Faymous Faycation- Woodloch: Dirty Dancing Camp

I’ve had a lot of you ask me, where exactly WAS I for the past week on vacation. I shared a lot of epic pictures on my instagram, all of which epitomized some of the most fun I’ve ever had. I’m going to try to sum up what Woodloch is in a blog post, but I promise you it’s next to impossible to capture it all so I encourage all of you to head there if you can. In a nutshell, it’s basically a combination of Dirty Dancing and Summer Camp for adults (and kids!). With a spa, a billion activities, and more happiness than normal.

Woodloch is a hidden gem of a resort, nestled in the poconos mountains, with 155 pristine acres of idyllic lake and greens, with more to do in that space than most of NYC. (Yea I said it!). Activities are the name of the game, but they’re really more like cutthroat in-it-to-win-it death matches against some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. It’s a quintessential family resort with most of the families coming for the same week upwards of 20 years. I was lucky and blessed enough to be warmly welcomed with open arms by some of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. But I know you all want to hear about the activities. And the food!

Activities: Each day there are multiple events that allow you to form teams and try your hardest to win a gold medal. Before I go any further I should say gold medals are the most coveted, hard to attain, and exhilarating things to receive. The activities range from extremely active (Scavenger Hunt, The Amazing Race etc.), to a fight of wits (Name That Tune, Movie Trivia etc.). There are also themed games such as the Game of Thrones Field Day (where you actually have to throw your whole team over an ice wall), The Olympics, Pool Games and Lake Games.

Each of these give you the equal chance to win it, but there are no greater rivalries that exist than in The Scavenger Hunt and The Amazing Race. Teams stock up based on clues for months leading up to the scavenger hunt, bringing easy bake ovens and bowling balls all for 50 points. It’s absurd and hilarious and absolutely the most fun you’ve ever had. We came in second in the Scavenger Hunt (a sad occurrence that has happened to our team for the past few years apparently).

Redemption came in the form of The Amazing Race, we ran all over the property, in the pouring rain, miserable, yet exhilarated. With 5 minutes to go I decided to run back down to the lake for one more picture, worth 10 points, to make it back with 10 seconds before the cut off time. We managed to win by a margin of 7 points. An unbelievable victory that made ever second of misery worth it. In addition to all of these events ( of which there are at least 8 a day), the staff at the resort make all of these activities the most fun they can be, cheering and egging on each team and making us all feel like we’re family.

There are also nightly activities such as an entire craft fair, a theme show (WOODLOCH Goes Back to the 80’s!), Horse Racing, and the very best, a staff show (featuring the dirty dancing lift!). In addition, there are also unscheduled activities: sailing, paddle boats, paddle boarding, watersliding, volleyball, mini golf, golf, canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing, boat tours, bumper boats, bumper cars, go karting, a batting cage, a climbing wall, ziplining, biking, segway tours, an indoor and outdoor pool, two huge game room arcades, and an entire separate top ranked spa that gives the most amazing massages you’ve ever had. To top that all off there are multiple bars with the best miami vice’s, where everyone parties till the wee hours of the morning.

The Food: Bring your poncho dresses and stretchy pants people cause you are going to EAT. Woodloch is an all inclusive resort at heart which means 3 HUGE meals a day. There’s a joke that you need to survive the amount of food more than the activities. The food is delicious, with raw bars filled with oysters and alaskan crab legs, homemade brownie a la mode and ice cream sandwiches, delicious mojito marinated swordfish, ahi tuna etc. You name it, they had it. And you can order multiple entrees. Plus each meal comes with a homemade soup, appetizer, entree, and a dessert. They also have an entire bakery on premises that makes homemade apple streudel, pineapple cream cheese bear claws, pumpkin bread, blueberry pound cake etc. Each of which is better than the last. Good luck not waddling to your car when you leave, cause you will want to eat ALL of it.

In the end, besides all of the amazing activities, and the to-die-for food, Woodloch is really about family. And I don’t mean immediate, nuclear family. I mean the family that exists there in that week of time. All of these amazing and hilarious people have been coming there for years.Most of them over 2 decades of fun. They’ve grown up there, they’ve taken their first steps there, had their first kiss there, and shared more memories than most people make in their entire lives. It’s one of those truly magical places where time stands still, and kindness and happiness abounds, and you remember what it feels like to be unfettered and free and what it means to just simply have a good time.

How Faymous Was It: $$$$$ (Priceless people, priceless)

PS: They’re doing an ACTUAL Dirty Dancing weekend November 14th-16th if anyone wants to join me…