# Year Round Indoor Ski Park Coming to Jersey Next Year?



## Killingtime (Jul 2, 2018)

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2018...h-america-to-open-in-new-jersey-on-march-1st/

The first indoor ski and snowboard park in the Western Hemisphere is set to open on March 1, 2019. The complex known as Big SNOW America at American Dream New Jersey has been under construction for more than a decade. Standing 12-stories tall and spanning more than 180,000 square-feet, Big SNOW America will offer year-round skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing, alongside indoor snow play and event space. 
“Because our center will stay at a consistent temperature and we have the ability to control the humidity of the air, snow quality within the center will be very good,” Hugh Reynolds, VP of marketing and sales for SNOW Operating, told New Jersey Family.


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## KustyTheKlown (Jul 2, 2018)

i assume this is the monstrosity next to giants stadium. its been sitting there for a few years now. i will check it out for the novelty during the offseason at least once.


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## skiur (Jul 2, 2018)

Just search for Xanadu, this is nothing new.


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## cdskier (Jul 2, 2018)

I've been driving by this nightmare for over 10 years.

Fun fact...the ski complex part of this was damaged back in 2011 by SNOW! :lol:


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## ski&soccermom (Jul 2, 2018)

That place is such an eyesore!  Looks like a kid's lego project gone wrong!


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## ski&soccermom (Jul 2, 2018)

Their numbers are pretty optimistic too.  33,000 parking spaces times 365 days/year = 12,045,000 cars if every spot is taken daily.  If 3-4 people are in each car they will just about make their  projection of 40 million visits/year.  So they expect to be at full capacity every day?!?
http://www.americandream.com/location/


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## cdskier (Jul 2, 2018)

ski&soccermom said:


> That place is such an eyesore!  Looks like a kid's lego project gone wrong!



It does look slightly better now as they've redone some of the exterior with less colors.


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## Jully (Jul 2, 2018)

skiur said:


> Just search for Xanadu, this is nothing new.



Did Xanadu ever announce an opening date? It is all just words right now, but potentially words that have not been announced before in terms of this place?


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## cdskier (Jul 2, 2018)

Jully said:


> Did Xanadu ever announce an opening date? It is all just words right now, but potentially words that have not been announced before in terms of this place?



Exact date? No. "Expected completion dates"? Sure...quite a few of them over the years: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, early 2014, fall 2016, second half 2017, and now March 2019.

So I'll put this in the category of "I'll believe it when it actually happens."


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## Killingtime (Jul 2, 2018)

cdskier said:


> I've been driving by this nightmare for over 10 years.
> 
> Fun fact...the ski complex part of this was damaged back in 2011 by SNOW! :lol:



Haha! I just want to know if it will be littered with empty beer cans like Mountain Creek.


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## JimG. (Jul 2, 2018)

Killingtime said:


> Haha! I just want to know if it will be littered with empty beer cans like Mountain Creek.



They could put garbage cans along the liftline.


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## BenedictGomez (Jul 2, 2018)

I cant believe there were never Federal indictments handed out because of this corrupt, tax-payer sucking, monstrosity.


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## Pez (Jul 2, 2018)

Vail will end up buying it! 


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## mriceyman (Jul 3, 2018)

cdskier said:


> It does look slightly better now as they've redone some of the exterior with less colors.



Yes its def better than a couple years ago and work is being done daily


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## benski (Jul 3, 2018)

ski&soccermom said:


> Their numbers are pretty optimistic too.  33,000 parking spaces times 365 days/year = 12,045,000 cars if every spot is taken daily.  If 3-4 people are in each car they will just about make their  projection of 40 million visits/year.  So they expect to be at full capacity every day?!?
> http://www.americandream.com/location/



Its a giant mall, with an indoor water park and theme park next to the 82,500 seat met-life stadium. http://www.americandream.com/entertainment/
They also have a train station, so hopefully people will take public transit.


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## cdskier (Jul 3, 2018)

benski said:


> Its a giant mall, with an indoor water park and theme park next to the 82,500 seat met-life stadium. http://www.americandream.com/entertainment/
> They also have a train station, so hopefully people will take public transit.



Great. A mall that is within 15 minutes of how many other malls? The entertainment is the only thing that really separates them...but I don't see them hitting their projected numbers at all even with a waterpark and ski slope.

What does the stadium have to do with American Dream hitting their projected visits/year numbers? I don't see that many people going to the stadium and potentially adding in a stop at the waterpark or ski slope as part of their tailgating activities. Don't forget that many football games are on Sundays when all the retail options at the mall would need to be closed anyway due to Bergen county's blue laws. So entertainment (and food) would be the only thing open in that mall on a Sunday.

The train station may not be that popular of an option for the mall either. Right now it is only run for events at the stadium and it comes directly from nowhere so it is difficult to predict how popular it would be even if it had a regular schedule. It isn't on any actual major train line. It is a branch line from the Secaucus Junction so most people would have to transfer from somewhere else (Secaucus Junction itself has limited parking since it was originally intended to be mainly just a transfer point between different NJ Transit train lines).

I would predict that those 33K parking spots at American Dream will almost NEVER be completely filled. And they will not make up that difference from people using public transit so I agree with the person that said their numbers are optimistic (and in my mind completely unrealistic in actuality).


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## cdskier (Jul 3, 2018)

To put this projected 40M visits/year number in perspective...

Disney World (17M), Disney Land (14.7M), and Universal Studios Florida (6.2M) combined only have ~38M visits a year.

The largest mall in NJ (Garden State Plaza) has around 20M visits a year.

So they think that this new mall/entertainment venue will somehow pull in more visitors a year than the current most popular mall in NJ and Disney World combined?


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## Smellytele (Jul 3, 2018)

Malls are dying. At least in NH they are. Everywhere they seem to be building the clusters of stores (kind of fancy plazas)


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## mbedle (Jul 3, 2018)

cdskier said:


> To put this projected 40M visits/year number in perspective...
> 
> Disney World (17M), Disney Land (14.7M), and Universal Studios Florida (6.2M) combined only have ~38M visits a year.
> 
> ...



This will be a little different than other malls in a sense that 55% will be dedicated to entertainment and food. As far as the number of visits, their other malls pull in 30 to 40 million visits a year. As far as parking, you can't just look at the total number of spaces available. A single parking space at a mall may be used by multiple visitors. Most people do not hang at the mall from opening to closing.


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## RichT (Jul 3, 2018)

Also! 12 stories is only 120 feet, a LOT of chairlift time.


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## Smellytele (Jul 3, 2018)

RichT said:


> Also! 12 stories is only 120 feet, a LOT of chairlift time.



Does it spiral down those 12 stories?


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## cdskier (Jul 3, 2018)

mbedle said:


> This will be a little different than other malls in a sense that 55% will be dedicated to entertainment and food. As far as the number of visits, their other malls pull in 30 to 40 million visits a year. As far as parking, you can't just look at the total number of spaces available. A single parking space at a mall may be used by multiple visitors. Most people do not hang at the mall from opening to closing.



How much competition does Mall of America have around it vs the amount of competition in NJ for both retail and entertainment? And I already mentioned that it is different than simply a traditional mall and that's why I added in entertainment-related comparisons as well.


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## cdskier (Jul 3, 2018)

Smellytele said:


> Does it spiral down those 12 stories?



No, but based on one of the renderings on their website it will have moguls on part of it!

Any bets on how much they will charge for the excitement of skiing an 800' long trail covering less than 200' of vertical?


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## Killingtime (Jul 3, 2018)

cdskier said:


> Any bets on how much they will charge for the excitement of skiing an 800' long trail covering less than 200' of vertical?



Powder Ridge in CT charges $24 to ski down their plastic Astra-turf material. I would guess this has to be more. $50?


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## Domeskier (Jul 3, 2018)

Killingtime said:


> Powder Ridge in CT charges $24 to ski down their plastic Astra-turf material. I would guess this has to be more. $50?


That would be my guess, too.  For a 4 hour session, probably.  Which I'd be more than willing to pay if they seed some moguls.  If they don't, I'll probably pass.


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## skiur (Jul 3, 2018)

If it ever opens I would have to go at least once for the novelty of it. I think 4 hours would be a bit long though, 200 very would get boring quick enough with or without bumps.  Would be kinda nice during a week like this when it is 95+ out to cool off while making some turns in July.


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## Domeskier (Jul 3, 2018)

skiur said:


> I think 4 hours would be a bit long though, 200 very would get boring quick enough with or without bumps.



For me, 4 hours of dome-skiing felt long without bumps.  With bumps, it felt too short.  I might be atypical, but I hope not so much so that they don't see a demand for moguls there.


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## BenedictGomez (Jul 3, 2018)

cdskier said:


> *they think that this new mall/entertainment venue will somehow pull in more visitors a year than the current most popular mall in NJ and Disney World combined?*



Of COURSE they dont.   They just needed to SAY that to make the numbers work to get the corrupt thing built & opened. 

 This entire thing was a massive scam from the start, taking place (of course) in one of the most politically crooked states in America.


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## benski (Jul 3, 2018)

BenedictGomez said:


> Of COURSE they dont.   They just needed to SAY that to make the numbers work to get the corrupt thing built & opened.
> 
> This entire thing was a massive scam from the start, taking place (of course) in one of the most politically crooked states in America.



Is it publicly funded? I feel like putting the worlds ugliest building on the side of a busy highway is a great way to kill support. 

As with the parking, I think the stadium and the mall share a parking lot and the mall will close for games, otherwise what a waist. I think the mall will suck up a lot off there air from other nearby malls and possibly close some of them but I don’t know much about those malls.


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## mbedle (Jul 3, 2018)

cdskier said:


> How much competition does Mall of America have around it vs the amount of competition in NJ for both retail and entertainment? And I already mentioned that it is different than simply a traditional mall and that's why I added in entertainment-related comparisons as well.



I don't think it is reasonable to compare this place to places like Disney Land or the  Garden State Plaza. People go to Disney Land for only entertainment and people go to the Garden State Plaza to basically only shop. People are going to go to this place to visit a doctor in urgent care, workout, go to the spa, see a movie, ride a roller coster, ski, ice skate, swim, attend a work convention, stay at the hotel for the football game, shop, go out to dinner, see a concert, etc. It's for that reason that I don't think the projected numbers are unreachable.  I did read that they are actually building a second one down in Miami.


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## mbedle (Jul 3, 2018)

Also, I forgot to add go to the aquarium, bowling, ride the largest Farris wheel in north American and take a vacation (believe or not!!!).


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## cdskier (Jul 3, 2018)

mbedle said:


> I don't think it is reasonable to compare this place to places like Disney Land or the  Garden State Plaza. People go to Disney Land for only entertainment and people go to the Garden State Plaza to basically only shop. People are going to go to this place to visit a doctor in urgent care, workout, go to the spa, see a movie, ride a roller coster, ski, ice skate, swim, attend a work convention, stay at the hotel for the football game, shop, go out to dinner, see a concert, etc. It's for that reason that I don't think the projected numbers are unreachable.  I did read that they are actually building a second one down in Miami.



I didn't compare them directly. In a sense to hit the numbers they project they would need to be the #1 draw in this area for each of those items that you mentioned. It makes 0 logical sense that that would ever happen. Just because you put a bunch of different things all under one roof doesn't mean the new collective entity is going to be more popular than all the individual pieces combined. This is an over-saturated market already. It really seems like they realized they had no chance of hitting the original numbers so just started throwing tons of random ideas out there hoping that a few of them would be successful in bringing in people.



benski said:


> Is it publicly funded? I feel like putting the worlds ugliest building on the side of a busy highway is a great way to kill support.
> 
> As with the parking, I think the stadium and the mall share a parking lot and the mall will close for games, otherwise what a waist. I think the mall will suck up a lot off there air from other nearby malls and possibly close some of them but I don’t know much about those malls.



It is built on state-owned land and received considerable amount of public assistance (hundreds of millions in tax breaks, over a billion in government bonds, etc). One of the major political advocates for it was also found guilty of federal bribery and fraud charges in 2015 (although the one charge directly related to the project itself he wasn't convicted of, but should have been).

Not sure how you can say you think it will suck people away from other nearby malls and close some of them when you admit that you know nothing about them. The retail portion of American Dream is targeting a luxury high-end experience. (Even the renderings on their website show people walking around dressed in suits and dresses and all sorts of high-end designer clothes). That doesn't fit the demographic of people that shop at most of the other malls in this area.  I also don't see the target demographic for American Dream saying "Let's dress up and go out to that place in the swamplands of Jersey tonight."


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## 2planks2coasts (Jul 5, 2018)

cdskier said:


> I didn't compare them directly. In a sense to hit the numbers they project they would need to be the #1 draw in this area for each of those items that you mentioned. It makes 0 logical sense that that would ever happen. Just because you put a bunch of different things all under one roof doesn't mean the new collective entity is going to be more popular than all the individual pieces combined. This is an over-saturated market already. It really seems like they realized they had no chance of hitting the original numbers so just started throwing tons of random ideas out there hoping that a few of them would be successful in bringing in people.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Every mall markets themselves as upscale. Kind of like midwestern casinos. The brochures are all girls in party dresses clearly having fun. The reality is senior citizens feeding their social security check  and trailer rent into a slot machine.  All the NJ malls think that having a Mont Blanc pen store makes them luxury destinations, while in reality, they're a waiting area for a grotty seated multiplex and a Panda Express. 

I doubt American Dream (nee Xanadu) will be any different. I'll go check it out for a summer one-off, but as has been pointed out in other threads, it's 13 miles from 274 vertical foot Campgaw, which while hilariously tiny and very Jersey, is at least built on a real hill.   OTOH, it might very well be a good place for never evers to learn to ski.


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## nycskier (Jul 5, 2018)

I taught my kids to ski at Campgaw and that's probably who this indoor ski resort is for. I wish this was around a few years ago because by the time it opens my kids will be 5 and 7 years old they both might be too good of a skier for this place. But for them to get a few turns in and practice their skills in the summer this would be great and I definitely plan on taking them there next year after ski season is over.


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## BenedictGomez (Jul 6, 2018)

cdskier said:


> *I also don't see the target demographic for American Dream saying "Let's dress up and go out to that place in the swamplands of Jersey tonight."*



In East Rutherford.  Not happening.  People from the parts of NJ with money are not getting in their cars and driving to the Meadowlands to go to a giant, ugly, mall.  Ferris wheel or not.


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## Domeskier (Jul 6, 2018)

2planks2coasts said:


> Every mall markets themselves as upscale. Kind of like midwestern casinos. The brochures are all girls in party dresses clearly having fun. The reality is senior citizens feeding their social security check  and trailer rent into a slot machine.  All the NJ malls think that having a Mont Blanc pen store makes them luxury destinations, while in reality, they're a waiting area for a grotty seated multiplex and a Panda Express.



Agreed.  A 2015 press release announced the following retail tenants: Aritzia, Banana Republic, Gap, Lululemon, MAC, Microsoft, Pink, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret and Zara.  Another announced a Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH.  In 2016, they announced a 60,000 sqft Century 21.  Although there was also mention of an 8,000 sqft Hermes (which in 2015 was planning to relocate from Riverside Square in Hackensack) and a Saks Fifth Avenue, this is not going to be primarily a luxury retail or dining destination.  Unless they've changed plans.  In which case I case I'll have to wear my formal ski attire to the dome:


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## BenedictGomez (Jul 6, 2018)

All I know is Nieman Marcus, Mikimoto, and Morton's wont thrive with a Lids, Nike, and Johnny Rockets crowd, so they best go with the latter.


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## Funky_Catskills (Jul 9, 2018)

BenedictGomez said:


> Johnny Rockets crowd




heheheheh


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## HowieT2 (Jul 10, 2018)

couple of thoughts.
I haven't seen it lately but it was one of the ugliest buildings I have ever had the misfortune of setting my eyes upon.
I had read some time ago that there was to be a Cabela's there.  Not sure if this is still true.
While there are many other "malls" to compete with in northern NJ, none of them are readily accessible via public transportation from NYC.  That's obviously a big market and there really isn't an entertainment alternative other than maybe coney island in the summer and while that is technically in NYC, east rutherford is easier to get to for most NYC residents.
I have no idea whether they will make their projections (and really, that is the owners problem), but it will be "cool" to have an indoor year round ski hill in the area.  how awesome would it be to teach kids how to ski in a climate controlled environment with perfect snow day in and day out.  you could actually have a kids birthday party there.  My biggest fear is that it will be too crowded. But this could be a boost to the ski industry in general by opening up the sport to many who otherwise wouldnt give it a try.


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## cdskier (Jul 10, 2018)

HowieT2 said:


> couple of thoughts.
> I haven't seen it lately but it was one of the ugliest buildings I have ever had the misfortune of setting my eyes upon.
> I had read some time ago that there was to be a Cabela's there.  Not sure if this is still true.
> While there are many other "malls" to compete with in northern NJ, none of them are readily accessible via public transportation from NYC.  That's obviously a big market and there really isn't an entertainment alternative other than maybe coney island in the summer and while that is technically in NYC, east rutherford is easier to get to for most NYC residents.
> I have no idea whether they will make their projections (and really, that is the owners problem), but it will be "cool" to have an indoor year round ski hill in the area.  how awesome would it be to teach kids how to ski in a climate controlled environment with perfect snow day in and day out.  you could actually have a kids birthday party there.  My biggest fear is that it will be too crowded. But this could be a boost to the ski industry in general by opening up the sport to many who otherwise wouldnt give it a try.



Thankfully they've redone the exterior and it is no longer the ugliest thing in the world.

Cabela's pulled out several years ago after one of the many delays.

Garden State Plaza and Willowbrook malls in NJ can be readily accessed via NJ Transit buses from Port Authority in NYC. Maybe others can be too, but I know both of those are definitely easy to get to via public transit from NYC. For entertainment this may be a closer option for NYC people than anything else though.

For the ski area, my biggest fear wouldn't be crowding (other than maybe initially when it first opens before the fad wears off), but it would be that they over-price it.


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## Funky_Catskills (Jul 10, 2018)

They should put a big Bass Pro Shop in that place...   When the ski area goes broke put a kayak/trout stream in there...


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## JimG. (Jul 10, 2018)

Funky_Catskills said:


> They should put a big Bass Pro Shop in that place...   When the ski area goes broke put a kayak/trout stream in there...



Pretty sure Cabelas bought out Bass Pro Shops in the past 2 years or so.


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## Funky_Catskills (Jul 10, 2018)

JimG. said:


> Pretty sure Cabelas bought out Bass Pro Shops in the past 2 years or so.



Cool...   I only said that because of the huge one in Memphis - seems to be a draw..


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## cdskier (Jul 10, 2018)

JimG. said:


> Pretty sure Cabelas bought out Bass Pro Shops in the past 2 years or so.



Other way around. Although apparently it seems they still plan to keep both brands operating.


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## Domeskier (Jul 11, 2018)

Funky_Catskills said:


> Cool...   I only said that because of the huge one in Memphis - seems to be a draw..



They've got indoor fishing at Bass Pro Shops?  Nice.  All outdoor activities at 10x better when you can do them indoors.


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## Funky_Catskills (Jul 11, 2018)

Domeskier said:


> They've got indoor fishing at Bass Pro Shops?  Nice.  All outdoor activities at 10x better when you can do them indoors.



Not my thing - but it's a money maker...


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## ThinkSnow (Jul 11, 2018)

There's skiing in NJ?!?


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## mbedle (Jul 11, 2018)

thinksnow said:


> there's skiing in nj?!?



lol


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## BenedictGomez (Jul 11, 2018)

cdskier said:


> *Other way around.* Although apparently it seems they still plan to keep both brands operating.



Which is a shame, because Cabela's >>>> Bass Pro Shops.


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## ERJ-145CA (Aug 31, 2018)

ThinkSnow said:


> There's skiing in NJ?!?


I have a 1000' vertical, 46 trail ski area 10 minutes from my house in Jersey.

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## ThinkSnow (Aug 31, 2018)

ThinkSnow said:


> There's skiing in NJ?!?



Rhetorical question


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## ss20 (Aug 31, 2018)

ERJ-145CA said:


> I have a 1000' vertical, 46 trail ski area 10 minutes from my house in Jersey.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using AlpineZone mobile app



I went to Mountain Creek for the first time last season...I'm not gonna say it was "surprisingly good" but as far as 1,000 vertical feet goes it skied much much much larger than I'd ever expected.  Is it always all groomed?


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## cdskier (Aug 31, 2018)

ss20 said:


> I went to Mountain Creek for the first time last season...I'm not gonna say it was "surprisingly good" but as far as 1,000 vertical feet goes it skied much much much larger than I'd ever expected.  Is it always all groomed?



Interesting...I had the exact opposite experience last time I was there. I skied there quite a bit when I was in HS. Then a few years after college I went back and thought the vertical felt more like 500ft and vowed to not waste my time again. I was also turned off by the fact that south had become one giant terrain park as that was always one of my favorite areas of the mountain.


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## Killingtime (Aug 31, 2018)

cdskier said:


> Interesting...I had the exact opposite experience last time I was there. I skied there quite a bit when I was in HS. Then a few years after college I went back and thought the vertical felt more like 500ft and vowed to not waste my time again. I was also turned off by the fact that south had become one giant terrain park as that was always one of my favorite areas of the mountain.



I went for the first time last year too. I thought it was better than its reputation and I actually kind of enjoyed the south side but I can see your point. The only annoyances were the large groups of people sitting in the middle of the trails. It seemed to be everywhere. Usually not a problem, I just go around them, but the trails there are narrow. And what's up with that bucket Cabriolet gondola thing? I felt like I was back on the NYC subway at rush hour. I'll Probably spend the extra time and go to the Catskills unless I can get free tickets again.


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## ERJ-145CA (Aug 31, 2018)

ss20 said:


> I went to Mountain Creek for the first time last season...I'm not gonna say it was "surprisingly good" but as far as 1,000 vertical feet goes it skied much much much larger than I'd ever expected.  Is it always all groomed?


It's usually all groomed,  I think that's just because of the Jersey weather.  I've seen them let a few trails bump up when we get some good natural snowfall and it stays cold. 

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## nycskier (Sep 15, 2018)

If you live in NYC area New Jersey is a great place to teach your kids to ski. Campgaw in Mahwah, NJ is 45 minute drive from Manhattan. If you have little kids its the perfect place to take them for a day trip to teach them how to ski. Same goes for Mountain Creek. It's a 1 hour drive. We can leave NYC as late as 9am and be on the slopes skiing by 11am.  Kids under 7 can ski for free and you can buy their triple play cards for under $80. Even their season passes run about $200. I skied there a lot last season with my 6 year old son and we had a blast bopping around the mountain. Going from Vernon Peak to the base of Bear is a big adventure for a little kid. We even saw a black bear when we were going up the Sojorn Double. My favorite Mountain Creek story is that I went there with my 6 year old and 72 year old father-in-law. Both the 6 year old and the 72 year old skied for free and I used one of my triple play tickets. So all 3 of us skied for a grand total of $26. Gas and tolls on the GWB probably cost us more. 

As for the ski dome this will be a great place to take kids to learn to ski and to practice before the season starts. Being able to take them there in the summer and fall to get them ready for ski season will only insure a better time when we finally get to the mountain. I fully expect to be there a lot with the kids when the place finally opens.


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## jg17 (Sep 16, 2018)

Killingtime said:


> I went for the first time last year too. I thought it was better than its reputation and I actually kind of enjoyed the south side but I can see your point. The only annoyances were the large groups of people sitting in the middle of the trails. It seemed to be everywhere. Usually not a problem, I just go around them, but the trails there are narrow. And what's up with that bucket Cabriolet gondola thing? I felt like I was back on the NYC subway at rush hour. I'll Probably spend the extra time and go to the Catskills unless I can get free tickets again.



Ha, it's always great hearing people's (mixed) reactions to the Cab. As a former MC lifty, I can definitely say that it's incredibly efficient moving lots of people up the mountain quickly. It just about never stops, doesn't need to slow down for misloads/patrol with sleds/etc. The biggest issue is that the cabs catch the wind pretty well, so it's not uncommon to need to slow it down in higher winds or put it on hold and switch to the triple... That said, in a normal day of operation, the ability to pretty much continuously move 8 people up the mountain every 10 seconds really helps keep the lines moving quickly. A lot of people like to complain about it (I've heard the name "Crappy Ole" thrown around quite a bit) and being packed in with 7 strangers and needing to take your skis off, but it's definitely a much more efficient day to day workhorse than the triple. Considering that the cab runs essentially year-round, I think it's definitely proven its worth in the past 20 years.


I'm wondering what the crowds at Big SNOW will be like during the winter. It will be interesting to truly see what the market is for people that want to try skiing, but don't like the outdoor weather and would be more willing to try in the indoor environment. I think Big SNOW will be a great beginner area, and I wonder how that will affect MC's market for beginners and families (I guess we'll really see in the 2019-20 season). MC has been doing a lot over the past few years to market themselves more as a family friendly mountain, and I imagine that a lot of those ideas will carry over to Big SNOW with having the same operators. While I can't see myself going there in the winter, I'm sure I'll check it out sometime in the off-season (both for novelty and to satisfy those mid-summer cravings...)


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## bdfreetuna (Sep 17, 2018)

This should thin out the parking lot at Pico substantially...  :lol:


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## slatham (Sep 17, 2018)

jg17, thanks for the insight. I never thought about the practical efficiencies of the cab. And as I think about the number of novices and partiers that frequent MC I think the familiarity of walking onto and off the lift must help. I always hated the thing, but I can appreciate it's efficiency.


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## Bostonian (Apr 19, 2019)

Bump.  

Looks like it is opening this summer. 

https://nj1015.com/american-dream-now-scheduled-to-open-in-the-summer/

if it does open this summer  it means approximately 173 vertical of manmade snow.  I’ll certainly go once a month to ski it from mass when visiting my inlaws in NJ


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## cdskier (Apr 19, 2019)

Bostonian said:


> Bump.
> 
> Looks like it is opening this summer.
> 
> ...



That's about the 3rd time this year alone that the opening date was pushed back, so I'll believe it when it actually happens. Also heard it will open in stages and not sure if the ski slope will be in the first stage or not.

I can't wait to see what they charge for the pleasure of going to this cluster-fuck. I noticed in the article that they hint they will charge for parking too. Sounds wonderful!


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## cdskier (May 21, 2019)

FWIW, it was announced the opening of this was pushed back AGAIN (now a partial opening in Fall 2019, but no specifics on what parts of the mall are in that first opening phase).


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## Domeskier (May 21, 2019)

cdskier said:


> FWIW, it was announced the opening of this was pushed back AGAIN (now a partial opening in Fall 2019, but no specifics on what parts of the mall are in that first opening phase).



Forget domeskiing, there's going to be bunny rabbit fields!

https://www.nj.com/bergen/2019/05/american-dream-opening-delayed-again-but-now-there-will-be-birds-bunnies-and-instagram-moments.html


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## BenedictGomez (May 21, 2019)

I dont care, I avoid that part of Jersey like it's Ebola.


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