Hello Canada!
The terrific 3, (soon to be the fabulous 4) with a new family
member joining the Goecke clan in May, we boarded a Southwest flight to Seattle
where we in turn drive several hours to our first destination, Whistler,
British Columbia, Canada. Paul had struggled in deciding on where to stay and
finally settled on the Westin Whistler, due to the Triple Starwood Points
promotion.
Hotel-
The Whistler Westin is located on the southeast
corner of Whistler Village which is quite obviously, “the place to be” in
Whistler. Surrounded by numerous restaurants, shops, and more importantly, easy
access to the gondola, it is a nicely located hotel. Don’t be fooled that it is
“ski-in-ski-out”. The pictures on the internet are deceiving You easily have a 5-8 minutes walk from releasing your
skis to walking in the doors of the hotel after walking across a drop-off
parking lot of dirty slush. From a location standpoint for happy ski-in-ski-out
skiers, we would probably have preferred to have stayed at the Fairmont which
overlooks the Blackcomb ski base and seems to be a slightly easier access area.
We had a one-bedroom suite which consisted of a small, but
reasonable appointed kitchen, dining table, and small living room area with a
pull-out couch and fireplace. There was a small separate bedroom and a
nicely-sized bath. We were slightly disappointed with this “4-star” property.
The room was rather cramped overall and a little worn. We requested a room with
a better view after our first night and did get moved to a room with a slightly
better mountain view. My husband enjoys opening the door to the balcony for the
“crisp air”, which is highly annoying to my always freezing self.
One of the perks at this Starwood property is the option to
opt out of housekeeping and receive 500 points per night. We are happy to grab
our own new towels from the pool/spa area as needed or grab them off a nearby
housekeeping cart! Speaking of the pool, there is an indoor and outdoor hot tub
and a pool where you can swim from indoors to the snowy outdoors. An added perk
as a mom of a young one who thinks he can swim perfectly, was a wall of life
vests which allowed me to watch him swim all over safely!
The lobby is fine….large fireplace and lots of comfy chairs but not a "traditional" ski lodge lobby that my husband would have preferred to see I'm sure.
There is really nothing in the lobby other than the valet so it doesn’t really
have any draw although it is beautiful. In the hotel itself, there are 2 restaurants, Both of which are
fairly overpriced. One of the downfalls of this hotel is that there isn’t any
type of coffee shop or quick food area. There is a below-average Sushi
restaurant that I would not return to in the access hallway heading towards the
ski rental area.
Nearby Restaurants-
The Lift- A quick coffee shop just a few steps outside of
the hotel as you walk to the ski area. They have a small but reasonable
selection of food and coffee. The ham and cheese croissants were my favorite.
El Furniture Warehouse- Ok, let’s talk money….Everything in
Whistler is expensive. So when I saw signs saying that their ENTIRE menu was
$4.95 per entrée, I would floored. Connor had a sub-par grilled cheese with
fries and Paul and I split a Works Burger. For $4.95 the burger was a deal.
However, be cautious of your drink orders as most soft drinks, etc are $3.00 or
more which can come as a surprise. But with their varied menu, it is definitely
somewhere I would return.
Longhorn Saloon- Viewable from the Whistler ski base, this
is a sports bar with basic pub food. We split a Thai wrap which was steaming
hot and quite good.
Pasta Lupino - What a fantastic find! This little "pasta shop" looks decieving on the outside, but wow will you be glad that you went in. Some people had recommended it to us and the reviews are great. We both had some of the best homemade pasta that we have ever had. The locals were coming by in droves and purchasing fresh pasta to take home and cook. Wish we could stop back in here! Highly recommended!
Mongolie Grill - (Reviewed by my husband Paul) it is nothing more than a typical strip mall Mongolian BBQ, which please understand I love with all my heart. I could eat Mongolian everyday if my family would let me. Instead of charging by the bowl like every other Mongolian BBQ I have ever been to they charge by the KG. The price is roughly 18.00 per pound and adds up to about 35.00-40.00 for 1 bowl of stir fry. Throw in an overpriced drink, crazy tax , and tips and you are over 50.00 per person. I also noticed when they weighed my food the cook added a porcelain ramekin to the scale. I'm not sure if their scale was off and they were adjusting for it or if I was simply ripped off. I would assume a restaurant that charges by the weight would have their scale perfect. They also have different sized bowls and I did not see the cook adjust the scale for the bowl size so I'm assuming the metal bowl we were charged for. Basically myself, my wife, and my 5 year old son left very hungry and with a 100 bill. Do yourself a favor and skip this Mongolian BBQ, go get a good steak
Skiing with Kids-
We dropped some serious cash for our 5-year-old to step into
Whistler Kids Ski School for 2 days. The whole registration process was a bit
unorganized, much like the drop-off/pick-up procedure. Our first instructor was
very dry and somewhat rude. The kids ski area is two-thirds of the way up the
mountain and accessible only by gondola. As a pregnant mama who is not skiing,
this was disappointing for a variety of reasons. #1. You could not go up to see
your child ski or view the area without a regular ski pass OR you could purchase
a “sightseeing pass” for $51 for a ONE-TIME gondola ride up the mountain. Are
you kidding me? The kids ski area is fenced off and is “Parent Free”, so even
if you do go up there, you are quickly ushered away.
Later that day, Paul and I found that the other ski base
area by the Fairmont had it’s own ski school, in PERFECT view for anyone to see
where I could even sit in the lodge and watch. In addition, for $25.00, Paul
could purchase a ski pass and ski the Magic Chair Lift for beginners and spend
some time working with C (who skis free under the age of 6). This area was
much less crowded and if you drive up to the Excalibur Lift, you can take your child on a simple Magic Carpet and very innocent hill over and over for free. Over by the Fairmont is what appears to be a much better, and more viewable ski school for Whistler Kids. Wish we had known about this one as it was much less crowded and had easy watching for moms and dads!
Overall, Whistler was great. Although we are still very partial to our second home, Park City, Utah, we feel happy about our visit to Whistler. We got plenty of snow, saw and learned some new things, and made some nice memories!
