We went to the Stanley last winter as a last-minute birthday get-together. It was a great idea! It only took about 40 minutes to get there from near I-25 in Fort Collins. The scenery wasn't fantastic, but it was beautiful. It was definitely an enjoyable drive. The photos of this hotel are really how it looks in person. It looks impressive and important when you see it. If it was anywhere else the effect would be different. The natural mountain backdrops somehow alter the appearance of this type of place. The interior was pretty and the staff was informal and friendly. We had called about a week ahead of time to reserve our rooms. They wouldn't let us reserve specific rooms. When we got there, the Steven King room where he wrote ""The Shining"" was available! We looked for ghosts but didn't see any. It was really cool that the hallways, stuff in the hallways, the way the doors are laid out in different parts of the hotel are like in the movie. We did not see anything spooky at all. Well except for the carpet which looked like it was from 1980. But everything had this completely unique vibe to it, so it didn't really matter. The room we stayed in on the second floor was the only room that had access to the huge balcony on the front of the hotel. So if you stay there, you might want to ask for that room so you can go out on the balcony. There is another room that looks like it has access but it really doesn't. The interior of the room and the bathroom were unique, fun, and comfortable. It wasn't cheesy or scary like some offbeat hotels. It was more like pretty and interesting. Since we were there in winter (the off-season) we were surprised that we could order room service. They were kind of slow but the food was unexpectedly good. We felt like we had almost the whole place to ourselves! If you go when it isn't winter, it would probably be crowded though. Going there was so fun!