Last month, we were invited to stay over the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge. I’ve been wanting to check this full-service indoor water park resort out for a while! Thank you so much, Team Great Wolf Lodge for hosting us – on my birthday weekend, no less! (Total coincidence!)
Today’s Friday Five are my favorite features of Great Wolf Lodge.
Kablam! – Great Wolf Lodge
Friday Five: Great Wolf Lodge Features
5. Attention to Detail and the Tech – As soon as you walk into super-sized lobby, you’re transported into a different place. Turn left and you’re welcome to sit and relax in the beautiful “living space” of the lodge. Look right, and check in to your room.
Take a seat – Great Wolf Lodge
The Wooden Throne – Great Wolf Lodge
Look at the lights illuminating the halls of each floor. They’ll point you to the right direction toward the elevators.
The animals point to elevator – Great Wolf Lodge
For my tech nerds, RFID. Every guest is given an RFID bracelet. It’s similar to the Disney bracelets, if you’re used to those. You can set it up to charge meals or purchases to your room, it will unlock your room door, it will get you in and out of the parking structure. Children are also given a specific wristband if they need to wear a lifejacket/puddlejumper. I thought this was genius as a way for lifeguards and other staff to keep an eye on littles.
I hold the (RFID) key – Great Wolf Lodge
4. The Rooms – Every “room” is a suite. These suites were built with families in mind. If you have multiple children, have no fear – you can book a suite where they get bunk beds in their own ‘wilderness room’! You can sleep a max of eight people in your giant premium suite! WHO ELSE DOES THIS? Nobody I know!
Wolf Den Suite – Great Wolf Lodge
For my mamas who have to pump and store breastmilk or guests who need to keep their meds refrigerated, guess what? Every suite has a fridge and microwave. Well done, guys.
Our cushy room – Great Wolf Lodge
3. The Food – The food does not suck. We had a catered buffet breakfast and it was delicious. For my fellow bloggers, yes, there was bacon. Our server mentioned that Chef Hany Ali is constantly changing up the menus so look for different cuisines on the menu during your stay! In addition, if you have food allergies, you can call ahead and chat with staff about dining options and dishes.
Breakfast – Great Wolf Lodge
For dinner, we settled in at the Loose Moose Family Kitchen where there plenty of buffet stations with several cuisines, including Asian. Don’t let your children know this but there is a giant ass container of gummy bears as part of the dessert area.
For my coffee addict compadres, there is a Dunkin Donuts on the premises. I will fully admit that as soon as I woke up, I put on a sweater and headed down to grab a cold brew with bedhead, unbrushed teeth and zero makeup and in my pajamas.
For my drunk friends, Lodge Wood Fired Grill has a bar.
2. Extra Attractions and Activities! – But wait, there’s more. When you want to take a break from the pool and wrinkly fingers, you can go mini bowling! Mini bowling was Toddler Cleaning Lady’s second favorite activity there! I’m sure you’ve seen the IG stories I posted or the FB videos where Toddler Cleaning Lady “bowled” (read: shotput). My humblest apologies for all the dents she made in your lane…
For your school-aged kids, they’ll love this interactive game called MagicQuest. You purchase a wand and go on quests all over the hotel and the grounds completing your adventure! There are also wizards (and other staff) around main play stations to help you.
Storytime – You haven’t done storytime until you’ve done it at Great Wolf Lodge. Imagine a cross between Country Bear Jamboree and library storytime. Wiley Wolf comes to storytime to help out Lodge Hosts with their stories. (There’s also a PJ dance party to get the wiggles out before bed. You know I love me a dance party!)
We were late to Storytime – Great Wolf Lodge
Want to mini golf? How about glow-in-the-dark mini golf? Yep. Great Wolf Lodge has this too.
Glow in the dark mini golf! – Great Wolf Lodge
We missed yoga! But you don’t have to.
Yoga Tails – Great Wolf Lodge
Seasonal activities like Autumn Moon Festival! Toddler Cleaning Lady helped make a paper lantern and then sat down to listen to a special storytime.
Lantern making – Great Wolf Lodge
1. the 105,000-square foot Water Park! – FO’ SHO. The layout works well because there is a very obvious “baby/toddler” splashpad area, a giant treehouse water fort with tons of sprinklers and spray stations, Slap Tail Pond (huge wave pool), a family raft ride and so much more. (Don’t forget there’s a whole outside area with slides too!) There are tons of chairs and tables to leave your stuff – or put in lockers.
Pano – Great Wolf Lodge
You can bring your own puddlejumper or use one of the park’s life jackets for your children.
This kid fell asleep at the table after her morning pool fun. Then we came back and picked a new friend for her baby cousin. @greatwolflodge [hosted] #greatwolflodge #gwlsocal 😍👍🏽😂…. . . . . . . . #greatwolflodge #gardengrove #oc #anaheim #indoorpool #indoorwaterpark #toddlerfun #momlife #toddlerlife #orangecounty #waterpark #oldmom
If you’re wondering about the temperature in the park, don’t worry – it’s a balmy 84-F in the park and the water is about room temp! If you tend to be cold, there are plenty of towels to wrap yourself in.
Wave Pool!
I could watch these fools get dumped on all day… and I kind of did.
So there you have it! My top five favorite features at Great Wolf Lodge, SoCal. I hope that helps you plan your family time! Note – they are planning to offer a package where you can also get a 1-day pass to Disneyland with your stay. It ends up being quite a deal. You’ll have to check back on their website to see if they’ve implemented it yet.
Hurry up and make your reservations this month! Great Wolf Lodge is celebrating HOWL-O-WEEN! There’ll be a Trick or Treat Trail, Spooktacular Story Time and Monster Bash Party! After that, it’ll be time for Snowland, where it’ll snow every day in the lobby area, you can dine in a life-size Gingerbread House and meet Santa, of course!
Special thanks to the Great Wolf Lodge team as well as their PR team for inviting us to enjoy a family fun-filled weekend.
Creation Station – Great Wolf Lodge
Disclosure: Really? Do you not pay attention? I just said it in the sentence above and in the first paragraph. Hosted.
