Bulgaria Ski discussion board

First time to Bulgaria, but felt prepared after having so many questions answered thanks to this site. Having skied Austria and France regulally I had an open mind on what to expect, but I picked Borovets because France is so bloody expensive, and as I was taking two small kids (7 & 5), I was more concerened that they enjoyed it and wanted to return.
1. stayed at the Samokov, its not the Ritz, but an excellent hotel with great facilities to match anywhere else I have stayed. get into the resturant at 6pm when it opens and the food is piping hot. (wait until later and no supprise it will be luke warm). Plenty of choice, live music while you eat and I avoided what I could not be sure was "ok" like the Veal or Chicken at times, but no complaints from me re the food.
Clean hotel, not up to 4* perhaps but hell, you only eat and sleep there!
Pool, rather cool I thought as did the kids who went in and allmost straight out!
bowling alley ok at 7 lev each, filled in an hour with three of us.
Lager 3.5lev OK, plenty of bars to choose from and staff helpfull when needed.
Oh, a wake up call can be dialled from the telephone, helpfull if your clock breaks down like mine!
World bbc only english channel on the tv, but plenty of newspapers to buy if you want to stay in the room(my kids were knackered by 8.30pm most nights!) and from the supermarkets a bottle of 2 litre lager for 2.80 Lev cant be bad! (drink that in the room!).
Overall with the hotel, no problems.
2. The skiing-
We had Sunshine all week until the Friday, excellent time on quite well pisted slopes, though as the week went on Ice and grassy patches developed which were rather challenging!, however recent snow has improved this.
The Gondola ques can be frustrating! I waited an hour for a gondola on the Wednesday! If you can ski allready go early in the week before all the classes head that way from the nursery slopes (or go after lunch). Later in the week the slopes around the Rila area are quiet and there are some decent runs to be found.
3 Ski school
I couldnt complain with the Hotel Samokov ski school who had my kids in a class of three. There was concern at first when the boss man wanted to put my five year old into Kindergarten, though i insisted I had paid for ski school and he had skied before in France last year. In the end my Son and 7 year old daughter were put with a nine year old and the three of them had an instuctor to themselves!
By the end of the week they were famous as the three "kids who were coming down the red and black runs better than the adults!"
Must say I was impressed by the improvement noted in their ability and confidence, especially on daunting icy slopes towards the end of the week!
4. Resort
First time to Borovets and I must say its rather appealing, bar the odd child begger, and over enthusiastc owner trying to get you into their bar. The choice is plenty and food cheap to eat out if you wish. An abundance of choice and nightlife for those looking for it is plentyfull!
5. Negatives
Icy road between Gondola and Rila saw a few casualties i say, but the locals are chipping away at that daily.
Odd beggers asking for coins had the kigs concerened (but one of them had a father I presume, parked in a mercs across the road giving him advice on how to beg!).
Not a lot else I must say!
6. Positives
Its Cheap
Its skiable, especially for begginers
the locals are polite, friendly and helpfull
the resort has a certain charm about it i have not seen elswewhere.
we intend to return again probably next January unless we can get a late booking in March in which case WERE GOING BACK!
PS the certain "ladies of the night"-you dont spot them unless your looking, and thats only later on in the evening, they dont bother you unless you look as though your looking for them if you know what I mean.
Borovets? give it a try, Im converted

Booked with Balkan, but after reading on this site the trouble people had with getting kids as young as 5 into ski school, I E Mailed Balkan direct and said my kid had skied before and I wanted ski school rather than kindergarten. They E mailed me back saying they had sorted it and added the ski school package to my bill and this was duley paid. There were plent of under 7s skiing in school around the resort, many of them quite good I must say!.
PS if your going Balkan take your lunch, the food on the plane is rather "basic" (piece of ham, a smelly lump of cheese and a green tomatoe)!, but again, its what you pay!