Great Wolf Lodge

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge for Coulter's birthday. We ran the kids ragged. I think I ran 100 flights of stairs the first day alone. Honestly! I counted up all the slides and the times I went up and it was close to 100 flights. God only knows how many the kids ran. The water slides and whole park were amazing. The hotel, ahhhh, not so amazing.

Check in is a zoo. We got there at about 1:30 because you can start sliding at 1:00 the day of arrival. Our room was $400 so we were going to slide as much as possible. The line to check in wasn't too bad because you can't get into your room until 4:00. So I waited, they checked my credit card and gave me braclets so we could go to the water park.

"Do you have a bellman?"
"No, we don't have bellman."
"Can you store our luggage?"
"No. You can just leave your things in your car until check in time"
How convenient for them! Fine. I am told that I will have to wait in line to get my room after 4:00.

I went back at 3:50 and waited for 45 minutes in line. Got my new braclets and some brief instructions.
"Where can I find a cart to carry my luggage?"
"On the other side of the lobby." She points. I look.
"There are no carts there."
"Then we're out for now." Great. How convenient for them.
I go up to the 7th floor and luck into a cart. Grab the cart, go back down the elevator, walk across the whole hotel and convention center. This is quite a distance. I unload all the luggage, place it artfully on the cart, go back across the entire complex and off load in our "suite."

The rooms at first appearance were fine. We had a Kid Cabin Suite so the kids had their own "area." I say "area" because there is no door to the kid part. That would have been nice. The beds must have cost about $50 a piece because they are crap. I am used to staying in places that Heavenly Beds. This is the opposite. The up sides are; there is a fire place, the kids have their own TV, there is a small refrigerator and a microwave. Luckily I knew this and I brought all our food. I was not going to spend any more then I needed to.

I went back to the pool and collected the family plus Sophia's buddy and Grandma and Grandpa. They joined us for the day. The kids were worn out but we needed to dry off for a bit and eat. It had been a while.

As we left the pool we passed the candy store, pizza place, video arcade, regular arcade and a bunch of people playing the game Magic Quest. Craziness!!! We hit the room and the kids all were running around, NUTS!!! Finally they calmed down, had some dinner, birthday cake and a bit of quiet time.

After saying good bye to Grandma and Grandpa and a little show it was BACK TO THE POOL and SLIDES! We closed the place down at 10. The kids were beat but it was fun. We got up the next day, had breakfast, packed up because you have to be out by 11:00 and we went back to the waterpark. Of course we had to store the stuff in the car again. More convenience for them. We stayed until 3 and then spent a little time at the arcade and headed back home.

It was a fun 24 hours. I am not sure if it was worth the $500 it ended up costing us but it was fun. If you do go to the Great Wolf Lodge make sure and give me a call and I'll fill you in on how to best do this. And if you work for Great Wolf Lodge call me because I have lots of ideas for you.