluctant than the staff! No indication of apology and respect for the mistake they did.

The frustration, lack of respect and dis-service really bothered me.

Never ever go to this location if you care about your loved-ones, your time and of...