We usually start batting around ideas for Little Man's birthday in March or April. This actually ends up being good in the case of Great Wolf Lodge because their discounted rates are higher the further out that you booked. We went for one of the themed rooms since we thought it would add to the fun. We sat down and showed Little Man the different styles, and he ended up picking the Wolf Den one because he liked that it was a cave. We also decided to get one of the packages they offered. The package, Pup Pass, for preschoolers is actually the lowest level, but we went with the second level called the Paw Pass because it seemed like more of what Little Man would be interested in. I researched some of the elements like MagicQuest before deciding just to make sure. There are two things to be aware of before booking. If you book online like we did, payment for the room is due upfront. I am not sure if this is also true when booking over the phone, but you may want to call and ask before you book completely. You pay for the packages the day you check-in. Second is that if you are celebrating like we were make sure to make note of it.
We booked one night on Little Man's actual birthday. For those who do not have knowledge of the location, Great Wolf is known for being a hotel and water park combination. From what I got, you can only get access to the water park if you are staying at the location. It may have been different in the past, but they were checking wristbands while we were there. One of the nice things is that they give you access to the water park starting at 1 the day of check-in whether your room is ready or not, and you have it through close the next day. We actually started our day a bit earlier at Grapevine Mills Mall by going to Sealife since they were having an Octonauts event. We were there about an hour, and then we made it Great Wolf a little before 1. This actually ended up being great. We got in line to start the check-in process not expecting for our room to be ready, and much to our surprise, the room was actually ready at that time. I am not sure if it was because we got there a bit early or that we checked in on a Friday vs Saturday, but based on the length of line about an hour or so after we checked in, arriving earlier rather than later was the best plan. We did like they suggested and had packed separate bags with swimming stuff just in case, but since the room was ready, Hubster went to the car to get the rest of the items while Little Man and I took care of getting his Wolf Pass. The check-in lady made a big deal out of it being Little Man's birthday which he loved, and he got special ears, wristband, and a token for free ice cream. We were offered ears as well, but we declined. The bands they use have RFDI chips in the parent ones, and you are able to open your room and attach a credit card much like you can with the magicbands at Disney.
We put our stuff in the room and then headed downstairs to check things out. Majority of the activities are on the first floor. There is a gift shop, Starbucks, and one restaurant on the lobby level. We grabbed lunch at the pool area restaurant because it seemed like a quicker idea. We thought we would eat downstairs, but the humid in the pool area and lack of seating downstairs forced us to head back to the room. Afterward we switched into swimwear and headed to the water park. There are two section to it: indoor and outdoor. We solely used the indoor which was nice since no need to deal with Texas heat or sunscreen. Since Little Man is still young and not very learned in swimming, we pretty much stayed together, but a couple of times, one of us stayed while the other took a chance to check other elements out. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to clean-up to grab dinner and check other elements out. We played the round of Magic Quest and created his Creation Station animal. We headed to dinner a little early, and they got us right in. Little Man actually feel asleep during dinner and did not wake up until we had finished eating, so we got his food to go and went back to the room. After he was finished loading up with food, Little Man wanted to go back downstairs. We made it in time to do part of the dance party. We stayed some for the clock show, but the sound system wasn't great so Little Man got bored really quickly. We played in the arcade and then grabbed desert at the sweet shop. The Wiley Wolf Little man got from Creation Station had a scavenger hunt attached to it, so we finished that before heading to bed. The next morning we did breakfast in the lobby restaurant and then more water park before heading home. Overall, it was a great time since Little Man had a blast.
Below are other things I learned from the process:
- While there are tons of main elevators, they are not very large and sometimes hard to catch. We were actually down at the end of a long hallway on the sixth floor that was far from the main elevators, but we were actually lucky to be near a secondary set. These were good for going down since no one really used them. The trick to going back up on the second level seemed to be hopping on one going down since it was just one floor and then going back up.
- The themed rooms are not worth the value for a one night stay or with a single young child. It was nice that Little Man had his own space, but it was not something that made the trip. If your child is old enough to experience sleeping on a top bunk which isn't everyday thing, then it might be worth it. It would have been more worth it if we had had other children with us who were old enough to use it or if our stay was longer to warrant Little Man needing some alone time (yes, my child even at 4 has need sometimes to just be by himself for a bit).
- Bring food with you especially if you are planning on staying longer than a night, or do research to see what else is available off property. We opted to stay on property for meals, and most of it was okay food for way more than it was worth especially the dinner we ate. We ordered a salad, pita bread and hummus, a hot dog, veggies, and a bottle of water to share for lunch, and it cost over $30 for all of it. While the food was okay, it was one we could have probably gotten for the same quality at 7-eleven for a fraction of the cost. The same was for the top level restaurant which is called the Lodge. Hubster ordered salamon, and I got a bake potato and spinach sides. Both were good, but I would not say stellar. Little Man got spaghetti with shrimp instead of meatballs. We did order two adult drinks, a cider on draft and Margarita, and the whole ticket was round $70 after tip for a Chili's worthy meal. Breakfast at the lobby restaurant was the best value. It was around $30 with tip which is more than an IHOP trip but normal cost of a family meal out lately, and the food was good quality that was worth the price. The sweet shop was also decently priced but selection seemed a bit limited. The boys said the rice crispy paw treat was a bit stale, but the brownie I had was great as was the ice cream we had on Saturday before we left. There is a lot of wasted space in the sweet shop that could make great sit-down area especially since there isn't a lot of areas to sit downstairs outside of the pool area.
- The Arcade is super expensive. Most of the games cost 4 credits which I figured out was about a $1. This is way more expensive than a normal arcade. Most of the games that are available for the younger crowd to play were ticket based game, and there did not seem to be any nonticket games appropriate for them. Many of the nonticket games contained violent things like shooting, zombies, or blowing up things which can be scary for younger kiddos, and some of them you do not know contain that until you have spent the credits on them. The only plus side I could see was that the games seemed to give more tickets than I have normally seen. Pricing for prizes was pretty much on par for what I have seen in other arcades as well.
- The dance party was really fun, but the clock show was not really that great. The sound system is really bad. We could hear the sounds, but they were not understandable for most of it. Plus the animatronics were a bit on creepy side with the way they moved and the poor lighting. Little Man is all for this type of thing normally. He really liked the ones at Chuckie Cheese the one time we went, so I would put it on those things as to why he didn't like it.
- If you get the package, it can be a great deal. Little Man really liked the wand which is half the cost of the package on its own and the stuffed animal which made it worth the cost since we saved about $50-70 not purchasing them separately. The wand is reusable for other visits, but I am not sure if the Creation Station scavenger hunt attached to the animals is as well. It would not be that fun at the same location since I doubt it gets changed often, but it might be cool at another location since it may be different. Chances are it probably is the same throughout the chain though.
- Do your homework about MagicQuest before going if you can. While the people in the shop were super friendly and nice, they kind of speed through explanations of what to do because it is a popular thing and gets crowded, and the training and booklet aren't helpful when just getting started. We were lucky to run into people who got us started on the first element, and we were good after that. Be ready to do lots of running around and going up and down stairs. With little ones, you may spend a lot of the first time showing them how to do it, but once they have the hang of it, they will be addicted. From what we could tell, each quest cost, so you may want to budget for extra rounds if you have time, but they have some elements that will interact without being on a quest like treasure chests and pictures. We did ours in the late afternoon hours which seemed a great time because most were at the water park, and I would definitely avoid late night unless you have older kids who can do it on their own because it seemed to be the busiest time-one of the main reasons we did not get a chance to do a second round. You may also want to do the scavenger hunt with the Creation Station animal with younger children first. It is a bit easier and a great warm-up.
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