Trapp Family Lodge/Vacation help

[isaakspacifier]

Has anyone been? Can you give me an idea if it would be a good choice for vacation with Little I and dh?

4-5 days of family fun, yeah right. Last vacation was to NYC and that was painful and a lot of work. So I hope to avoid some of the same, kwim?

Here is what I am looking for.

A place that has good food on demand: as I will be doing NO cooking other than re-heating or snack giving.
Not too busy as Isaak likes to take it easy, meaning very little stroller and travel time.
A place were I can escape for a few hours and relax while dh and Isaak do something.

So any other suggestions would be great too!

TFL website is set up weird and I can't really tell if they let children into the dining room or not. Isaak is very well behaved, but he does have his momments and would hate to be kicked out an eating in our rooms for the rest of the trip if he did something toddler-ish like chuck his chicken at the waterboy kwim?

Thanks ladies!

[JayGee]

It's been 28 years since I've been , but I remember our family vacation there clearly and it was wonderful! Relaxing, beautiful and tons to do locally. Of course, I was 12 at the time, but it was a great vacation ! And 28 years ago, my siblings and I (ages 12, 10 and 7) all ate in the diningroom.

[grnmtnmama]

we took ds there for thanksgiving when he was a babe - great food and there were loads of kids in the dining room.

it's a nice resort and you'll probably have a fantastic time. Another thought would be Smugglers Notch resort on the other side of the mountain.

[sunshinevt]

I live in Stowe and got married at the TFL. It is wonderful up there. Lots of kid friendly things to do around the lodge and in town. If you are traveling over Columbus Day weekend expect a lot of people but also lots of fun activities.

[lucyem]

We went for a Christmas weekend three years ago. Terrible rip off, you are paying for the name. Very expensive. No room service. No food outside of dining hours unless you drive into town. Pool was across the parking lot of slush which no one bothered to shovel. My sister and mom almost fell. I was nursing and had a restricted diet. They soaked every piece of meat in garlic and were not willing to put some plain meat aside for me. So I cannot say how good or not the food really was since I ate a lot of bread. Many kids in the dining room. By the end of our weekend we had had more then enough of the Trapp Family Lodge kitsch. The cost for what we actually got still makes me cringe.

So to be honest I would not go back. I would go find an inn with room service and the ability to walk into a cute town. Not to mention an actual heated pool that did not involve walking outside to get to. FYI they get lots of bad reviews online.

[GiantGi]

We took a quick two day road trip to VT this week. We didnt stay at the lodge but we drove to it. Very beautiful. The entire area is beautiful. We took it easy. Did a tiny bit of shopping. Did alot of relaxing. Like ice cream? Ben and Jerrys factory is in Waterbury. Right down the road.

[nancy926]

If you want to be within walking distance of other things to do, TFL is not a good place....it has a gorgeous view but is up on the mtn with nothing around.

In Stowe, there's the Green Mtn Inn right in town and you can walk to many places from there. There also are a couple of resorts in Stowe that might have deals after leaf peeping but before snow.

Smuggs might also be a good place, but it also is not really close to anything....and I'm not sure what-all there is to do there when there's no skiing.

[Eben'sMama]

I used to live in Stowe and my XH worked at Topnotch Resort. It's pricey, but seves mostly organic food and is beautiful-- I would recommend it. Both Trapp and Topnotch are just a few miles up Mountain Road from town. A great place to eat with kids is Gracie's, or you can pick up awesome organic gourmet food at Harvest Market, which is owned by Jake Burton's wife.