The State of the American Family Vacation
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As a relatively new parent (my son turned 3 in February), I was very interested on The State of the American Family Vacation presentation given Thursday morning at the Summer to Remember (hosted by Phineas and Ferb) media event. Living near Walt Disney World I feel like we’re always on vacation. But are we really? Is that enough? How important is it now and in the future for our family to make time for family vacations completely separate from work?

Vincent Martella, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, Dan Povenmire and Samantha Brown

The State of the American Family Vacation was hosted by the Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown. First, continuing with the Summer to Remember theme, there was a Phineas and Ferb precense (if you've seen the show you'll know the importance Summer Vacation plays). Vincent Martella, the voice of Phineas Flynn along with show co-creators Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan Povenmire joined Samantha Brown to talk about the importance of summer vacation and how they try to bring that out in their show. (We'll have this video available latter).

Then experts Dan Lazar (president of Chatter, Inc. a brand strategy and market research firm) and Susan Newman, Ph.D (bestselling author on relationships and parenting) along with Disney’s Leslie Ferraro (Exec VP of Global Marketing and Sales for Disney Parks and Resorts) sat down with Samantha for an extensive discussion on the importance of family vacations in children’s and families’ lives. Quite a few interesting points were brought out. Among them:

Samantha Brown and Susan Newman, Ph. D

Doing stuff together is important: With parents and children so over-scheduled in their daily lives, choosing vacations that allow families to spend time together is more important than ever and is very beneficial towards creating family memories.

Don’t overschedule: Not every moment of a family vacation needs to be scheduled. Leave plenty of time for spontaneity. In fact, Samantha Brown recommended taking a couple of hours at Disney World to stay in one place and let things come to you. She also stressed the importance of not trying to achieve perfection. Wandering around, taking wrong turns and making mistakes that lead to new discoveries can be half the fun.

Don’t try to force memories: It’s not predictable what events will become lasting family memories, so don’t try too hard. Susan Newman told a story of a relative that, at the time, was intent on getting her child on Space Mountain. But now she doesn’t even remember that, she only remembers how obnoxious her child was the whole trip which also illustrated how even negative events can become treasured, humorous memories later in life.

Prime years for lasting memories is age 5-13: Not that other years aren’t important as well. But these are the prime years. Before 5, the child often won’t remember. After 13, the child likely won’t want anything to do with you.

Be careful with technology on vacation: Susan Newman pointed out that when kids see their parents constantly checking their iPhones while on vacation, they get the mindset that things are just like they are at home. However, when a family can use technology together like with Disney’s Mobile Magic app or Epcot’s upcoming Agent P World Showcase Adventure - especially when there’s a physical component like problem solving or card trading - it helps bring families closer together according to Leslie Ferraro.

Everything is a learning experience: Even on vacation, your children are always learning from you. Newman reminds us to pay attention to how you handle things like lost luggage or a Disney World bus that’s taking too long because our.kids are watching.

Vacations are for everyone: At the risk of sounding selfish, Samantha Brown says she’s always reminding parents that vacations are for everyone, not just the kids. And when kids see the parents having fun, they have more fun and are happier as well.

Try it once, do it right, you’ll be hooked: Dan Lazar has found in his studies that families that find a way to try a family vacation once and find that they’ve created lasting memories will vacation again and again in the future. So give it a try.

Finally, I had the opportunity to ask Samantha Brown a couple of one-on-one questions about Disney and travel. Like many of us in the travel business, I’m a great admirer of hers and was thrilled to have the opportunity. Here’s that brief interview.