Blizzard Ski & Snowboard School 11140 Highway 55, Plymouth, MN 55441

"A TLDR is provided below. Otherwise, if you read further, you can get a more detailed picture of our experience. 3.5/5 stars - Great opportunities for parents to earn credit to reduce cost next year; mixed experiences; lack of clear communication; staff and volunteers are nice; some instructors are amazing (especially for the littles); TLDR; Blizzard's environment is for kids who can be independent and can show significant progress in a short amount of time. It is not for kids who have disabilities (low muscle tone, cognitive disabilities, etc). Blizzard does offer opportunities for parents to earn 'credits' to reduce cost and their scholarship program is generous. If you're looking for adaptive lessons, try Trollhaugen's adaptive lessons out. I wanted to take some time to process my child getting removed from the program at the end of their first half (Dec 2023) so that I could be objectively honest about our experience and rating of Blizzard. Blizzard offers volunteer opportunities for parents where the following year, they get benefits based on the amount of volunteering that they've done for the current year. It is a great opportunity to reduce the cost to 50% and even free if you have volunteered enough (typically about year 2 or 3 it can be free for a single child). Blizzard also offers a generous scholarship for those who cannot afford it. This is great because it gives parent(s) an opportunity for a scholarship the first year and then volunteering enough to get apply some great cost relief benefits for the next year for their child. Being new to Blizzard, I did volunteer so that I could earn enough credits to gain some cost relief for the following year. We participated in all of the sessions they had since opening season and I was there for every single session as well. Only once did a Blizzard snowboarding staff came up to me to discuss some difficulties they had with my kiddo. We talked through the challenges they were having, I gave some suggestions, so did they, and at the end of that day, I reconnected with them and they said that it went much better. The following week I reconnected with the same staff who brought up concerns with me and they said that my child was doing much better. I thought we figured it out since that was the only time it was ever discussed with me and everyone was feeling positive about it. By the time the second half of the season was about to start (Jan 2024), I received a call from Blizzard's admin stating that my child was being removed from the program because they have not progressed as much as they wanted him to. I asked more questions but because the admin was getting their information from the instructor's feedback form, the conversation really didn't go anywhere. Just that Blizzard felt they weren't the right program for my kid. They did refund me the rest of the cost for the season, minus any cost that already accrued. From an accessibility standpoint - Blizzard might not be the program for you and your family if your child(ren) have a disability that requires patience or a bit of focus time from one of the two instructors that are part of a group. Your child must be independent and have the ability to self-advocate, as well as learn time management skills. Out of this - I did find an adaptive program at Trollhaugen that has been amazing and fantastic. The adaptive team are a wonderful bunch of people, and the feedback that I got from the instructor was far different than the feedback we got from Blizzard. Blizzard's perspective was that my kiddo wasn't progressing enough and not doing enough, however at Trollhaugen, the instructor's feedback has been on the other end of the spectrum where my kiddo would have been placed in an intermediated/advanced class, should be able to do runs on his own, and killed it on blue runs. Again, if you're looking for adaptive lessons because your child(ren) has one or multiple types of disabilities and fear the group/chaos type of class like Blizzard, check out Trollhaugen."

"We aren't impressed with the program. Greed is the best way I can describe it. Both of my sons were signed up for the classic program. My son's swim schedule changed to where he had to practice every Saturday and I asked for our money back; the owner Jennifer, very rudely told me it was his choice to join two sports. She told me he took another kid's spot that could have joined and lots of coaches time has been put into my son. Both seem to be inaccurate. Jennifer is very rude and it's a shame she is one of the owner's of the program. The website states that they don't fill up for their Classic group; now she's telling me he took another kid's spot. The second is that he was given no coach's time. The first day he went with his brother they were told their group had their lesson at a certain time. They got to the lesson at that time and they were told their lesson was over. The Blizzard just got $535 from us and we got nothing in return. Easy money for them. My other son left his mittens in our vehicle. My husband called out son and told him to ask the bus drive to wait until my husband ran out of the vehicle to give him his gloves. The bus driver told him he wasn't waiting for my husband to get out of the vehicle. that he needed to drive to the next stop to give him his gloves."

"The staff really care at Blizzard and show it by asking for child and parent feedback, being kind, communicating openly, and catering to the children’s’ individual learning needs. My son can’t wait to go on Blizzard snowboarding trips every weekend. He has learned so much already and doesn’t want the season to end. We will be back next year!"

"My nephews were in blizzard for a number of years and, when we moved to MN, our kids joined as well. Blizzard is a fantastic program for kids and parents. The instructors are fantastic and make skiing and snowboarding fun, safe, and rewarding. The kids work their way up color levels as they progress which keeps them motivated to continually learn. The race coaches are top notch and provide consistent positive feedback to keep kids progressing on the ski course. The Parent Breakthrough Program is fantastic for any ski level. Mike is a level 3 PSIA instructor who is able to identify changes that need to be made, creates a plan to make those changes and makes learning fun. Owners and staff (kris!!) are fantastic and run an incredible program- they make all the moving parts come together seamlessly. Highly recommend Blizzard for both kids and parents."

"My daughter has been skiing with Blizzard for 6 years and loves it. The instructors are professional and fun. The cost and transportation is reasonable. Our second daughter will stay next year!"