What a great family vacation spot. We enjoyed our visit to Fern Resort.
This year, we visited Fern Resort in Orillia, ON, for our family vacation. We have two children (aged 5 and 4) and the grandparents came with us too.
Fern Resort makes it so easy to vacation whether it's your entire family or if you are a single parent visiting with your child/children.
As soon as you drive up to Fern, this is what you will see. We loved the willow trees.
Our trip was enjoyable and we wanted to share our experience with you, so here are some of the highlights of our trip:
1. Water fun: The Resort has two inground swimming pools (one with a diving board) and lake swimming with a sandy beachfront area. It's not an overly big area, but just right for your kids to play in the sand.
2. Programs & Activities for kids: You have the option to place your children in the supervised Play Village for kids in their appropriate age group. Every day there are different events/activities planned for the day (rain or shine). This is included in the price you pay.
Some of the activities (depending on the day) are: Pony rides, magic/science shows, supervised fishing where staff even put worms on your hook, battery operated cars, trampolines, wagon rides, just to name a few. For older kids, there is water skiing (additional cost), zip lining, etc. Here are some of the pictures to show the fun:
The kids enjoyed watching and being part of the Science Show:
Kids loved the motorized jeeps and also going on the inflatable slides (behind):
Kids almost always catch fish. It is so exciting and it's "catch and release". 
Wagon rides for the kids. The kids really enjoyed the "Honey bee Express" wagon ride where they learnt about bees and nature.
There was also animal shows by the gazebo (reptiles, birds, insects). The kids enjoyed petting and learning about them.
3. Meals: You have reserved seating at all meals in the dining area which is so convenient (no need to rush to grab your seating). All meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner are delicious and lots of options to choose from (even Gluten Free options). Typically, kids have buffet style and they love picking out their food. Oh did I mention, desserts are yummy as well?!
After all the activities Fern provides for kids, your child will most likely be exhausted at the end of the day and may even fall asleep at the dinner table, kind of like mine did:
4. Accomodations: Lots of options depending on what you are looking for. There are cabins with lakefront view or regular rooms. If you stay at the Main Inn (above the restaurant), rooms 401-405 have beautiful lake and pool-view balconies. The mattresses are very comfortable. Each room has a mini bar fridge.
5. Other Activities included: Shuffle board, mini-golf, golf, tennis, ping pong, basket-ball, spa, hot tubs, gym, paddle boats, kayaking, etc.
Bingo was a great hit for our family. We played it twice a day and won prizes (eg. Fern money to purchase snacks or to use in their gift shop) and won a reusable Fern shopping bag. The look on our kids' faces when they yelled out "BINGO" was priceless. They were so happy!
Overall, Fern Resort was a great spot. Amazing for the kids, adults and grandparents…and yes, we enjoyed the hammocks! (Tip: You can lay on these while watching your kids fish off the dock 😉
When you think of everything that is included (and I've just been able to capture only a bit of it) it is well worth it!
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
