Ski fittness

Have a couple of private lessons before you go is always a good thing if you are a beginner it saves you time when your out in the alps on some of the more mundane things that beginners have to do in lessons.

Yes, for complete newbies id say a visit to an indoor centre to get used to boots and skis on your feet, falling over and getting up, all the basics is a really good idea

I would strongly suggest that all beginners have lessons before they go.
Why? - Simple you will get much more from that first week if you do and a week's skiing is expensive enough without spending it learning how to put your boots on, side slip and do basic turns and stops.
Sure, if you can afford all day long lessons it may not matter too much but finding yourself alone on the slopes after your 2 hour morning lesson has finished is quite daunting. (At busy time in some resorts you may only be able to have afternoon lessons so some rudimentary training in the UK can make a huge difference to a first holiday.) If you've had some lessons at home you can confidently go and practice outside of the lesson.

After the first week will you get anything like as much from indoor lessons? - probably not - partly because the slopes are short and tame compared to the real thing. However that doesn't mean you can't work on specific skills which will improve things on the mountain proper, but it's a bit individual.

Try and get hold of a copy of 'P90X', and do the plyomatics. Fantastic for the legs...some routines even designed specifically for skiers.