For those who are unfamiliar with what this is, it’s the property that inspired the Stephen King story The Shining. It’s a historic hotel nestled in the mountains of Estes, Colorado. It’s said to be incredibly haunted.
While I knew about the King story, that wasn’t the appeal of going to the hotel. My oldest really enjoys Ghost Hunters (as do I), and the TAPS team has been there on several occasions, so he wanted to check it out. I’ve wanted to go since I was in college, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.
It’s Not as Isolated as it Once (Or Ever?) Was
While driving to the hotel, I had visions that the hotel would be isolated from the rest of the city and surrounded by the mountain. While at one time that might have been true, it’s pretty much right in the middle of the action. There’s a grocery store you can walk to from the property.
It’s definitely not isolated.
That’s not to say that it’s not a cool place. It is surrounded by mountains (but mostly houses), and it rises from the road in grand majesty. I got chills as we pulled around the corner and the hotel came into view.
It had taken us about 7.5 hours to reach our destination, so by the time we got there, after our initial oohs and aahs, I wanted to check into our room to lay down for a little while. We entered the building and looked for the front desk. It’s not set up intuitively—at least not the way we entered—so we stood next to the Tours desk for a while so that I could ask where we needed to go.
Remember, I was already a bit punchy from being on the road all day, and waiting to talk to the person behind the desk didn’t improve my mood.
The guests that were being helped were having a tough time deciding what tour they wanted to go on. I figured that the other three people behind the desk wearing red shirts might want to assist people, but I was wrong. They were much happier talking amongst themselves.
Apparently, with only one computer to make sales, the only person who can interact with guests is the person sitting behind the screen.
As I stood there, I realized that the front desk was up the stairs to the right, so we headed up. We got there just in time for one person to duck into a room on the left-hand side, and another person (I’m guessing she was a trainee) to stand in front of the door and completely ignore me.
Trainee or not, how hard is it to acknowledge that someone is standing at the desk, literally staring at you?
Another employee entered the door from the right and walked behind the front desk, also ignoring me.
By this time, I was getting super irritated.
Finally, the only person who apparently could talk to guests came out of the room and walked up to her computer. When I told her we wanted to check in, she informed me that we aren’t even staying in the Stanley proper; we were in one of the outbuildings near the entrance. But we couldn't check in until 4:00.
It was about 3:15, 3:20 at this point in time.
I get the directions to where we need to go (it wasn’t far), then we walk around the properly for a while before heading down to the other building to see if we could check in.
We had to wait until 4:00 on the dot, but then we got into our room.
I Never Got the Chance to Lay Down
I was not exactly thrilled when we walked into the room. It was super small, with the bed taking up the vast majority of the space and barely enough room to walk around it. The bathroom was decent, with a soaker tub and nice shower, but we weren’t going to be sleeping in the bathroom.
The room was also freezing.
I pushed the buttons to change the temp, only to have a locked padlock flash at me, indicating that I couldn’t make it warmer.
I lifted the phone to talk to the front desk, but no one answered.
I had to get a few more things out of the car, so I decided to stop on my way and talk to the receptionist.
I was trying super hard to keep my emotions in check, but I was full-out annoyed and frustrated at this point. She put in a call to Engineering, and they would meet me in my room.
I grabbed my stuff and headed back upstairs. The boys decided they wanted to explore, so they headed out to find the pool.
Engineering came and let me know that there was no way they could unlock the thermostat, so they just turned it off. They said the temperature should remain where it was at, but I could open the window if I needed to. That sounded like it would be fine; it was raining, which meant it was pretty cool. And who doesn’t want fresh mountain air wafting over them as they sleep?
I would come to regret that later.
The Amenities Weren’t Bad
Right after the Engineers left, the boys came back to let me know they had found the pool and wanted to go swimming. It was an outdoor pool, and it was still raining, but they weren’t going to let that stop them. They were going to experience everything the hotel had to offer.
The pool and hot tub were nice. Eventually, the rain stopped, and the boys got to enjoy the amenities. There was also a weight room, some saunas, and a sunken gym (none of which we used).
I was super hungry at this point, so the boys got ready, and we went to one of the restaurants on the Stanley campus. It was fine. Nothing to rave or complain about.
A Night Ghost Tour
One of the offerings at the Stanley is the ability to go on a ghost tour. These run all day, about every 20 minutes, but I thought a night one would be more fun. I didn’t want it to be too late, as I knew I was going to be tired, so I settled on 8:00.
The email said you are supposed to check in 15 to 20 minutes before your scheduled tour, but when we got there, we were told we couldn’t check in until 5 minutes before our scheduled time. We had to kill 15 to 20 minutes, so we walked through the “hedge maze” (which took us 2 minutes), then went and sat in the coffee shop until it was 5 minutes to 8:00.
The tour wasn’t bad. You go to a couple of different places on the campus and hear stories about the ghosts who may be haunting the area. You’re supposed to take a ton of pictures in the hope that something paranormal shows up. I took some, but I wasn’t going to go overboard. My boys took several as well.
These three photos are of the concert hall, which is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings on the Stanley campus. We were up in the balcony looking down as stories were told.
These are posters on display in the balcony of the concert hall.
A prop in the concert hall.
A super old mirror that supposedly attracts/reflects paranormal activity.
These are tunnels underneath the hotel. They were used by employees to move laundry and other stuff without being seen by the guests.
By the time the hour-long tour had ended, I was exhausted, so we headed back to the room.
And stepped into an oven.
It was so freaking hot in there. But Engineering was gone, so we couldn’t get the air turned back on. We opened the window, but there was no mountain air flowing in.
There was only a king bed in the room because I had thought that there would be space for us to inflate the air mattress. I was wrong.
Long story short, no one slept very well—and it wasn’t because we were being bothered by spirits.
Overall Impressions of the Stanley Hotel
Seeing the Stanley as we drove up from the road was amazing. Once I got inside, I realized that the place was a tourist hotspot—and there were a lot of tourists. It felt super chaotic and out of control, and with so much activity, the employees were oblivious and uncaring about the wants and needs of guests.
I was disappointed that our room wasn’t in the Stanley proper. For as much as it cost, I would have assumed we’d get the full experience.
I was irritated that I couldn’t control the temperature in the room and learned that next time I walk into a room that’s super cold, I’ll just put on a sweatshirt and pants. Don’t want to get “burned” by that again.
We didn’t experience anything supernatural, but I really didn’t think we would. With as many people as there are on the property, the ghosts probably retreat to a quiet place and do their own people watching.
If nothing else, I can say I’ve been to the Stanley Hotel.
