Have you heard that super annoying jingle on the TV commercial? Well, we went to Great Wolf Lodge this weekend and that song is playing all over the place. However, I'm not going to hold that against them - we had the best time!
Jeremy's parents were generous enough to take us to the Lodge for a night and to say we are water-logged is an understatement. It was pretty packed given that it was Labor Day weekend but that's one nice thing about the place. They've done a great job of adding all kinds of different activities so it really never felt overwhelmingly crowded. My mom & dad were able to join us today during the day on guest passes so that was fun to have more eyes watching the kids. My dad even rode the slides which was hilarious to me!
First we checked in and luckily our room was ready early (and they gave us a complimentary upgrade which was great). We quickly changed and hit the waterpark! I was happy to see rows & rows of life jackets - that took some of the pressure off. There's a wave pool which Maggie loved and a kiddie area with all kinds of squirters and buckets dumping, and things to sit on, and 2 mini waterslides. Then there's also a tree house sort of thing where a GIANT bucket of water drops about every 5 minutes. At the top of this there are 2 pretty good sized waterslides. Ragen rode them both by himself and loved it. I can't forget the slide where we cheated the system - there's a part where you climb 6 stories and there are 2 inner tube rides. If you climb a bit higher, there's the "Howlin' Tornado"...more on that later. So the reason we had to cheat the system is that Ragen is only 42 inches in his shoes. It took me a minute to figure out why he could go on rides last week at the fair where you had to be 42" but not here. After climbing all the way up with an excited little boy, we were denied the inner tube ride. But, the 2nd day we outsmarted them. Ragen wore his crocs and what do you know...he was 42". He loved the tube rides and we did them over & over. One area we didn't spend much time in was this pool that had climbing things and several basketball hoops. Our kids just didn't care. They loved the hot tub though because it's half inside and half outside. Big hit! So, the tornado ride - it's this inner tube ride where you go into a pitch dark funnel that's about 6 stories high. (No, the kids didn't join us on this one) Jeremy hopped on the tube and I got on next. For a split second I was a little concerned that I was facing backwards but figured it'd spin. Well, it didn't! I went flying down several stories in the dark backwards literally nearly falling off. After the drop, it spits you into the giant funnel where you swing around side to side. It was so fun and I had never done anything like it.
Some other highlights of the Lodge were the magic wands where you go all over the hotel waving your wand and playing an interactive game. The kids loved the storytime at night in their PJ's. The food was actually pretty decent so that was an added bonus. We spent a good chunk of time in the arcade that is lit with black lights so Ragen loved to glow. There's a teen club/center but we obviously weren't in there. I was sorry that we didn't have more time to do some of the arts & crafts but we'll save that for our next visit.
All in all, it was a busy 28 hours but our kids loved every minute of it. We'll definitely be going back. Maybe an annual back-to-school event?!?! Thank you so much Hank & Cheryl!
(Author's Note: the quality of the photos is horrible but the lighting was really funky all over the lodge)
.
Ragen in the wave pool
Maggie in the wave pool
Ragen on one of the "kiddie" slides
At storytime in their jammies
Mommy loved the part of the vacation where it made no sense to do hair & makeup!
Daddy & Ragen after outsmarting the lifeguard by wearing shoes
Bumpa's turn!
