Great Wolf Lodge New England Review
Isaac's birthday is more than a month ago, but we promised him that one of the things we'd do is go to the recently opened Great Wolf Lodge. It is about five minutes from our house, so the trip wasn't a long one. The Lodge is on the site of an old Marriott with a small indoor waterpark attached. It was bought about two years ago and they have been rehabbing the site since. It opened its doors in May and when we booked the trip, in March or April, it was full through October. To add to the excitement, every day Bianca and Isaac pass a highway sign for the Great Wolf Lodge and howl as they do so. We were all pumped.
Finally, to prove the point about the non-lazy river, here is our boy doing his thing:
The experience was a good one. We are definitely going back and I would imagine deep in the frozen world of New England February it will be a welcome break from the snow, snow, and more snow. There is a ton of stuff to do and we had a very good time. It is expensive, but that serves two purposes (aside from making GWL a ton of money): 1) it cuts down on the lines; and 2) it cuts down on the unsavory types. The wrist band idea is amazing and I would love to try out one of the lodge rooms (equipped with bunks and log cabin touches). The food is merely okay, but about as good or better than the food at an outdoor amusement park. The trinkets and snacks are insanely expensive (no ironically cool wolf t-shirt is worth $50), so be aware of that. The ropes course was very fun and they even had a small one for little guys. Here is Momma up on the ropes course:
I took a half day Friday and made my way up to the Great Wolf Lodge to meet Bianca and Isaac. Check in starts at 1, but the rooms aren't guaranteed open until 4, which means you "must" go hang out in the waterpark. Oh well. When I arrived I got a wrist band, all three of us had them. It acted as a door key, an access pass for the facilities, and it was tied to you credit card so you could buy stuff. This meant that you could get around the entire place without the need for a wallet (which is a good thing when you are in the water about 95% of the time.
Driving by, the place looks big, but inside it is positively humongous. There are two different areas for the water park, the lobby which has a bunch of stores and restaurants, an arcade with games a pizza place, and an ice cream/dessert place, finally at the opposite end there is a ropes course with some small indoor rides and a very sad mini golf course (mini golf should be outside). The size of the place, coupled with the lack of a wallet and cellphone made time seem to stand still, even though we were having a ton of fun. We were there for about a day and a half, but it seemed like a week.
Many of the rides had a height requirement of 42 inches, but there were still a ton for Isaac to do. There were two different little kid areas and a wave pool and these are where we spent a lot of time. There is also a "lazy river" type water course and we went there a lot, too.
Here is Isaac screaming down the slide:
Bianca and Isaac enjoying the lazy river (though with Isaac, not too lazy as he insisted in swimming around it):
We didn't play in the arcade, but we did "drive" the motorcycle:
Here is Isaac screaming down the slide:
Bianca and Isaac enjoying the lazy river (though with Isaac, not too lazy as he insisted in swimming around it):
We didn't play in the arcade, but we did "drive" the motorcycle:
Finally, to prove the point about the non-lazy river, here is our boy doing his thing:
The experience was a good one. We are definitely going back and I would imagine deep in the frozen world of New England February it will be a welcome break from the snow, snow, and more snow. There is a ton of stuff to do and we had a very good time. It is expensive, but that serves two purposes (aside from making GWL a ton of money): 1) it cuts down on the lines; and 2) it cuts down on the unsavory types. The wrist band idea is amazing and I would love to try out one of the lodge rooms (equipped with bunks and log cabin touches). The food is merely okay, but about as good or better than the food at an outdoor amusement park. The trinkets and snacks are insanely expensive (no ironically cool wolf t-shirt is worth $50), so be aware of that. The ropes course was very fun and they even had a small one for little guys. Here is Momma up on the ropes course: