Anyone been to Great Wolf Lodge? Thoughts?

[mjkacmom]

We have been to Great Wolf about 8 times now- sometimes for one night other times 2 or 3 nights and EVERY time we get there by 9am- pre-register and get our water park bands right then. When you call to book they TELL you 1pm you can get in but I have gotten water park bands every time by 9am and actually into the room three times by 9am....guess it sort of offsets the time my rom wasn't ready until 7pm LOL....I thought everyones room woujldbe ready by 4pm the latest but then they tell you check in STARTS at 4, doesn't mean all rooms will be ready at that time. They will take your cell number and call you when your room is ready though.

We've always gotten the wristbands right away as well. I agree with a PP that one night is fine, IF you're not doing magiquest. You really need to stay at least 2 for MQ to be worth it. I also have to agree with a PP that it's not a separate room. For our family, the smallest we fit in is the Kids Cabin suite, and I put my 3 youngest there. The bunkbeds have camping mattresses, but there is a small TV.

 

[rszdtrvl]

We are back and had fun!

The only thing is that DS brought a friend and they were not on the same wavelength.

We had a blast at the waterpark, but other than that, there is not too much for kids to do if they don't like Magiquest (which my son did not like too much).

We got there at 2pm, and our room was ready. We got the Wolf Den Suite, which was perfect for the 2 teenagers we had with us.

Went into the water and then got the boys their Gr8_Space wrist bands to go into the teen room ($10 each).

My son loved the teen room, his friend didn't as much. Later that night we got their Magiquest wands and activated them (approx. $70 for 2).

The guys had Pizza Hut for dinner, and DH and I went to the restaurant.

We brought 2-way radios so we could keep in contact with the boys - or mostly DS's friend, as he was wandering a lot (I already got the okay from his mom) doing Magiquest.

The next day, we had the breakfast buffet. Delicious! We had gotten a special of $35 for 4 adults, so it was basically buy 3 get 1 free. The food was good! Pastries not so good, but everything else was yummy!

After breakfast, we all went down to the waterpark for an hour. Then we went back to the room, and I had DS go with his friend to do Magiquest for a while. DS was not even remotely into Magiquest, but his friend is a D&D'er, so he was intent on completing as many tasks as possible and getting on the tv board as a high scorer. I couldn't contact them with the 2-way radio, so I went off and found them. DS's friend went off on his own with the radio, and DS and I went off to take photos. DH was on the netbook in the room (free internet rocks!).

We all met up, and went back to the room for a bit, then I gave the boys money for the arcade ($20 = 96 tokens). I ordered Pizza Hut for lunch. We all ate, and then DS wanted to go back in the water, but his friend didn't. His friend wanted to Magiquest, so he did that. I kept the 2-way radio and went down to the water area. An hour later his friend decided to go into the water, and went to the room to change and came down to the waterpark.

The room wrist bands are the best! I wish they had them in Las Vegas and in the Disney Parks. So convenient! I did turn off the "auto buy" function, as I didn't want the boys to go out of control spending money, especially since DS's friend didn't bring ANY money with him (if your child goes to a very expensive place, and you are told that the kid does not need to bring any money, at least send them $20 or so - I told them that unless the child wanted souvenirs or video games, money was not necessary to bring, but even a bit of cash would have been good for the kid - I almost felt guilty not getting him everything he wanted).

After the waterpark, we all went back to the room for a while, and then left the hotel for dinner in town.

We came back, and DS entered a Rock Band contest in the teen room and won first place! Yay for him!

We will probably go back, but only for one night, and probably a weekend night. We didn't get any discount for leaving early (we checked out at 8:30am). We slept good, and had fun. Next time though, we will just take the 3 of us and no extra kids. I think we have more fun on vacation as a family.

The room was perfect, and worth the extra cost. I have never been on a cruise, but the whole experience made me think it was similar to how a cruise would be - with everything in the same area.

There needs to be another small restaurant there. The small convenience foods are all located in the waterpark, unless you want sweets.

And more drink machines would be a plus. It would be nice if the gift store had a cooler and sold stuff like the airport gift shops do.

We got really lucky and got a room on the second floor (there are 8 floors). Next time we go, I will actually request a room on that floor. Most of the action is on the second floor (arcade, teen room, sweets shop) and it was nice to know that it was a quick walk for the boys.

That is my story, in a nutshell! I do have pics that I can post later if y'all want.