wanderlust7
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2015
- Messages
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We went to the greater Los Angeles area to visit family over spring break and fit in a stay at the brand new Great Wolf Lodge, Garden Grove. I'm finally getting to this mini-TR almost 3 months after. Hope it's of interest to some people. It's pretty pricey, so we only did one night and took full advantage of the water park and other activities both check-in and check-out day. We also picked a weekday, hoping for lower crowds. The kids (DD age 4 and DS age 7) had a great time. DH and I enjoyed it too, though it was a little tiring keeping up with them, ha ha.
Our confirmation e-mail said that we could start using the amenities at 1 pm on check-in day. But I read reviews that check-in can be super crowded, so I decided to try coming early. It was not a problem at all checking in early and we got our wrist bands, though of course the room wasn't ready yet. We got there around 11:30 am, this is what the front desk looked like:
When we passed by the next day around 4 pm, people were lined up past the roped area.
Photos around the lobby and common areas:
Forest Friends show, the bear is animatronic and other animatronic animals pop out from the holes during the show:
This is the backdrop for the character photos. After the Forest Friends show and story time, you're invited to line up for character photos. We did the 8 pm show, which was pretty crowded, so we skipped this. I think the 9 am and 3 pm shows are less crowded, the 9 am especially.
FOOD
Buffet restaurant (we did not try):
Pizza/pasta quick service restaurant. I thought this was the best value in the whole resort and we ate here twice. A big pizza with sausage and meatballs that fed our family for $17.99. It was pretty good too. The second time we had a half order of spaghetti and meatballs for $8.99 and a loaf of garlic bread for like $3. The line never took long and we never had problems finding a table.
Before we went, I read reviews complaining about the wait at the restaurants. It puzzled me, I thought, why not just drive out or even walk out, there's plenty of restaurants around. Well, once we got there I understood. We were so busy having fun that we just want to fill our bellies as quickly as possible. We did try to go to the sit down restaurant, Lodge Wood Fired Grill, but the wait was 45 minutes at about 6:30 pm, so we passed. We also ate at the quick service (called Buckets) in the water park area. It was typical theme park food, the sweet potato fries were good. The line looked long, but moved relatively quickly. Once I placed the order, the food came out of the pick up window fast. Before I went to Buckets, I had tried to get food at the bar next to the outdoor pool (Grizzly Jack's), but was told all the menus were out (!?!).
I waited several minutes, it was breezy and I was wet and cold, so I gave up. The tacos and grilled corn on the husk I saw some people eating looked good though.
There is a also a Dunkin' Donuts, but the line in the morning is INSANE. DS and I passed by several times while playing MagiQuest, the line never got short and seemed to move slowly. I decided that I didn't need coffee that badly and could make do with the stuff in the hotel room.
WATER PARK
DD was too short for all the big slides. DS is a little timid and I had to bribe him to go on a couple. I really like tube rides, here's my ranking based on thrill factor (from mildest to most thrilling):
1) River Canyon Run - pretty smooth and not too fast. The tube is carried up by a conveyor type mechanism.
2) Alberta Falls - a little faster, DS went on it and was okay. You have to carry the tube up yourself.
3) Coyote Canyon - there's a toilet bowl like vortex that you swish around a bit in and when I went into the landing pool somehow I fell out of the tube. I was glad I wasn't able to bribe DS onto this, he might have freaked, ha ha. You have to carry the tube up yourself for this one too.
4) Howlin' Tornado - DH went on this but I didn't end up having time...or maybe courage, ha. It sounded pretty thrilling, he says he went up and down in the funnel. This one uses the conveyor.
There is also a slide that goes straight down (Wolf Tail) and body slides (Wolf Rider Wipeout), DH went on these but I didn't.
Fort Mackenzie with 2 small slides and 2 medium slides:
Wave pool:
Kiddie pool. The kids probably liked this area the most, go fig. Not in the photo are a couple of small slides. One of them is a little faster and I had to catch the kids or their head would dunk in the water.
View from a big window in the lobby:
MAGIQUEST GAME
DS really likes scavenger type games (think Phineas and Ferb at Epcot and the Menehune Adventure Trail at Aulani), so he really wanted to do this. It takes a LONNNNNNG time, I'm not kidding, they say it takes 6 hours (!!!) to finish one game. I think we played 3-4 hours over 2 days and did not finish. We did defeat one of the big bosses (the Goblin King) though. It was really hard! But mostly because we didn't realize that you shouldn't wave the wand too vigorously - the censor gets confused (important tip if you play the game and get to that stage!). DS puts this in last place over the other games. With this game, it's not so much finding the elements, but finding them at the right time. So you're constantly going to the same places over and over...and over...and over again.
The treasure chest opens up:
OTHER ACTIVITIES
DS is into mini-golf, so we went to do their glow-in-the-dark mini-golf while DD went to get ice cream with DH. I think it was $7/person. The course is small and we finished it in maybe 15 minutes. There weren't any special effects (nothing like the ball goes somewhere and something pops opens), so it didn't seem worth it. Glad we only paid for 2 instead of 4! Pictures are kind of cute though I guess....
We also did mini-bowling (smaller ball, no finger holes, and no bowling shoes needed). I think it was $5/person per game. The have a timer on each turn. DD has a tendency to dilly-dally, so several of her turns got timed out. I guess it makes sense from a turnover and business perspective. Not so much for a customer with little kids though....
ROOM
Tip: Ask for a room on a floor without the MagiQuest game or at the very least away from the elevators. There are a couple of MagiQuest game consoles that are right outside of the rooms near the elevators. One of these was super LOUD! I felt sorry for the people in that room. There was also one that was really quiet, like we had to lean in to hear it, maybe someone complained and they turned it down. There are also a bunch of elements near the elevators so there are constantly kids coming and going and battling the big bosses can get loud.
We had a Kid Cabin suite on the third floor (no MagiQuest!). I booked it before they opened with a promotion. The price difference between the Kid Cabin and the regular room was not a lot back then, I think only around $40. The difference has gone up a lot since then.
The adult side of the room is pretty basic (rustic?). The flat screen TV is big though (didn't get a picture of it).
The sink is outside the bathroom:
The view out the window is so bad it's almost comical, so I took a picture. But really, who cares?
The kids LOVED the cabin. I don't think I could bring myself to pay over $200 more than a regular room though, so what did I get myself into if we ever go back, ha ha.
The lantern and fireflies light up with a MagiQuest wand:
The stars also light up:
The mouse on the cheese turns:
I think that covers it for our short one night stay. Feel free to ask anything and I'll try to answer.
Our confirmation e-mail said that we could start using the amenities at 1 pm on check-in day. But I read reviews that check-in can be super crowded, so I decided to try coming early. It was not a problem at all checking in early and we got our wrist bands, though of course the room wasn't ready yet. We got there around 11:30 am, this is what the front desk looked like:
When we passed by the next day around 4 pm, people were lined up past the roped area.
Photos around the lobby and common areas:
Forest Friends show, the bear is animatronic and other animatronic animals pop out from the holes during the show:
This is the backdrop for the character photos. After the Forest Friends show and story time, you're invited to line up for character photos. We did the 8 pm show, which was pretty crowded, so we skipped this. I think the 9 am and 3 pm shows are less crowded, the 9 am especially.
FOOD
Buffet restaurant (we did not try):
Pizza/pasta quick service restaurant. I thought this was the best value in the whole resort and we ate here twice. A big pizza with sausage and meatballs that fed our family for $17.99. It was pretty good too. The second time we had a half order of spaghetti and meatballs for $8.99 and a loaf of garlic bread for like $3. The line never took long and we never had problems finding a table.
Before we went, I read reviews complaining about the wait at the restaurants. It puzzled me, I thought, why not just drive out or even walk out, there's plenty of restaurants around. Well, once we got there I understood. We were so busy having fun that we just want to fill our bellies as quickly as possible. We did try to go to the sit down restaurant, Lodge Wood Fired Grill, but the wait was 45 minutes at about 6:30 pm, so we passed. We also ate at the quick service (called Buckets) in the water park area. It was typical theme park food, the sweet potato fries were good. The line looked long, but moved relatively quickly. Once I placed the order, the food came out of the pick up window fast. Before I went to Buckets, I had tried to get food at the bar next to the outdoor pool (Grizzly Jack's), but was told all the menus were out (!?!).
I waited several minutes, it was breezy and I was wet and cold, so I gave up. The tacos and grilled corn on the husk I saw some people eating looked good though.There is a also a Dunkin' Donuts, but the line in the morning is INSANE. DS and I passed by several times while playing MagiQuest, the line never got short and seemed to move slowly. I decided that I didn't need coffee that badly and could make do with the stuff in the hotel room.
WATER PARK
DD was too short for all the big slides. DS is a little timid and I had to bribe him to go on a couple. I really like tube rides, here's my ranking based on thrill factor (from mildest to most thrilling):
1) River Canyon Run - pretty smooth and not too fast. The tube is carried up by a conveyor type mechanism.
2) Alberta Falls - a little faster, DS went on it and was okay. You have to carry the tube up yourself.
3) Coyote Canyon - there's a toilet bowl like vortex that you swish around a bit in and when I went into the landing pool somehow I fell out of the tube. I was glad I wasn't able to bribe DS onto this, he might have freaked, ha ha. You have to carry the tube up yourself for this one too.
4) Howlin' Tornado - DH went on this but I didn't end up having time...or maybe courage, ha. It sounded pretty thrilling, he says he went up and down in the funnel. This one uses the conveyor.
There is also a slide that goes straight down (Wolf Tail) and body slides (Wolf Rider Wipeout), DH went on these but I didn't.
Fort Mackenzie with 2 small slides and 2 medium slides:
Wave pool:
Kiddie pool. The kids probably liked this area the most, go fig. Not in the photo are a couple of small slides. One of them is a little faster and I had to catch the kids or their head would dunk in the water.
View from a big window in the lobby:
MAGIQUEST GAME
DS really likes scavenger type games (think Phineas and Ferb at Epcot and the Menehune Adventure Trail at Aulani), so he really wanted to do this. It takes a LONNNNNNG time, I'm not kidding, they say it takes 6 hours (!!!) to finish one game. I think we played 3-4 hours over 2 days and did not finish. We did defeat one of the big bosses (the Goblin King) though. It was really hard! But mostly because we didn't realize that you shouldn't wave the wand too vigorously - the censor gets confused (important tip if you play the game and get to that stage!). DS puts this in last place over the other games. With this game, it's not so much finding the elements, but finding them at the right time. So you're constantly going to the same places over and over...and over...and over again.
The treasure chest opens up:
OTHER ACTIVITIES
DS is into mini-golf, so we went to do their glow-in-the-dark mini-golf while DD went to get ice cream with DH. I think it was $7/person. The course is small and we finished it in maybe 15 minutes. There weren't any special effects (nothing like the ball goes somewhere and something pops opens), so it didn't seem worth it. Glad we only paid for 2 instead of 4! Pictures are kind of cute though I guess....
We also did mini-bowling (smaller ball, no finger holes, and no bowling shoes needed). I think it was $5/person per game. The have a timer on each turn. DD has a tendency to dilly-dally, so several of her turns got timed out. I guess it makes sense from a turnover and business perspective. Not so much for a customer with little kids though....
ROOM
Tip: Ask for a room on a floor without the MagiQuest game or at the very least away from the elevators. There are a couple of MagiQuest game consoles that are right outside of the rooms near the elevators. One of these was super LOUD! I felt sorry for the people in that room. There was also one that was really quiet, like we had to lean in to hear it, maybe someone complained and they turned it down. There are also a bunch of elements near the elevators so there are constantly kids coming and going and battling the big bosses can get loud.
We had a Kid Cabin suite on the third floor (no MagiQuest!). I booked it before they opened with a promotion. The price difference between the Kid Cabin and the regular room was not a lot back then, I think only around $40. The difference has gone up a lot since then.
The adult side of the room is pretty basic (rustic?). The flat screen TV is big though (didn't get a picture of it).
The sink is outside the bathroom:
The view out the window is so bad it's almost comical, so I took a picture. But really, who cares?
The kids LOVED the cabin. I don't think I could bring myself to pay over $200 more than a regular room though, so what did I get myself into if we ever go back, ha ha.
The lantern and fireflies light up with a MagiQuest wand:
The stars also light up:
The mouse on the cheese turns:
I think that covers it for our short one night stay. Feel free to ask anything and I'll try to answer.
