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Consumer Reports


More families opting for destination reunions

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | (KRT) For 30 years, Kathy Zago dreamed of having a family reunion. Though she and her husband, Tony, never had children of their own, they had nieces and neighborhood kids they'd taken under their wings in Ticonderoga, N.Y.

As the years passed, though, and the family members spread all over the country - their nieces live in Colorado - Zago knew that arranging such a reunion wouldn't be easy.

Then last year, she received a small inheritance, and Zago knew precisely how she'd spend it - paying for 30 members of her unusual extended family to congregate at Walt Disney World.

"It was always my dream," says Zago, 64, a retired kindergarten teacher who now lives in Merritt Island, Fla., but spends much of the year traveling across the country in a motor home. "I've been thinking about this since 1965."

Though the Zagos are not your typical family, they represent a growing number of families opting for reunions rather than standard vacations. And today's family reunion is not the staid affair that it used to be. Increasingly, families are moving away from the reunion at the old homestead and heading for the open road.

They're traveling everywhere from New Orleans to Las Vegas to Orlando, taking cruises together, flying to resorts in the Caribbean. Some families reunite in the motherland, be it Ireland or Italy, while others convene at dude ranches out West.

One of the hottest destinations for family reunions is Disney World. The reason, says Kathy Zago, is obvious.

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"We've got an age range from 6 to 74," she says. "There was no place else that would make everyone happy."

Instead of dragging grumbling teenagers along to a reunion where they wouldn't have much to do, the Zagos and their extended clan chatted poolside at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge each night, while the children and teens played in the pool.

While the younger families roamed the park, the others could browse, shop and play at their own pace, meeting up at restaurants for meals together.

"More and more, families are beginning to travel," says Edith Wagner, editor of Reunions magazine. She estimates that 200,000 family reunions are held each year in the United States_and half of those families meet annually.

`NET CLICKS WITH PLANNERS

For the family member who winds up planning the reunion, times have certainly changed_thanks primarily to the Internet.

Although family members once groaned at the expense of calling all the relatives long distance, now they can simply e-mail the clan. And family members can go online and check out hotels, meeting places and tourist attractions they may want to visit.

"Now every family's reunion planner is trying to figure out how to communicate with people who don't have e-mail," says Wagner. "Until five years ago, that was never a consideration."

Some reunion planners still do things the old-fashioned way. Take Leon Harvin of Bartow, Fla. When he began organizing this summer's Bentley-Harvin reunion, he called the local visitors bureau and checked hotels around Bartow, searching for a spot big enough for the 200 family members.

Harvin, who teaches computer training in Polk County, Fla., hosted this year's reunion, but the family has visited Los Angeles, Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in recent years.

For the get-together in Bartow, Harvin had three days of activities planned, but knew some family members would stay a few more days to visit Disney World and Busch Gardens.

"We prefer something where everybody can go somewhere and see new places," says Harvin, 31. "It gives everybody a chance to travel."

Though the Bentleys and Harvins have been holding regular reunions for decades, other families are experimenting with annual or every-other-year reunions.

In June, the American Society of Travel Agents surveyed 400 members and discovered that more than 60 percent had witnessed an uptick in family-reunion business in the past five years_with 9 percent experiencing a large increase.

Cruise lines are the most popular option for family-reunion travelers, followed by "all-inclusive" resorts such as Club Med, where a flat rate pays for all food and expenses, according to the travel agents. Disney World ranked third.

That comes as no surprise at Disney, which estimates that the reunion business has tripled in the past three years.

CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

George Aguel, Disney's vice president of meeting planning, attributes the increase to a change in attitude after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Families want to spend more time together," he says.

To capitalize on the trend, Disney will soon launch an initiative focusing on the reunion business. Although Aguel declined to provide details, others in the reunion industry say it's at the heart of Disney's new "Magical Gatherings" marketing campaign.

Already, families such as the Zagos can arrange for little extras to make their event special. Disney arranges golf and fishing activities for families who want to do something besides patrol the theme parks. Inside the theme parks, Disney sets aside special viewing areas, such as a dessert party at Epcot during IllumiNations, the nightly fireworks display.

What one family finds fun may be boring to others. Some families go white-water rafting and horseback riding, says Wagner, while others' idea of fun is a family talent show.

But some families, such as the Bentleys and Harvins, prefer a routine. On Friday night, family members usually gather for a fish fry, followed by a cookout and a picnic on Saturday. And Saturday night, while the adults congregate for their own party, the kids hold a dance in an adjoining room, complete with a disc jockey.

On Sunday, the final day, the family regularly holds a church service. Yet they don't even need to find a local church.

"Oh, we have plenty of ministers in the family," says Harvin. "We even form our own choir."

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