Summer Family Fun at Park City Mountain

The alpine slide is the perfect activity for the whole family, and since this is one of the longest alpine slide tracks in the world, you really shouldn’t skip this. At over 3,000 feet long, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Since each rider controls their speed, you can go just about as fast or slow as you’d like.

So that means that our adrenaline craving 12-year-old could fly down the track, while it wasn’t a problem for his younger sister to take her time. While it’s tempting to have everyone drive their cart, our 7-year-old, while technically old enough to drive it himself, had a hard time leaning forward enough to really get the sled going fast, and since he’s already pretty light, he wasn’t able to go as fast as he wanted and asked to ride with mom next time. Even our 2-year-old was able to ride down with dad, and he literally giggled the entire way down the mountain. 

If you got a taste of downhill fun on the alpine slide but are looking for some more action and excitement, try out the mountain coaster. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like - a roller coaster on the mountain. To go down the mountain coaster, you board a small cart at the bottom and are pulled up to the top. While most carts just had one adult or an adult and a kid, we saw one that had two grown men on it, so pairing up can really work for just about anyone (plus the extra weight can speed you up).

If you love the feeling of falling and flying through the air, then this attraction should be on your list (though both of those things terrify me, so we skipped this ride). The ZipRider starts where the Payday Express stops mid-mountain at the alpine slide. From there, you climb a tower and soar straight down to the base area. Honestly, even looking at the drop made me a bit dizzy, but we watched several people go down the zipline, and everyone raved about it. If you’re thinking about doing this, note that closed-toed shoes are required. 

The Flying Eagle is a zipline that’s designed specifically with kids in mind. Instead of dangling from a harness, two riders sit side by side on the Flying Eagle Chair. The chair then reverses you up to the top of the run and lets you go. It doesn’t go nearly as fast as the ZipRider and kids as young as 3 years old can ride it. 

Want a great view that you can just sit back and enjoy?  The scenic chairlift ride is for you. Unlike most chairlift rides that whisk you up to the top in only a few minutes, Park City slows down their lifts for summer access. While it may be boring if you are a 10-year-old who loves the speed of the alpine coaster, it’s absolutely perfect if you want to just relax and enjoy the views. During the summer, the Town Lift, Payday Express, Crescent Express, and Red Pine Gondola are all available for scenic rides. 

Before going down the coaster, they gave us instructions for everyone to go as fast as possible to avoid any collisions, so when we got to the top, we released the brake and started to race through the forest at top speed. It felt exactly like a roller coaster as we twisted, turned, and dropped along the track, so while my son was whooping and hollering, I was trying not to get sick. The whole ride takes about 7 minutes, but the downhill was done in about 2 minutes. If you’ve got older kids or teens, you’ll probably want to buy an unlimited pass so that they can do laps over and over on this ride.

At the Mountain Village base area, there are a ton of family-friendly activities to keep you and the little ones engaged and having fun in the sun. Some of these like the climbing wall and Legacy Launcher Trampoline are suited to both adults and kids, and you can also try out panning for gold, or miniature golf if you’re looking for something great for the entire family. 

The base area also has a kids ropes course and zipline that’s designed just for kids from 30-100 lbs. It’s not too long and also isn’t very far off the ground, so it’s a great introduction for kids to what a ropes course is like.

Park City Mountain has an extensive trail system that is great for hiking and mountain biking. Popular trails like Jenni's, Seldom Seen, Mojave, and Silver Queen are accessible from the Crescent Chairlift. Others trails like Armstrong and Mother Urban are accessible from the Mountain Village area.

Because Park City has an extensive trail network (400+ miles!) we recommend stopping by a local outdoor shop for advice on where to go or booking a guide to show you the best trails! Apps like Trailforks or the Park City trail map are also helpful tools to navigate a hike or mountain bike ride in Park City!