Review - The Poconos Ski Resort ⭐️
Introduction
Note - this has now shut. The newest Highlife Resort is Vegas SL
It is thanks to Second Life resorts operator Highlife Destinations, that I had the lightbulb moment leading me to create this website.
When I was first introduced to the (now closed) Timor Isles in September 2020, I had no idea that vacation resorts were even a thing in Second Life.
That revelation led me on this journey, and since then, I’ve stayed in 50+ hotels and resorts.
High Life Destinations tend to run a Winter and a Summer resort in rotation. This year, the Poconos Ski Resort is there for the Winter Season, and the idea is that it will be replaced with a Las Vegas themed development in the Spring.
I’ve just been to Poconos, going as part of the first group visit / review I’ve ever done.
We went as two couples, with Aurelia (Aurelia Von Troubles) and myself being joined by Semina Bob Satanovic (who took many of the pictures in this review) and her partner Zack Lightman.
Summary
Photo by Semina
Like other High Life Destinations developments, the Poconos Ski Resort is a lot of fun, packed full of things to see and do, and really well designed.
We really enjoyed ourselves, and so if going as a group (as we did) or as a couple, I highly recommend it. See the Poconos Website for bookings.
(Note this is a closed resort, you need to pre-book via the website. Click here for an explanation of how these kind of resorts work).
Overall look and feel
Poconos was actually open in the Winter of 2020/2021, serving as a kind of add on to the now shut Winter in New York experience. It’s since been expanded and reopened for the 2021/2022 season as a standalone resort.
The Poconos Ski Resort is built on a mountain. There’s a reception area and Winter park at the bottom, the chalets are placed up on the hill, and the ski area is on top.
One of the hallmarks of a Highlife Destinations resort, is that it just looks great, and Poconos is no exception.
The landscaping is really well done, a lot of thought has been put into the overall design and location of the various amenities, and the design is there is plenty to see and do, you can easily spend several days here.
Overall - 4.5 / 5
The rooms
Rooms range from 1000-3000 a night in price. The four of us stayed in the Deer Run Cabin.
Though this does accommodate four, it’s worth pointing out that it only has one king bed. There is a larger cabin (the Mountain View Villa), with multiple bedrooms but this was not available at time of booking.
Photo by Semina
Nevertheless, the cabin was a good size with a dining / living room area in addition to the bedroom. A highlight was the wooden sauna and large outdoor hot springs pool outside.
Overall - 4.5 / 5
Features and amenities
Amenities include snowboarding, skiing, hang gliding, ice skating, a hot air balloon, a bar / restaurant, a spa and a hunting area.
In terms of RP activities, you can book dinner at the restaurant, take part in cooking classes, and book a spa.
I’ve heard good things about the cooking classes, and while the four of us didn’t book dinner (we had that elsewhere before we arrived), we did book a spa session.
Photo by Semina
The spa looks great, and we were grateful that they managed to fit all four of us into one session.
One piece of feedback though is that it would have been better for each spa attendant to talk in IM with their designated guest, rather having all four RP in local. This ended up being a little confusing and hard to follow (one did subsequently switch to IM).
Semina and Zack took part in the hunting activity, and enjoyed it. Note that you chase images of animals as opposed to mesh animals.
Photo by Semina
This year the resort has a monorail to take you to the ski area. It’s a great addition, but you need to be quick to sit down as the doors close fast!
Two other highlights worth mentioning are the ice skating rink (which has single and couples skating options) and the giant Ferris wheel.
Overall - 4 / 5
The animations
This was the weakest part of the experience for us. The spa hot springs area looked fantastic, but it took a lot of adjusting to get the four of us into a position that looked halfway natural.
Ditto, the couples baths, which were beautifully done, but some of the animations had us sitting inside the stone.
When you go a a couple, you don’t want to spend too much time messing around with animations, and one of the biggest asks I would make of resort owners is to test these before opening.
The bed in the cabin had a Ruckus Engine placed inside a Commoner Spero (Rare) bed.
I’ve seen this done quite a lot in resorts, where Ruckus is put under another bed, chosen for aesthetic purposes, but just be aware to click on the right area (and of course if necessary use highlight-transparent).
The rest of the resort had the usual mix of PG sitting and cuddle anims. The activity based ones on the hot air balloon and on the sleigh worked well.
Overall - 3 / 5
Other considerations
Photo by Semina
There’s constant snow at Poconos, which caused me personally a bit of lag on a 2019 Macbook Pro. I could just about run graphics on high when taking pics, but had to use medium when moving around
Privacy is good, as this is a closed resort, you’ll only see other guests and staff
Check-in is in theory at 4pm SLT, but as three out of the four of us are in Europe (4pm SLT is Midnight in London and 1am in Paris), the staff were happy to accommodate us and allow us to check in early. As a result, this was much appreciated
You get a tour when you arrive, giving you an overview of what’s on offer, as well as a notecard with LMs.
Overall
Positives
The overall look and design
Loads to see and do, the activities are well thought out
The hot springs outside our chalet
The skating rink
Friendly and accommodating staff
Negatives
A bit of lag
Animations were weak in some areas
As with their other vacation experiences, High Life Destinations have managed to create something immersive and enjoyable at the Poconos Resort.
Go as a couple, or go as a group like we did. You will enjoy the experience immensely.
Highly Recommended
With thanks to Semina for letting me use some of her pictures for this review!
