Shawnee Mountain Ski Area — Attraction in Middle Smithfield Township

We had a disappointing experience at the snow tubing park at Shawnee Mountain and won't be returning, primarily due to concerns about safety, parent access to the tubing area, and disrespectful interactions with staff. Here are the three main reasons for our dissatisfaction:

Safety Concerns: During our hour and a half session, we witnessed four people being ejected from their tubes, indicating a safety issue. There was clear ice on one of the lanes, and it took until the fourth incident for the staff to address the problem. Two individuals had to be taken away to the first aid station. This situation raises significant safety concerns that need urgent attention.

Parent Access to Tubing Area: The venue needs to improve communication about parent access to the tubing area. While we understand the requirement for tickets, it was not made clear that parents would be restricted from being close to the tubing area. For parents with young children, this lack of visibility is a major concern. We, along with other parents, were surprised to find ourselves behind an orange gate with limited visibility. The policy of having to purchase a full ticket just to have a closer view of our child seems impractical and raises questions about the overall experience. Despite our willingness to purchase tickets to address our concerns, they were sold out, further adding to the frustration.

Disrespectful Interactions with Staff: We encountered disrespectful interactions with a staff member when my husband got closer and attempted to use his phone to zoom in on our child. The staff member, in a distasteful manner, insisted on parents moving back, stating, "We don't make the rules; we just enforce them." The tone and unnecessary yelling conveyed a lack of understanding and concern for the legitimate worries parents had regarding the safety and visibility of their children. The staff should prioritize respectful communication and empathy towards visitors.

Our overall experience at Shawnee Mountain's snow tubing park left us with significant reservations, and we would not recommend it to parents seeking a safe and enjoyable tubing experience for...

I gave this place 1 star because we've been snow tubing numerous times and have had several turns riding down the slope. But when we went they just opened for the season and they overbooked. Despite Covid and distancing and shortages etc, they still overbooked and made it a non fun experience that the kids and myself were looking forward too. You get a 90 min block and for a family of 4 we only went 4 times‼️ Again this is not my 1st time tubing with the family. Usually it's 5 of us and we each would slide at least 8 or more times. Especially when your paying $45 per person. There was only 3 lanes open and unfortunately only 2 gentleman working the lanes. One of them had to do 2 lanes rotating between riders therfore one line out of the 3 were extremely long. The mountain was ridiculously crowded and the "magic carpet" to bring you to top of mountain was full as well. Again they overbooked and it fell on the customer with the long lines and added wait times between rides. Which was no less than 20 minutes each time. Resulting in 4 rides. This was such a waste of money we were utterly disgusted. So I went to Customer service to file complaint. While young lady was working with another customer who wanted to switch tickets, she stated no snow tubing available because they don't like to overbook so it's an enjoyable experience. Well that was laughable. Even after speaking to supervisor who stated 4 rides is feasible for this time of year and with social distancing etc...I had to cut him off to remind him there is no room to social distance on top of mountain and I counted 86 ppl alone not including the ones on magic carpet making there way up. After I mentioned that he said that wasn't too many people. Clearly it is if it's no standing room and you practices need to align with Covid guidelines. He made absolutely no sense. We weren't satisfied. It wasn't rectified. We will not return. Too...

Was at the mountain today Saturday 2/6. Their website says they are selling a limited amount of tickets. NO WAY - I've been going there for quite some time (first time this season) and I have never seen it as crowded as it was today. They were having "special events" there today which made the place massively crowded but nowhere on their website did they disclose this. Its deceitful as if this was disclosed I would have went to a different mountain. For people like me who paid for a full day lift pass should all be refunded or given another day pass. The only reason I selected to go to Shawnee was because of the "limited ticket" advertising which during Covid makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure what the PA rules are but if there are occupancy limits they were most certainly broken today. Then to boot - the lines were so long because half of this lifts weren't running. There were also 4 or 5 trails CLOSED after getting two feet of snow earlier in the week. While that may not seem like a lot that's 25% of the mountain. I'm sure there is some excuse line staffing issues or mechanical issues but the problem lies in Shawnee's management. Staffing issues can be fixed - Mechanical issues with the lifts could be fixed - but you can't fix a management team that doesn't know how to manage around these issues. I really hope a shareholder of Shawnee reads this and finds the actions of management as offensive as I did today.

It wasn't all bad though - the outside food trucks both at the top and bottom of the mountain were great along with the outside seating areas, however, it took some time to get a table due to the crowd. The food from the food truck was really good. The trails that were opened were well groomed and the terrain park was awesome. If you go here during the week it's probably fine but I would highly recommend considering another location if your skiing on a...