Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Well plenty of people who went in the same time period (17th-15th) as us already wrote their reviews so not much new here but I wanted to write this to thank everyone here for being so helpful with my nagging questions and also to give proper praise to our accommodation.
As some here know, we paid for 2 different hotels in 2 different agencies only to be told there was no room literally at the last minute. We finally found the number of a local man, Yavor who managed to find us a SC studio within a minute and also went out of his way during the entire holiday to take care of our every whim - offered to do our shopping for us in Samokov town because Boro is expensive, gave us a free parking pass for a pay-parking... Couldn't recommend him enough, for anyone going independently here's his cell: +359887887810, and his email: [email protected].
We (me, my husband and 4-year-old daughter) staid in a SC studio in the Royal Plaza apartment complex situated perfectly between the Rila and the Samokov hotels. The studio itself was large, spotlessly clean and very nicely furnished - a queen size bed, 2 bunk beds and a leather sofa, large closets, dining area, Sat. TV, DVD, washing machine, a fully equipped kitchen including oven, fridge, toaster, coffee maker, all pots, pans, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery you could imagine, even salt/pepper/oil etc. The bathroom was large and lovely with a big tub and endless hot water.
Plenty of towels and bed linens, changed every 3 days.
The complex has ski storage but we chose to keep our skis in the hallway of the studio.
As we had to alternate-ski with the DH as one had to babysit we mostly skied on the Rila slopes. The conditions could have been better but it suited us fine, we even managed to teach our daughter to ski a bit, snow ploughs and all. She liked the Borosport snow park (8lev per hour), located between the Ice Angels and Yanakiev hotels, because it's colorful and has a nice escalator and spin but the instructors inside did nothing to teach the kids anything. We also took her to the kindergarten at the Rila one day, didn't like it one bit. There were 5 teachers inside watching a morning show on TV and the few kids were left to entertain themselves (while all speaking different languages, mind you!). We were told there were 2 meals included in the 55-lev-per-day price, but when we collected our daughter at 1pm she'd been given no food but 2 biscuits. Completely disorganized, utter waste of money. We finally got grandma-sitters on Friday and paid for one more day at the studio, so we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday skiing at the top of the mountain. It was lovely there, the snow was good except for a few frozen places and the views made all the difference.
Went swimming at the Rila every afternoon, 6lev for adults and 3 for kids. The pool was reasonably clean and warm most days and the jacuzzi was perfect. The dressing-room keys never really worked but nothing was ever stolen. Towels were provided there.
Ate good food at Katy's, make sure not to miss the steaks nor the breakfast. I see people complain about the people asking you to come in - they're really polite and don't bother you like they do in Turkey and it would be a shame to miss Katy's, for instance, only because there's a guy in front of it telling you the food's good!
Was ripped off at the Ice Angels - paid 3.50 for a latte one day and 8 levs for a latte and a black coffee the next day; when I asked for an explanation was told that the latte cost 4 levs and the black one 3.70 Got nothing in writing, of course.
All in all, we enjoyed our holiday enormously, will certainly go back next year.