When it comes to family fun at today’s resorts, more and more resorts are catering to children with a variety of hotel kids programs. However, the quality of these hotel kids programs still varies pretty significantly. It’s not enough at a top property to have a table with arts and crafts, a pool and a playground. As parents, we want to give our children the opportunity to experience the destination, spend time exploring and learn something. We’ve come to expect more, and so have our kids.
These resorts offer something extraordinary, going above and beyond the expected. All of them operate a supervised children’s program, camp or club, where you can drop your children off daily to participate in organized activities. They each dedicate ample and separate space for the children’s activities, too.
Written by Carrie Calzaretta
Smugglers' Notch
Smugglers' Notch offers snowboarding, snowshoeing, dogsledding, airboarding, snowmobiling, skating and tubing. During the warmer months, children ages 3 to 17 can participate in summer camp, where they may take swimming lessons, go hiking, climbing, biking, skateboarding, join in theater and music projects, and do arts and crafts or a ropes course.
The resort's supervised childcare center, Treasures, is open daily to children from six weeks to 3 years old. With almost 10,000 square feet of total space, indoors and out, they will be entertained with singing, arts and crafts, a ball pit and story time.
Hotel del Coronado
Teens ages 13 and up can also visit the spa for special massages and facials. Summertime activities for the whole family include dive-in movie nights, surf camps and family S'mores nights.
The Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman
The program allows kids to choose six from more than 40 themed experiences each day. Three modules are geared for ages 4 to 7 and three for ages 8 to 17. The program divides into morning (9:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m.), afternoon (2 through 5 p.m.) and evening (6:15 through 9 p.m.) segments. Parents are encouraged (but not required) to share in these kids programs with their kids.
In Stingray Detective, kids can test their detective skills and learn about Grand Cayman's most popular attraction. Kids can try a Night Snorkel, too, where a flashlight is used on the reef and all the night critters come alive. Other popular themes are Ambassadors of the Kitchen, Cayman Connection, and the Sea Floor Submarine Adventure.
Grand Wailea
The Rock, a mini-resort for kids and families, is a more than 20,000-square-foot facility open seven days a week, and offers full-day, morning, afternoon and night camps. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult at The Rock, which features a whale-shaped outdoor wading pool, a play kitchen and tool set, a private movie theater, snack bar, craft room and a full-sized soda fountain. Another popular area is the teen lounge called The Spot, which has foosball, Ping-Pong, pool, and an arcade.
At Grand Wailea, children can participate in activities like exploring tidal pools, sandcastle building, nature walks, Hawaiian lei making, and hula lessons. Night Camp includes dinner, a Walkie Talkie Tag at Night game, sand crab hunting, theater games, scavenger hunts and more.
Mohonk Mountain House
Older kids (7 to 12) also have the option of learning rock scrambling, as well as joining in tennis and golf clinics and sports tournaments. Supervised activities for children ages 13 to 17 take place in the Teen Lounge, a separate space where teens can listen to music, watch movies, play Wii and Playstation 2 or just hang out away from mom and dad.
In the winter, kids can take ice-skating lessons, go snow tubing, or snowshoeing. Mohonk also offers a program for children ages 4 to 12 on Saturday evenings.
Cloister at Sea Island
Teens will love the Sea Island Junior Naturalist, where ages 7 to 14 can learn about ecosystems and wildlife on Sea Island. Paintball, soccer and basketball tournaments are also available to teens.
The kids' spa, movie manatee and golf and tennis clinics are also available to younger guests. This resort's club also operates a children's dinner on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights for kids ages 3 to 12, so parents can dine solo.
The Shooting School at the Cloister at Sea offers private and group lessons, and an Air Rifle Bull's-Eye Hour for children ages 5 to 12 takes them on educational adventures in the great outdoors, like reptile encounters and summertime campouts.
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa
Kids will create their own sand paintings, play Native American games, and explore the Rio Grande River on a guided stroll of the Bosque. Camp Hyatt works with National Geographic Kids to create eco-friendly and locally inspired activities. Each day of the week brings a different theme, including New Mexico Sunday, Tamaya Monday, Hisru Ku Hinu (You and Me) Tuesday, Wildlife Wednesday, Land of Enchantment Thursday, Farming Friday and Native American Saturday.
In addition to the kids' program, Hyatt Regency Tamaya offers other family activities like trail riding, Pueblo pottery making, adobe brick making, hot air balloon rides and Native American stories under the stars.
Half Moon
Teens can participate in tennis clinics, volleyball, nature walks, golf, squash, horseback riding and water sports. The Hype Zone is open to teens 13 to 19 and has a game room with air hockey, table tennis and pool, a cyber lounge with internet access and a mini spa.
The resort's Dolphin Lagoon is a great opportunity for kids ages 4 and older to get a hands-on experience with the dolphins. They are allowed to enter the water to touch, swim and play with them.
Franklyn D. Resort
Franklyn D. Resort's supervised kids' club for ages birth to 16 offers tons of organized activities for children of all ages, including picnics, cooking classes, playground and computer time, beach games, movies and games. Nannies can (but do not need to) supervise all of these activities.
Teens have their own program and can take part in discos, group trips, dance classes, scuba diving (through an outside company, for a fee) board games, and organized sessions to get to know one another. Activities run from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. so mom and dad can have dinner alone if they choose.
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples
Programs available through the Nature Wonders program include nature walks through the butterfly garden, boat rides to the estuary, learning about alligators, participating in feeding, and beach combing, among other field trips. The Nature's Wonder camp is open to kids ages 5 to 12 daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids can attend for a full-day, half-day or for an hour at a time.
Other cool spaces for kids are the Nature Vision Theater, which plays National Geographic and Discovery Channel specials and Disney movies, and the vue (virtual user experience) lounge, which is open to kids ages 8 and older. The vue houses interactive virtual reality games played on 40-inch LCDs, as well as XBox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii.
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