West Yellowstone in January - Restaurants Open?
 

We've been to West Yellowstone a few times in the September-October time frame, and I know that things really shut down by mid-October. Do things reopen in mid-December when YNP opens for the winter season?

Thanks to having an unused ticket that has to be used before February 11, we are thinking of booking a week at our timeshare in West Yellowstone, to get a rare snow opportunity (for us Floridians). We will have to drive from Salt Lake City as well, another concern.

BTW, no we are not skiers or winter sports experts. But we would like to try out the snowcoaches, snowmobiles, maybe a (comical) snowshoe episode, etc. And a night or two down in the park at the Snow Lodge, if we could get in.

Our timeframe is late January. If this is a horrible idea, go ahead and rant; I'll take the good and the bad with appreciation. Thanks.

The first time we went to West Yellowstone was in January and I was pregnant. We were with friends and had a great time. Plenty of places were open, and we did a snowcoach ride which was great. The guys did snowmobiles, but the company wouldn't let us pregnant wives go. We went a few more times that winter and always had a great time, FWIW.

Just to clarify - we know you cannot drive into the park at this time, we would be using snowcoach.

Good! DH is convinced that the town closes down in October and doesn't reopen until spring thaw. Any information I can get is very much appreciated.

Just because a town caters to tourists doesn't mean that it "closes down" in the winter. People live there!

sylvia3 - I take your point. However, let me assure you, this is one of those areas that does indeed shut down the majority of its shops and restaurants off season.

On one trip around a 1-2 weeks into October, all the power went out in town. We were in a shop at the time and the owner told us that the city "figured this was a pretty good time, since most tourists had cleared out." Power went on within a couple of hours. Not a big concern, since most restaurants and shops closed for the season that day anyway.

Point is, this area's tourism is very season dependent. Locals we have spoken with have said that they do their major grocery shopping in distant larger cities on a regular monthly basis anyway; we didn't ask this question about winter so want to know what to expect and prepare accordingly.

I am not familiar with winter snow/ski season. Am I correct in thinking that snowcoaches and snowmobiles are allowed into Yellowstone from here in late January?