Hi All, 

I am planning a birthday trip at the end of February and looking for a fun resort that has great skiing but also bars, shops etc. for those that don't ski. We would like to stay within four hours of DC. We are all in our 30's and most of us ski but we are looking for a fun night as well. Not looking for long lines/crowded trails as well. Thanks in advance! 

See the Snowshoe thread.......

Plenty to do there for a 30 something birthday bash.

Acadia wrote:

Hi All, 

I am planning a birthday trip at the end of February and looking for a fun resort that has great skiing but also bars, shops etc. for those that don't ski. We would like to stay within four hours of DC. We are all in our 30's and most of us ski but we are looking for a fun night as well. Not looking for long lines/crowded trails as well. Thanks in advance! 

 Massanutten has plenty for non-skiers to do.  As for lift lines, are you planning on a weekend?  In that case, pretty hard to avoid unless willing to get up early, ski 9:00-11:00 and then go night skiing after 5:00.  That's possible Fri-Mon at Mnut since all the trails are lit and open in the evenings those nights.

The bar and grill at the Mnut ski lodge has music, drinks, and food in the late afternoons and evenings on weekends.  Seems to be pretty popular from how many cars I see in the parking lot.

In any case, check out the Mnut website.

Nothing is going to check all your boxes.  The closest you will get is 7Springs. 7Springs has bowling (but it's busy so be prepared to wait at the little bar next door called the 7/10 split), swimming, hot tubs (usually booked unless you book a day ahead), mini golf, a small amount of games in a game room off the swimming pool (which is indoors only) and a smaller roller skating room with skate rentals (limited), then there's my favorite game to play which is bet on who will fall over at the 'most popular ski bar on the east coast' the foggy goggle.  They usually have a DJ there on the weekends.  Also, there are usually events happening on one of the event rooms like a comedy night or a band/dj. I saw a really good comedian there once.
As far as food, well slopeside has a great view of the slopes..  The menu food is terrible.  And it's pricey.  It SOUNDs good, but the food execution is frozen stuff in a bag that untrained people prepare.  I once had two completely RAW burgers sent to me there.  Stuffed shrimp was ice cold in the middle. 
It's safer to stick to their buffet though.  Their chilli isnt bad, nor whatever other soup they have.  The buffet has ok ish stuff sometimes, but it's the typical dried out somewhat tolerable stuff that you leave feeling violated for how much they charge for the quality of the buffet.  It's unlimted soup, salad and whatever else they have plus some stale bread and MEH deserts (nothing like it was even 10 years ago!, and 30 years ago people would drive from far away to eat here Im told)
There's the bavarian as well, a really small place across from slopeside which serves bar food, and what was timbers next to slopeside in a room and no one knows from one minute to the next what they will serve (last year it was way overprice terrible grab and go burritos bowls).  
While you are in that area, be sure to hit up the bloody mary bar :)
Or drive 25 minutes to out of the fire cafe in Donegal, you can get a decent meal there in a close to upscale vibe.  But not quite, so no worry about how you dress really. 
The last option is Helens located in a building off to the side of the lower main parking lot hidden in the woods, which is their spin on fine dining but not really. Much like out of the fire cafe you dont really need to dress up too much, and they take people with ski boots on all the time.  There's an actual chef here although Im fairly certain she isnt or does her best with the quality of the ingredients she is forced to use.  It's definitely a step up from slopeside, but not by much.  Once in a while youll get a gem of a meal but most of your food experiences at 7Springs can be classified in the range of C- to B-. 

Towards the entrance of the resort, there is a trout pond where you can feed trout, which kids like to check out and even adults.  

There are a few little shops there as well, I dont know if the one is open all year, but they have a large gift shop with tons of different clothing and gifts as well.  There's an ice cream/cupcake place but be prepared to pay through the nose for one cupcake.  They are actually good though! (because they arent affiliated with 7Springs).   There's a pizza shop, and I dont mind the pizza honestly but I like pretty much every pizza.

There's more than enough stuff for a non skier to keep themselves busy, but nothing will wow them.  (unless they are liquored up). 

Oh I almost forgot, they have a decent tubing hill but you will wait like ten minutes at the top to go down in line, but there's no walking a carpet lift takes you to the top.  General outdoor clothing is required and you shouldnt get too wet, just maybe the bottom of the pants and if your shoes are shoes instead of waterproof boots.    There's also hiking at the top of the mountain if you really want to, and...

I also forgot, you can do a snowmobile tour at the sporting clays at the top of the mountain (not affiliated with 7Springs but right near it, they were all owned by the same company until Vail bought 7S  two years ago), and sporting clays restaurant as well is there, it's decent..think a small step above bar food but not far.  

Now that I list everything,  7Springs isnt a bad place on paper. :)