A Stay at The Great Wolf Lodge
“Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.”
We have stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge twice now, once when it first opened and again just recently. It is the first of it’s kind on the West Coast and we always have a great time when we go! It is a super family friendly hotel with an indoor water park, arcade, Magi-Quest, kids nail salon, mini-bowling and even mini-golf. To say we had a blast was an understatement.
Welcome to the water park! Each person was given a wrist band with different colors, which was based on your height. Then once you are in the water area the lifeguards know which slides you can go on.
This area had a ton of slides that our four and six years old were tall enough to do on their own.
They have a wave pool, lazy river, tube and mat slides and even a surf area. Both the hubby and our 6 year old gave the surfing a try.
This area was perfect for our two-year old; shallow water, small slides and little fountains.
Our daughter in the same place about 2 years apart!;)
Don’t worry if your kids don’t want to take a break to eat, there are lots of places to order food right next to the pools and you can pick it up to eat without having to dry off. If you do want a nicer place to eat, they have that too, but we wanted to get the best out of our water time!;)
When we weren’t pool side, we were checking out the rest of the hotel. IF you want to do EXTRA activities I suggest purchasing one of the PAW PASSES. There are three different levels depending on the amount of activities you think you would like to do. The least expensive pass is the PUP PASS which is $44.99 (ideal for ages 5 and under). There is the PAW PASS for $79.99 (ideal for ages 6 and up) and then the WOLF PASS for $99.99 (which is a savings of over $43 and ideal for ages 6 and older). The only pass that includes the bowling, min-golf and magi quest is the wolf pass, but all three passes include making a stuffed animal at Creation Station.
Our kids loved the mini-bowling!! I think this was our daughters favorite!
The arcade is also super fun for littles..it’s a shame he wasn’t having more fun!;)
The “Howl at the Moon” mini-golf was also another favorite. There are only 9 holes, but if you don’t do the last hole you can keep your ball and go around again.;)
The Magi-Quest game is super fun, but does take some practice. I would say our 6 year old did much better and kept his interest longer than our 4 year old. There is a map and a wand and you unlock different mysteries throughout the hotel by waving the wand at treasure chests and other “magical” items. Once you have a wand you can bring it back on other trips and they can re-activate it for you for no additional cost.
This adorable little ice cream flavored nail salon was a huge hit with our daughter who loves all things girly!
In the lobby during the day they have FREE activities for the kids like coloring, “Yoga Tails”, bracelet making, dance parties, etc..Then at night there was story time where the characters came to life. You can also snap a picture with some of the cute characters
After a long day of swimming, bowling, arcade fun and story time we went back to our adorable room. The kids got to stay in bunk beds nestled in their own “Wolf Den” while Mom and Dad had their own area. I will say that we recently experienced a room without the bunk beds and if you are the type of family that will not be in the room at all (only to sleep) then these rooms would be fine. BUT if you do want to hang out in your room and have some privacy then you will definitely want to splurge on the bunk beds!!
For food there are lots of options and I will say over the past 2 years it has gotten so much better!! The new head chef takes special attention to anyone with food allergies, which I really appreciate since I am gluten free. There are two restaurants upstairs in the lobby; one buffet called the “Loose Moose” and one sit down called “Wood Fired Grill” which we loved for dinner. The buffet has a character breakfast in the morning which is super cute and has lots of options including a great Gluten Free Waffle! There is also a pizza/pasta place downstairs near the arcade called “Hungry as a Wolf” plus two other places to order inside the water park.
This is such a great vacation for families, I just loved that we could all enjoy it together. If you are from out of town, it’s not too far from Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm, but I would definitely allow for an entire day to be spent just at the water park. There was an outside pool area too, just in case anyone was wondering, but our kiddos were too excited about everything inside.
*PIN THIS IMAGE*
What about you? Have you ever been to a Great Wolf Lodge? Tell me what has been your favorite family vacation?
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This looks like an amazing place to bring the kids! We will have to check it out!
I live I Williamsburg VA and we have one here. Kids loved it!!!
What an amazing place to stay with family!
What a great getaway! Perfect for the winter months
This place looks amazing! I love all the different activities that they offer so that you aren’t limited to pool stuff all day. And the bunk beds in the hotel room is such a cute idea!
I love that place! Wish we had one in ky though!
And now I\’m gonna have to go! It looks AMAZING!!
I haven’t been to the Great Wolf Lodge yet, but I’ve wanted to go! We’ve been to a few waterparks and love going every time. Looks like an awesome time!
we love GWL!! We luckily live near two locations that are a few hours drive away. the kids love it!
Wow! Two locations?!? That is awesome!!
So much fun! Glad that you liked it. We have yet to take the plunge, it’s so expensive!
You should sign up for their emails, I am constantly getting deals sent to me that are actually not bad at all.
We have been dying to stay at the great wolf lodge since My Hubby’s Cousin worked at one in Texas and gave us a tour! I loved this little peek into the actual staying experience and hope to stay there soon!!
You guys would love it! Your extended family would love it too!;)
Looks amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing all these awesome tips!!! We can’t wait to go in May!!! We will definitely read again before we go!!! Always love your posts!!! And the pictures are adorable!!!! XOXOXO
Thank you!! You are going to have such. great time!!!
This place looks amazing! I have seen photos of it before and it looks like so much fun!
It really is awesome! We can’t wait to go back!
I’ve heard so many great things about this place. Looks like you had a blast! I’ll definitely be looking into this for an end of summer vacay!! Thanks for sharing!
You should sign up for their email list, I constantly gets different deals!!
Thank you for sharing such helpful information! Wish I had the same info everyplace I have stayed over the years!!!
I was so glad the wrist band was based on height and not weight!! LOL
The photos and video says it all!!
The lodge may not have been available 40 years ago, when my children were little, but it’s never to late to make memories with the grand-babies!!
Regardless of age, what a great place to bring out the “kid in all of us!!” Thanks!!!!
Yes, definitely fun for all ages! And so glad you were able to go & enjoy!
That looks so fun!! Bet you guys had a blast!
Thank you! We did have a blast!
It looks like so much fun! I knew they had the whole water park aspect, but I didn’t know they had all the other fun things, a kiddie nail salon, a bowling alley, what a great family vacation spot! I can’t wait to take my kiddos to one someday!
I know, they do have so many fun things to do outside of the pool!! And all the Lobby activities were free too!??
We want to try out Great Wolf Lodge so bad!
It’s so much fun!!!
Wow this place looks amazing!! So nice to read about it before trying it ourselves!
Thank you! Next time you are visiting you should definitely make this a must do!?
We booked our trip to the Great Wolf Lodge after reading your blog! I’m so glad I read it otherwise we would have had no idea about this amazing hidden gem in OC! Our kids actually said they would rather go back here than Disneyland! It was so nice bc we got to relax and enjoy too- no long lines!
So glad you had a great time! We should all go back together!?
I’m in!! ???
This looks AMAZING! I was just bracing myself for the summer heat and wondering how I could entertain my little one when we are no longer able to play outside. This is a perfect place! Can I just move in for the entire humid horrible summer?! What is even better is that I have one near me. SCORE! Thanks for the recommendation. Once again you are a life savor. 🙂
You should definitely go this summer!! It’s awesome!
What a fun post Jenny! Your photos made me smile from ear to ear! I had to the chance to bring my family here last year and they absolutely loved it!!! It’s definitely has become one of those vacations that we will try to do every year. What a great idea to have everything you need in one place. And the staff was so fun and friendly…two thumbs up!!!
So glad you had a great experience there as well!!