Winter Park Resort’s Mountain Aprés events at the Lodge at Sunspot are new this season. Hosted Wednesdays – Sundays from 3 to 5 pm, the event features food and drink specials and live music Thursdays – Saturdays. According to Steve Hurlbert, Public Relations and Communications Director for Winter Park Resort, “the food consists of small plates – we’re still working on the menu”, adding, “so far, the tots have a been a huge hit!”. Hurlbert added, “It’s a cool new experience that, really, the gondola has allowed us to do. Watching the sunset from 10,700 feet while enjoying a beer and listening to some music is not a bad way to spend a late afternoon/early evening, and, it’s given us another apres option that we’ve definitely needed”.    

To get to the top of the mountain, it’s just a five minute ride from the base on The Gondola, the resort’s newest lift. Initially, the resort had intended to offer free rides to Mountain Aprés guests at 3 pm, but the resort realized that it “added a new layer of complexity to the free Gondola ride offering”, according to Hurlbert. Before 4 pm, a gondola foot passenger ticket can be purchased inside the Balcony House for $29, or, after 4 pm, gondola access is free – no ticket necessary.  Parking in the Village garage is free after 3 pm.

Hurlbert told the Winter Park Times, “The Gondola is a hit! It’s drastically reduced lines at the base on busy weekend mornings and people love riding it. We’ve actually seen a lot more people staying on the Winter Park front side, doing laps on the gondola, rather than making a beeline to the Jane, which was what was happening when we had the old lift. It feels like people are rediscovering and loving venerable Winter Park trails like Balch, Bash, and Mulligan’s, which is kind of cool!”.  

For more information, visit winterparkresort.com.