A few weeks ago my extended family and I went on a family vacation (more like trip because traveling with kids is never a vacation, am I right?) to Colorado Springs. There were 12 of us - my mom and step dad, my sister and her husband, my step-brother and his wife and their adorable 4 month old twins, and Al, me and our kids (ages 5 and 2). I grew up visiting Colorado in the summers and it was so fun to be wih my children now chasing chipmunks and “climbing” rocks just as I used to do as a little girl.

I would consider this trip “Colorado lite”. There were a lot of us - small kids in included, so we opted to stay at a resort, The Broadmoor, and use that as our home base. This allowed for those of us with different schedules to come and go and meet up with each other as needed without the use of a car (well, in our case it’d be like 3 cars).

For the most part, our trip was a great success. The kids had a blast, we enjoyed time together as a family and savored the cooler temps. Aside from me being under the weather most of the time with an infection, it was all happy memories. That being said though, there were some things we probably wold have done differently, or rather, hoped would have been better considering the price and reputation that comes with The Broadmoor.

The Broadmoor - Pros

Grounds

First of all, it’s a pretty obvious at first glance that The Broadmoor is a beautiful property. Nestled at the base of the mountains, only 15 minutes from the Colorado Springs Airport, it’s a super easy destination to reach. The hotel is centered around a lake with two buildings - East and West one on each side, adjoined by a bridge across. There’s a beautiful outdoor pool one one side of the lake, two golf courses, a spa, and an indoor pool. Shopping, restaurants, and plenty of gorgeous views abound. The grounds are truly stunning.

Rooms

Our room was lovely. We stayed in a one-bedroom suite “Eastmoor Suite” which had a kitchenette (mini fridge, no microwave) and bathroom off the hallway as you entered, and a large main room with king size bed and balcony. Past the bedroom was a sitting room with a pull out couch. This is where we had our kids sleep. I love that the sitting room wasn’t the main area to watch TV etc. and that it was at the back of the rooms so we could put the kids down at night and still come in and out of the room/bathroom without waking them.

Hotel Activities

The Broadmoor reminded me a little bit of a mini-Disney world. There were things to explore at every turn - great for our smaller kids who don’t necessarily need an activity, but more a place to roam. You can talk to the concierge ahead of time (ahead of time is a must) to schedule “Wilderness Activities” like horseback riding, fly fishing, zip-lining, and hiking at some of their further out cabins on the property. We didn’t do any of those due to the age of our kids.

We did, however, make full use of the property and the on-site activities. Swimming at the pool (includes two massive slides), playing on the playground, bowling! (make reservation in advance), walking around the lake, doing puzzles next to the lake, and paddle boating around the lake. That, truly, was enough for our littles. And it was so nice that our whole extended group was staying on site so they could join when they could based on the babies’ schedules and the guys’ tee times.

The Broadmoor - Cons

Dining

There are several dining options on site which we took advantage of - again the 12 people (including 4 littles) meant taking Ubers to other restaurants would be high effort. At first glance, and on the website, the dining options look very grand and distinct. In actuality, they felt a little Epcot-y. The decor was a little…stale. And the food was a little, well, stale. There is one cute bakery/coffee shop to get breakfast and grab-and go-sandwiches. I was so excited for a place to grab “kid food” and easy breakfast to have lake-side. But most of the breakfast goods were rock hard. I think the kid (and I say kid because he was probably 16 years old) working the toaster oven for them left them in a little to long. I’m not going to shade a place like The Broadmoor for one hard breakfast sandwhich. It’s more that when you’re paying resort-inflated prices (no joke 3 breakfast sandwiches and a coffee each morning was $50), you expect the quality of the food to match the price.

We had several great meals, truly. But if you dine at multiple of the restaurants back to back you’ll learn that most of them are essentially same menu. It’s not like some resorts where there’s a sushi place, and a Mexican place, and a hamburger place. By the end of the trip I just really didn’t want a fancy meal. I mostly just wanted some chips and queso. :) The one don’t-miss-restaurant - The Golden Bee. Get the fish and chips.

Service

The other thing that I expect when staying at a resort with as high a caliber such as The Broadmoor is TOP NOTCH service. In any situation I expect the service I receive to equal the price we pay. The Broadmoor is not an economy hotel. It is pricey (and beautiful and worth it - see pros above), but the service in some situations was lacking. Dinner service was either sooooo slow or so rushed because they clearly wanted to turn the table. Some of the staff just seemed sort of aloof at times. It felt like they could see us, but didn't go out of their way to help us or welcome us. I think part of this is because the staff is very young, a lot of kids I’m sure on summer break so they probably aren’t professionals who sense what needs to be done to move a dinner along. I’m sure the other part was the size of our group. There were a lot of us with two rowdy kids (mine) and two twin four month olds. We were a lively bunch for sure.

Colorado Springs Activities

Seven Falls

We didn’t do many true hikes due to our kids (doddle would be an overstatement on how they walk up a mountain), but our whole group did do Seven Falls one day and it worked out so well! Seven Falls is a beautiful paved path through a canyon of mountains that ends at several waterfalls. It is said to be “the grandest mile of scenery in Colorado.” There is free shuttle service from The Broadmoor to Seven Falls that runs every fifteen minutes or so. I cannot say how great this little “hike” was for our crew. The path was wide and paved (read stroller friendly) and there were plenty of little offshoots near the shallow creek where my son (age 5) could go explore. There are bathrooms mid-way and at the top. You can take the old wooden stairs to the top of some of the falls, BUT there is also an elevator (inside a cave! So cool!) that takes you to one of the outlooks. The kids loved doing this and it was fun to be able to see the beauty of Colorado in a way that our large party could do together. There is a restaurant at the top as well as picnic tables in one area if you’d like to pack a lunch.

The North Pole Amusement Park

Growing up my family and I vacationed in Colorado every summer (we always stayed in Evergreen) and a few of the summers we drove to Colorado Springs to visit The North Pole. I have VERY vivid memories of being there and let me tell you, it was just the same as I remember 20 some years ago. I mean that both positively and negatively - it hadn’t changed in twenty years and it HADNT CHANGED in twenty years. But the slightly run-down vibe didn’t bother me or the kids at all. It appeared The North Pole just had rough 2020 like all of us. The rides here are for smaller kids - although they did have one small rollercoaster - and it was honestly a perfect intro to an amusement park for my children. Deacon warmed up after some time and LOVED the rides. He is Christmas obsessed (seriously, we watch the claymation Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer weekly) and it was so adorable to see him light up at every turn with some new Christmas find. The hotel does NOT offer shuttle service to this location. You can drive one of The Broadmoor’s Cadillacs (reserve in advance), but we just took an Uber and got our driver’s number and old him we’d pay him cash if he’d come pick us back up in a couple hours.)

Other Things To Do in Colorado Springs

We didn’t have time to check out any of these other spots since we were only there 4 days, the boys golfed two of those, and I was not feeling well, but there is a ton to do in the area! That, and my kids are always perfectly happy swimming at the pool every day!

What We Packed

Packing for the mountains feels much harder than packing for the beach. I’m very good at beach packing - swimsuit and cover up for day, flowy dress for night. But the mountains have a much broader range of temperatures. We started the mornings in pants and sweatshirts, got warm by the afternoon sun and shed some layers. Nighttime was much chillier so it was more jeans and a top with a sweater or jean jacket.

The only kid things we brought were their iPads and headphones, plenty of coloring books and markers & crayons, some thin paperback books, and one small bag of magnatiles. Magnatiles are so easy to travel with because they lay flat, you can pull a handful out to take to dinner for some tabletop entertainment, and they keep both of my kids entertained. I pack them flat in these bags (which I also use for diapers, art supplies, lip sticks, toiletries, etc.).

Also, I feel like I have to mark the milestone that we DIDN’T TAKE A STROLLER for the first time ever! It honestly worked out fine. Most of the time Emilia doesn’t want to ride in it and we basically just used it to strap her down at the airport so she didn't sprint away. I only really missed it because we didn’t have a stroller to hold all of our junk. The kids each carried their own backpacks and I used this backpack instead of my usual tote bag. (This is our favorite travel stroller btw).

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Final Thoughts

Overall, I would say we would go to back to The Broadmoor. But I might opt for renting a house or staying nearby and just visiting the property for the day. Or I’d go off site more for meals. And I’d probably rent a car. The fact that there were so many of us and we didn’t have a car made it feel much more difficult to leave the property. Generally though, it was a great time with our family. Many memories made in a gorgeous place!