Don’t let the “water park” in the title of this blog make you think our family is insane. Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor water park that is one the Paramount’s Kings Island properties.
SIDEBAR: King’s Island is a huge amusement/theme park similar to the Six Flags parks that dot the US landscape. One of its most distinguishing features is the miniature Eiffel Tower in the center of park. If my forty-something memory serves me correctly, I think both 70’s TV series The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch filmed episodes at KI.
This post is divided into two sections below. Part I is about our experiences. Part II is about the Great Wolf Lodge property itself.
Part I - Our Adventure
We arrived on Sunday, February 24 around 4:00 p.m. Check-in was easy and in less than thirty minutes the van was unloaded, we were in our room and we were ready to hit the water park. Cool feature: While all of us got those typical “event wrist bands,” the adult bands had microchips that serviced as electronic door keys (no cards to lose) and credit cards for charging stuff throughout the property.
Posted signs said the park was open until 8p on Sundays, but it was announced that it would stay open until 10p! Hooray for our side! The cavernous space was a balmy 84 degrees and the water almost as warm. We started in the wave pool “to adjust to the water, according to Johnathon. Then it was off to the slides. There were a dozen smaller “kid” slides and what I would consider to be six “adult” slides. Two of which were three floors high - just ask my legs, they’ll tell you.
Dylan, more than the rest of us, made terrific use of the water “fort” with all its levels and squirting/spraying apparatus. We also enjoyed the “restful” float around the “river” on the tubes. After a couple hours of soggy satisfaction, we returned to the room for dinner. We would return to the park for another 90 minutes before retiring for the night.
I did not mention earlier that, in addition to the Miller five, we had our 7-week old foster daughter “Madelene” (not her real name). That fact bears mentioning now…
In a rather odd twist, the sleeping arrangements became quite skewed through the night as the baby’s sleep was choppy. By morning Renee’ was on the sofa, I was on a palate on the floor, and tiny Miss Madelene was in the double bed all by herself! (Doesn’t that scene have “sitcom” written all over it?!?)
True to form, I was up early - around 6a (for that trait, I either blame or credit my mother - take your pick). My trek to explore Great Wolf Lodge led me to the combination snack store/fudge shop/Pizza Hut Express and coffee! Ahhhh….the day would be worth living now for certain.
We were back in the park by 10a Monday morning (when it opened). I was shocked at how sparse the crowd was. That made it all the easier to for us to ride the slides we liked best. The themed names of the various slides escape me now…oh, I do recall Alberta Falls and Coyote Canyon, but that’s two of the twenty. (Age is horrible thing, eh! No, not really….)
There were two slides Shana and I rode together repeatedly. One featured three-man inflated rafts delivered to the third-floor launch “pad” by conveyor. It included a 50-foot vertical drop and a pass through a tube that extended outside, beyond the walls of the park. That part of the ride was a bit cool as the outdoor temperature was in the 30’s.
The other fav slide had something of a huge bowl-shaped centrifuge as its main feature. Entering from the side, you would whip around the outer edge 3-4 times before being washed down a hole in the center of the thing. It occured to me that it was rather like a toilet bowl, only without the…..tank. When I asked a life guard how many people referred to it as such, she replied, “Almost everybody.”
It wasn’t until our last visit to the park on Monday night that we discovered the large hot tubs - one for adults (hotter and bubbly) and one for children/youth (warm, no bubbles). We planned to stay until closing at 8p, but fatigue (the kid’s, thank you very much) and chlorine-soak and irritated eyes saw us leave a few minutes early. (No problem for me - I wanted to see yet another poor greedy schmoe turn down huge offers on Deal or No Deal. I was not disappointed.)
On Tuesday morning, we got up leasurely and got packed and loaded. Renee’ found our receipt under the door. A voucher was attached offering us the option to vacate the room by 10a (instead of 11a - regular check-out) and have our name entered into a drawing for a free night in the Family Suite. If effort was a criteriafor winning, we’d get it, hands down. I’m sure we broke land speed records getting out of that room. (Okay, that was something of a ministerial exaggeration, but we DID make the 10a deadline for the free drawing!)
A grand time was had by all, even the baby as she was packed around the video arcade while sound asleep! We’ll visit GWL again, I know.
——-
Part II - Great Wolf Lodge
The Lodge
The massive structure features a three-story main lodge area that houses Guest Relations, restaurants, and shops. The distance from this area to our room was nearly half a mile, according to one staff member. (I’m a believer now, I assure you!) Everything was themed for the Northwest. Wolves (surprise!), bears, elk, and other critters of the forrest are in large supply. From the wallpaper to the light fixtures, the woodsy theme is slapping you in the face - but it does so tastefully.
Things to Do
The water park got enough coverage in Section I, so I’ll move on to some of the other activities GRL offers its guests. In the lodge, there is a two-story “front porch” with animated characters that put on a show three times a day. MagiQuest is an interactive fantasy role-playing game that has adventures scurrying around all three levels to different stations to complete a mission that saves a princess or something like that. It’s not free or cheap, but it will engage even younger teens for the better part of an afternoon. There is a large room off the lodge for toddlers and younger children with Little Tikes brand pieces to play on, story books, and a TV fixed on the Noggin channel.
The Room
We got a single room designated as a “Kid’s Cabin.” It had a portion of the room sectioned off that included a set of bunks, another single bed, and a small TV with the pay-by-hour video controller attached. It had a rustic wood cabin theme and color animal characters on the walls. Even our 14 and 15 year olds thought it was pretty cool. NOTE: The beds are not true twins; they are shorter and narrower. Our 5′6″ teen was almost too long when stretched out.
The room also featured a wet bar (meaning “it has a sink”) with microwave and what I would call a large dorm refrigerator, electric heat fireplace, TV, double bed, and sleeper sofa. We paid extra for a balcony as it was described as “opening toward the water park” and we thought that would be quite convenient for the children. What we found was that it opened toward the outdoor portion of the park (closed in winter, obviously). Oh well, live and learn.
Off-season rates were not bad, considering admission was included to the water park. (That in itself would have cost us $20 or more per person per day.) We did not eat in any of the restaurants on site, but prices for snacks were typical for a resort hotel…and much lower than theme park prices.
The Downside
We can’t say enough about Great Wolf Lodge, but there are some things to be aware of if you find yourself visiting:
-
Our room was described as having a queen bed, but it only slightly larger than a double, if not a true double. If that matters to you, ask when you book the room.
-
Kids beds are smaller than twin. Our kids slept in them as they were a novelty. One of them could’ve slept in the sofa sleeper if it had been a big deal.
-
Check-0ut at 11a and Water Park opens at 10a! That seems wierd to us, but we didn’t think to ask if we could check-out of the room and still use the park for a while.
-
Long Halls and Long Hauls - Again, the jaunt from our room to the lodge and water park was nearly a half-mile. You may want to inquire about this distance when you reserve.
-
Eyes and Thighs - Take drops for eyes irritated by the chlorine (not strong, but some eyes are sensative). Take first aid oinment or spray for legs and arms (and other parts) that may get scraped by an occasional rough edge on the seam of a tube or raft.
-
Agony of Defeat - While no footwear is allowed on the slides, you may consider flipflops or pool shoes for tromping around this concrete paradise…there’s lots of it.
End of entry
Tags: vacation, water park, Great Wolf Lodge
