Cheap Flights to Denver and Winter Park, CO

Southwest Airlines is doing another Click-n-Save sale until April 5th, with some pretty decent fares to Denver, including some as low as $65 each way. The sale fares are good for travel dates starting April 17, making it perfect for those of you who want to come to Winter Park’s famous Spring Splash celebration on closing day weekend (April 20-22).

Catch a few more runs before the lifts close! We just got snow today and April receives an average snowfall of 35 inches each year (we got 70 two winters ago). Take a look at our list of flight deals to Denver, below, and if you don’t see your city listed, just go to www.airfarewatchdog.com to find your fares.

April Airfare Deals as of 4/3/12:

Be sure to check with WPLCo for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park, CO for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

photo by Scott Hefel

Ski April for $99 at Winter Park Resort

Winter Park Resort is offering an end of season ski pass from April 9th till end of ski season for $99.  Now that is a screaming deal.

Planned closing of Winter Park and Mary Jane Ski Resort is April 22nd this year (and don’t forget Winter Park Spring Splash is that day).  So for $99 you can ski 13 days at a total price of $7.62 per day.  Now that is a grand ski bargain price.

Check out the Last Blast Pass on the Winter Park Resort website.

Last Blast Pass valid for all-day lift access April, 9-22, 2012. No blackout dates, photo pass, non-transferable. Advance purchase 48 hours in advance of first day of use required.

ADDED BENEFIT: Free garage season pass with purchase of Last Blast Pass, good from date of purchase through 4/22. Show purchase receipt at the parking hut to redeem.

Weather has been very warm this ski season and the skiing should be classic blue sky mashed potato turns through April 22.  Winter Park Resort Lodging is at the best price of the year now and it is a great time to be on the slopes of Winter Park and Mary Jane.

If you are wanting to get the last turns of the year in with great weather the Last Blast Pass is a perfect way to get on the slopes and not break the bank.

Here is to spring skiing at Winter Park and Mary Jane!

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Cheap Flights to Denver and Winter Park, CO

Want to fly to Denver cheap? We’re here to help. Southwest is celebrating Leap Year with a 3 day sale through March 1st. Book a flight by 11:59 Pacific time to get deals starting at $69 one way to Denver. Plus, we found some more excellent bargains, including a flight from Oklahoma City for $119 RT, a flight from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for $120 RT and one from Billingham, Washinton for $180 RT. To get in on these and other deals, just click on the fares next to each city below, or go to www.airfarewatchdog.com to search for a flight from your city.

March Airfare Deals as of 2/29/12:

Be sure to check with WPLCo for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park, CO for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Cat Skiing in Winter Park, CO

Who out there is a skiing junky? We have the fix for you powder junky.  Powder Addiction Backcountry Cat Skiing is the skiing drug you are looking for.  Powder Addiction operates on Jones Pass on the East side of Berthoud Pass and runs daily snowcat skiing trips.

Powder Addiction offers guided snowcat skiing and riding for the powder addict. The terrain consist of high alpine bowls, gladed meadows, rock bands, open chutes and gullies. The high altitude combined with good Northern exposure keeps the snow cold and light. Operating in the Jones Pass area with an operating permit of 2,600 acres, there is the powder, vertical and adventure for an epic powder experience. Holding true to powder addiction trips are run seven days a week.

All Powder Addiction cat ski trips include transportation to and from the Village at Winter Park, powder demo skis, safety gear, lunch, and 2 free beers at the end of the day, compliments of Steamworks Brewery.

The above was a trip of Winter Park locals and a couple of Winter Park Lodging Company staffers playing a day of hooky.  It was a little windy for the ski trip but boy was there some fantastic un-skied powder.  The guides at Powder Addition know how to get un-skied fresh powder shots while offering a safe and fun trip.  In the video above you can see the small avalanche that went before our ski crew hit that slope.

If you have any inclination to do any backcountry skiing you should look into a cat trip with PA.  An amazing ski will be had and it is such a different skiing experience than can be a had at Winter Park/Mary Jane ski resort.

Looking for lodging and a deal on your Powder Addiction trip? Make sure to book your Winter Park ski lodging with Winter Park Lodging Company.  And also book your Powder Addiction trip with WPLCo to get the best deal through our EasySki concierge service.

Check out the Powder Addiction website to get the lowdown.

Cheap Flights to Denver and Winter Park, CO

We want to get you on the ski hills for cheap, cheap, cheap.  We try to get you the best deal on lodging and with Winter Park Lodging Company’s EasySki service you get the most convenient, lowest prices on everything from lift tickets to ski rentals and ground transport from Denver International Airport.  There are a couple things we can not control and that is airline flight costs and gas prices.  But in our attempt to keep it cheep cheap cheap we bring you the monthly airfare watchdog with the best deals to DIA from around the country.

Winter Park/Mary Jane is the closest destination resort to DIA.  With traffic clogging the Eisenhower Tunnel every weekend it will be a wise decision to get off of I-70 before the traffic gets bad and head over to Winter Park.

Check out the airfare watchdog for you deal to Winter Park, Colorado.

February Flight Deals as of 1/31/2012:

Be sure to check with WPLCo for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park, CO for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Discounts with the Winter Park Key Card

Your Key Card is the only card you will need to access rewards, savings, discounts and ongoing promotions in Winter Park & The Fraser Valley. Make sure you use your Key Card every time you stay, shop, dine or do an activity at participating merchants. You will will earn points and rewards every time you make a purchase and then you may redeem those points back with us. And the best part, its FREE!

Get your Winter Park & Fraser Key Card.

If you take your card to the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, they will put $10 on it to use at any of those 50 businesses for a limited time so get over there and get your $10.

Participating  Winter Park and Fraser Valley Businesses include:

Alpine Sun Ski & Sport

Arapaho Chiropractic Center

B’Jammin

Beaver Village Lodge

Best Western / Alpenglo Lodge

Blue Sky Massage

Columbia Store at Winter Park Resort

Colorado Adventure Park

Deno’s Mountain Bistro

Earth Rocks

The Eatery at Beaver Village

Epic Mountain Sports – Both Locations

Fontenot’s Fresh Seafood & Grill

Granby Ranch 8350 (Members Private Club)

Grand Sports Shop

Hernando’s Pizza & Pasta Pub

Icebox Liquors

Imaginations

Kopy Kat Office

Moose Hollow Trading Company

Olympia Lodge

Pizza Pedal’r

Powder Addiction

Rocky Mountain Chalet

Seven Sisters

Seven Trails Restaurant at SolVista Basin

Ski4Less – All 4 Locations

Ski Broker

SolVista Basin Retail & Bike Shop

SolVista Basin Cafeteria

SolVista Basin Ski Rentals & Ticket Sales

Spectrum Home Services

The Salon at Winter Park

The Sun Piper

The Viking Lodge & Ski Shop

Trails End Mercantile

Wild Horse Inn

Winter Park Chateau

Winter Park Lodging Company

Winter Park Market

Get your card and start saving now!

Confessions of an airline baggage thrower will provide some interesting insights on the best types of luggage and more tidbits on getting your baggage to arrive on time. And do you know your flying “rights,” or if you even have any? When it comes to canceled or delayed flights, being bumped from a flight or taxi delays on the runway, you’ll want to read this article to understand what (if anything) you can do.  Finally, it’s official. American Airlines has filed for bankruptcy. Would you book with them still? Vote on Airfarewatchdog.com’s Facebook page and learn more about how it may affect your travel plans.

Regarding flight deals, it seems that the flights have gone up since our last airfare deal alert in November, but we scrounged to find the best values available for airfare to Denver. As much as possible, we’re featuring flights on Southwest to help with your costs, since they are awesome and don’t charge for checked baggage. Plus, Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating, giving you more flexibility when boarding. Happy holidays and travels, and don’t forget you can check for cheap airfares to Denver or any other city in the world on www.airfarewatchdog.com.

December’s Flight Deals as of 12/1/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Also in this month’s airfare deal alert, get the scoop on the airfare hikes predicted for this ski season. Reports that high demand for holiday seats, combined with low availability, means fares for these heavy travel periods are bound to go up, soon. See MSNBC’s full video report.

November’s Flight Deals as of 11/2/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Baggage Basics: Also in this month’s airfare deal alert, learn which airlines don’t charge an arm and a leg for you to bring your luggage. For example, my favorite airline right now is Southwest, because not only can you bring two checked bags for free, you can make a flight change without paying a fee. To see Airfare Watchdog’s comprehensive list of all the airlines’ baggage fees, click here.

October’s Flight Deals as of 10/4/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Lift Ticket Lessons!

Use our EasySki service.  This ski season, guests of Winter Park Lodging Company will be greatly rewarded with convenience and low lift ticket prices (among other items) when they use our new EasySki service.  We are taking the reigns for our guests and pre-booking lift tickets from $49 to $65 each.  The catch is that you have to ski three days or more. If you only want to ski one or two days, see below in lift ticket coupons section.

Buy Early. Oftentimes, if you plan plenty of time in advance, you will save on your lift ticket costs. For example, with EasySki, lift tickets are the very cheapest before October 31st. Also, Winter Park sells their season passes at a really low price before the ski season. The earlier you buy, the cheaper the season pass. They become available in May for the upcoming winter and the price slowly creeps up through the summer and fall.  Usually skiing skiing days or more with a season pass costs less than the cost buying single lift tickets. Don’t wait until after the ski season starts, though, that’s when season prices go really high, usually over $1000 each.

Teenager Trick: If you have a teenage child between the age of 13 to 17 years old, you can get him/her a season pass for less than the cost of an adult season pass, then use the ten $69 lift ticket coupons that come with it. The adult season passes also come with the ten $69 coupons, so even if you don’t have a teenager in your family, you can still save with an adult season pass & the discount coup0ns.

Coupons: If you only plan to ski four days or less, there are other ways to save.  Coupon books area available in Denver and other Front Range grocery stores – King Soopers, Safeway or City Market. At their customer service desks you can purchase the EBook or GoldC Book, which has a variety of coupons for lift tickets at Winter Park Resort and other ski areas. The cost is $10 each and the coupons are for lift tickets for $63 to $72 instead of the $92+ price at the lift ticket window at the ski resort.

Four Pass: If you are a Colorado resident, you are probably already aware of the Four Pass, a four-day lift pass for $159. The catch is that you have to get your photo taken to get the pass, which means you have to be physically present at a Colorado vendor to purchase the Four Pass.

Gear Facts: Ski/Snowboard Equipment

If you own: Check out the option to ship your skis and bulky items instead of bringing it all on the plane. You’ll spend less to ship usually, with airlines charging as much as $100 for each oversize baggage item. Maybe consider shipping just your boots, and renting your skis and poles or snowboard.

Renting: Book your rental gear early. If you don’t own your own equipment and will be renting your gear,  it pays to book online in advance rather than paying the walk-in rates, sometimes as much as 40% less.

EasySki service: not only saves our guests money on ski and board rentals (up to 40% less than walk-in rates), it also saves you time and energy. With EasySki, you have the option to get free custom delivery with Winter Park Resort Rentals, with a custom boot fitting right in the comfort of your vacation rental, plus an express ticket to pick up your skis on the way to the lift.  Or get a basic ski rental package with Epic Mountain Sports for $18/day, plus tax. We’ll book it all for you!

What to Wear & Ways to Save

Savvy Savings on Clothing: if you live in Florida, chances are you don’t own an appropriate winter coat or ski pants. Or maybe you have kids that are growing so fast that it’s just not feasible to buy them a new coat and pants each winter. For these situations, it’s sometimes better to rent your winter clothing. I know that Ski Broker in Fraser has lots of coats, pants and other clothing items for rent from $10 to $25 per day.

Be Thrifty – get your ski gear at a consignment shop, or get your kids’ winter coats at a thrift store.  There’s no better place to get second-hand clothing and gear than in a ski town, so maybe you can wait until you get to Winter Park then shop at one of our local thrift stores. If you don’t find just what you need, then check out the clothing rentals at the ski shops.

Tips on Transportation

Drive with Your Gear instead of Flying with Fees: Sometimes taking a little more time to get to your destination can not only be a fun adventure, it can be a great way to save lots of money. Nowadays when you fly, you’re not just paying for your flight. You’re also paying for transportation from the airport to Winter Park, you’re paying for your in-flight meals, you’re paying for the privilege of checking and even carrying on bags and you’re paying even more to fly with your oversize and overweight ski and snowboard equipment.

If you Gotta fly: Sometimes it just isn’t realistic to drive, so you just gotta fly. If you do have to fly, think of creative ways to reduce the costs of traveling on a flight.

Use the free ski shuttle to get from your lodging to the ski area. Sometimes taking an airport shuttle from the airport then walking around or using the free shuttle will cost you less than renting a car, plus you have to consider the cost of gas, the risk of driving in a winter environment you’re not accustomed to. Plus it can be a lot of fun to learn about the area by getting on a shuttle and checking out areas you wouldn’t otherwise see if you were always just driving directly to and from the ski area. Shuttles also mean you can skip the hassle of parking in a huge ski area parking lot and lugging your gear around very far, since they drop you off right in the Village.

Pack Light! Really, less is more. Less to pay in baggage fees, less to lug around, less to keep track of. You can really economize your luggage by re-wearing your under layers like your underarmor wicking  gear, for example. Staying at a vacation rental with a private or even shared washer and dryer can really help. One bag really can get you by. It pays to invest in a scale to weigh your luggage to avoid fees for exceeding weight limits. Also, invest in organizing compartments for your luggage that maximize the space in your suitcases. If you can get all of your items in a carry-on, even better! You can ship your bulky coats, boots and skis or other oversize or bulky items that take a lot of space.

Learn Your Airline ABCs: Fly with airlines such as WestJet or Southwest airlines that allow two free carry on bags. Southwest even allows you to change your flight at no charge, you just pay the fare difference, if any.

More Airfare Tips:  Check fares at nearby airports instead of just the closest one to you. Sometimes driving an extra hour to the airport can save you lots of money. Use cheap airfare alerts that go directly to your inbox when a discounted flight you’re interested in becomes available. My favorite is Airfarewatchdog.com, which I use every month for our monthly airfare deals alert. Pack a lunch or dinner for you flight instead of paying for the weird airline food. Finally, maybe you can book your flights with a credit card that waives baggage fees, like the Contintental OnePass Master Card.

Food and Dining

Shop for Groceries in Denver -  as much  as I like to promote buying local to support our local economy, if you really need to eat on a shoestring, go to a grocery store in Denver on your way to Winter Park. This option is really only viable if you have your own car, though, since the airport shuttles do not make any stops on the way.

Eat in – it really helps to eat like you normally eat while on vacation, then splurging on just one or two dinners. When you stay in a vacation rental instead of a hotel, you can really take advantage of using the fully equipped kitchens to prepare at-home dinners and lunches. All of our vacation rentals have kitchens and usually have basic staples like spices, coffee filters, condiments and non-perishable items there for you to use (left by previous guests or the owners.  I recommend checking out what’s at your vacation rental before going to the grocery store for your menu items or just getting your meats, fresh veggies and fruits at the grocery store on the way to Winter Park.

Pack Lunch. Instead of paying the ridiculous prices at the base for lunch, pack a lunch and store it in a $1 locker until you’re ready for your lunch break. Maybe you can even pack it in a small backpack, come down to get it, then ride the lift to meet the family at the Lodge at Sunspot or Snoasis for lunch. If you’re staying at the base, you can eat in for lunch in the comfort of your own condo, see more below.

VIP Discount Card – for the occasions that you do want to eat out, use our VIP Discount Card to save at restaurants. More details to come, but click here for a sneak-peak.

Lodging

Staying ski-in/ski-out – It may seem counter-intuitive because the cost of ski-in/ski-out lodging is higher than non-ski-in/ski-out, but think about the trade-offs. First of all, it’s just so convenient. Also, it can completely eliminate the need for your own car, so you can cross out a car rental and gas expenses. Staying at Zephyr Mountain Lodge, Fraser Crossing and Founder’s Pointe comes with the benefit of using their private shuttle to get to downtown Winter Park or Fraser, plus the free ski shuttle is available to you as well.  Another budget benefit to staying at the base is relative to your food costs. You can come down for lunch in the comfort of your own kitchen and dining room instead of eating at the expensive ski area eateries.

Activities & Other Expenses

Check out our list of Free and Cheap Kids’ Activities.  There are many activities that will entertain the kids that don’t require you spend a lot of money. Think out of the box!

VIP Discount Card for Winter Park Lodging Company guests has deals that no other lodging company can offer. Save on sleigh rides, dining and lots of other activities in Winter Park and the Fraser Valley. More details coming soon!