It was very last minute decision to visit Mont Tremblant as I originally gave up on it when cheap flights were gone. But VIA's Express Deals @ $70 roundtrip from Toronto and Dorval sealed the deal for me. Car rental costs more than the train, how odd.
Friday
On my way to Toronto, I observed a stupid lincoln town car cutting in at the Highway 85 exit ramp to Highway 8, and clipped the cement wall. As a result, there were bad damages to the left side - fuel cap popped open, side mirror fell off, and both front and rear tires were deflated. He had to pull off to the side while we drove by
Lesson:
Anticipate when you're driving, do not wait until last minute. You rather miss the exit and turn around than causing an accident or significant monetary damage in this case
SaturdayWoke up at 5:30 am and drove to Union Station for the 7 am train. Got the ticket at the Self-Serve Kiosk and boarded the VIA Train. Got free but unreliable wi-fi due to their Satellitite outage (I could use gtalk/MSN but no browsing, how odd) all the way to Dorval, QC. It was very comfortable in the newer Renassiance cars, with table and power outlet. My only complaint was there were too many stops (every stop, from Guildwood-Oshawa-Coburg-Belleville-Kingston-Brockville-Cornwall-Dorval-Montreal). No wonder there was discussion about a dedicated high speed rail track for the Toronto-Montreal corridor.
On the other hand, Brother's 10:30 flight (land at YUL at 11:35 am) was cancelled due to the bad thunderstorm and airport closure (the only one cancelled of the day). How bad was his luck? Among my recollection, he had luggage lost, delayed, and he was flying when the big blackout occurred too. Porter then merged the 10:30 and the 12 pm flight together, departed YTZ at 12:30 and landed at YUL at 1:35 pm. Who would've thought train is faster than airplane?
As a result, I was at Dorval before the plane, picked up the rental car (Nissan Versa) from Enterprise. Brother showed up at 2 pm and we left YUL at 2:30. Drove straight to Fairmont Tremblant in rainy weather and arrived at 4:30, just in time for his 5 pm training course start.
While he is off to doze off in his class, I checked out the hotel room to the conclusion that it is not 5-star IMO. The 37" LCD TV on Analog signal, 2 lamps don't work, no wireless wi-fi but wired, and there is no complimentary water at all (but a big Evian 2L bottle for $8).
After settling down in the hotel, I ventured and walked around the Village (photos photos), and we had dinner at Widigo inside the Fairmont hotel (not too bad). After the dinner the weather finally cooperated and allowed us to enjoy a wonderful walk from the Fairmont all the way to the clocktower, and some of the Blues Festival music as well.
Lunch - Bento boxes from T&T Friday night
Dinner @ Widigo inside Fairmont - Grilled Tuna ($31) and Smoked Duck ($16)
* You'd think it's expensive, until we wondered outisde and realized everything everywhere is $30+. Cheapest menu entree was like $24 for curry
Sunday
I purchased the 3-Activity Card for $32+tax and chose the below options
- One Alpine Luge ride (limit of 1 ride per activity card) - this was a lot of fun, too bad I couldn't take video on the way down
- Access to the birds of prey show presented on the summit - I had no high expectation going in (I have seen a few Bird shows), but this was quite nice and many CLOSE encounters with the birds
- Snack-lunch trio at Le Grand Manitou on the summit (panoramic gondola not included) - very good Pork wraps ($8 retail, ouch), large salad, and fountain drink. Better than the room service at Fairmont
- Enjoy the panoramic gondola with a (1) round trip to the summit - all the way to the summit @ 875m
Lunch - We decided to order Room Service and were disappointed. The 5-Combo plate was small, and the listed $25 turned to $37 after all the "fees"
Dinner - Leftover lunch trio from Manitou
Run of the Day
I departed Fairmont at 3:45 pm in my lack-of-power Nissan Versa. It was a crazy drive - starting with traffic backup on the 117, and 20 minutes to drive 5 km as people stopped to look at sewage construction on the OTHER side of the highway (DUH). And then 130 all the way to airport thinking the worst could happen (I could miss my 6:30 train, have to pay $300 for one-way flight to Toronto or stay overnight)
Dropped off the car at Enterprise car rental (didn't have time to fill up the gas, so I'll gladly pay the premium for them to fill it up), ran towards the airport to catch the shuttle to VIA station. The VIA shuttle driver (same guy as Saturday) was very helpful and he knew he couldn't make it in time in the car.
So he dropped me off on this side of the track, I then run for my life through an underground tunnel to the other side, while the train is pulling into the station. I now what "run for your life" means very much.
Long story short, 6:30 pm train, I got onboard at 6:27 pm, and arrived Toronto at 11:31 pm. Whew~
Expenses
- VIA Train Roundtrip between Toronto and Dorval, QC $70 (thanks to VIA Express deals)
- Enterprise Car Rental + Fillup Gas Tank $160
- Fairmont Tremblant $0
- Downtown Toronto Parking $31
- Dining - Smoked Duck $20
- Dining - Room Service 5-choices combo plate $37 (ripoff)
- Hotel Valet Parking - ??
Notes
- Onboard the VIA train, they gave a free coffee to a disabled person instead of charging him $2, so that was nice
- 5-star Fairmont is really not that 5-star. TV sucks, they had power outage, 2 out of 3 lamps inside the room didn't work, no free water. Gladly I did not have to pay it
Thanks for the tips, I was planning on visiting here this winter.
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