At the new LEGOLAND Hotel in Carlsbad, CA you—in consultation with your kids, of course—can choose which theme you prefer and your room will be decorated accordingly at the 250-room hotel set to open with great fanfare April 5.
It’s easy to see why families are attracted to Bolton Valley—the low-key atmosphere reminiscent of when parents learned to ski in Vermont and the fact that lift tickets are about 20-30 per cent less than at neighboring Stowe.
It’s Easter Sunday and at the sumptuous brunch at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay in California, little girls are dressed in brightly colored dresses, boys in dress shirts that don’t want to stay in their pants and kids and grown-ups proudly sport bunny ears, some with blinking lights.
As we ate pink napoleons and cream puffs we discovered what a multinational group we were. Girls from all over the world had come for the Barbie Experience – New York, Utah, Toronto, Mexico City, São Paulo, London, Dublin and even Sydney! Barbie truly speaks the international language of fun for young girls of any culture.
When given the opportunity to cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas as part of their brand new Barbie Premium Experience, I felt like I had won the lottery. This cruise sounded amazing, especially since it coincided with our daughter’s 4th birthday. It was a bonafide vacation and I was sure there would be plenty of sun and at least one pool side cocktail involved.
The majority of adults polled for a new U.S. Travel Association Family Vacation Survey said they were motivated to take family vacations by the desire to create positive memories for their children—fond memories like they have from the vacations they took as children as young as five. The majority noted that some of their favorite photos and videos are from family vacations.
It was our first destination ski vacation. My partner Dan Foldes and I had skied in Colorado throughout our college years, but we had only gone on day trips up to the mountains. This was the first time that we would be flying to a ski town, staying in a hotel, and skiing for three days straight, just the two of us.
There were round-robin emails in the weeks before the trip in which we discussed the menus and shopping lists. My husband, raised in Texas, brought his “famous” chili, frozen from home, and my British sister-in-law the ingredients for Shepherd’s Pie.
It is no fun getting sick on vacation and altitude sickness is the worst. But when you are above 9,986 feet as we are in Breckenridge, CO, it isn’t that uncommon, the staff at the St. Anthony Breckenridge Community Clinic Emergency Center tells us.
Keystone is Vail Resort’s most kidcentric resort, with kids-ski free (as long as you book a two night stay, night skiing tweens and teens love, daily “Kidtopia” activities. Think a parade through the village on Saturdays, with kids being twirled around in tires, free cookies and hot cider in the ice skating rink, the chance to meet and greet the avalanche dogs and ski patrollers, free kids sundaes and more.
We stop at one of the three historic miner cabins that contains a letter that a woman named Josie wrote to her husband, telling him she wouldn’t move to the miner district of Breckenridge “the most fiendish place…the red light district is visible to all…” until he built them a proper home.
We heard about Dorothy’s from our daughter Mel, an avid skier and Colorado College student who would stop often on her forays to the mountains. So when were casting about for somewhere to go for lunch—not that there aren’t many choices in Breckenridge!—we thought of Dorothy’s. It was a beautiful blue-sky day and the mountain views on the drive over were fantastic.
You can’t bring a bottle of water onto an airplane. You might get stopped at security with a container of breast milk. But you can bring a baseball bat? And small knives? Come on TSA, which announced last week that these items will be allowed as carry-on beginning April 25. How about a little common sense?
Certainly you could spend all of your time in Washington, DC without paying to enter a museum—there are plenty of free ones to choose from. But two on our list are private and to the high school boys I’d taken to see the sites for the weekend they were worth the cost of admission.
Eileen interviewed on Foxnews.com about ideas for families planning their spring breaks.
At 31 years young, I found myself completely gassed on the slopes trying to keep up with my 22-year-old cousin Melanie Yemma (a senior at Colorado College). I’m a fan of breaks – even naps – but apparently when you’re 22 and you live in Colorado, you don’t take breaks on the mountain.
What is special about Denali National Park, besides the wildlife and the fact that it contains the tallest mountain in North America, suggests Kris Capps author of “A Wildlife Guide: Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska,” is that it continues to flourish on its own largely without human intervention.
When you are staying in a roomy condo, like The Montaneros at Vail or where we have just checked in at Blue Sky at Breckenridge, with fully equipped kitchens, it is nice to cook with the family, put your feet up and enjoy a glass of wine, a martini or two.
No request is too difficult for guests staying at the ultra luxe Solaris in Vail Village. The 79-unit Solaris Residences–the six bedroom unit facing the slopes is to die for—is the kind of place where no guest request is too outrageous. The reindeer? They were brought from a ranch in northern Colorado, said General Manager Bill Marshall.
There is something wonderful about family ski trips no matter what the kids ages—in our case, kids ranging from 22 to 32. It’s nice that our grown kids are willing to share their precious vacation time with us; It’s nice to relive memories of when they were little kids.
Condo or hotel? When kids—even grown ones—are part of the equation, I’ll opt for a condo every time. None of us want to eat out every meal or pay high mark-ups for every drink. I like the space to spread out too. That’s why I’m so glad for the Montaneros, a Wyndham Vacation Rentals condo at Lionshead in Vail.
It is pitch black and I am riding a bike through the Sonoran desert. Of course my bike has a light and I’m on a paved trail—a golf cart trail, actually at the expansive (some 1300 acres at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale known for the distinctive giant boulders that look like snowmen made out of granite and have been here for millions of years.
Forget mac and cheese, unless it is homemade with local cheese. Forget chili, unless it’s vegetarian or made with local grass-fed beef. The kids — and you — have your choice of free-range chicken, homemade soups, pizza baked in a wood-fired oven and quinoa salad, not to mention artisanal beers and spirits.
These days, not only do we want more room to spread out (think two rooms, two bathrooms, two TVS) but we want the experience to be fun. And we don’t want it to cost a bundle either. Did I mention that Disney has just unrolled free Wi-Fi at all of its resorts?
Eileen offers tips on family vacations in Hawaii on Foxnews.com
None of us want to wait until summer for some fun in the sun. We all could use some rest and relaxation right about now, whether your family’s idea of vacation heaven is a bluebird sunny day on a ski slope, a blue-sky sunny day on a beach or a hiking trail.
Eileen contributes to NBC’s Today Travel about the trend toward providing kids healthier food on vacation.
Carnival really needs to work hard in the days ahead to restore trust. That should start with a public explanation of how this happened and how it intends to prevent a recurrence. But instead, Carnival has so far offered only to refund passengers the cost of their cruise, is busing them home and initially offered them $500 each. That seems to fall short.
Wherever you are this winter or wherever you’re planning to go for spring break (check out our ideas for Spring Break 2013, take time to visit a museum exhibit that would especially interest your family.
Video from our second Family Travel Conference in Dallas last November. See you in Niagara Falls later this year…