Come Play with Us, Danny - The Travel Oracle

Happy October, everyone! I am SOOOO excited to share with you some new spooky adventures for the BEST season of the year. This week, let’s go all the way to Estes Park, Colorado for a look at the Overlook – I mean, the Stanley Hotel. Come play with us, Danny. This one’s going to be a hoot!

On the Road to the Overlook

Leaving Boulder for Estes Park, I expected to have that “impending feeling of dread” that Stanley Kubrick’s film portrayed. You know, driving in the middle of nowhere – sort of feeling like you were on your way to a dinner party with the Donners. However, the road to the Overlook was BEAUTIFUL! No wonder Mr. Stanley decided to stay here. Take a look at all this beautiful scenery, plus the furry friends who came right up and ate from our hands!

Blue mountain in the distance with evergreen trees in the foreground — What a view!

Woman standing near a wooden deck, looking down at a chipmunk — So deeelighted!!

Close up of two chipmunks on a log. — So deeelighted!!

The Beautiful Town of Estes Park

Stacked rock formation with a plaque that reads “Estes Park” — The entrance to Estes Park

From the tenor of the movie and what I heard about the origins of the novel, I thought Estes Park would be rather desolate. I imagined a vast plain, surrounded by mountains, with a lone hotel, far from everything. But I am happy to report that the town was far from that! It was beautiful and charming!

Military memorial in Estes Park. it’s made from a pale stone and has individual stones around it for each of the branches. — Honoring those who served

Humming bird eating from a purple plant with little bell shaped flowers — Honoring those who served

The Stanley

And then from the distance…there it was, the Stanley! Rather than a lone hotel in the middle of a vast plain, it was nestled – surrounded by trees and the mountains.

The Stanley hotel in the back ground, with a bronze statue of F.O. Stanley in the fore ground. The hotel is a white building with a red roof. — Mr. Stanley and His Hotel

Wooden sign framed by rocks that reads, “The Stanley”. Behind it are two evergreen trees. — The entrance

Bronze statue of Stanley Kubrick behind a movie camera — The entrance

The Hedge Maze

Having never read the novel, disappointed fans of the Stanley Kubrick film expected to see a vast hedge maze in front of the hotel. In an effort to appease these fans, the Stanley DID plant these arborvitae’s. Sadly the local deer think they are utter delicious so the maze is more of rows of gnawed bushes.

Small, black metal sign that reads “The Stanley Hedge Maze” in front of arborvitae — The Stanley Hedge Maze

Man walking through the hedge maze at the Stanley Hotel. The hedge walls are of differing sizes. — The Stanley Hedge Maze

The Lobby and Staircase

If you’ve seen the Stephen King mini-series, “The Shining”, you’ll recognize this iconic interior.

Grand stair case at the Stanley Hotel. There are wood walls with a long banister. The spindles are white. The carpet is red with a floral pattern. — Grand staircase at the Stanley

The lobby of the Stanley Hotel. The carpet is red with a floral pattern on it. The walls are a medium colored wood and the ceiling has white panels with wooden beams. There are a leather sofa and chairs. — Grand staircase at the Stanley

The Front Desk

We LOVED the front desk with all the skeleton keys. (We asked the staff and they said these keys are really ornamental as they use key cards.)

Front desk at the Stanley hotel. Marble counter on top of a wooden desk. Behind it is wooden panele=ing with two pictures sitting above rows of skeleton keys. — The front desk

Close up of the skeleton keys behind the front desk at the Stanley — The front desk

The Wine Bar and Seance Room

It was too early for the most of the hotel to be open, but we were able to get a peek at a couple of special places.

A big room with a wooden floor and white walls. There are tables and chairs, waiting for patrons. — The wine bar

Painting in the wine bar showing an axe and the number 217. — The wine bar

The Steam Powered Car

The Stanley Brothers, became wealthy by manufacturing photographic plates and then selling that business to Eastman Kodak. Later, they developed the Stanley Steamer – a car that set the land speed record in 1906 by going over 127 miles per hour. In the lobby, they had one of the steamers on display and we just LOVED the license plate.

Green Stanley Steamer car — The Stanley Steamer

Close up of the Stanley Steamer car, showing the license plate that reads “Redrum” — The Stanley Steamer

The Bunk House and Fright Fest

A dormitory on the property was rented by a company for a horror movie awards show. They left behind their props and we had a lot of fun with them.

Employee parking lot with the dormitories in the back ground. The building is white with a red roof. — The dormitory

Room lit with black light. There are two skeletons seated in chairs on either side of a curtained window. — The dormitory

The Care Takers Cottage

Contrary to the story, the care taker for the Stanley was a family man and beloved by the community. His cottage has been restored to show what it was like at the turn of the century.

Black and white photo of the care take and his wife — Mr. And Mrs. Caretaker

Kitchen at the caretaker’s cottage. There is a white sink on silver legs. Behind it is black and white tile and framed photos of the caretaker and his family — Mr. And Mrs. Caretaker

The Shining Spaces

However, a few of the rooms were repurposed to reflect some of the Shining’s iconic spaces.

Bedroom from the Shining with the iconic geometric carpet and a picture of a nude woman on the wall. — Room 217?

Painting of Stephen King in a golden frame — Room 217?

Funny Story about the Ax

While the tour guide opened a rectangular safe to reveal one of the prop axes used in the filming of The Shining, he shared a funny story with us. Apparently Jack Nicholson had an axe in his truck and improvised breaking down the bathroom door. Shelley Duvall had no idea this was going to happen, so her terrified reaction was real. A real axe was very heavy and as a result, Jack tore his rotator cuff and couldn’t carry it for the rest of the shoot. The prop team made a few axes out of Styrofoam for the rest of the filming and the Stanley was gifted one of them.

Secure case with a prop axe from the moving, the Shining, in front of a red cloth background. Next to it are photos from the film with Jack Nicholson wielding the axe. — The Prop Axe

The Infamous Room 217

The last stop on our tour was the Stephen King suite. Back in the 70’s, the hotel had fallen into severe disrepair and was on the verge of being razed. The author booked the room there because he felt the Stanley’s seriously creepy vibe would serve as great inspiration for a future novel. During the night, he dreamt that the fire hose on the wall came to life and was chasing his son down the hallways. After waking and having a smoke on the balcony of his room, Stephen had the entire plot for the book formed. You can still book this room but it is reserved about a year in advance.

Dark wooden door to the Stephen King suite at the Stanley Hotel. The walls are painted a light tan with a cream colored paneling on the bottom. The carpeting is dark red with flowers. — The Stephen King Suite

Golden plate that reads “Stephen King Suite” on a wooden door — The Stephen King Suite

The Caretaker’s Bar

When the tour was over, we made our way down to the Whiskey bar for an adult beverage and to look at all pictures of the famous folks on the walls.

Menu from the whiskey bar at the Stanley Hotel, featuring movie themed drinks. — I’ll have a Torrance Twist, please!

Photo of Stanley Kubrick and his camera during filming of The Shining — I’ll have a Torrance Twist, please!

The OTHER Epic Movie Shot at the Stanley

Some how we never realized that the hotel in Dumb and Dumber was the Stanley! As much as I love the Shining, I love this movie EVEN more!!

Poster from the movie Dumb and Dumber, signed by the cast — What can we say? Dumb happens!

Poster of the front page of the news paper from 1969 that reads “Man Walked on the Moon”. Used in the movie Dumb and Dumber. — Man walks on the moon!!

Framed picture from the movie Dumb and Dumber, where Jeff Daniels is being pulled away from the pole his tongue is stuck to. — Man walks on the moon!!

Funny Story about Jim Carrey

The tour guide shared an interesting story about Jim Carrey at the Stanley. Apparently he had booked the Stephen King suite for the three months they would be filming. On his first night there, he ran down to the lobby after midnight, wearing only boxers shorts and a tee shirt. He demanded to leave immediately and never stayed there again. Apparently to this day, if an interviewer asks him what happened when he stayed at the hotel, he will remove his microphone and walk away. (We were unable to confirm this story with Mr. Carrey.)

Framed picture of Jim Carrey that he autographed and inscribed with the phrase “Spank you very much”. — Jim Carrey

But IS it Haunted?

I loved everything about The Stanley and would have loved to stay there, but it IS rather pricey. And we had a conveniently located and affordable hotel in Boulder. I didn’t feel it was creepy – even when it was trying to be. But I did have one really weird experience. I always take pictures using the “live” feature on my iPhone. Since I’m not a great photographer, this ensures that I should get a decent shot, that isn’t blurry and where everyone’s eyes are open.

When photographing the lobby at The Stanley, one of the frames in the “live” filming was blank. Just one completely blank, gray, frame. Now I looked it up, and experts say that this happens sometimes to denote the “Featured Frame”. But this gray frame was not near the one that was featured. Also, I’ve taken more than 8,000 photos with “live” on, and I never had this happen to me before. So…what do you think it means? You can check out the video and let us know what you think!

Well I guess that’s it for this week! This weekend I’ll be taking a Ghost Tour with US Ghost Adventures. I cannot WAIT to share my experiences with you. If you want to be sure to stay up to date with all our adventures, you can subscribe today for free! And for a peek at what we’re up to in real time, follow us on Instagram at The__Travel__Oracle.

Happy October! Stay spooky, my friends!!