No you can get it online, even if its your first time. Thats really the point of the pass, people from Texas and Minnesota buy the pass online and come out 2 or 3 times a year staying at any one of the many Vail owned properties. Vail Assoc. is really betting on people from the front range not wanting to battle the traffic and end up at Key or Breck, and people from out of state coming more while spending more.