Wachusett should be judged by what it is trying to do. It gets people from eastern and central Massachusetts onto snow without turning the day into a highway project. For families, night skiers, after-work laps, and beginners graduating into real runs, that usefulness is the whole point.
The mountain is compact, efficient, and heavily dependent on snowmaking, which is exactly what a central Massachusetts hill needs to be. You are not going there for wilderness or destination energy. You are going because two hours of skiing beats zero hours of skiing.
The crowd issue is real because the mountain serves a huge population. Peak sessions can feel compressed fast. Wachusett is best when you use the clock carefully, nights, off-peak windows, school-day mornings, and short sessions instead of pretending it is a northern New England weekend.