Frozen Attraction Coming to Walt Disney World

Sarah Ricks is a travel junkie who writes in Philadelphia. More of her travel writing is at TravelingMom.com Your kids can be your favorite traveling companions. Really. Even when one of your party needs a nap, won't eat the weird food, or won't visit museums, you can still travel smoothly. Here are six ways to make your next trip with kids more fun for everyone: Bring friends. Sharing a vacation rental with another family means built-in buddies. Every night is a sleepover. Every day is a playdate. When kids have built-in playmates, a shared beach house sets the stage for an exciting game of hide & seek. A picnic in a park is transformed into a rollicking chasing game. Another benefit: Parents can swap babysitting nights and let the other couple go out for a grown-up dinner or a live performance that does not involve puppets or talking animals. Let them sleep. A sleepy kid is a cranky kid and crankiness and travel are an unhappy mix. For little kids, bring a stroller so naps can be "on the go" while others enjoy the street scenery or explore a museum. Or schedule a midday car, train, or bus ride for needed downtime. For teenagers, consider letting them sleep late or text with friends while you go out for early morning exploring. Meet up for a late breakfast after you've had coffee and a lovely stroll. One beauty of traveling in Spain is the expectation that everyone benefits from mid-afternoon downtime. A rejuvenating siesta creates the possibility of a late night, almost a second day in one. Adjust expectations of what they'll eat. If you're visiting a foreign country, consider bringing peanut butter or a favorite cereal to alleviate worries that there will be nothing kids will eat. But likely your kids will surprise you—and themselves—at how much they enjoy trying new foods, or just exotic types of pizza or toppings for pasta. We traveled to rural Italy with a trusty box of Life cereal as a back-up for our picky eater—but our daughter thankfully enjoyed eating at Italian cafes. Build anticipation before you go. My kids and I both get more out of trips by reading about the place before we leave. Picture books, youth fiction, detective novels set in the area, biographies—all give insight into culture and history and help build anticipation for the trip. Before visiting the Grand Canyon, my kids learned geology from picture books and enthusiastically devoured horrific stories about unprepared hikers and their tragic fates. The irreverent Horrible Histories—such as The Vicious Vikings or The Terrible Tudors—are accurate but play to kids by emphasizing gory facts and scatological humor. Horrible Histories began as a book series and expanded into DVDs, games, and costumes. Watching movies set in the place can help build anticipation. Visiting Anne Boleyn's palace felt more dramatic because we had just watched our scheming heroine in Anne of 1000 Days. While the audio tour of the Colosseum in Rome was a bore, my kids already had a sense of the gruesome (and exciting) former uses of the ancient building from the movie Gladiator. Your kids may enjoy helping to plan visits to a place they learned about before leaving. Create memories during the trip. Give each kid a blank book to draw or write in during downtime, or to glue in postcards, tickets, and other scraps. Try interviewing your kids and jotting down their answers in the blank books. I've asked questions like: what's the biggest surprise about the place we're visiting, worst new food you tried, favorite joke of the vacation, favorite song right now, who you look forward to seeing when we get home. Doing a short interview with your kid can make waiting in line or in a restaurant speed by. (Years later, those interviews are vivid and cherished reminders of my children's personalities as little tykes.) Create memories after the trip. After you return home, you can create a photo book or use iPhoto or other programs to publish a book and include captions by your kids. Canvas on Demand can turn photos into pictures you hang on the wall as daily reminders of places you've explored together—and build excitement for your family's next adventure.

Fun family getaways were the theme for our May/June digital issue of Budget Travel magazine (now available on BudgetTravel.com, in the Apple App Store, on Google Play, and for Nook and Kindle). To get into the spirit of things, we asked several of our staff members to share their favorite places for family vacations—here's what they said: "Learning to ski at Keystone Resort in Colorado!" —Robert Firpo-Cappiello, Editor in Chief "A family trip to Southern California when I was 11. We had a great time visiting Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood, and taking on all the big roller coasters at Knott's Berry Farm." —Kaeli Conforti, Digital Editor "My favorite family vacation was traveling with my mom, dad, and uncle to visit our Italian cousins in Southern Italy!" —Jennifer O'Brien, Marketing Manager "Cape Cod beaches and candy shops!" —Amy Lundeen, Photo Director "I'd love to spend a week at a ski resort with my family, preferably one in Utah!" —Whitney Tressel, Photo Editor "Summer trips to a tiny bungalow in upstate New York." —Ruthie Kaposi, Digital Project Manager "A tropical resort with water sports like kayaking and sailing onsite (like Montego Bay, Jamaica); it's safe, there's alcohol, and there are things to do for all ages." —Chad Harter, Lead Developer "We love getting away to our family summer 'camp' in the Southern Adirondacks of New York State. Nothing like a cool mountain lake, a kayak, a bit of fishing, and some singing around the campfire. Cannot wait!" —Maureen Kelley Stewart, Advertising Account Manager "We went to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and then went to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and watched a shuttle launch before relaxing in Daytona Beach for a week." —Michelle Craig, Digital Ad Sales Planning Manager "St. Michaels, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore in July, for great crab eating, tall ships, and historic sights." —Elaine Alimonti, President, Publisher "The white, sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama." —Dustin Gontarski, Compass Marketing "South Padre Island, Texas: family-friendly for kids from 1 to 101. We go with up to 30 family members every year." —Jo Neese, Neese & Lee Media "North Shore on the island of Oahu in Hawaii." —Lola Cohen, Advertising Sales Manager "Rome! With all that history, it awes at any age!" —Jeff Greif, Advertising Sales Manager Now it's your turn: what was your all-time favorite family vacation? Do you have a top spot you take the family every year? Tell us all about it below!

"Nothing quiets children faster than a new plaything! So before taking a trip with the kids, I spend $20 for 20 toys at the dollar store. I take out one at a time, and when the thrill is gone I take out another. The plane ride is over before they know it! The toys also come in handy for other children on the plane. A dollar is worth it to stop a crying child three rows up!" —Budget Travel reader Cheryl Dela, Buffalo, NY SHARE YOUR BEST TRAVEL TIPS! Email us at tips@budgettravel.com. Your tip may appear in This Just In or in a future issue of Budget Travel. Want more great tips, news, and travel inspiration? Subscribe to our FREE e-newsletter!

Traveling with children can be demanding, but with the right amount of preparation, it is enjoyable and can build lifelong family memories. The most important decision when planning a vacation with your children is picking the right destination. If you actually want to bond as a family, don't leave your kids with babysitters or in a resort club. There's no better place to share quality time together, while learning and getting fresh air, than Patagonia. During hikes and walks in the great outdoors, parents and children can spot wildlife while being active and surrounded by unrivaled mountainous beauty. Patagonia covers a vast amount of land in South America and is approximately the size of France and Spain combined. It is important to pick a destination with lots of highlights to prevent your kids from getting bored. Two of the best options for family vacations to Patagonia are Torres del Paine National Park and Los Glaciares National Park. Torres del Paine National Park is in southern Chile, with Los Glaciares National Park just across the border in Argentina—both parks boast mountains, lakes, forests, and glaciers. A few of the highlights include Glacier Perito Moreno and Monte Fitz Roy, as well as small, charming Patagonian towns like Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, El Calafate, and El Chaltén. Within the towns are monuments and museums, plazas, good restaurants, and beautiful viewpoints. If that's not enough to get your children excited about a Patagonia vacation, tell them about the options to explore ranches, to go horseback riding and fishing, and to see wildlife while romping around mountain ranges on the tip of the earth. For older children, mountaineering is also an option, with comfortable refuges located conveniently inside the parks. There are so many possibilities for incredible sights and activities in Patagonia. Before you go, watch Ice Age as a family to get excited about seeing the fjords and glaciers come to life. In addition to learning about science through hands-on-activities, children can spot wildlife they have probably never seen before. This area is rich in guanaco, cougar, gray fox, condors, and eagles. Hiking provides an excellent opportunity to learn about flora, fauna, and other natural beauty. Certainly, not everything goes to plan when traveling with kids. It is advisable not to commit to a rigid schedule when traveling with young ones. It's better to have a loose program with clear day-to-day activities, but with enough flexibility to adapt to the mood of your family on a given day. There is plenty to do in Patagonia so families can easily develop a schedule that works for them. Another important consideration when traveling with kids is the choice of family-friendly accommodations. The place where you choose to stay should have communal areas where families are welcome to relax and play a game after a long day in the wilderness. It doesn't have to be Disneyland or Sandals, but try to avoid places with candlelit tables for two in the hotel restaurant. It will make you and the kids more comfortable. Patagonia is truly magical and unlike anywhere else in the world. Don't miss out—or let your kids miss out—on the family adventure of a lifetime. With a little foresight, Patagonia is an enjoyable destination for adults and children alike. This article was written by Melissa Reichwage, who currently lives in Colombia and has traveled extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Australia. With a Master's in Public Health, focusing on Global Health and Development, she continues to explore and learn about solutions available to overcome the pressing issues of our time. She wrote this article on behalf of South American Vacations, specialists in travel throughout the continent.