Staycation At The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
We did our first official staycation as a family of five this past weekend at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, and it was a total success! We weren’t able to go on a vacation this summer due to Smith joining our family (no complaints about that!), so we opted to do a long weekend staycation at a local resort. The Phoenix metro area has several fabulous resorts that often discount their prices for the summer months since it’s their “off peak season”. I did some research and discovered the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess had a fun superhero theme for the kids throughout the summer months, so I thought it’d be a great option for us. Sure enough, there were tons of activities for the kids to enjoy, and we all had a blast.
It started with superhero capes and masks at check-in. There were fun pool games and a dance party led by the “Super Fun Squad” with a DJ that played music for a few hours each afternoon. And the slides at one of the pools was a favorite for all of us!
A “foam party” also took place near the pool each day, which was basically a bubble machine that created more bubbles than I’ve ever seen in my life! This was quite a hit with our kids!
There were a few other activities catered to kids such as a movie at the pool one evening (we didn’t do this because our kiddos were wiped after two full days of swimming), story time with a mermaid and pirate, an opportunity to make superhero belts, and a nature walk with a “hawk talk” that educated the kids about various birds of prey around the property.
They also had a fun kids’ center with video games, arts and crafts, and other kid activities. And last but not least, a zip line! Reese was too small to do it, but Hunter was very brave and decided to go with Cody on our last day. He’s a pretty cautious kid and almost didn’t go, so we were really proud of him for overcoming his fears!
We mostly ate off property since there were tons of restaurants nearby. It’s fairly expensive to eat at the resort’s restaurants, and they weren’t all very kid friendly, so restaurants off-site were a better option for us. We went to Shake Shack (highly recommend for their burgers and of course shakes!) for dinner our first evening, Snooze for brunch one day, Blue Agave (a small Mexican restaurant nearby that was recommended to us … it was very good!), and we got pizza takeout from Lou Malnati’s and ate in our room the last night since we were all so tired from a full weekend of activities and swimming.
The memories we made were priceless, and we are already looking forward to our next family staycation!