The Cabriolet carried Canyons skiers from the parking lot to the base area for close to 30 years, open to the weather the whole way up. It made its last run on March 29. The lift taking its place, the Canyons Village Skyway, has 10-person enclosed cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows. It adds a stop in the middle of the village, and like the Cabriolet it is free to ride, TownLift reported in October after the cabins began test laps.
Park City Mountain's target opening day is tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 20. At Canyons, the first part of the season comes with an unusual deal. The new gondola is scheduled to run, but the garage it was built to serve is not finished, so the resort is offering free surface parking in the meantime. That deal has a short life. When the garage opens, a Canyons morning costs the same as a Mountain Village morning.
Two bases, two sets of rules on opening day
On opening day the two base areas don't charge the same thing or work the same way. At Mountain Village, every lot is free from Nov. 20 through Dec. 4, but each one still requires an advance reservation, seven days a week, to guarantee a spot before noon. At Canyons, the resort says parking will be free in Surface Lots 2, 3 and 4 while construction wraps up. Attendants and signs will direct cars to those lots, and shuttles or walking routes connect them to the upper village.
The Park Record's breakdown of the 2026-27 parking plan puts the difference simply. Before noon, everyone at Mountain Village needs a reservation, season pass holders included. At Canyons, reservations are requested for pass holders but not required for anyone. So for the first weeks of the season, Canyons is the base where you can arrive on a weekday morning with no booking and no fee.
Here is how daily parking prices change by date for drivers without a season parking pass, from the resort's parking and transportation page and winter parking pass page.
| Base area | Period | Before noon | After noon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canyons Village, Surface Lots 2, 3 and 4 | Opening day until the garage opens | Free | Free |
| Canyons Village Garage | From opening, anticipated early to mid-December, through closing | $29 for cars with fewer than four occupants | Free |
| Mountain Village surface lots | Nov. 20 to Dec. 4 | Free, reservation required | Free, no reservation |
| Mountain Village surface lots | Dec. 5 to April 3 | $29, reservation required | Free, no reservation |
The Mountain Village Garage is a separate case, at $50 with a reservation. Mountain Village's free stretch has a fixed end date of Dec. 4. Canyons' free stretch has no fixed date, because it ends whenever the garage is finished.
The garage sets the end date
The resort's garage FAQ gives an anticipated opening of "early to mid-December 2026," with construction scheduled to finish by early December. When it opens, Lots 2, 3 and 4 close. That makes the free window at Canyons roughly two to four weeks long, depending on the construction schedule and the snow.
Regulars may remember a partly open structure last winter. This season is set up differently. The garage has been under construction since March 2025, and the Park Record reported that while its first two levels were open last season, this year it stays closed until all construction is finished.
The finished building is large. TownLift describes a five-level structure near S.R. 224 and the Frostwood Drive roundabout with more than 1,800 spaces. It combines what used to be a maze of surface lots into one arrival point, with the Skyway terminal right beside it. The master developer, TCFC, will release the garage to Park City Mountain to manage, and Interstate Parking will handle payment.
What a garage morning looks like once it opens
Once the garage opens, the routine is different from pulling into a surface lot. The resort's FAQ lays out the steps:
- Drivers without a season parking pass find a space first, then scan the QR code on the garage signs to pay before leaving the car. The daily fee applies from 8 a.m. to noon for vehicles with fewer than four people.
- Carpools of four or more park free but still scan the QR code and enter their vehicle information. An attendant then gives a code for the free parking, and the FAQ says carpool vehicles need a reservation.
- Drop-offs don't pay. Two dedicated drop-off lanes are on Level 2, reached through the east entrance.
- ADA spaces can be reserved for free, and plates or hang tags are checked on the day.
- The garage closes overnight. Parking is generally available from 7 a.m. to midnight.
The resort is also keeping some free parking. A limited number of free, first-come, first-served day-skier spaces will remain in a surface lot next to the garage.
The $825 Canyons Village season parking pass works on reservations instead of the daily fee. You need an active 2026/27 Epic Pass that includes Park City Mountain. Interstate Parking sets up the account, and free daily reservations run from 8 a.m. to noon, with up to five held per account at a time. The resort says buying the pass "does not guarantee reservation availability on any specific day." The Canyons pass also does not work in the Mountain Village Garage.
The Skyway changes the middle of the village
Free parking gets the attention, but the Skyway is the permanent change. TownLift reported that its mid-station gives mid-village homeowners and lodging guests direct lift access for the first time. The Cabriolet only ran between the lot and the base. The Skyway also stops partway up the village.
The resort's operating hours page lists the Skyway from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a Nov. 20, 2026 through April 19, 2027 season. The Park Record reported in August that the gondola was set to start running on opening day while garage work continued. The two projects were planned together. For these first weeks, the gondola is scheduled to run while the free lots are still open and the garage is still closed.
Opening day depends on the snow
All of these dates follow the resort's opening date, and opening dates depend on the weather. Snowmaking began in early November. "On the heels of a storm that brought fresh snow to the peaks, snow guns fired up to begin building a foundation on key runs for Opening Day," Park City Mountain communications manager Bailey Quinn said in a statement reported by TownLift.
Last season shows how much a date can move. The 2025-26 season was planned to open Nov. 21 and actually opened Dec. 5, and lifts still served terrain from both bases that day, according to the Park Record. Canyons usually opens on day one. In 2023, TownLift counted five lifts and carpets at Canyons on opening day, including the Red Pine Gondola, Saddleback and High Meadow.
A late opening would shorten the free window at Canyons from the front, while the garage schedule ends it from the back. For daily updates on lots, the resort runs a text alert line. Text PARK to (435) 244-7169, or follow @pcmtnalert on X.
Free buses to Canyons, and a new winter schedule on Dec. 6
Canyons has also always had a free option that doesn't involve a car. High Valley Transit's 10X The High Line runs between the Old Town Transit Center and the Kimball Junction Transit Center and stops at the Canyons Village Transit Hub. HVT's bus routes page lists its service as free, seven days a week. Parking near those buses is limited. HVT lists 34 spaces at the Kimball Junction Transit Center. The Ecker Hill Park-and-Ride, reached from the Jeremy Ranch exit, is open seven days a week, with the 10X and the 101 Spiro / 224 Local both running to Canyons Village.
On the Park City side, Park City Transit's winter 2026-2027 schedule starts Dec. 6. The city says stop timepoints change from last year while average frequencies stay the same. The 20-Tan goes from every two hours to hourly between 8 and 11 a.m. and between 3 and 6 p.m. Dec. 6 falls in the same early-December window as the planned garage opening.
In mid-December, both bases will charge $29 before noon to drivers without a season parking pass, and free parking at Canyons will mean a carpool, an afternoon start, one of the few first-come spaces by the garage, or a free bus. The three free surface lots are an arrangement for these first few weeks, set to end when the garage opens.
Canyons Village is changing in ways that will outlast this season's opening weeks. The Skyway's mid-village stop gives homes in the middle of the village direct lift access for the first time, and the garage moves the morning arrival to one building. If you are weighing how Skyway access, walking distance to the gondola or the new parking setup affects a Canyons Village property, Wayne Levinson can go through it with you. Schedule a personalized Park City property consultation.
