Mammoth Child Care

Please note this review is for the daycare location at The Village (as well as ski school at Canyon Lodge), not the main lodge. We booked everything in advance over the phone by calling the main number for Mammoth reservations (same number you call for the hotels).
If you are planning on using the ski school and/​or daycare at Mammoth, one of the best perks of staying at The Village at Mammoth is the daycare is right downstairs from your room, across from the gondola. Mammoth offers full day daycare as well as ski school/​daycare combos; we used both options between our 4 kids. Daycare is available from 8 am to 4 pm. On the first day of skiing we dropped off the baby at the daycare at 8 am, then took the 3 older kids up the gondola to Canyon Lodge where they fit them for their ski/​boot rentals (included in the price of ski school package). Ski school starts at 9 am so you have to go up before then to get them fitted on the first day. The kids are first grouped in ski school by age and then divided by ability. The 4 year old beginner we left inside with her instructor, and the 5 years olds we took outside to meet their instructors by the bunny slope. One 5 year old was a beginner and the other was intermediate so they were separated into different instructor groups for the time they were in ski school. But after the second day the beginner had caught up and practiced on a real lift (Discovery chair) so after ski school ended we were able to take them down some intermediate slopes together. I was very impressed by the quality of instruction, the attentiveness to the kids and the progress that was made in the two days we ski’ed. We opted for the «half day» ski school for all the kids. That meant the 4 year old ski’ed until lunch (12:00), after which she was taken down to the day care to play until pick up. The five year olds ski’ed until lunch at 12:00 at Canyon Lodge, and then returned to school until 3:00 when an instructor is supposed to drop them at the daycare to play until pickup. The ski school is very strict about this but on the second day we made pre-​arrangements to pick them up at ski school (instead of having to go down the gondola to daycare to get them and bring them back up) so we could ski with them until the slopes closed. Keep in mind when they take the kids down to the daycare in the afternoon their skis go with them, so you keep everything with you during your stay. The adults in our party kept their boots and skis in a locker at Canyon Lodge so we didn’t have to bring them down the gondola until the last day. If you are renting equipment, there is a rental center at the base of the gondola so you can drop everything (including the kids’ rentals) off there on your last day instead of having to coordinate returns at Canyon Lodge.
The day care is divided into two rooms, a back room for infants and the larger front room for the preschoolers/​older kids. There is a dress up area, climbing structure and activity/​snack tables, among plenty of other age apprpriate activities and toys. For those in the ski school combo, it is a good idea to bring a change of clothes so they can get out of their ski clothes for afternoon playtime. There is a television in the larger room which didnt bother me too much since our kids were only in there for an hour. The baby went into the infant room which is behind a closed door. There were climbing structures and toys, a nap room with cribs,