5 Reasons to Have Your Company Picnic at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Having fun in 2021 at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park
Having fun in 2021 at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Gather your team for an annual company picnic that pays dividends all year long at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, a team-building destination for businesses where fun is the chart-topping trend!

Company picnics done right are memorable events that enable employees to bond over shared experiences. A day dedicated to letting loose and having fun is also a great way to blow off steam and see alternate sides of colleagues and office mates. Choosing the right place to hold a company picnic is central to pulling off one that pays high returns on the investment. As a business that values its own employees, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park understands the importance of keeping your workforce engaged whether you have 10 employees or hundreds like we do.

  1. Easy to plan. Chances are your company doesn’t have a dedicated event planner, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park does. Our group sales office can guide you through the entire process. Choose from several themed menus like a fajita bar or barbeque spread. Serve adult beverages such as beer, wine or cocktails or hold an alcohol-free event. It’s up to you. Whatever you decide, our on-staff event planners will guide through every step of the process.
  2. Show your appreciation. Your employees work hard to make your business successful. A company picnic is a way for you, as an employer, to show your gratitude for a job well done. When you take time to do something out of the ordinary—like plan this year’s company outing at a mountaintop theme park—it’s not something they’re going to forget!
  3. Build team cohesion. At work, it’s easy for employees to focus on the specific job they are tasked to do. While company-wide meetings bring the office together, seeing one another in an off-site environment can help departments, and even colleagues who are just cubicles away from one another connect on a deeper, more meaningful level. A company picnic is a great way to improve corporate culture. More connectivity among workers means a more integrated workforce all striving for the same goal. Put simply, it’s good for business.
  4. Support families. It’s likely the majority of your employees have spouses, children, and girlfriends or boyfriends. When you invite the whole family to join in the company picnic it signals your employees that their life outside the office is important to you as well as their ability to get the job done at work. Glenwood Caverns is a family-friendly group destination with rides and attractions suitable for most ages.
  5. Have fun. The company picnic is first and foremost about having a great time together and sharing smiles, food and experiences as a group. Where better to do that than at a mountaintop theme park? For those who crave excitement, our thrill rides will have your most outgoing personnel screaming for more; our cave tours led by extroverted guides are informative and entertaining; the park’s smaller attractions keep kids enthralled for hours. Company picnics at the park are always scheduled from 4-9 p.m. when the park tends to be less crowded and temperatures are cooler. Snap photos of your crew to post on your social media, or let us take your group photo for you.
Giant Canyon Swing Glenwood Caverns

Pop-pop-ular Popcorn Wagon Opens for the Season

To the delight of visitors of all ages, the Popcorn Wagon serves, you guessed it, scoops upon scoops of freshly-popped buttery popcorn, but that’s not all. Over the years the Popcorn Wagon’s funnel cakes have outpaced the sale of popcorn. The crispy, crunchy, melt-in-your mouth deep-fried batter is a county fair staple and it’s also a favorite treat at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, especially when topped with powdered sugar and strawberries!

You’ll find the iconic red wagon with its striped awning and yellow wheels stationed at the west end of the Park, between the building that houses the Shootin’ Gallery and Old Tyme Photos and the Climbing Wall. See our new interactive map for its precise location and check out the short video clips of the rides and attractions.

Enjoy a delicious meal and a spectacular view at the Lookout Grille

Fun Fact: A precursor to the modern food truck, the mobile popcorn machine has been around for well over a century. It was created by Charles Cretors who trotted it out for the first time at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It was designed to move to any location that the operator thought would be a good place to do a brisk business. Since then, popcorn wagons have become a staple at fairs, carnivals, rallies and theme parks.

In addition to popcorn and funnel cakes, The Popcorn Wagon serves up other theme park food favorites including chips, corn dogs, cotton candy and new this year—cinnamon glazed nuts. It’s also a convenient place to hydrate with a selection of drinks: bottled water, soda, Powerade and freshly squeezed lemonade.

The Popcorn Wagon is just one of several places to grab a bite at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The Lookout Grille at the Visitor Center offers a casual sit-down dining experience for lunch and dinner with grill favorites that include burgers, wraps, chef specials and kids meals. There’s also a full bar for adults to enjoy a cold beer, glass of wine or cocktail.

The Snack Shack, located in the Plaza, is a perfect for on-the-go snacks and meals. You’ll find pizza, brats, hot dogs, ice cream, sno-cones and cold drinks including beer. Eat on the go or sit at one of the nearby picnic tables.

Homemade fudge at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Try Glenwood Caverns’ creamy fudge in an assortment of flavors

 

If you just need to satisfy your sweet tooth, stop by the General Store. Every day the staff makes fresh batches of creamy homemade fudge. Peanut Butter Fudge is a customer favorite, as is Cookies-n-Cream and Rocky Road.

Along with experiencing all the thrill rides and attractions, eating is a big and satisfying part of the fun at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park! Find out more at glenwoodcavdev.wpengine.com.

The Journey and the Destination

View of Glenwood Springs

Ride the Iron Mountain Tramway for the best views in Glenwood Springs.

For a scenic and relaxing getaway to the top of Iron Mountain and a casual meal at The Lookout Grille, half the fun is getting there.

Your ride in a safe, comfortable, fully-enclosed gondola on the Iron Mountain Tramway begins at 6,000 feet and gently lifts you to 7,100 feet on the trip that is 4,300 feet long. The tram is a modern European pulse design by Leitner-Poma of America, with slowdowns on the way as other visitors enter and exit at the ends.

High above the trees, you’ll get a bird’s eye view of Storm King Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Mount Sopris and the Elk Range in the distance, Red Mountain, the Flattops Wilderness, the Colorado River, an active limestone quarry and Glenwood Springs.

Adding to the ambiance, from November through February, during Winter on the Mountain, the Park is adorned with over a half million lights. Rides and attractions, outdoor fire pits, a warming tent decorated as the North Pole and events like FAC with live music and food and drink specials offer visitors lots of options for things to do at the mountaintop theme park.

No matter when you visit, you can take in the spectacular views and recharge your batteries with a meal at the family-friendly Lookout Grille restaurant, with burgers, sandwiches, wraps, vegetarian options, a kids’ menu and beverage choices including beer and wine.

You’ll descend via the tram with another pleasant ride and go home with treasured memories to recall for years from the excursion of just a few hours.

Food for Play

From snacks to healthy food options, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park serves up delicious treats and meals that satisfy.

For many visitors to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, the theme park experience isn’t complete without the smell, stickiness and flavor of cotton candy and funnel cakes. For many other visitors, healthy food is essential for a happy visit.

Bob Stepniewski, the Park’s food and beverage manager, caters to both tastes. “It’s a fine balance,” Bob says. “People don’t come up here specifically to dine. They eat because it’s a convenience and they need to have some lunch.”

Three years ago, customer demand drove him to buy a Tiffany-style popcorn wagon and offer popcorn, cotton candy, and funnel cakes. “That’s what people want,” he says. “It’s the smell you think of when you come to the amusement park. I’m open to other options.”

The latest menu change added “grab and go” items, such as chicken salad wraps and a hummus-and-pretzel kit that make a quick snack without a long wait. “We’re offering something that’s healthier,” Bob says. “We do specials on a daily basis over and above our regular menu.”

The menu includes yogurt parfaits with fresh fruit and granola; seasonal salad options such as fresh berries, dried cranberries, feta cheese, walnuts and mandarin oranges; and gluten-free buns and brownies.

“When we make homemade soups here, we’re very in tune with being gluten free so people can be confident that they can have that,” Bob says. Several years ago, he created a book of ingredients for each dish so diners can check for themselves.

Bob, who started out in the hospitality industry as a teenager growing up in Wisconsin and worked in a hotel when he moved to Colorado at age 25, sold ski vacations for 15 years until he returned to the kitchen seven years ago at Glenwood Caverns. His right hand in the kitchen at the Lookout Grille, Mark Lambert, recently graduated from the Escoffier Online International Culinary Academy.

“I have been in the hospitality industry nearly all my life,” Bob says. “Ten or 15 years ago, people weren’t as health conscious as they are now. We are sensitive and empathetic to our guests. It’s a fun environment. Every day, I’m just thrilled to be a part of it.”