US Family Friendly Christmas Vacations

What if you could make this Christmas even more magical by escaping the ordinary and taking the family on an adventure? So many hotels and resorts around the country offer amazing deals and experiences during the Holiday season. Here are some of the best options for a family friendly Christmas vacation you are sure to never forget! After all, time spent together is better than any present under the tree. 

Walt Disney World- Orlando, FL

Few places can compare with the magical feeling you get when you visit a Disney park. To top it off they really go all out when it comes to Christmas celebrations. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is not to be missed with rides, parades, and special firework displays. If you are looking for a Christmas celebration that your kids will be talking about all year then you have found it here. There are several Disney resorts to choose from ranging in price and with ticket inclusive packages offered as well. 

Snowland at Great Wolf Lodges

Every day's a pool day at Great Wolf Lodge. During the Christmas season North America’s largest family of indoor water parks celebrates the holidays with its annual Snowland event. You will find life-size gingerbread houses, letters to Santa, caroling, and other many other festivities. You will also get unlimited access to an enormous indoor waterpark with water slides, raft rides, interactive splash pads, surfing simulators, a lazy river, a wave pool, and more. With many locations to choose from you are sure to find the perfect one for you. 

Suncadia Resort- Cle Elum, Washington

From late November through early January, Suncadia Resort in Washington's Cascade Mountains is getting in the holiday spirit with its annual WinterFest celebration. If a white Christmas is what you have been dreaming of then this could be your vacation. The resort offers lots of winter fun including tubing, ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, carriage rides, snowmobile tours and even winter fly fishing. Holiday traditions include visits to Santa's Workshop, elf tuck-ins, and a Christmas Day buffet. 

Santa's Workshop- North Pole, NY

Twelve miles from Lake Placid in the Adirondacks is North Pole, NY, a "workshop village" open in summer and on weekends leading up to Christmas. Santa's village has shops, farm animals, candy makers, glassblowers, puppet shows, and a talking Christmas tree. Rides include Santa's Sleigh Coaster and Reindeer Carousel. I can't think of a more magical place to go see Santa than a place actually called North Pole! You will have a good chance of having a snowy Christmas here as well. 

Smuggler's Notch Resort- Vermont

Families visiting Smugglers' Notch Resort in northern Vermont can enjoy a variety of special holiday activities throughout much of December. Designed for all ages, these activities include cookie decorating, craft workshops such as sock puppet making and snow art, themed family challenge races, all included in the resort's vacation package. Santa will join children each Saturday around the resort's village bonfire for complimentary hot chocolate and cookies. A weekly Winter Carnival features music, food, games and the thrill of watching an ice carving specialist unveil a masterpiece. A torchlight parade and fireworks follow the carnival. Smugglers' vacation packages also include mountainside condominium lodging, lift tickets, snow tubing, ice skating, use of the indoor pool and hot tub and indoor FunZone with climbing inflatables, and family and adult entertainment. 

Ice- Gaylord Resorts

The holiday season kicks off in mid-November at four Gaylord Resorts with the return of ICE!, the award-winning icy attraction and six-week-long Christmas celebrations.  With more than two million lights and enormous Christmas trees plus the wonderful ICE! exhibitions, you are sure to find some Christmas magic here. 

So there you have it. With so many wonderful Christmas celebrations why not do something a little out of the ordinary this year. With the kids on vacation from school, the Holiday season can be the best time to take that perfect family vacation. Give your kids an adventure they will not soon forget! Who's ready to pack their bags? 

Until next time!

Ana Echem
Barefoot Voyages