Great Wolf Lodge Questions

[The Disney Bunch]

For people who have been, can you tell me a little about it? I am booking an overnight stay next month & they offer a breakfast - is it worth it or do they have other meal promos when you get there?
What are the wands & what not that they are offering in another package? I have 3 girls, ages 8 & 6 & I am sure that they will want to do as much as possible there but I don't want to break the bank!

thanks for any info! We have never been and I am not sure what there is to do there.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We been the Mason, OH lodge three times. We have never done the game with the wands but there are areas all throughout the lodge where you go to get clues - I heard it takes a lot of time and energy running up and down the stairs.

We always take breakfast foods on vacation with us (wherever we go) to save some $$. I know there is a buffet in the one restaurant which is where I'm sure the breakfast is held. The dinner is very good.

We spend pretty much all of our time in the water park - there are areas for little kids, bigger kids, the big slides, wave pool, lazy river and an outside pool as well.

There is a nice kids club area and my kids love going in there and making crafts, etc.

 

[WishMom09]

We just went to the Texas location on March 22nd. We also had the free breakfast for kids offer.....we did not use it though. Because we didn't want to eat a huge breakfast and then go swim! I understand the breakfast buffet is $13.95 for adults. The dinner buffet is $19.95 for adults and $13.95 for kids. I heard it was good food....but that wasn't in our budget! So we went out to dinner at a local restaurant....and had my daughter's left over birthday cake for breakfast!
The rooms have a large refrigerator and a microwave....and a coffee pot. So I suggest either bringing food from home or going out to eat to save money!
They do also have a pizza hut in the resort......but it must have been high too because we saw LOTS of pizza delivery cars in the parking lot from other pizza places!

The wand game looked like fun....but my kids didn't want to miss out on any water park time! It is also pricey! $10 to play the game and anywhere from $15-40 for the wands ( you can decorate them). You have to go all over the resort ...including up and down stairs! Lots of exercise!

Just a bit of info....you can get there as early as 1 on check in day (they have a changing area) to start enjoying the water park...and after you check out (at 11) you can stay all that day also!

Have fun!!

 

[mjkacmom]

We've been to the Pocono's location a couple of time. The wands are really fun, but not worth it if you're only staying one night - to complete the quest, you need several hours. We did it when we stayed 2 nights, and broke it up (good exercise, though).

 

[scrapbookmom5174]

We stayed at the Kansas City, KS one a few years back and absolutely LOVED it. We stayed two nights and had an absolutely wonderful time. They did not have the wand game, so I can't comment on it. The rooms were fabulous. We got the kid cabin within the room, a set of bunkbeds and a twin bed (plus their own TV)) and it was wonderful!! My kids keep asking to go back!!

 

[carj]

Make sure that you plan on having a rest day at home once you leave because we fell like we have been through the wringer when we go to Great Wolf! Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of fun, but man are we tired!

We have only stayed one night at a time and I think that the next time we go, we will stay 2 nights. We live about 30 minutes from the Grapevine location so it is hard to justify spending another night.

We do the Magiquest game. My 8 year old LOVES it and my 5 year old gets tired from going up and down the stairs. It is a lot of fun and I would say that my 8 year old prefers that to the water park! My daughter loves the cub club where you can do crafts for a price. She could spend our entire trip in there.

We have never gone in the arcade. I convinced my children that we can go to an arcade any place and it is silly to spend the time in there when we have so many other things that we can only do at GWL.

I am still trying to make a better plan for our next visit, whenever that may be. You have to check out of your room by 11, which is standard for most hotels. The only problem with that is that you give up your "home base". You have to take you luggage to the car and get a locker for any other stuff if you go to the water park. It isn't a huge deal but it is tiresome. I felt like we spent a lot of time running back and forth to the car, KWIM?

We have a blast every time we go and we always spend more than I think that we will.

We thought that the buffet was decent but not worth it for the price.

 

[Tam1067]

We've stayed at two locations--Sandusky, Ohio, and Traverse City, Michigan. My kids had a blast both times, though they prefer Traverse City because it has the wands there, but Sandusky did not (at least they didn't last May).

The wand game is pretty expensive, but the kids had fun. Unfortunately, I was the designated parent supervisor which means I spent most of our trip climbing stairs with them.

The food there is decent, though it's somewhat overpriced for what you get. Both times we went, we ate once in the restaurant for breakfast but then went elsewhere for the rest of the meals.

It is lots of fun for a day or two.

 

[brymolmom]

We're going one night over spring break to the Niagara Falls one. This will be our second time. Establish rules about the arcade upfront - either give each kid a set amount (or let them bring some of their own money) OR tell them that the arcade is off limits. It really isn't NECESSARY to do it - and really, you're spending lots of $$ to use the water park. We plan to bring almost all our own food - pizza or subs for dinner the first night, donuts and bagels for the morning. We might buy our lunch on the 2nd day - the 'snack bar' that is at our location has decent (not great) prices for lunch items - turkey sandwich and chips for about $7 - $9. Pricey- but yet, since I spend $5 down at the local fast food restaurant here - not bad considering. We will have our own drinks so we won't have to worry about that.

We did the buffet breakfast one time and did not consider it worth the money. Plus - it takes awhile and really all the kids wanted to do was get out of there and onto the slides!

 

[The Disney Bunch]

What food places are nearby that are worth going to?

 

[MJAJmom]

We went to the Grapevine TX location right after Christmas for 3 nights. It was lots of fun. The water park is really amazing, the boys loved it. They have a wonderful kiddie section with smaller waterslides and lots of squirting water. Also a big wave pool and other larger slides. You can spend all day in the pools. There's a large game arcade but we did not go in there.

The MagiQuest game with the wands is really cool, but very time consuming. If you are only going for 1 night, that might not be enough time. The game is basically a huge treasure hunt where you use the wand to electronically "tag" the items. You get a booklet filled with all the "quests". Each quest leads you thoughout the resort following clues. There's about 12 quests and then a few more advanced adventures. Some must be done in sequence to allow you to get to higher quests. There's one with a red dragon that all the boys drooled over, but you had to fulfill many quests to get to that level. The basic wand costs $15 and the game cost $10. My advice to anyone is to start the game early in your trip to allow time to get all the quests done. We started the day before we left and it just wasnt enough time. Plus I had to go with the boys to read the instructions and help find the clues (they were too young to read). Several older kids were doing it by themselves. It's really cool.

Have a great time!!!