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A guest takes in the full measure of the fun-themed facility at Blue Mountain’s Children’s Center. Blue Mountain

Some clichés bear repeating, so please bear with me and developing his skills in a great children’s program.
as I repeat a good one: If you build it, they will come. In short, skiing/riding families with young children are
While you’re suppressing that groan, allow me to argue big, fat, fish in a barrel just waiting for the right marketing
that this classic line from the Kevin Costner baseball-themed message and experience offer to lure them in to purchase
blockbuster Field of Dreams is spot on when it comes to lessons at your resort. A little crass, perhaps, but true. Parents
investing in your resort’s children’s programs and facilities. want their kids to have a great time in snow school, and the
If there is one universal truth I’ve seen in my travels over programs that consistently provide such experiences pretty
the past five years with SNOW Operating, it is this: an much sell themselves.
investment in children’s lesson programs is a surefire way to When it comes to growing your children’s lesson pro-
increase your snow school’s bottom line. grams, the challenge tends to be one of the capacity to take
When you stop to think about this, it makes perfect sense. lesson bookings, not the demand for them. And capacity is
As a parent, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do or spend to keep typically determined by one of two things. First is a limita-
my child happy—and as a skiing parent I’m willing to spend tion of your physical space, the plant. The second is a limita-
just about whatever it takes to enjoy a little time on the slopes tion of inventory, which can also be affected by your physical
with my better half while our little one is being well cared for space but can also be affected by your program’s processes. In

42 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2018