Vernon Valley/ Great Gorge Ski Area Reviews

Complete waist of money paid to go in a wave pool that had no waves because the lines were so long and unorganized for everything else in the park. Lesson learned NEVER AGAIN

Best Water part and best zip lining Experience.
Fall in love with this place...

Excellent place for skiing. This visit was my 2nd in 15 years and they did an excellent job helping navigate the whole experience, from checking in, to getting our rentals ans even adjusting the boots anf skis. The instructor Chris was amazing! Patient, funny, engaging and informative and he really made me feel comfortable on the slopes. Had an awesome time and plan to be back! Also learned that they're open year-round for all sorts of seasonal activities like ziplining! Worth a trip if you're in and around the NYC-metro area.

i came at 11 am and i am still standing in line more than an hour and the line is moving very slow, you better leave your clothes in the car because it is so hot in here that is difficult to stand it!! there are only 2 registers working out of 9.

Really good experience. I recommend you go Mondays and Tuesdays cuz is very crowd during regular days

The mountains are OK for beginners I would recommend you rent your skis 3 minutes down the road since you can be Waiting online 2 hours for your rentals somtimes

Our equipment was stolen, same with my friend's rental equipment. Resort personnel was first very helpful, but when I contacted them after a few weeks to check if they found it, they blamed me for not checking in or locking my equipment. The slopes were so crowded, never coming back

Nice place for downhill mountain biking, everything from easy beginner trails to 12 foot drops. Not too crowded.

I love mountain creek , it s only about an hour away from the city and they open until 9pm, which is the best part . Night time is my favorite to ride . There are 3 peaks total , great terrain park for tricks practice . Different difficulties for all levels. Extreme professionals will probably be bored quick but majority of riders will have a great time . I only wish it was more days this season that allowed me to ride , will be back next year

Clean, well maintained. Lodge/food court is nice. Staff thou was poor. I had a lunch lady with the crazy attitude that jus yanked my money and didnt even look at me or acknowledged me. The other staff just walk around like they hate their life.

Best place to go ski and snowboarding that's only 1hr from the city. Can be a little crowded on weekends because of the proximity to the city but it is expected. South peak has great terrain park features and is the least crowded of the 3 peaks.

It serves my living needs reasonably safe,and affordable my landlord is very responsive to handle fixes needed

Worst water park experience my family has ever had. Went on Labor Day and the park way over sold. At least 50min wait on all rides. People cutting in line. The stalls in the restrooms were over flowing with waste. No where to put your personal belongings and feel safe about them. All the vending machines were out of water(tried these versus standing in long lines for drinks). Left after being there 3 hours and only doing the wave pool. Contacted manage to complain and the best they could do after a week of back and forth emails was offered vouchers. Why would I return to such madness?
0/5 stars.
All info is/are facts and not exaggerated.

Wasted a whole day waiting for our rooms to be ready.

Small mountain and very crowded. I would not come here unless I didn't have time and I really wanted to ski. I like going up north more.

Awesome bike park! Fast, fun, great jumps and awesome staff. Highly recommend.

I loved it so much I wanted to work there. People are treated ike welcomed guests. Skiing, the lodge, and all the facilities are fine, but the people make it great!

I would give 4 starts to Southern trails but Northen I didn t enjoy at all. Was too crowded and too icy. Northern trails are more for beginners but Southerns are much more enjoyable and good for advanced skiers and borders. A lot of jumping options, nice trails.

Love the place my whole family had such a great time the hotel at the Appalachian resort was great clean and comfortable, the outside pool was clean and big the zip line tour was amazing Emily our tour guide was great very friendly and professional a lot of patience with the kids can t wait to go back next year or perhaps winter time !!!!

They do the best they can with NJ weather. Good restaurants as well tho

Went for a Spartan race. Great course, want to go back to see what else they offer.

The mountain isn't super tall but it's definitely the best place to go in the area without having to drive over an hour. The lodge was nice and they had plenty of food options, both prepared and freshly made. Their hot chocolate bar is amazing! It's pricey for hot chocolate, but it's worth it because of all the toppings. My son's had 4 frosted animal crackers and two full size Reese's cups on top of the mound of whipped cream. It appeared that they also had adult add-on options. Well definitely be back.

I had low expectations for a ski resort just an hour away from NYC, but after spending a day here, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of trails open. If you can get away from the crowds and are comfortable with blue runs, you can get some decent skiing and snowboarding in. The 10 min wait for sugar slope chairlift is excessive for the 1 min run.

Best mountain in NJ for ski/board. Gets busy on weekend/holidays. Great place to go on a weekday.

A complete disaster the day after Presidents Day. Line to get equipment took almost 4 hours. Way understaffed for what they call a holiday week. You pay for a full day lift and only can go out for less than half with how long you wait in line to get things. There are 5 separate lines you have to make. 1 for the intro video(20 minutes), 1 to pay(12 minutes), 1 to get boots (1:30 hrs), 1 to get helmet (10 minutes) and the final terrible one to get ski or board (1:50 minutes). The price you pay is not worth it, you are better off going to Shawnee or Bellair, cheaper and better.
Will not be back ever.

Awesome bike park for so close to NYC. Full Rentals available, and trails from really easy to hard

Good place to for skiing. They usually are open almost all year around, with fake snow. This was my first time, so I went for beginners lessons. They've created 5 different learning station with an instructor placed at each of them. They teach you right from how to put on your ski boards, till you're finally able to traverse down a slope with turns. For experts, there are multiple advanced trails with twists and turns, along with straight down. I found it a bit pricey, since we had to rent everything.

Outdoor waterpark, good for the whole family, food is expensive with a couple of outdoor bars to enjoy some adult libations

A lot of fun. You have to pay for parking and the restroom situation leaves a lot to be desired.

The rides are a ton of fun, though the lines can be long. Also it is quite hilly and you should bring water shoes or similar.

Probably best for groups and weekdays. The water can be cold. Worth going to once in the summer.

Best skiing with 100 miles. Great variety and number of trails. New lodge is amazeballs. Good snowmaking and terrific night skiing. Can be icy of course. It is Jersey after all.

Good times to be had and a lot of pleasent memories at this place. Prices are a bit on the higher side but then again this is like a amusement park so I guess it's a more felaxble topic. I like the area and out much out in the wilderness feel it has going on here. Overall a pleasent experience.

Lift tickets and rental prices are reasonable. Biggest benefit is it s close to great NY region. Snow is mostly man made.

I'm editing this review due to parts of it being redacted for some reason by somebody. Parts of it were missing after I posted so I'm adding them back (part about girls charged for water).

We go here every season to snowboard since 2015. I like coming here because it's only 40-45min from where I live and snow here is ok. If you go during nighttime by then the slopes will have tons of ice. It's so much ice to the point where I actually avoid those trails because falling on ice isn't fun. I wish they groomed it better.
Prices are very very high...unaffordable to many college kids and graduates. Twilight tickets are around $65 which gives you around 4-9pm to enjoy it. It's December now and half the mountain isn't even open yet so we paid $49. I think that's still very expensive and unfair. I've been to Pennsylvania slopes and the whole day there costs $35. This place is outrageously expensive. It sucks because we just graduated and don't make a lot of money but we love to snowboard.
Food
We used to order a personal pizza last season at the shuss bar at the lodge and for two people it was perfect size and decent price. This season they revamped the whole menu and not for the better. Portions are tiny for the price and the pizza has been replaced with a 7 inch flatbread. They also added some strange things that an average snowboarder would never order such as bone marrow and pork poutine...huh ? I only saw 2-3 familiar "safe" choices like Mac and cheese, wings and fries. I'm vegetarian so half the stuff I refuse to eat. It's so disappointing. We tried other things on the Menu and everything is tiny portion and bland. Prices are very high. Downstairs has pretty bad quality food but they did add home style options (chicken parm with 2 sides etc) for $16 a plate... They also added panini which is basically regular whole grain bread with various fillings and that's $10-$13. It did not fill us up. They don't allow outside food but guess what how about you stop being greedy and offer normal prices for food this isn't Manhattan lol
And I also witnessed something very bizarre. Two teenage girls were walking out with two cups and mentioned to the cashier that it's just hot water and the cashier charged them for it! I was shocked. For them to have the balls to do that shows how grimy and cheap the owners are. Disgusting people who run this place. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Mountain creek isn't cheap especially for young kids and adults. Not everyone who comes here is a baller but I guess the owners' target clientele is amateur skiers from the city who like to come on the weekends and enjoy the view with their wine... oh and skiing
It's sad it costs us arm and a leg to come here. We will try to take the trip down to surrounding mountains from now on as the snow and the food at mountain creek isn't even worthwhile anymore.

Good place for the area for those looking to ride the slopes. Not much when It comes to the park, but one of the best in NJ

Over crowded and nothing open however good for the ticket price. My kids enjoyed themseleves totally

Great place for Spartan race, hiking, skiing and boarding!

Good water park although the wave pool is not that great. Food price reasonable. The parking lot is little confusing. Needs some work in parking area.

That was far away from great experience.
I understand all the challenges business facing during COVID and all uncertainty which brought to us with this. I think Hospitality industry has a lot of time to bring necessary strategic changes to its processes.
We paid a full price for stay in mountain creek resort without knowing pools and all outdoor activities will be closed at this time. (We stayed July 2nd - state allowed to open pools since June 22nd). Understandable it is safety, but what a disappointment we had once we have been checked in:
Room #1 - seems noone was in this room for long time - good. When we get to the balcony it was a NEST with pigeons and floor covered with their natural needs.
Changing room with desk no problem
Room #2 - smell of smoked pot all over the place - no chance to ventilatte the room - windows cannot be open, balcony sealed. Not the best place with 2 kids (2 months and 4 y.o)
Changing with desk - no problem.
Room #3 - better room in the corner. pigeons exriments all over the balcony, but is no energy and time to go back again, we need a place to sleep.

Very big disappointment. Hope this review will open eyes to management how to handle hospitality business better

Lots of trails open but they seem understaffed as usual. Once you get your ticket things are fine.

Ran a Spartan BEAST here...nice course and vast views are enjoyable as well..Event was laid out nicely and the staff ever so helpful

Pleasantly surprised at the nice lodge facility. Relaxed while grandson enjoyed skiing on the man made snow. Well worth the price.

Great views from the top of the ski trails. Great to go during the off season to hike

Surrounded by trees and my daughter love the lazy river and slides. They have seperate pools/ride for baby, toddler, kids and adults.

Staff were friendly. Clean place.
We were here on July 30. Even most of the rides closed but my daughter very happy.

A great place to ski is located near New York. Good slides for riding. We come here periodically to feel the real snowy winter. Winter with snow is class. Of course we get the pleasure of skiing. That's cool. Time flies instantly. There is a cafe on the top of the mountain. You can warm up and drink hot tea.

Unique fun rides. Honestly much better than Hurricane Harbor.

Tubing was fun and decently priced but website and ticket booth made NO mention of two hour time frames for your ticket purchased. We tubed for about 75 minutes before it got super crowded so we decided to get lunch only to return to tube and be turned away because our two hour limit had expired...

$60 and three hours of travel for two hours of tubing with a seven year old is now a tough decision and trip to make.

Its good if you like your feet to ache and have cuts all over

Not all the slides were open due to COVID-19, however my niece and nephew enjoyed the afternoon. Caitlin at the bar was extremely friendly and made nice conversation while preparing our beverages. I would recommend more seating at the wave pool, and sections for more social distance. Overall good experience, would bring my family back next time visiting NJ.

Went for the adult nights in the summer. Crazy party. Food, not so great. Drinks, good but overpriced as expected.

I went here to go zipplining. It was fun. The staff was very funny and made my experience quite enjoyable.

Amazing mountain to ski. Great place for learning ski and snowboard with the best trainers and also if you rent an equipment, learning class is free...

Beautiful place, limited instructions though. We went tubing and employees only supervised entrance, but no safety measures or instructions were given. We had to wait in line for nearly 45 minutes because the line wasn't clear, and people kept cutting the line or saving spots for others. While on the top, no one supervised who used what kind of tire, and therefore there were people using the wrong one and it can potentially mean serious injuries. You'd expect more for it being such a popular place.

Went for Adult only night. Amazing price of $10 and nice to see adults only however all of the rides we're not open and the lighting was poor in parts. Appreciated the strick security at check-in although we didn't see any throughout the park.

Took an 84 year old ziplining for the first time. Weather perfect, guides perfect (Ryder and Stephanie), just a perfect day!

Nice local place. Small mountain but nicely convenient for New Jersey residents.

Overall it is ok. plus is to be within 1h from NY. Slopes ok. Restaurant is a bit pricey and resort attendants not so friendly. Long lines and awaiting time.

The price is fair for the rides available. There is not many rides on site but they do have a sky drive and the view is amazing. The food is not the best, I would either not purchase it or eat before going, seriously the fries tasted like cardboard. Can't be too judgy, the chicken tenders were actually pretty good. I had a strawberry margarita and it was good for its price. Staff is ok, facility is ok.

We're new to skiing, and we didnt even go across the whole mountain, but as far as we saw they had a couple green, quite a few blue, and a couple black trails. The lunch is a great place to warm up, use the bathroom, and get some food if you're okay with expensive food. Theres a Dunkin Donuts, Taco Bell, and Dairy Queen in the area if you want something cheaper. We rented skis from the McAfee ski shop just down the road since their prices are slightly cheaper than Mountain Creek and the surrounding shops.

Great location with fantastic riding. Food quality is awful. Facilities are kept ice cold in summer - bring a coat!

Great time snow tubing with Vernon emergency services gang

Best bike park on the east mainly because of how much faster the lift is!

Great spot for snowboarding and ski prices are great very close to NYC and if you a college student they have a great special.

Awesome bike park and great staff. Would give 5 star if it wasnt for the price of the rental bike... More than 100 bucks and they are not in such geart condition.

Good skiing and the tubing is not what it used to be. Too many rules and regulations. With 2 hours your lucky to go 7-8 times. The lines are long and slow. One person at a time and it s not well run by the high school kids that work there.

It wasn't pleasant at all. Crowded like a Zoo, heat over 100, big lines, computer guns didn't work. Never never go there on weekends.

Inside the lodge they serve hot dark chocolate with your choise of toppings and regular whipped cream or reese's whipped cream. I highly recommend coming here. The instructors were very helpful and there's a beautiful view at the top of the ski lift.

Snow tubing was a lot of fun, staff needed to be more attentive. The slopes had a big hole that could have seriously hurt someone

I usually love creek but there policies are so inconsiderate. I usually board there the time I'm home from college and need to get 10 days on the mountain for the season pass to be worth my while. So if I'm only gonna be able to hit the mountain the week before I go back to school why would I buy a pass? So long story short creek won't even credit my pass for next year and they basically stole my 400 to be able to ride maybe 4 or 5 days $80 a lift ticket? That's ridiculous. I'm just gonna have to drive to camelback in the future. Never getting my business again.

Great mountain for beginners. Easy to get to from the city/long island. Wish the trails were longer and better groomed. Not too much packed snow.

Im a local to Mt. Creek and it has always been.....ok. When i was younger i paid no mind to lines,or the flow of traffic while renting,or trying to get food.
Now however.....as a parent, as sad as i feel about talking down about local spots,im not impressed. Trying to get food,or even walk up the stairs people are with no direction. Impossible to find a seat for lunch,and while renting i was inside,outside and back inside. I figured with the re vamp,the new and imrpoved appeal,there would be better flow amd organization.
Overall,its congested almost always unless you go during the week early.

Love it here because its near and dear to my heart for LOCAL PRIDE reasons,but functionality id say 2 out of 5
Guidence from the young impatient miss informed employees.....2 out of 10.
Overall my experience was clouded from pure joy on my sons face,but if i was alone,id give it a 3 out of 5.

Mountain Creek was awesome had a great time love this mountain

Awesome time riding DH! The trails are super dry and hard, but they still put a huge smile on your face every time. They have a good mix of green, blue, and black trails. I'd stay away if your a complete beginner since even the greens can catch you up if your completely new. Many of the blues are more like a black at many of the places I've been, and even the difference between some of the blues and blacks here is hard to see. There is also a good mix of park and raw and Savage trails. And then some of the raw natural trails will have a nice parkey drop or berm section. I don't have a DH bike and get by with my 6" Enduro bike. There are plenty of places where the DH bike will be quicker, but unless your really good, I don't think you'll necessarily be quicker on every trail. I would still keep away from the blacks and many of the blues if you have a xc bike... or go rent a bike! They have some well equipt Scott DH bikes for rent. Unlike the slopes in the winter, a busy day riding DH still gets you plenty of room and freedom to take your time. Plus if you go on some less parkey, raw trails, you'll seldomly see anyone at all. I can see you getting bored here if you have a season pass and ride every weekend (which'll make you a really good rider), but even coming here 3, 4, or 5 times a year will still be fun I would imagine.