America's Best Family Hotels 2012

Want to feel like mountain royalty? A former Buckingham Palace steward runs the butler service at this plush 181-room hotel overlooking Deer Hollow run. Another standout: Olympic freestyler Shannon Bahrke, the new ski ambassador and your personal guide to the slopes.

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Magic Kingdom doppelgänger of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn, complete with a gushing (if man-made) geyser.

Pack a picnic and canoe the waters around the hotel’s barrier island, where a Confederate submarine sank a Union ship during the Civil War.

Track alligators and ride horseback at this Lowcountry retreat on the banks of the mirror-like May River.

Sprawling wood-walled retreat with themed days at the kids club (Wet and Wacky Wednesdays; Space Camp Saturdays).

City slickers have multiple reasons to trek to these newly renovated cabins on Table Rock Lake, from fishing tournaments to paddleboarding lessons. big-cedar.com.

Mickey and Minnie take a backseat to more than 30 species (wildebeests! giraffes!) roaming this 46-acre savanna.

Strikingly similar to Yosemite’s Ahwahnee—except for the character breakfasts, Pinocchio workshops, and an only-in-Anaheim proximity to Disneyland.

A New England yacht-club setup on Crescent Lake, with boats on loan for bluegill and largemouth bass fishing and a three-acre sand-bottomed pool.

Here, nostalgia reigns supreme: a 1920s carousel from Coney Island graces the lobby, and guests of all ages partake in Prohibition-era carnival games such as skeeball and milk can toss.

Abutting the Grand Tetons, with something for every season: skiing and dogsledding in winter, biologist-led wildlife safaris (in Mercedes-Benz SUVs, no less!) come summer.

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Bamboo and rattan-furnished rooms, fire-knife dances, and a 40-foot waterslide through a volcano emote a South Pacific flavor.

Even for Vail, this 107-room boutique hotel is beyond posh—care for a slopeside foot massage?

The at-your-service Allegheny Mountain hideaway since 1766 is in the midst of a $25 million makeover (look for the 400-foot lazy river in the new two-acre water park).

The onetime favorite of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton is now undeniably kid-friendly (don’t miss visiting the six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in the on-site lagoon).

Want parent-of-the-year award? Bring your kids to their elite ski school for glow stick night runs and warm chocolate chip cookies served lift-side. pineslodge.rockresort.com.

Animals steal the show at this recently revamped hotel, from the lobby parrots to the nene geese and black swans that flit around the grounds.

This pecan tree–shrouded compound outside Austin is the perfect tonic after a day of hiking, GPS trekking, or rafting the Colorado River.

Thursday nights don’t get better than this: complimentary lift tickets, guided runs, and an après-ski fireworks show.

Put away your wallet. At this lakeside castle—run by the same family since 1869—everything from canoeing to lobster barbecues is included in your rate.