boston mills / brandywine ski resort

It is great to have ski slopes so close to the city. I have been coming here since the early 90s and not much has changed. I would say that for the short season and the limited slopes, it is a little pricey for the lift tickets and if you have to rent equipment it can be an expensive trip. There are special events that reduce the tickets, so I mainly try and aim for those that apply to me. Overall fun times though!

I went here on a Friday night with my 4 year old son. We had a blast and I was having a hard time getting my son to want to leave. He even fell asleep in the tube while pulling it to the magic carpet tube lift. Had to wake him up at the top but still wanted to go over and over. The staff was very friendly and helped us get situated at the top and sent us on our way each time. They helped my 4 year old at the bottom of the ride clear out of the way for when I came threw since he wanted to be a big boy and go down by himself. The lodge isn't as nice as the ski resort lodge but it sufficed for our needs. It was a little crowded in there.They had a nice campfire going outside to warm us up which was a nice touch. The walk is kind of long between the end of the ride and the magic carpet.

I wanted to check out this place. It was nice. Not as modern as I had expected. The main lodge was not as updated and cozy as I expected it to be. Basically it looked like a large cafeteria. However, I did enjoy the Polar Express Tubing. That was a lot of fun, and priced right.

If you ever get your skis stolen at Brandywine don't count on any of the management team to give you one ounce of help. My skis were stolen this past Saturday and when I confronted management about it they had very little empathy. "Were your skis locked"? they asked, no I replied... They didn't make a police report and their comments were this happens all the time and you would be surprised how many times they turn up?99 out of 100 people don't lock their skis up at these resorts. How hard would it be to put cameras focused on the racks as a deterrent to theft.It was very obvious that the Supervisor just didn't care...

Myself and my children have had a season pass for 5 yrs, without incident and without needing to lock our equipment. However, on Feb 9, 2014, my daughters skis and poles were stolen when they were left unattended for less than 10 minutes. Needless to say, this ruined our ski day and the rest of the season. Brandywines attention to this was less than helpful. It was a late night ski day and 1a in the morning. They do not call the police or file a report with the sagamore hills police dept. I was informed that I had to do that myself. Really?! So, at 130 am we truck to the police dept. and filed a report. I was told by the police that this happens very frequently. So, $650 later, and 3 locks later, we were back skiing the next week. I understand Brandywine is not responsible and can not compensate people when items get stolen, but not 1 staff person even knew where the form was to fill out. I called them everyday for 2 weeks, hoping the skis somehow would show up in the lost and found, and each time, I had to talk to 3 different people and explain the situation over and over. They do not post any information about stolen items housewide, so if someone would have brought them in to be tuned to their height and weight, no employee would have even been aware they were stolen skis. There also is no communication between Brandywine and Boston Mills, even though they are owned by the same company. They are in different police jurisdictions. So, I would also call Boston Mills everyday, talk to 3 different people to explain what happened. Long story short, the skis have never been found. While I love skiing and these 2 places are the only 2 within a reasonable driving distance, I did buy season passes for next yr. We now lock our equipment, even if going in for a few minutes. It is definately a pain in the butt to do when you are cold, hungry, or have to use the bathroom, but worth it not to have to replace another set of skis. They do not have security cameras focused on the racks and really have a blase attitude that it is your fault they get stolen if you didnt lock them.

I was really happy that I spent the money on the season pass for my son. He was so happy to learn how to ski with his high school friends. The thanks we get was stolen ski clothes. Are you kidding me? How low can someone go to steal a teenage boy's ski clothes, and kind of sick if you ask me. Why is there not enough security at this place and also not enough response or care when a kid's items get stolen here? To me, what type of person, actually steals ski clothes?

I took 4 kids to learn how to snow board recently. They were all beginners having never snowboarded before. I got them into lessons first thing in the morning. The instructors where very helpful and friendly. All 4 kids learned enough in this 1.5 hour lesson to enjoy the rest of the day going down the hills. There seemed to be plenty of room as well. We ate lunch at the walk up counter and it was good as well, though a little pricey for burgers, pizza, fries, etc. I did not join them snowboarding so I found a comfortable place to sit in Joe Riders lounge right on site. They served food here and had a great beer selection. I thought this was a nice touch and one I was not expecting. The service was pretty good. Overall I would suggest checking this place out but definitely bring your wallet, you'll need it.

Pros: Tubes are in good condition; conveyor belt "lift" to the top is fantastic; snow tubing is a lot of fun and requires no skill whatsoever (I am too uncoordinated to ski!); fun for everyoneCons: the "lodge" is somewhat small and we had a hard time finding a table for our party of four; I'm not sure why, but on many of the chutes we came to a stop WELL before the end of the chute. So we had to walk the rest of the way, which slows down the lines at the top because you have to wait for others to clear the chute. I'm not sure if this was due to grading, quality of snowfall the night before, etc., but it was a little disappointing. Also, there were not enough BMBW crew at the top to "launch" tubes efficiently. There were several times we were waiting for a launch while 2 or 3 crew members were chatting a few chutes over. Neither of these were a problem when we visited last year -- chutes were fast and staff were extraordinarly helpful -- so I am not sure which experience is more typical.Overall it is a fun family event and a good way to spend some fun time outdoors, but at $25 a person it was a little disappointing not to have a better experience this time.

My entire family has Season Passes and have enjoyed skiing at Boston Mills, Brandywine & Alpine this season. But, this Friday, our experience was tainted when my son's snowboard was stolen from the racks right by the lodge. Yes, he should have used his lock - but Brandywine's response was blasé. I filed a police report and was told by police that this is a common occurrence there. So, if you go, lock up your equipment and use lockers (pay as you go) for personal items. Think thefts would be deterred if BW at least posted security guard near lodge entrance on busy Friday nights. Giving it one star due to lack of acceptable response by BW. I've called BW a couple times since regarding the theft and they simply don't care about their customers (even though I have spent over $1,000 in ski passes for my family this season). Just looking for a more acceptable response to deterring this criminal activity than a shrug of the shoulders by their employees. Has really put damper in our experience there.

Skied with the family over our Christmas break and had a nice experience, we rent and the equipment is nice and new, the facility is so much better ! You pay outside which is sort of a pain if the line is long , but the rental process is seamless. The boot drying racks are great. There is plenty of room and storage in this new bldg. and the snack bar area huge, and the bar is great too, it faces the slopes and offers plenty of seating. The staff is friendly and helpful as well. I hope it snows soon!

Took our 7 & 8 yr olds tubing. $25 per person, which is the going rate. Pricewise it is what we expected to pay. The problem was that the tubing lanes were so poorly graded that you come to a complete stop 1/3 of the way down and have to get up and walk the other 2/3 of the way down. Every time. Every lane. It was a joke and a waste of time. Workers joked that the slopes were a little slow. I'm told them that if their slopes only took us 1/3 the way down, they should only be charging 1/3 the price, and maybe they would do something about it. Or at least not think it was so funny. We left after 4 trips down, it was so boring. What a waste of $100.

There's no other place around. We live in ohio not Colorado what do you expect mountains? This place is the best it could possibly be givin it's location and annual snowfall

Rating ski areas is a very subjective matter. It depends on your expectations. No one comes to BM/BW expecting giant, fabulous slopes and powder. They absolutely do the best job possible given the limitations of our weather and their elevation. When you take those things out of the equation, what you've got left to consider are the facility, the slopes and the staff. They do well on all three counts. The main facility at Boston Mills is a good-sized lodge. There are several areas to sit, a nice fireplace in the middle of the center room, and a decent dressing area with lockers. Given what they have to work with, they do a very conscientious job of keeping the slopes in the best possible shape. Still, it's Ohio. The staff is consisently wonderful. Whether it's at the pay window, rental area, lift attendants ... these are some nice people who seem interested in making sure you have a good time. As an adult skier, I won't go near this place on a Friday night or the weekend. There are lots of lifts, but it's still a mad house. I love going on a weekday, getting there when it opens and getting plenty of skiing in before is starts to get crowded later in the day. Many times you can ski right on to the lift. You never have to wait more than a minute or two. That's nice. I prefer the bigger stuff at Holiday Valley, but for a day's skiing close by, you can't beat BM/BW.

This place is conveniently located for me so its nice to be able to hop in the car and be here in a few minutes. Its location close to Cleveland and Akron makes it possible to serve as an after school or work activity for everyone in the area. And I must say, they do have a nice terrain park. It is the one thing they can pride themselves in. It was a great place for me to learn to ski and snowboard as a child. However, the lift ticket prices are outrageous for such a small hill that gets so crowded. I'd much rather drive a couple hours Peek'n Peak or Holiday Valley than blow $40+ here. I was also disappointed with the new lodge they put in at Brandywine. It is as plain and boring as the last one.

Won't even refund money for pick a day pass when provided a legitimate doctors note- beware of terrible business practices.