I was a major horror film buff growing up and I still am. That’s why I agreed to take up Dasha's suggestion to check out the Stanley Hotel while in Estes Park, CO. Especially since it was the weekend before Halloween!
If you don’t know, the Stanley Hotel was famously the inspiration for Stephen King's thriller novel The Shining. After Dasha and I hiked Rocky Mountain National Park, we made a stop to experience all its spookiness.
What we discovered was a lot of people, a blustery day, and some unexpected facts about this iconic resort inn.
What Is The Stanley Hotel?
The Stanley Hotel is a hotel built by Freelan Oscar Stanley in Estes Park, CO (formerly the land of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes). He bought that land in 1908 and opened the hotel on independence day in 1909.
Me and a statue of F. O. Stanley in front of his Stanley Hotel
Originally 48 rooms, the property has 11 structures including the main hotel, a concert hall, carriage house, and The Lodge. The hotel has 140 rooms today. You can book to stay in a historic room, modern kitchenette room, cottage, or residence.
A stay at the Stanley Hotel in its most basic room will run you over $300. The month of October includes weekend stays for about $349 at its lowest price.
Why Is The Stanley Hotel Famous?
The Stanley Hotel was the first hotel built that launched Estes Park as a tourist destination and summer resort town. Stanley and his hotel were major contributors to the opening of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915.
But that’s not what the hotel is well known for today.
Stephen King made this hotel famous when he used it as inspiration for the Overlook Hotel, the fictional hotel in his novel The Shining. While the film of the same name took place elsewhere, the hotel was the location for a second adaption of the book in 1997—a 3-episode miniseries directed by Mick Garris.
I haven’t seen the miniseries but apparently there is a creepy dollhouse in it that made up part of the playground in front of the Overlook Hotel.
Another famous film shot at the Stanley Hotel is one of my personal favorites—Dumb and Dumber.
How Was Stephen King Inspired By The Stanley?
In 1974 while briefly living in Boulder, Stephen King and his wife Tabitha were encouraged by locals to stay at the Stanley Hotel. When they arrived, the hotel was getting ready to close for the season. They had it all to themselves.
They had dinner in an empty dining hall with the chairs up on tables and canny orchestral music echoing throughout. Between this, the long corridors, and overall emptiness of the hotel Stephen wondered to himself, “What if someone died here?” and he had the whole book idea all at once.
What’s With Room 237?
Stephen and Tabitha King stayed in Room 217 at the hotel in 1974. But Room 237 became the location of spooky activity in The Shining.
In addition to the “Stephen King Suite 217” and Room 237, the Hotel boasts other famously requested rooms for their “high paranormal activity.” These include the Ghost Hunters' tv show room 401, as well as rooms 407 and 428.
How To Access The Stanley Hotel?
The Stanley Hotel is located about 5 miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park at 333 E Wonderview Ave. The views are truly a wonder overlooking the Rockies, Lake Estes, and Long’s Peak. However, we had trouble seeing it as clouds rolled in for a full on, late afternoon snowstorm.
There is a $10 day parking fee for those not staying at the hotel or experiencing a booked tour. The fee grants you a token which doubles as a souvenir or a $5 off coupon at the gift shop inside the hotel.
Booked tours or rooms will give you free entrance and free parking. Booked tours include a historic day tour ($24 for adults) or spirited night tour ($28 for adults). Advanced bookings are required.
Exploring Outside Stanley Hotel
The adventure already began as I stepped out of the car in the Stanley Hotel’s parking lot. A banana peel nearly had me slipping to my doom.
“What, is this hotel already trying to kill me?!” I said and we laughed.
Before entering the hotel, we started by taking photos outside and exploring the miniature hedge labyrinth. As we made our way through to the center of the Labyrinth, the wind picked up and blew leaves all over the place.
This was the perfect weather for our spooky experience!
Leaves blew all around the statue of F. O. Stanley himself. His statue includes a quote he said in 1928:
Nature has endowed Estes Park in a wonderful manner. The grandeur of its scenery, its deep blue skies, its clear, cool and invigorating air, its mountain streams of sparkling soft water, its sunny days and delightfully cool nights, are things the summer visitor never forgets, and having enjoyed once, desires to enjoy again.”
I wonder what he would think today of the reason for his hotel’s fame? Now the hotel remains open all year round and people book to stay during the month of Halloween well in advance!
Out the back side of the hotel, you can see right into some of the old historic rooms of the hotel. You can also see the many other buildings on the property. The area in the back is much less impressive and less active with tourists. I imagined what it would be like to stay there at night, observing the shadowy movement of guests behind curtains. It was quiet there and even a bit eerie.
Dasha had stayed in a room with her brother over the summer. They took the spirited night tour and said there was a lot of discussion around “orbs” captured by guest’s cameras.
Orbs are said to be the spirits of ghosts—ooOOOOooo!—rather than just dust particles reflecting light. BUT WHO KNOWS!
The Lobby, Gift Shop, And Basement
There’s not too many areas to explore inside without taking a tour. But the main area was the lobby. The ornate woodwork and antique feel of the décor was really cool!
My favorite part was the Halloween decorations throughout.
We were able to go up the stairs to where the rooms are, but the area was gated off and accessible only to guests. The staircase on the way up was decorated with beautiful ornately framed paintings. We enjoyed just sitting there for a moment—welcomed rest after our long hike that morning.
The gift shop inside was set up to cater to the season.
There were your usual souvenir shop items and then there was lots of spooky items, Halloween costume pieces, and The Shining-inspired memorabilia. Dasha bought me a “REDRUM” mask (can you even say it without doing Danny’s voice?). It’s definitely my favorite mask to wear now!
We took the stairs down to the lower level or “basement” to see some of the informational signage that I shared throughout this post, including the dollhouse.
An old school elevator brought us back to the top!
In Conclusion
Overall, Dasha and I had an enjoyable time checking out what we could on a self-guided tour of the Stanley Hotel.
I wasn’t willing to pay $28 for the night tour and felt like this little slice of the experience was just enough for me! It was the right amount of history, horror, and spectacular views to make it worth the stop for me, especially during the spooky season.
The whole experience had us quoting, “Herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre’s Johnny!”
I was a major horror film buff growing up and I still am. That’s why I agreed to take up Dasha's suggestion to check out the Stanley Hotel while in Estes Park, CO. Especially since it was the weekend before Halloween!
If you don’t know, the Stanley Hotel was famously the inspiration for Stephen King's thriller novel The Shining. After Dasha and I hiked Rocky Mountain National Park, we made a stop to experience all its spookiness.
What we discovered was a lot of people, a blustery day, and some unexpected facts about this iconic resort inn.