Hidden Valley Ski Resort — Attraction in Wildwood

BEWARE!! do not travel any distance to go here. Not for beginners and not experienced skiers or boarders. Let me explain. OK so I like to ski in Colorado and Montana and I knew when coming here it would not be even close, but even though it is very small I did expected it to be ran decently. Let me explain: First the rental experience feels more like a skating rink. No one helps measure your feet to get a good boot fitting (which is very important to having good, enjoyable, and comfortable ski day). The rental place smells like mildew terribly which makes you not want to put on any of the boots there, and the cost is just as high as renting at a first class ski resort that smells great and has first class service. Second, I brought friends here who had never been skiing before, to someplace some what close, before trying to get them to go all the way out west to Colorado. I thought such a small hill might cater to beginners. I was very very wrong. The first Friday we were there (MLK Jr. weekend), there was only a magic carpet open for beginners, which is very short and was packed out. They had their beginner green lift closed for the entire day saying they didn't have enough staff to open it. All the other lifts took you up to a blue which was too much for our beginner friends. My friends spent hours waiting in line, getting very few rides down the bunny slope off the magic carpet. One of them even decided it was faster to walk up the hill and try to get practice that way. Then when they did try to go up on the blue lift, there was so many beginners crashing all over the hill since there were no green lift open and nowhere for them to ski, it was not go experience for them there either. It was impossible for them to have a good time. So after day one we left with our friend barely knowing how to snow plow and turn. Day two we show up kind of late in the afternoon and they are actually running the green lift but soon closed it down because they don't have enough people there to continue to run it. As soon as they did the magic carpet was again packed to the max, and people ended up were heading to the top of the blue hill and crashing all over it again. There are a lot of an inexperienced skiers here too, and it seems really dangerous forcing them all to the top of the hill where it's only blues coming down. I've never been someplace where I've seen so many crashes, falls, and people running into each other. I don't understand why they don't try to keep a green lift for beginners open. It seemed like a very very unsafe way to do business. I feel like this place cares more about money than about it's customers. Needless to say after 2 days I will never try to come here again. It would be better for us to drive 14 hours to CO, than the 5 hours here, so we can at least have a good time. I know this is a long review but I'm hoping I save somebody else from making the same mistake we did. TL:DR Smelly, does not cater to beginners, short-staffed, dangerous, crowded bunny slope, green lift...

Went with a youth group, so personally had no experience with the buying of tickets / money part. I didn't hear any complaints from my supervisor who handled that, though. Listed prices seemed reasonable. Our group only did snow tubing and lunch, so I can't comment on the majority of the park's offerings. Prices for the cafeteria were surprisingly very reasonable, about on par with a typical fast food joint ($5-$6 for an entree). Food options were a bit more diverse than most burger joints with sandwiches, wraps, soup, and some chicken options on the "healthier" end, and burgers, hotdogs, pizza, and fried / cheese-filled pasta options on the other. There was also a bar available, though I didn't even look at it's offerings due to being busy with kiddos. Unfortunately, we hit the food area during a slam, and many items were unavailable. Due to time constraints, I waited two or three minutes before grabbing a cheeseburger that got put out (though I would have preferred the chicken sandwich, but was unwilling to wait). Most the staff I encountered seemed like younger folks, and were generally polite / helpful and quick to answer questions from myself or youth. The venue seemed busy, with groups ranging from families / youth groups, to groups of adults, to individual skiing enthusiasts. The majority of patrons I encountered were also noticably pleasant / tolerant of the sometimes boisterous youth in my company. The snow tubing was fun, with a hill that looked a lot smaller than it felt once you got going down. The tubes were pretty comfortable and easy to ride in, though lots of the provided tubes had a bit of ice or mud / gravel on them from previous usage. Many folks got their butts a bit damp from them. I wore long johns and personally had no issue / didn't get wet beyond my outer layer of jeans. I got up a good bit of speed (guessing at least 20mph?) regardless of which lane I went down, and would compare the ride to a moderate rollercoaster. A mix of gravel and snow slow you down at the bottom of the hill, and I kicked up a fair amount of gravel a few times. Not so bad that it got in everything, but enough that I could see someone getting quite a bit on them under the worst of circumstances. Everyone on our group rode and had fun... Even those who chickened out on some roller coaster rides at other venues. The park was busy, so it probably took around 20 to 30 minutes per go down the hill, including the slow escalator up the hill. I have extremely little experience with snow or snow parks, so I have little to compare it to. However, from the limited experience I had, I would be glad to come back again. Seemed pretty family friendly too, if you have young ones. Remember to...

It was fun & we enjoyed it, but I don't think I'd go back again if my family wanted to take another ski trip. I would make the longer drive & go to a more professional outfit.

Pros: quickest ski place to get to from my location, & for a lot of others in the mid-south region. Ski school instructor for the kids was fantastic & got them going confidently in an hour. (TIP: get there on a weekday if you need ski school. We put 2 kids in a 5pm Thursday group lesson, & they ended up basically getting a private lesson because the place was empty. I saw the groups for Fri & Sat lessons, & they were pretty packed.) 2 fun & easy bunny slopes for kids to learn on immediately outside the lodge. Polar Plunge tubing was super fun & a good alternative if someone doesn't want to ski.

Cons: The staff was not very helpful & as first-timers to this facility, we would've appreciated more direction with gear & advice on navigating the trails. Trails weren't clearly marked with names or difficulty level, so we had to look at a map & try to figure what was what. Our whole first day was definitely eaten up just trying to figure out the process & the layout with 2 first-time-skier kids in tow. Staff would give advice if asked, but I'd have to go hunt for someone. They weren't readily available to steer you if you were standing around the gear hall or lodge looking lost. The 2 bunny slopes can be skied continuously (one meets the other), but you have to pull off your skis & walk part of the way back up if you wish to ski from the top of the 1st one all the way to the bottom of the 2nd one. Lift only takes you to the top of the 2nd one, then you have to walk a good piece uphill & catch the 'magic carpet' back to the top of the 1st one. We had to wait several hours after opening time on a Fri for the place to start operating the only lift for the bunny slope. This meant if you skied that slope at all during the first few hours, you had to walk the whole way back up. They said it was because they were waiting for more employees. Seems like they need to work on their staffing & get it right for their busiest days. Super long lines for Polar Plunge. Only got to go down on the tubes 3 times in our 2+ hour session. We did the tubing on a Saturday, so maybe it wouldn't have been so busy if we'd chosen another day. As another reviewer stated, the food in the lodge is PRICEY. Bring you a cooler with snacks/drinks to leave in the car. After buying the lodge food 1x, we hit a grocery store & came prepared to make our own lunches the rest of the trip.

All in all, it will still be a nice family memory, but I...