Wisp could be good.  Massanutten is doing pretty good this year, has tubing and an indoor waterpark.

JPM22 wrote:

Does anyone have thoughts on where to go with two little kids?  Looking for somewhere w/in 3 hours or so, with lodging at the base/top. The idea is to get the older kid lessons (we did CO over new year’s & he just started turning, so want to keep momentum) & let the younger kid tube/otherwise play around.  

We were thinking Wisp, but not 100% sure…

JPM22 wrote:

Does anyone have thoughts on where to go with two little kids?  Looking for somewhere w/in 3 hours or so, with lodging at the base/top. The idea is to get the older kid lessons (we did CO over new year’s & he just started turning, so want to keep momentum) & let the younger kid tube/otherwise play around.  

We were thinking Wisp, but not 100% sure…

 Driving from where?  Are you thinking about a hollday weekend or a non-holiday weekend?

There are a lot of reasons I drove from NC to Massanutten when my daughter was in elementary school.  However, slopeside lodging was not one of them.  Having plenty to do besides skiing was an advantage for staying at Massanutten.  Could go skiing during the day and spend a few hours at the waterpark in the early evening.

JPM22 wrote:

Does anyone have thoughts on where to go with two little kids?  Looking for somewhere w/in 3 hours or so, with lodging at the base/top. The idea is to get the older kid lessons (we did CO over new year’s & he just started turning, so want to keep momentum) & let the younger kid tube/otherwise play around.  

We were thinking Wisp, but not 100% sure…

 Driving from where?  Are you thinking about a hollday weekend or a non-holiday weekend?

There are a lot of reasons I drove from NC to Massanutten when my daughter was in elementary school.  However, slopeside lodging was not one of them.  Having plenty to do besides skiing was an advantage for staying at Massanutten.  Could go skiing during the day and spend a few hours at the waterpark in the early evening.

marzNC wrote:

JPM22 wrote:

Does anyone have thoughts on where to go with two little kids?  Looking for somewhere w/in 3 hours or so, with lodging at the base/top. The idea is to get the older kid lessons (we did CO over new year’s & he just started turning, so want to keep momentum) & let the younger kid tube/otherwise play around.  

We were thinking Wisp, but not 100% sure…

 Driving from where?  Are you thinking about a hollday weekend or a non-holiday weekend?

There are a lot of reasons I drove from NC to Massanutten when my daughter was in elementary school.  However, slopeside lodging was not one of them.  Having plenty to do besides skiing was an advantage for staying at Massanutten.  Could go skiing during the day and spend a few hours at the waterpark in the early evening.

 Heading over from DC. Massanutten is really appealing because of the other activities. It also looks like they may be willing to do ski lessons for my younger kid too, which would be a plus. 

Or we rent a condo at the base of Bryce (VRBO or Airbnb) for the weekend. We didn't stay this weekend and we missed our ski-in/out! Bryce lessons are very affordable and the instructors are great. Noah did 10 lessons last year and the growth was amazing.

We rented at Wisp and we loved it there. But lessons, lift tickets and housing are a lot more than Bryce... but they have more terrain so its a balance.

We were at Bryce on Sunday and it was perfect!  Snow was great and not crowded (it never is).

Everyone is so friendly there and my son has been doing lessons for 3 years there. He just turned 7 and yesterday his ability exploded (in a good way). His instructor got him to use the whole width of the trail (he is a great technical turner) and his speed and control just popped.  After his lesson, we skied for 2 more hours and I had to push it to keep up with him as I was following him down the mountain.

Bryce delivers the goods in December (no one is there on weekends before xmas and a great time to get in some lessons), January (MLK day is a dream with great snow and no crowds, February (president's day, see January) and March (late season snow and spring fest is a blast). We drive 1 hour and 50 minutes early on weekend mornings; have a 9am private lesson and ski until 1ish. Grab lunch, another 2 runs and call it a day.  We encourage all first timers with kids to check out Bryce as they have a great product to give kids the basics.