When the Snow Doesn’t Show, Grand Hyatt Vail Still Delivers With Its Snow Day Superstitions Package

We were days away from what is historically the snowiest month of the year. Margot, unaware of what the weather apps said, joyfully went from task to task. When we finally got to the white crayon, it promptly rolled off the windowsill and disappeared under the couch. Possibly a bad omen, but more likely just fate giving us a realistic representation of this season.

Photo: Nickolaus Hines

Snow didn’t end up coming the next day. Thankfully, the Grand Hyatt Vail kept us busy enough to forget all about a lack of falling flakes.

Coming for snow day superstitions

Photos: Nickolaus Hines

The staff turns your room into an event with Snow Day Superstitions, even more so when paired with an in-room tent. We came back from dinner to find a tent set up in the corner with a lantern, glowing faux fireplace, and pretend s’mores on a stick. Margot saw magic in the whole set-up. She gasped, sprinted over, and immediately started building an imaginary world around it.

I pulled the Grand Hyatt Vail-branded Petite Plume pajamas off the bed and flipped them inside out to get our snow wishes going. My misaligned buttoning only added to the laughter from inside “camping.” Then, right after we gave up trying to move furniture to find the runaway crayon, we heard a knock: ice cream for two with a full DIY topping situation: chocolate and caramel syrups, sprinkles, and small candies.

We ate cross-legged on the floor in a hurry. We had a movie to catch in the third-floor theater.

Family-friendly entertainment on-site

The hotel’s Grand Theater feels like a small-town, single-screen theater. It has the seats, the snacks, and daily screenings at 2:30, 5, and 7:30. This was Margot’s first theater experience, and we picked a spot between a handful of families from Texas and Mexico City to watch The Croods.

It’s one of several family-friendly things you can do on the property, indoors and out. Topgolf Swing Suites with golf and other simulated games, as well as food and drink service, line one hallway. There’s an arcade on the first floor with classic games. Outside, a yurt serves as a s’mores station where a “s’morelier” can help you put together a kit to take to the Zen Garden firepits. A small skating rink on the other side of the pathway is open when the weather is cold enough to keep it frozen.

Photo: Grand Hyatt Vail

I didn’t get to take advantage of the Grand Hyatt Vail’s wellness additions on this trip. When it’s just you and a 3-year-old, alone time (or even personal space) doesn’t exist. Still, it’s worth adding some to your schedule if you brought childcare along with you.

There’s a spa, 24/7 fitness center with top-line equipment, and complimentary classes like yoga and sound bowl meditation. The pool has views of Gore Creek below, as well as cold plunges and saunas on the pool deck.

Summit sushi

Photo: Nickolaus Hines

I caught the vibe of the food and drink at the hotel from the check-in counter. Behind me, the upscale sushi restaurant Makoto. To the side, a coin-operated Moët vending machine — a rarity in the United States. Gessner, with its bar and contemporary American menu, was around the corner past the musician entertaining guests who looked fresh off the mountain.

It’s not the Champagne talking to say that Makoto outdoes the majority of sushi spots I’ve tried up and down both coasts. No small feat at 8,000 feet elevation and more than 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean. Uni and wagyu are flown in from Hokkaido. There’s the expected tuna, salmon, and yellowtail, but also otoro, a prized cut of fatty tuna belly. Caviar additions run down the menu, and a server grates fresh wasabi tableside. The drinks list is loaded with wines, 45 Japanese whiskies, and more than 15 sakes. We ordered a highball and a whisky for me, and a Ramune, the Japanese soda with a marble stopper, for Margot. It all comes at a price, but doesn’t disappoint.

Margot has been a sushi fan since we visited Japan when she was a year old. I asked our server for a dealers-choice selection where nothing was off limits, and Margot overcame her shyness to add that we need salmon eggs — lots. Our server laughed and told us she is from Japan but didn’t appreciate ikura until she was 12. Shortly after two shiso leaves loaded with salmon roe landed on our table, she checked back and saw Margot wasn’t exaggerating about her favorite food. It was gone before I had a chance to touch the scallops, prawns, snowcrab, and sashimi.

Ski day

Photo: Nickolaus Hines

I was determined to get Margot in a ski lesson, fresh snow or not. Grand Hyatt Vail is the only ski-in, ski-out hotel in town thanks to Chair 20, which is right by the Venture Sports rental center and the s’mores yurt. This being Margot’s second time on skis, she wasn’t going to be hitting Vail’s legendary back bowls today, let alone mastering a chair life. We took the complimentary shuttle to Lionshead Village to catch her morning lesson with Vail Sports instead. I watched from the porch at Garfinkel’s until her half-day was up, and leaving her instructor, Morra, seemed to be the hardest part of the lesson.

We returned the rentals and headed back to the hotel for lunch at Gessner. Margot fell asleep before the bus released the parking break. Then kept on sleeping as I carried her in, ate a bowl of bison chili, packed up her chicken fingers, and carried her back to the room to pack.

I couldn’t blame her. It’d been a busy 24 hours of wishing for snow and finding plenty else to do.