Grizzly Rob's At Great Wolf Lodge

Regarding the waterpark, you can certainly take a dip in the pool and hot tub, but you'll find yourself constantly bumping into others. This issue extends throughout the entire waterpark. There aren’t enough seating areas; we ended up having to lay our towels out and sit on the concrete floor. They allow far too many people into the park relative to its size. As for prices, they are simply ridiculous: - $11 for a Miller Lite pounder - $8.49 for a regular ice cream sandwich - $20 for a small bucket of popcorn It’s absurd that outside food and beverages aren’t permitted in the park. Parking is another hassle; there’s no convenient parking available because all spots are always occupied. I had to park at the top of a hill, which was manageable for me, but it would be difficult for anyone with health issues or mobility challenges. They claim to have a shuttle service, but I never encountered one. On the brighter side, the room was decent, the staff was friendly, and the place was relatively clean. This venue could improve significantly if they addressed their Wi-Fi issues, reduced their prices, allowed outside food and drinks, limited the number of guests in the waterpark, and improved the parking situation—though I doubt any of these changes will happen.

We stayed in a suite with two bedrooms: one featuring a queen bed and a large bathroom, while the other had two queen beds with a bathroom just across the hall. The living area exceeded my expectations, furnished with an L-shaped leather couch that converts to a sleeper, a leather chair, a small table with two chairs, and a cozy gas fireplace. There were sliding glass doors that led out to a small patio with outdoor seating, which was a delightful bonus. The suite also included a small kitchen area complete with a sink, storage, and a refrigerator, making it ideal for our group of five. The water park was a blast, especially for my two boys, ages 4 and 5. They couldn’t get enough of the wave pool and slides, and the adults joined in on the fun as well. The park provided a food stand, lockers, towels, life jackets, and even a bar. Before dinner at the Fireside, the boys spent some time playing in the arcade, which they absolutely loved. At the Fireside, we indulged in cheeseburgers and fried chicken sandwiches, both of which were quite good. I highly recommend dining there when you visit. After our meal, we headed to the lobby for a dance party where the kids danced enthusiastically—so much so that the adults ended up joining them! We capped off the evening with some ice cream, and everyone slept incredibly well that night. I would definitely return to Great Wolf Lodge!

**Pros:** The grounds are beautiful, with ample parking available. The waterpark maintains a comfortable temperature for both water and air. There are plenty of options for fun, including tubing, slides, and various pools. **Cons:** Parking costs $20! The adults-only hot tub was overcrowded with kids. My spouse suffered a neck injury after being ejected unexpectedly from the toilet bowl water slide; they provided ice but little else in terms of assistance. Additionally, the bathrooms and showers lacked places to put dry clothes, and soap and shampoo dispensers were nearly empty. While the air conditioning in the rooms worked well, it was quite noisy. There were plenty of bath towels, but no hooks or racks to hang them after showering. Did our kids have fun? Yes, they certainly did!

We came during weekdays in the low season, right after spring break month ended, so while it was busy it wasn 't crowded as it would be on weekends or during peak times. And because of that our experience was less frenetic and more relaxed than that reported by people who came during the high season and felt the place was mobbed and under serviced. CHECK IN OUT: Both were slow, even though lines weren 't terribly long. I get that the check in process is more involved than at a regular hotel, with getting everyone 's wristbands set up, etc, but the wait time felt as lengthy as an airport check in. And once the front desk person is done they kept their head down no eye contact, no I 'll be right with you or next guest! Better customer service training is called for here. For the positive: each guest receives a free pair of cute fuzzy wolf ears! PARKING: $15 per day parking fee will be added to your bill at check out. There is no valet parking. LUGGAGE: You 're on your own as there is no bag handling service, but there are luggage carts outside (or that people abandon in hallways . WRISTBAND: This was one of my favorite features! The wristband acts as your door key and also as cashless payment, which I found convenient. If you go for the cashless option, they 'll put a $200 hold on your credit card. If you don 't use the entire amount, the balance will be refunded at check out. However check your statement before you leave to make sure the charges are accurate. (Note the card hold will continue to show in your cc account as pending until all the charges have been cleared which could take a couple of days. ROOMS: We stayed in the newly constructed Mountain Tower. The rooms have hard wood floors (vs. carpet in the original lodge rooms . Our room was clean and stocked with plenty of towels and pillows. It comes equipped with a mini fridge, and there is a communal microwave on each floor. It is a bit further, but the walk isn 't too bad. We were on the 6th floor (highest is 7 , at the furthest end of the long hallway, and it took us between 5 7 minutes to get to the main lodge waterpark at a leisurely pace. The mountain tower is connected to the main lodge via an interior pathway, so you won 't be outside at any point during the walk. WI FI: Weak and unsecured WATERPARK: Obviously, this is the main attraction! If you have older kids, they 'll enjoy the more high octane slides and tube rides. There was enough here for my 2+yo toddler to have a fun time: a splash play area, shallow pool with slides, wave pool, lazy river, Fort Mackenzie, and another indoor and outdoor pools. For the kiddie slides, I really feel they should cushion the bottom with soft padding. It 's a hard drop and kids who don 't land properly can easily get hurt. I skinned my knee on the rough textured bottom while holding onto my child during the landing. Life jackets are available but they 're gone in a flash (and not necessarily in your kid 's size unless you grab one right at opening so I recommend bringing your own. There are a couple of hot springs, one outdoors and one indoors. Pool towels are available but we brought our own. There 's a $15 per towel fee if you don 't return them. We didn 't have trouble finding poolside seats, but as I mentioned we didn 't go at a super busy time. But still they were mostly occupied. Cabanas are available for rent at $300 day. LOCKER ROOMS SHOWERS: The showers were surprisingly capacious. You can actually shower and change in the same space without getting your stuff wet. There is a small table and hook to place your things on. . OTHER ACTIVITIES ATTRACTIONS: There are daily scheduled activities like dance parties, story time, arts crafts, bingo, yoga. Check the app for times. Other things to do include an outdoor ropes course, MagiQuest, a cool and pretty tricked out arcade, mini bowling, glow in the dark mini golf, gem mining, mirror maze, and build a bear. DINING: Yes, food is mediocre and overpriced, but you kinda have to expect the resort pricing and manage your expectations. However there are plenty of restaurants within a 5 10 minute drive, and a couple of steakhouses 12 13 min away, if you want broader options. The better restaurants on premises are Fireside and Timbers Table Kitchen (buffet see my separate reviews for those. There are several casual fast food eateries, a couple of Dunkin 's, an ice cream shop, and Freshwoods Markets where you can purchase sandwiches, snacks, coffee, as well as beer wine hard seltzers. I didn 't have high expectations based on all the poor reviews so came away pleasantly surprised. There were pockets of disorganization to be sure, and I do think I would be more frustrated if we came at a crowded time and paid a fortune, but overall we enjoyed our experience and most importantly, kiddo had a blast which is what this trip was about!

This hotel is ... The Worst. I 've flown almost 4 million miles and visited about 75 countries. I 've slept alongside roaches and in small towns where you rent a bed. I 've never had a worse experience than this one. Spent all day trying to get more than 12 employees to help me get a CC on file. Not trying to do anything but spend my own money. Employee 1: you 're all set. 2: should be good. 3: definitely good this time. 4: we can 't do anything. Kid at the merch area by the pool actually responded, I don 't give a s t. Hey, at least he was honest. Everyone else: lies, run arounds, anger, hatred to some, again, who is only trying to spend money at the resort. Finally made it to the top boss, who didn 't try to help, who was rude and openly disdainful. She all but spit in our faces. And then, when I said, hey, if you won 't let me use my CC here, can you at least cancel my reservation so I can go to a hotel where they will let me. She said no, with snark and with a laugh, while I held my crying 2 year old daughter in my arms who was 2 hours past her bed time, and who hadn 't eaten, because ... I didn 't have a CC on file. So that 's Great Wolf for ya. Not clean. No friendly employees. Overpacked. Overpriced. And then, when you brave all that, they won 't let you feed your kids, keep your kids hydrated, buy shoes you planned to in order to get around (my feet, right now: black, covered in ****, chlorine and all the dirt that 's all over every floor; not to mention the bugs, (Jesus, don 't get me started on the army of insects waiting for when you visit. Did somebody help? No. Did somebody even try? Not at all. Not the 6 different people we spoke to at the front desk only one man, the middle manager, even attempted to pretend to be kind. Everyone else treated us like dogs t. Again, crying 2 year old in my arms. Amount of sympathy, for something that 's their fault, for me just wanting to be able to buy my kid a water, with my own money? Zero. Amount of scorn? Tons. Treated like second class citizens; openly mocked, laughed at, ignore and told I don 't give a s t BY AN ACTUAL GREAT WOLF EMPLOYEE; but also: can 't leave, because they won 't cancel the reservation; can 't buy my kids water, or food, because they won 't even attempt to put the CC on file; can 't get anyone to help me, despite trying, kindly, for the entire day. We 're effectively kidnapped. It would be easy to forgive them for an off day, if anyone even ... tried. But you won 't get that here. You 'll get scorn, sadness and general misanthropy for simply asking them to ... do their jobs at the lowest level of competency.