GRAPEVINE GREAT WOLF LODGE REVIEW – PART 2

If you missed yesterday’s post, which was Part 1 of my Great Wolf Lodge experience, catch it here!

THE WATER PARK

We managed to get ourselves down the ‘hallway of horror’, and then walked into a room where our wrist bands were checked and the Mouse was measured. Based on his height, he was allowed to go on all the sides EXCEPT the red and green slides. They told us, ‘just remember, say no to Christmas colors!’ ha! And it worked, all the slides were different colors, and this was a great way for me to remember which ones the Mouse could and couldn’t go on.

We were then allowed to proceed into the park, grab a couple of towels, and hunt for a table to park our stuff at. We found a great table up in a corner away from all the craziness, and this is where I had a good long talk with the Mouse about the rules.

1) he MUST stay with an adult at all times, he was not allowed to wander away without one of us with him.
2) If for some reason he did get separated from us he MUST find a life guard to help him find us.
3) if he couldn’t find a life guard in the red shorts with a whistle around their necks, this was our table, and he needed to come this place and this place only. This was why we picked a table out of the way in a distinctive location – we wanted him to remember he had to walk up the little staircase and find the big tree that was right over our spot. I then made him say all the rules back to me.

The water park is pretty much every kid’s dream come true. There is truly something for every. single. age. in the place. There’s a great ‘baby’ area which honestly catered to ages 1 – 5 which both the Mouse and the Froggy loved. It had a tiny little baby slide, fun levers and ropes to pull on a spill water on people, jetskis to sit on and shoot water out of, and 2 ‘toddler’ sized slides. The best part about this area? Two to three life guards walking around IN the water at all times, plus another life guard at the top of the slide helping the kiddos up there. It was super nice to have people in the pool controlling the older kids, watching the babies, and generally giving me piece of mind.

The next big area is Fort Mackenzie {or ‘the tree house’ area as the Mouse called it} which is what you see in all the commercials. It’s a kid’s haven, with slides, stairs, climbing areas, water cannons, levers, pulleys and of course the giant water bucket that tips over every 5 minutes or so. The Mouse was a big fan of this area, as he was big enough to climb all over it, and go down the slides by himself as the two slides don’t dump out into a pool, but more a trough of water that’s about 18″ deep. Up and down and up and down, over and over again he did those slides. The Froggy wanted to go up on this thing SO badly, but I was not even going there with him – too many big kids tearing around like crazy people. He was pretty content to wander around underneath it though, as there’s lots of water that leaks down from the top, and ropes to pull and levers to manhandle. I walked a long behind him, trying to keep up while big brother was all over the playground above us.

There’s also a wave pool (which both kids loved} and another pool with lily pads to jump across {although this pool was mostly 3.5 – 4′ deep, and the Mouse wouldn’t be bothered with me making him wear a life vest – which were provided at no charge for all sizes}. The next level of attraction up were the yellow and orange slides – which we rode a LOT. These were done with a single or double tube which then dumps out into 3′ of water. The Mouse liked both of them, and would help me carry the double tube up the stairs and waited {mostly} patiently in line for our turn. As he would be in the front, I would make sure to hook my legs under his arms pits, and then he would scream the whole way down, lol. Tons of fun!

The last three slides were the green slide {you had to be a certain height to go on this, it had a steep drop and then dumped you out into a toilet bowl type of thing, and then another tunnel}, the blue family slide, and then the red family slide. MIL, husband, me and the Mouse rode the blue family slide – and it was a mistake. It was a serious slide that tossed the big raft thing all over the place, I couldn’t hold on to the Mouse without letting go of the raft that seemed like it was to tip over at every turn … the Mouse was terrified. We definitely didn’t ride the blue slide anymore. MIL and husband rode the red slide {the Howlin’ Tornado, and their ‘big’ attraction}, but after the blue slide, I was pretty much done too.

There is an outside area as well, although it’s nothing much to write home about. It’s got a great beach-front area perfect for little ones, some basket ball hoops set up, and two pretty tame slides {similar to the yellow and orange slides inside}. Lot’s of chairs and chaise lounges to sit out on, and a really big rock in the middle of the beach area that howls every 5 minutes or so, and sometimes will spray water on everyone. Both kids liked this area – the Froggy liked walking up and down the beach area, and the Mouse liked that this was an actual pool that he could swim around in. There was a good bit of area that was 2 – 3′ deep, so lot’s of room for him to still be able to stand in.

On the second day, we spent a lot of time riding slides and then we were outside for most of the afternoon. I didn’t mention this earlier, but the indoor park is not exactly warm. In fact, the water was downright chilly. There were several times when the Froggy would be shivering and I’d have to wrap him up in my arms to warm him up a little. Obviously, it was nice and warm outside, which actually felt good after the morning inside.

We ate at the water park snack stand for lunch – chicken fingers/fries/pan pizzas. Most of the meals were $7.99 for main item/fries/drink, which all things considered, I didn’t think was too bad a price. It wasn’t amazing food, but at a water park you’re really just trying to fill your tank back up again, know what I mean? Again, I just want to reiterate how great the staff were – even the kids working the food stands were all very courteous, made sure they check my ID whenever I paid with a card {as we had checked out, our wristbands didn’t work for payment anymore} and even offered to help me with all my drinks. I was super impressed.

By about 2pm both of the kids were about donesky, and honestly, so was I. If nothing else, my feet were super tired from just standing behind a toddler for the past 24 hours, shadowing him while he waded through the pool. The Mouse hadn’t had a nap either day, and we still had to finish going down the Mouse’s Paw Pass check list, since we hadn’t gotten all of his treats yet. So we packed everything up again, the husband took the Mouse to change, and I took the Froggy.

This was the only truly negative part of our whole stay. There were two sets of restrooms in the park, and both had a family area. The one we used that afternoon was up front near the hotel entrance/exit and every time we went in it, there was SO much water all over the floor. They had put down mats outside the stalls to help with slipping, but nothing IN the very large ‘family’ stalls. So after I changed the Froggy out in the common area, I took him into a stall so I could change. Poor dude had his shoes on, but his feet still slipped out from under him and he banged his head pretty good. I let one of the employees know when we left {the Froggy was fine}, so hopefully they mopped up, but this seems kind of a no-brainer for a water park, that they should have no-slip mats EVERYWHERE in the restrooms, especially the family restrooms.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This was a super fun experience – but an exhausting experience at that. This is not somewhere you go to relax with the family; and this is not someplace you go without kids. This is very a much a ‘spoil your kids and run around after them while they have fun’ place. The entire resort was clean, well kept, and every single staff member we encountered were overly friendly and willing to help. If you get a chance to go, do it. Just make sure you bring lots of energy and lots of money!

If anyone has questions, please leave a comment and let me know. Hope you enjoyed this super long, super detailed review!