March Break in Muskoka

     Over the past few days, I have received a few emails asking about the JW Marriott Muskoka and other similarly priced hotels particularly with respect to March Break in Ontario. For a direct link to my recent JW Marriott Muskoka review click here.

     I thought it would be best to contact the hotels directly and prepare a blog post for anyone asking the age old question of "what am I going to do with these kids over March Break".  For consistency, I checked the rates with the hotels beginning Sunday March 9th through Sunday March 16th, 2014.

JW Marriott Muskoka (The Rosseau)

The Rosseau, A JW Marriott hotel

     Since I most recently visited the JW Marriott, I felt it would be a good place to start. As I recently described the hotel is large, quite secluded and has three restaurants open in the winter. It also has an indoor/outdoor heated pool and hot tub as well as a dedicated skating rink. Below the skating rink, there is a hill that leads to the lake that many people use for sledding although it is not an activity sanctioned by the hotel.

The main hotel

      By contacting the hotel, you can currently book a studio room with a King Bed, sofa bed and fireplace for $199 per night. If you pay through the advance booking, the rate drops to $159 per night but there are no refunds and you must pay at the time of booking. A room with 2 queen beds is currently $219 per night which drops to $175 per night when choosing the advance booking. None of the room prices above include tax and all are subject to a daily resort fee of $29 a day.

A room with 2 queen beds

     The Marriott is also currently offering a winter escape package which includes accommodations, breakfast for two adults and two children at the breakfast buffet, dinner for two adults and two children at Cottages or Teca and in-room cookies. The winter package saves you up to 30% on the room and to be clear, you are going to end up eating in those restaurants while on site. Both the breakfast and dinner offered through this package will be a buffet but having tried the buffet, I can reassure you its quite delicious and fresh.

My favourite on-site restaurant, Teca

     As for March Break specific activities, the schedule I have received from the hotel is very similar to the one that was posted when we recently visited. Muskoka Recreation will be onsite providing ice fishing and snowmobiling tours. There will also be a magic show Wednesday night and a Hula Hoop workshop during the day on Friday. Both are additional costs and both require parental supervision. There will be onsite cooking demonstrations and maple syrup making demonstrations.

Maple Syrup Demonstration at the hotel

The Westin Trillium House, Blue Mountain

     The Westin Blue Mountain is a gorgeous hotel that sits at the bottom of Blue Mountain, a popular ski hill in Collingwood, Ontario. Not technically Muskoka but this hotel should seriously be considered by anyone looking for a great Ontario hotel for March Break.  The obvious advantage to staying here is that you have the option to downhill ski. The disadvantage is that there is no lake on the property thus activities such as snowmobiling and ice fishing must be done off site. That being said there is a giant skating rink right outside of the hotel, just don't drill holes in it looking for fish.  There are many other hotels on the property but as I have not stayed at them, I decided to focus on the Westin.

The Westin and skating rink (Photo courtesy of the Westin)

     Similarly to the JW Marriott, the Westin is an upscale resort but with more modern decor. The resort has just completed a year long renovation to update the hotel even further. I can tell you the bed I slept in at the Westin was so comfortable that I actually bought it the next morning and sleep on it every night at home. In addition, management at the Westin is incredible and when we visited the managers were accessible and professional. I also spoke to management in order to complete this blog and Tyler, one of the managers, immediately picked up the phone and was courteous and a joy to talk to.  The Westin has an outdoor heated pool and two gorgeous hot tubs. It also has a kids play area on the main floor and a kitchenette in every room.

One of the outdoor hot tubs (Photo courtesy of the Westin)

     Rates at the Westin over March Break begin at $223 plus tax a night for a deluxe guest room with a kitchenette. There are also packages available that include ski lift tickets. There is no resort fee.

Deluxe guest room (Photo courtesy of the Westin)

     Although these hotel differ a little in price, there is a lot more to do at the Westin and due to the sheer size of the Blue Mountain Village, much more varied activities available at no or very minimal extra cost. These include a concert featuring Fefe Dobson, firework shows, dance parties, movie nights and spending time at Plunge an indoor aquatic centre. Plunge, located next to the Westin, has indoor-outdoor pools, an indoor water playground, hot tubs, rope swings and slides. Best of all parents can watch all the action from a Muskoka chair on an indoor dock. Although the activities are spread throughout the village, the Westin is specifically hosting twice-daily kids movies are well as Peter Mennie's Abra-Kid-Abra magic show.

     If you do chose to visit the Westin, make sure to try out the Oliver & Bonacini restaurant in the hotel which serves kids meals at the perfect temperature for immediate consumption by children and stop by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill (Photo courtesy of the Westin)

Deerhurst Resort

     I must fully admit before you read on that I have never been to Deerhurst Resort located in Hunstville, Ontario but I do know quite a few people who have visited and loved it. From what I can gleam from my research, Deerhurst is a good mix of the ambiance of the JW Marriott Muskoka with snowmobiling, ice fishing and cross country skiing alongside one of the benefits of the Westin being that it is also next to a downhill ski hill. In addition, Deerhurst offers dog sledding with a smaller loop and a single dog pulling a small sled for young children to try as well as Mukluk Fat Tire winter cycling, horse riding and children's stables.

Sleigh Rides at Deerhurst Resorts (Photo courtesy of Deerhurst Resort)

Horseback Riding for children (Photo courtesy of Deerhurst Resort)

     Rates at Deerhurst Resort begin at $189 a night for a room in the main hotel. There is a cheaper rate of $169 a night but that requires a stay in the lake side property which is a five minute walk to the main building. There are also a variety of different packages available such as the bed and breakfast package which includes breakfast for two adults and two children. None of the room prices above include tax and all are subject to a daily resort fee of $25 a day.

Deerhurst in Winter  (Photo courtesy of Deerhurst Resort)

      Like the other hotels listed, Deerhurst has an indoor swimming pool. During March Break, the property also features an arcade and indoor play zone featuring 11,000 square feet of inflatables, slides, Xbox Kinnect stations, a toddler area, a mini-putt and most importantly a lounge area for parents. Admission to both these activities is free for registered guests. Finally Deerhurst offers a family-friendly live stage show featuring music from the 50's to today.

Children's Snowmobiling at Deerhurst Resort (Photo courtesy of Deerhurst Resort)

     If you are feeling adventurous, Deerhurst is only a 10 minute drive from Arrowhead Provincial Park which has a groomed 1.5 Km skating path through the local woods.

    No matter which of these hotels you choose, they are all of great quality and a wonderful way to truly discover Ontario in the winter. If you do book over March Break, make sure to let me know how your stay was.

Winterdance Dogsledding

     The highlight of our first day at The Rosseau, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa was being introduced to the team of Siberian Huskies from Winterdance Dogsled Tours.

Me, Will and an incredibly sweet husky

    The dogs are not permanent residents at the hotel but instead live close by at their kennel in Haliburton, Ontario. The entire team consists of 150 dogs who live together from birth until death. We were fortunate enough to have met some of the dogs who were partnered with their own offspring and it was neat to see the relationships the dogs have with each other. 

A husky ready to run.

     While we were unable to book a full tour due to limited space and an incredible amount of interest, our guide Ryan offered to give me a full demo and answered my many questions about the tour. Children are invited and can be sat on the sled. Children under 12 cannot drive the sled and for children 12-16, the guide is given discretion to allow them to if he feels it is safe. Luckily, Will got to take a quick ride in one of the sleds and he loved every minute of it. 

Will taking a ride with our guide Ryan

     In the demo, I was taught how to stand and how to brake and was reassured the dogs do most of the steering. The sleds are build so they lean easily and everyone who I spoke to that took the full tour loved the experience. The dogs run about 10km per hour but speeds sometimes increase to 20km per hour. The tour at the Rosseau is a short half hour tour but the company leads many other half day and full day tours and even an incredible helicopter tour deep into the wilderness where the tour is limited to just you, the guide, the dogs and nature. 

View of the back of the sled where the driver stands. 

     The most incredible part of our encounter was seeing how much Ryan loved the dogs. This clearly was not just a job for him. Both the guides very clear that the dogs health, safety and happiness took priority over everything else. Every time the dogs stopped running, they were immediately given water and treats. Ryan took the time to go down the line and check on every one of them (approximately 30 dogs) and make sure they were happy and comfortable. He knew their personalities, where they were positioned on each sled and why and how each dog was related to the others. He explained which ones were older, more excitable or just plain cuddly. 

Ryan checking on the dogs.

     On the tour, guests are encouraged to interact with the dogs who are the friendliest group of canines you will ever meet. This tour can easily be done with children and the dogs know exactly how to behave with even the youngest kids. We spent at least 30 minutes interacting with the dogs and not one snapped, growled or did anything but attempt to lick us to death as we hugged them. 

The friendliest husky I've ever met and me.

     What impressed me most about this company and the guides, was that they knew when the dogs were tired and called it a day. Many guests were begging for a tour and offering serious cash and the guides very politely declined in fairness to the dogs being ready to head home. If you are staying at the Rosseau and want to do a full tour, it is in your best interest to book as soon as you can. This is by far the most popular tour at the resort and I met more than 10 families who were disappointed that they were not able to book in to the tour. 

Numerous people from the resort wanted to meet the dogs and go on the tour.

     When it was time for the dogs to pack up, we got to say our goodbyes and watch them get loaded into the truck for their journey home. The guides unhooked each dog and carried them individually to the truck. I asked if this practise was done so the dogs didn't run away and the guide told me it is actually done whenever the dogs are separated from the pack to protect them from wildlife and the practise is done whether they are deep in the woods or literally in a hotel parking lot.  I looked into the eyes of the smiling extremely large husky being carried away and knew these dogs were living a pretty good life. 

The dogs appeared to love their job.

     The half-hour tour at the Rosseau cost 75$ per adult and 50$ per child. A two hour tour, through the company, is $130 per adult on weekends and $110 per adult on weekdays. Children riding on the sled are half price. The company offers kennel tours in the summer when the dogs are not working which includes meeting all the race team dogs, playing with puppies, and meeting the owners. The tours are $40 per adult and $20 per child and include a BBQ. The tours are only offered in Spring, Summer and Fall, as the dogs are given first priority and allowed to rest in the winter when not pulling sleds. No admission to the kennel is granted to the public during winter months. As soon as the snow melts, this solo mom will be driving back to Haliburton with Will and Charlie as none of us can resist the opportunity to play with these puppies.

Harry, a Winterdance puppy

Hedwig, a Winterdance puppy

     If you are in the area, this is an adventure not to be missed. Tell the dogs I sent you and give them an extra treat from me.