Last updated on August 24th, 2023 at 07:42 pm
Picture this: Sicily… 1871, ok never mind… let’s start the real story…The twins have off of school. I need something to do, but I can’t travel far. On top of that, my in-laws are complaining they haven’t seen enough of us. OH WAIT! There’s more. Add the fact that the hubby and I haven’t gotten away solo for OVER a year (and before that trip, it was 13 years!). So what do we do? Where do we go where EVERYONE will be happy?
Word travels fast here in NYC and all the moms and dads are boasting about their adventures to Woodloch. Where is Woodloch? Is it expensive? Will we like it? Will there be room for my inlaws?
The answers are: Pensylvania, depends, totally and YES!
We were VERY fortunate to have a room booked for us by the wonderful folks at Woodloch directly. Erica, from their marketing department, feels more like family now after going back and forth with emails and calls for weeks as she helped me plan our adventure. It wasn’t that complicated. To be honest it was easy, I just had a hard time with how easy it was.
I asked. “Can I bring the dog? How cold is it? Will my in-laws have fun? What activities are there at night? Will I be able to have some quiet time with my hubby?” My questions seemed ENDLESS, but she was so patient and wonderful. From the moment you make your first call to Woodloch, you’ll know that you’re planning something special, something different, for your family.
Woodloch’s motto is “Together Is A Great Place To Be”. NO truer words have ever been spoken. We desperately needed some time away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. So, the adventure was booked! Two nights in a Two-bedroom Edgewater suite for the Diaz gang and the inlaws.
Less than a 3-hour drive from NYC in total, you’re actually only on the highway for half the trip, the other half is through the beautiful backroads of NJ passing tiny farms and stunning homes on Route 206. The drive alone is worth the trip and was relaxing since the twins read and slept. Ahhhh peace!
We checked in at 1:30p and since we had the three meal package (yes, it can be all-inclusive), we were allowed to go right to lunch. We opted out and saved our lunch for our check out day since my inlaws had yet to arrive.
Ok, let’s talk about a few things! #1. Kids are tough critics. Spoiled kids no less (which mine are). They were enthralled by the way the entire resort is laid out. We had never been anyplace like this before, but it’s like taking a theme park and smashing it all into one walkable area. On one side was the snow tube hill and across the street, sat the petting zoo. Seriously, there was SO much to do, the twins biggest problem was “What should I do next?”.
We choose Woodloch because we really did need to take a quick trip and there aren’t many places that can accommodate folks of all ages. Woodloch really is a family resort so my in-laws had just as much fun as the twins.
Before we go into details, let’s talk about the food. While I’m not a strictly 5-star diner, I do enjoy good food when I travel. I want to eat stuff that I wouldn’t make myself at home in my instant pot. I want some decadent wine, and my tastebuds to sing the foods praises. I SWEAR to you…the food was downright outstanding! From the homemade coffee cake I had in the morning, to the eye-popping seafood buffet for lunch, to the exquisite desserts after dinner. There is literally something for everyone!
Yes! Feel free to click on the pictures above and just drool for a while!
Next, let’s talk about the activities! Where do I start with this too?
You’ll be busy from 8 am to 2 am if you choose too…OR you can do a little and head to the spa! Your choice. Woodloch DOES have an award winning spa (I’m SO doing that next time!) by the way. We started each day with breakfast (Ummmm, I’m super serious about that crumb cake! It will live forever in your memory!) and headed off to something awesome. We did trivia, visited the petting zoo (fell in love with Gabby the Donkey..send her our regards if you see her!) road on the bumper cars, went snow tubing, played bingo, more trivia, archery, paintball, go-carts, skeet shooting, arcade time, relaxing in the indoor pool, flying down the indoor waterslide, did a puzzle in the rec room, saw a show each night, wait….I’m tired already! But yes, we literally did all these things in 48 hours and a heck of a lot more!
Our all-time favorite activity was the paint and sip. Sure, while I may have gone more for the “sip”, this was the PERFECT activity for all generations. Even small kids (who are able to work independently) can take part in this. While my daughter sipped apple juice, I had one (ok! fine! Two! Happy now?) glasses of white wine.
The class was lead by a wonderful art instructor who walked us through step by step on how to make a snowman. All the materials were included. You do have to pay a small charge for some activities, and this was one of them. But worth every penny. During our painting, something took a turn towards the end, and my daughter went rogue and added a little “flare” to hers and then mine!
Now how do you know Woodloch is a “family” resort. #1. We all laughed at the jokes that were told during the show. Nothing was too mature or too immature! It was juuuuussssst right. #2. They had some GENIUS things going on there too. Example, ALL (throughout the property) the outlets had covers and in the indoor play gym, they sold socks in a vending machine! G.E.N.I.U.S. Sure you may see these some places that specializes in play places, but this is a resort and they STILL left not one stone unturned! Also, the gift shop had every single over the counter medication you could think of. Yup, you can tell a mom stocked those shelves!
Why I LOVED it:
I didn’t cook, I didn’t clean and my kids were happy! But of course, there is SO much more to that. I ate delicious food, had some fancy pancy cocktails, played ping pong with my daughter until my hand hurt, watched my mother in law laugh so hard she had pretzel crumbs shoot out of her mouth, I loved watching my son and hubby just have some “man time” at the archery (although I think my daughter beat them both) and ….seriously, It was great. Every one of us enjoyed it. The worst part of the trip was leaving. That’s the truth. My in-laws live far away and meeting up here and getting to share this with this was just something that I know the kids will remember forever.
Yes, this was a trip that was gifted to us by Woodloch, but mark my words, I’ll be booking this again for us. My in-laws were so excited to spend time with the kids and with us. No fighting, no tantrums, no eye rolls, I think it was a record for us. 48 hours of absolute bliss. I can’t wait to go back.
This is a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and if you think anyone could ever buy my positive opinion, then you’ve never met me : ) -Nat
