An Analog Winter
At Ontario resorts family time comes with fewer screens and more ways to play
When was the last time your family made it through an entire game of Monopoly?
It’s a slightly ridiculous question, but also a sign of the times. There are now countless ways to fill an hour without ever leaving the couch, and most of them involve looking at a screen. Even our downtime has become digital.
Perhaps that’s why analog pursuits are having a moment. Board games, puzzles and other decidedly low-tech pastimes are finding their way back into our leisure time, while the idea of intentionally disconnecting has become part of a larger conversation about how we spend our attention.
A snowy weekend at an Ontario resort offers a pretty good opportunity to test the theory.
Leave the phone in the room and head outside. Skate under the falling snow. Challenge the kids to a game of ping-pong. Build something in the snow. Swim at the indoor pool before dinner. Find a puzzle and claim a corner of the lobby. None of this is particularly revolutionary. That may be precisely the point.
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Springwood Cottage Resort: Bring on the Board Games
If ever there were a resort made for an analog getaway, this may be it.
Springwood Cottage Resort on Kennebec Lake bills itself as Canada’s premier board game cottage resort, with a collection of more than 1,300 games. That makes a winter stay as much about what happens around the cottage table as what happens outside.
And there’s plenty of the latter: winter activities include pond skating, hockey, crokicurl, curling, ice fishing and snowshoeing.
Accommodation is in two-, three- and four-bedroom cottages, giving families their own space to settle in for a weekend where a stack of board games and a snowy lake can provide most of the entertainment.
Put the phones down for:
- Playing one of the hundreds of board games
- Pond skating
- Ice hockey, crokicurl, and curling
- Ice fishing
- Snowshoeing in the winter stillness
- Sledding and building snow people with equipment available from the resort
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Fern Resort: The Classic Winter Playground
Set on Lake Couchiching, the resort leans fully into the Canadian winter and invites you to experience the best that winter has to offer with a 1.5-kilometre skating trail through the woods, snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, broomball, curling and horse-drawn rides on winter weekends.
There will be plenty for to keep the whole family happy and active.
You set the pace of your winter getaway. Head outside and make your own fun, and don’t worry, equipment can be provided. Want to just relax? Then cozy up indoors. There is an indoor pool and a games room with ping pong and billiards, as well as your own personal in-room fireplace for an extra dose of cozy.
You don’t have to worry about meals because all Fern Resort stays include three table-served meals daily offering rotating menus for you to savour and enjoy.
Put the phones down for:
- Skating the 1.5-km wooded trail
- Snowshoeing and Nordic skiing
- Broomball and curling
- Horse-drawn hayrides and cutter rides on weekends
- Ping pong and billiards
- Family activities led by Fern’s sports staff
- Enjoy the indoor pool, sauna, steam room and hot tub
- On-site spa services (for an additional charge)
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Bayview Wildwood Resort: Winter on Sparrow Lake
At Bayview Wildwood Resort, the analog appeal comes from having a lot to do without having to bring much with you.
The Sparrow Lake resort supplies complimentary equipment for winter activities including skating, snowshoeing and tobogganing, so families can move between the lake, trails and toboggan hill as the mood strikes. Indoors, there’s a pool, games room and Bayview Treehouse playground.
Winter weekend packages also include family programming, live entertainment and a supervised kids program, while meal packages take another piece of planning off parents’ plates.
Put the phones down for:
- Skating on Sparrow Lake
- Snowshoeing
- Tobogganing
- Hiking the resort’s year-round trails
- Billiards, table tennis and foosball in the games room
- Swimming in the indoor pool
- Climbing and playing in the indoor Bayview Treehouse
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Great Wolf Lodge: Trade Screen Time for Splash Time
At Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls, families can enjoy a different kind of unplugged winter experience. One filled with laughter, connection and year-round adventure under one roof.
In the 100,000-square-foot indoor water park, kept at a comfortable 29°C year round, families can trade screen time for splash time as they race down waterslides, float along the lazy river, and make memories together in pools and interactive water-play areas designed for all ages.
The fun continues well beyond the water park. From gathering for a bedtime story and participating in hands-on arts and crafts, to dancing together at family dance parties and meeting Great Wolf Lodge characters, every day offers opportunities to connect, play, and be present.
With two days of water park access and a full lineup of family-friendly activities included with every overnight stay, it's easy to spend an entire winter getaway focused on what matters most: quality time together.
Put the phones down for:
- Waterslides, pools and interactive water play
- Family Story Time
- Arts & Crafts
- Family Dance Parties
- Character Meet-and-Greets
- Ten Paw Alley Mini Bowling
- MagiQuest Interactive Adventure Game
- Exploring the lodge’s immersive themed suites
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Going analog doesn’t have to mean turning off your phone for the entire weekend. Sometimes it’s simply about finding enough good reasons to forget about it for a while. Across Ontario, resorts make that easy with winter activities, family programming and plenty of space to spend time together.
Find more ideas for your next family getaway at Resorts of Ontario.
Great Escapes Magazine is a publication of Resorts of Ontario, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for resorts, lodges and inns of Ontario's tourism industry.
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