Great Wolf Lodge

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Great Wolf Lodge

a detailed guest report

This is a long detailed report of the Great Wolf Lodge, and information that was gathered during a four day three night stay from 12/21-12/24/06 one week after their grand opening on 12/15/06. I took around 300+ pictures but the XD media card will not let me download the pictures so regretfully I can only post the pictures I took with the two other cameras that I had at the time. When I go back I will take new pictures to put in place of some of the grainy water camera pictures. One last note I am putting a list up at the end to give tips to those who are planning a trip to the lodge in the future.

I feel that it would be best to divide this report into sections so that readers may choose to read all the information in this report or to choose to skip to just the sections that may interest them at that time.

The sections that I will cover are listed below and they are in the same order of the list below.

Great Wolf Lodge

Basic Information

Check in Procedures

Rooms and Views

Gift Shops

Restaurants

Children Activities

Elements Spa

Water Park

Conclusion

Tips, Tricks and Suggestions

Great Wolf Lodge is an all inclusive 401 all suite family destination. Families can check into this resort and virtually stay for several days without thinking twice about leaving the resort for other recreation activities or for their dinning choices and it’s all under one roof.

Checking -In

When we arrived we pulled under the large car shelter and proceed inside the lodge.

There is no one from the lodge to great guest newly arriving or leaving, so we entered the lodge and will note that when you enter the lodge from the main front doors you are entering the lodge from the second floor. We were able to find the large check-in desk immediately to the right and found several polite Guest Service Representatives ready to help us with our check-in and to give us several pamphlets that listed all the activities for the next two days with times. Check-in was pretty easy and our Guest Service Representative asked several questions about where we were from and if we have ever stayed with the Great Wolf lodge in the past.

The final step to checking in is receiving an I-Care wristband for all members of our party; this was our room key and your pass to get you into the Water Park. The Guest Service Representative will asked us if we would like to allow our I-Care wristbands to be activated so that if we chose to we would be able to charge all our lodge purchases to our room. We decided that we would really like to do that for the convenience of not needing to carry any cash or personal cards around with us. So we told her to leave the adult I-Care wristbands open for unlimited charging privileges but put a $30.00 restriction limit on Miss Rae’s Wristband.

Rooms and Views

Even numbered rooms face the back of the lodge and view mostly the back side of the Water Park

The odd numbered rooms face towards the front of the lodge and get a parking lot view. The first floor rooms are located on the same level that the Water park is located as well as most of all the family activities are located on the first level. Level two is were you enter the lodge from the main doors and includes two restaurant’s, a gift shop and two children activity spots. Level tree and four have a view of the main lobby at the beginning of the main hallway.

After a quick walk around the resort I realized that most of the lodge’s suites do not offer much of a natural scenic view. The way the building is constructed it resembles the letter “W†with the middle being the indoor water park. To the north in the middle of the W is the future Conference Center and in the middle of the W on the south end is the future outside pool. All the rooms facing the out side of the W has a great view of the various parking lots if you are into that. So if you’re looking for a view of the Kings Island the only way that would be possible is to get an odd numbered room and go out on to your balcony and look 90 degrees to your left.

We were assigned the Kids cabin fireplace Room 1034 which comes with a slightly higher per night premium for same level access to all the activities. When I opened the door I could finally get a good feel to the size of the room as all the pictures that I have seen so far doesn’t lend itself as a good measure as to the room size. The first few things that struck me as I entered the room that the furniture was spaced out nicely and didn’t give me that to cluttered feel because they were trying to fit too much furniture in it. Next I noticed that the ceilings look like they are at least 12 foot high.

Miss Rae made sure that we noticed that see had a special log cabin room complete with her own LCD TV and a game controller.

I will just show some various pictures of the room.

I would like note that during several down times while we were in the room I did not feel crowded and also late in the evenings it was nice to relax with the fireplace burning in the background and I felt like this was a great place to be when away from home.

If you find the time you can watch a lot of TV programs or order up pay movies or sporting events. The Kids Cabin allows the kids to play their favorite video games at the rate of $6.95 per hour charge. Also if you if need to check your running balance of the room charges and from the I-Care charges you can get a detailed itemized charges list within a few seconds from your TV at any time.

CONS; I feel that I must list some negative comments that I think is fair so that you all may be able to get a good fell too the whole experience of the Great Wolf Lodge. Some of the negatives are just minor inconveniences that they the lodge has little control while others they can. I will also add that I believe the lodge will correct most of the rough edges in due time.

First small inconveniences, the bathroom fan and the fireplace control knob makes way to much noise. Two three inch holes in the floor under the carpet. Night light next to the bed would flicker after we turned it off. The patio outside door handle was broke off, which made it very hard to open their heavy patio door.

Now for a couple negatives that they have more control over. When we walked in I could easily see that the kids that stayed in our room prior to our arrival liked to press their faces against the glass a lot. Also there were left over beer cans left out on the patio from the previous occupants and finally there was a large amount of cookie crumbles and dried out rice left on the night stand next to the bed.

Gift Shops

We found two; the main and largest gift shop is named Buckhorn Exchange and is located on the second floor in the grand lobby area. The Buckhorn Exchange has a wide variety of merchandise from your basic necessity supplies to higher end gifts and souvenirs. My wife was taken in by all the nicely displays of seasonal items and lodge type gifts.

Starbucks Coffee I believe was strategically placed in the back of this gift shop as my wife would always come back with a few extra bags when she would go for coffee. This is were you can see the convenience of only needing to let them scan your wristband.

The second gift shop named Bear Essentials is located in the Water Park area of the resort and offers some of the same necessity items as well as a lot of beach wear items and clothing.

Restaurants

We ate at all 5 food services at the Great Wolf Lodge. Two of the restaurants were a full service types and there was one counter service restaurant in the water park area. The last two were both a cash and carry out type of food service and I will stat with those. First one was a Pizza Hut Express which usually stays open one hour after the water park closes.

I did notice that many guest would order the larger pizzas throughout the day and evenings, then carry them into the water park right next door to be shared by their families. The Pizza Hut was located in the Bear Claw Cafe’ which also keep the same hours but opened up at 6:30 am. Bear Claw Café’ is the perfect place to go when your get the urge for something sweet to eat. They specialize in cream, specialty caddies, large variety of fudge and a really great bakery that offers cakes and pastries.

Spirit Island Snack shop inside the Water Park really surprised me as to the large variety in the food selections. They offer the basic choices of hot dogs, pizza cheeseburgers and French fries as well as fish sandwiches and a large selection of frozen flavored drinks. After you receive you selections they offer a condiments bar so that you can customize your choice with your favorite toppings.

Now we’ll move onto the lodges full service restaurants located in the grand lobby area of the resort. The decided to dine before the dinner crowd showed up at the Camp Critter Bar & Grill. So seating was not a problem and we enjoyed the atmosphere here as it was set to give you the felling of camping outdoors. We were seated at booth that had a large tent over head and they use an old lantern to light up the tables. Our server was nice and personable and I asked for some suggestions. Miss Rae ordered the Smucker’s children bucket kids meal

My wife started with the French Onion Soup. It was served in a large putter pot and she said it was very good, not to onionly or to strong from the broth.

She also ordered the 12 oz Doe cut of prime rib for $16.95 for her main entrée; she is the prime rib expert and really wanted to try it here.

She said that it was properly served to her preferred doneness and did like the seasonings they used for flavor. On the down side it was rather fatty for prime rib. I started with their creaser salad.

I decided to go with of their suggested signature menu item, the Whole Roasted Chicken served with grilled vegetables and cheddar mashed potatoes for my main entrée for $14.95.

I did notice that it was not served in a Cast Iron Kettle as it describes on the menu. I was worried that it would be too much food for me but it ended up that there was not a lot of meat on the chicken was just the right amount of meat to satisfy my appetite. The cheddar mashed potatoes and vegetables were really good and the Whole Chicken was as dry as it looks in the picture. Now for the best part of the meal we decide to share the Campfire Sunday. It is a lot of ice cream with rolled waffle logs to make it look like a campfire logs with the cotton candy simulating the fire on top.

The Last review of the restaurants is The Loose Moose Cottage. They serve two meals a day Breakfast and Dinner, they are served buffet style. The Breakfast is $11.95 for adults and $5.95 for children. We really like having the Chef right up front to let us pick how we would like him to cook our eggs to order. The rest of the breakfast buffet was filled with an extremely large abundant of food selections including fruit, cereal, many egg casseroles, every kind of breakfast meats imaginable, fresh waffles and pancakes with your choice of freshly made flavored syrup.

Once again I must report the bad with the good and here was another short coming from the shortage of staff while we visited the lodge. We were seated and they had to make 3 trips to get us our preferred drink request of 1 coffee 1 Pepsi and 1 orange juice. Then later when I needed a refill I saw her pass by and asked for a refill did get it a short time later. After we were finished and ready to go I had to get up too look for our waitress and when I found her she politely said ‘Oh I am not your sever I’m just the hostess, but I will go find your server for you, we are short handed today and he is really busy†I then replied “I thought you where our server as no one else has ever came to our table but youâ€Â. So we sat for a long while waiting and I noticed the whole restaurant’s patrons were having issues too. The guest waiting to be seated where throwing up their arm in disgust. Then finally the hostess comes back over and gives me a bill for four people instead of the three in our party. So then she said she would fix it and be right back and did so. As we were getting up a male server came over and announced to us that he was sorry to be so long and wanted too know if he could get us anything else and we polity said no and then he tried to hand us yet another Bill. You have just got to laugh and fill sorry for those working in such a stressful situation.

We also had the dinner Buffet at The Loose Moose and had an absolutely wonderful dinner there from the very personable server to the extremely large flavorful selections of the buffet.

And they really serve up some really great deserts from the buffet too.

Children Activities

Northern Nights Arcade seems to be a big hit with the older children and teens. We went through the arcade on our first evening and really liked the atmosphere as they have the lights dimmed and use florescent glow lights to give a fun environment to play arcade games in. two negative observations here was that during our 4 day stay their, the first night was the only time that the lights were dimmed. The second was I thought it was rather odd to have the arcade which is within feet from the water park close at the same time. We watched as most guest when leaving the water park after it closed make a bee-line straight to the Arcade just to be turned away.

Cub Den

Is designed to give children under the age of 12 a place to go during the day to do various crafts.

My daughter really enjoyed this area and would ask several times during our stay to go back to partake in another craft project.

It was nice place to go to slow the children down after so much excitement overload that the water park gives. They make a sign and put by the door that list what activities are being done starting at the top of every hour. Some projects require a small fee and are worth the fee. We found that the workers to be amongst the friendliness of employee’s and they would generally help the children get started with the project. From there the employees would often take over the hard aspects of the project and let the children play in the center until the project needed more attention from them.

We proudly displayed Miss Rae’s project above the fireplace in our room as she really liked that and it also gave our room a more home like feel.

Clocktower Show

We took Miss Rae up to see this large animated show that is shown 3 times a day in the Main Lobby. It was a nice show and keeps us busy for about 20 minuets.

We went to the 8 pm show because immediately after that show they invite the kids to wear their pajamas for story time by the fire place. This is a great way to get the kids to wind down after a busy day.

Elements Spa

We personally did not make use of this feature but could see that they do offer some very appealing services. Lisa suggested that next time that we come to the Great Wolf Lodge that she would like make an afternoon appointment. She suggested that I could take Miss Rae to the water park while she goes and then later she would give me a break. So look for a future update here.

Bear Track Landing Water Park

Wow!!! This place rocks and a gives a family a true get away destination and offers water activities for every age group. Bear Track Landing Water park is divided up into several sections,

I felt that the room temperature was really just right as not chilly if sitting around relaxing or too hot when climbing the stairs to get to the various slides. Also they do heat all the pools so that you can enjoy the time spent there for as long as any family cares too. Miss Rae spent a good hour playing in the small children’s section to warm up for the larger sections. I seen pictures before going and I also took several pictures of my own. All I can say is that I have not seen any pictures that can give Bear Track Landing Water Park It’s proper justice. It offers numerous water slides for use as a body slide

Or as a tube ride experience. Many go out side so you really don’t keep to know before hand what the route of the waterslide will take. At first I was worried about going outside in the tube as I was afraid it would be a little chilly, but I found that not to be the case. The water pressure for every waterslide there was great and really gave me a smooth consistent ride all the way down.

They offer 3 family Thrill waterslides. The first one is called the Cannon Bowl Tube run which can be ridden as a 1 or 2 passenger tube ride. I was able to make it around the bowl for a minimum of two times and as many as four times around.

They don’t allow you to go down backwards but you can easily spin your tube around after the first turn, this really gives the rider a great ride and also puts the majority of ones weight towards the front which increases the speed and the chances for more times around the Bowl.

River Canyon Run is .another family ride that can accommodate up to four riders. I was very happy again with the good flow rate of the water here and the person who rides with their back towards the front will definitely get a lot of air time with that tickle in the stomach area. We always enjoy this style of water slides that we can do as a family.

Water Coaster is their signature water attraction that can be ridden as a one passenger ride or as a 3 passenger ride. The water coaster goes around the inside of the park as well as in parts it goes outside. It has 3 lift hills and the first one is the biggest drop with the second being the next biggest drop. They use some sort of magnet to propel the watercraft to go up instead of using water jet spray to push riders up. This is great and really has a lot of speed as it goes up too. I will warn future riders to cover their face or to close your eyes as you crest the second hill because you a major amount of water is sprayed in your face from a water jet place at the top of that hill.

They offer a nice lazy river and I liked that as you came out of some of the water tube slides you could just stay on your tube and the water flow would float you right into the lazy river therefore extending the ride

.

They have several kids sections in the water park spaced out so that it would group the section into a more age appropriate area. Miss Rae’s favorite is crossing the pool by using the overhead ropes and water floats to walk across.

Fort Mackenzie is really geared to be an extreme water activity place for the kids of all ages to enjoy. I was overwhelmed as to all the different hand on water activities there was for the kids. It also has a 1,000 gallon water bucket that pours over the area about every 10 minuets. Also in this area they offer a rock climbing challenge for kids over 40 but under 250 pounds.

They offer two very large hot tubs, one for families that can hold easily 6 families of four. The other is about the same size and is reserved for adults, although many times the kids did go up their with there parents and ignoring the posted signs. The worst that I saw here was a man keep bringing his infant to the adult only hot tube with a very full diaper.

Wave Pool is a nice family water area that allows family members of all ages to enjoy the small waves washing up to the zero entry pool. They let guest who wish to enjoy the waves to use single rider tubes if they care too. They have around 15-20 water fountains pouring up from the shore line for the youngsters to enjoy. I enjoyed that I could sit so close to the wave pool and watch Miss Rae swim while I relaxed.

To conclude about the indoor water park I want to take a minute to let everyone know that they offer a Bar, a counter service restaurant, a gift shop, 3 restrooms and a changing area with showers, all in the water park facility area. They also offer seating all around the water park with your choice of table and chairs, upright chairs or numerous lounge chairs. No need to bring towels they furnish them as you walk in. Currently they are working on an outside pool area that will add even more water activities for the summer months. On a negative note I was a little disappointed to find attractions closed down at times due to the a shortage of staff, in the Water Tube waterslide section they often ran with only one life guard who literally ran to and from all four slides., this made the wait much longer that than what one should expect.

Conclusion

I think that the Great Wolf Lodge is a magnificent family destination. I feel like as more guest see all the amenities that the Great Wolf Lodge has to offer for the price, they will see a that it’s a great value for a weekend full of fun and will revisit often. During our grand opening stay we did encounter several rough edges that they needed to work on and I’m sure they will. The employees seemed to be a little stressed and it reflected in facial expressions, although some of the employees where extremely nice and went out of their way to greet us or to find out how our experience was going so far at the lodge. One Employee was so nice that I felt like he should in charge of the employee guest training. His name was Ken and worked as a houseman, every time we seen him he wore a nice smile and would try to carry on a short uplifting conversation with us as well as I witnessed him doing this with other guests. I feel that for the guest that they are trying to attract and because the lodge I so large that the lodge should have a Doorman/Greeter at the door to welcome guest as they come and go. I feel like there is a lot to keep a family busy for several days but I also think that three nights for us was 1 too many.

Tips, Tricks and Suggestions

1 If you go for one night remember you have paid for use of the facilities until 10 pm on your check out date. There fore consider the value of a one night stay. Come early to use the water park while waiting for your room, then plan to stay late the next day. There for you get 2 days worth entertainment for the price of 1 nights stay.

2 Make sure that you have charging privileges put on you I-Care wristbands so that you can enjoy the Lodge with no need to carry you wallet.

3 They have Microwaves and refrigerators in all the rooms, so make sure to bring a case of your favorite beverage as they are expensive at the lodge.

4 I was able to get a bucket of ice to last 3 days by keeping it in the refrigerator

5 On check out day have wife take the little ones to the Cub Den Activity Center in their swim suites while the husband loads the car and checks out. Then meet up with them to go to the water park for the day.

6 Beware entering the water park and going by the wave pool with personal items. They have some buckets ill placed that tend to get guest and their personal items wet.

7 If you are going up the stairs to ride the 4 water tube slides, half way up the stairs splits to go two different directions, go left as there is never a line going that way and both stairs serves the same water slides.

8 If riders get stuck on the Water Coaster stay in line they can get them out and restart the coaster before you can get back down the stairs.

9 bring your water camera from home.

10 Eat at the Loose Mouse Cottage for either breakfast or dinner, I personally liked the dinner better.

11 don’t feel like you need an expensive room if your only staying one night. You won’t be in the room long enough to warrant the extra cost.

12 Most Important Tip; Tell the kids that your having a great time and that you love them, while in the middle of doing one of the many activities at the lodge.

[PKIDelirium]

Cool report!

I take it they charge nutty prices for water cameras?

[shadow2k3]

I would think they would, but that's at any place like that. Avatar, nice trip report! It was very thourough, and I'll definitely keep that in mind if I were to do anything like that in the future. Sure does seem like sensory overload, and the pictures really helped too!

-S

[The Interpreter]

Wow. Thanks for the great trip report!

[CoastersNSich]

Thanks for the full report!

The POVs are sure nice too.

6 Beware entering the water park and going by the wave pool with personal items. They have some buckets ill placed that tend to get guest and their personal items wet.

...Especially when wearing street clothes. I walked through on Christmas Day and the kids in the play structure barely missed me. Some others who I know were "just looking" weren't so lucky.

[ZosoBeast]

#12 seriously brought a tear to my eye. That is a very good rule to remember. I cant wait for our families to meet in the Summer Avatar!

On media day, Dane and I were playing with the water buckets and as we filled one up, a guy in a suit and tie stood RIGHT BELOW the bucket. I am telling you, it was so tempting to just tip that bucket over and run, but we felt better of it.

Thank you very very much for that detailed trip report. Was very fun to read! I love the pictures!!

Bill

[BoddaH1994]

The restaurant thing can happen anywhere... short staffing and hungry people is always a means for an altercation.

Did you get to see the ultri-mini toilet in the cub club room? The lady there was generous enough to let us jokingly take about 3 different people back there to see the landmark.

Did you notice the greatness of the proximity of the waterpark? You could go from slide A to slide B in a matter of seconds, rather than walking accross hot pavement for a quarter mile. If anything shoots that waterpark up on the list, that's it.

Watercoaster is amazing.

Isn't that buffet great?

I met the guy who designed the arcade... I promised him I'd send him some photos... I guess I should get on that..

[flightoffear1996]

You should have tipped it. I would have tipped it.

[Avatar]

Did you get to see the ultra-mini toilet in the cub club room?

Yes I felt very awkward taking a picture of it though. They really went all out trying to please the little ones. They moved the director and her husband of the Cub Den from the Wialliamsburg Virgina location to really start the Cub Den off right at the Mason location. She said that this was thier first Christmas away from home and was worried about winter snow, so they bought new winter coats

You could go from slide A to slide B in a matter of seconds, rather than walking across hot pavement for a quarter mile.

Did you notice the greatness of the proximity of the water park?

Yes I did like how they had all the water slides ending close to where you go up to get on the slides or that you could just stay on your tube and then float around the lazy river.

Watercoaster is amazing.

Yes and I had some on ride pictures that are unavailable at the time.

Isn't that buffet great?

If I lived closer we would go there just for dinner on a regular basis. It’s a little expensive but to me it was well worth it for the great unique food items. 3 steps above the other Buffet Style Chains.

I met the guy who designed the arcade... I promised him I'd send him some photos... I guess I should get on that..

Yes you should. I really liked it when they dimmed the lights.

I cant wait for our families to meet in the Summer Avatar

Same here ZosoBeast as I believe one of your daughters is the same age as mine.

I take it they charge nutty prices for water cameras?

If $19.99 is a nutty price for 27 pictures then Yes

Note to Admins; I can not edit my post to correct some grammar mistakes or to switch a picture out as it was double posted. I had to use three separate post to get all the pictures into the report and I believe the board merges the posts if its done by the same topic starter if its done within a specified time. So at this point it will not let me do edit in any way because I’m over the picture limit for one post. A possible solution if its ok is too raise the picture limit to say 40 for a day or two then change it back. Either way it’s ok with me. Just sharing this info with you so that you know what’s going on here.

[pkitrumpet08]

hey avatar, just wondering if you made it down to the arcade on your visit

[Avatar]

Yes we really only passed through the Northern Lights Arcade a couple times. I took a lot of pictures while in there and Miss Rae is at the age that she would rather spend more time at the Cubs Den.

Do you work there? If so tell me why do they close so early on fri & sat nights? And also why do they not keep the lights dimmed? It is so neat to see it the way it was designed to look like and not brightly lit.

[pkitrumpet08]

Yes we really only passed through the Northern Lights Arcade a couple times. I took a lot of pictures while in there and Miss Rae is at the age that she would rather spend more time at the Cubs Den.

Do you work there? If so tell me why do they close so early on fri & sat nights? And also why do they not keep the lights dimmed? It is so neat to see it the way it was designed to look like and not brightly lit.

Yes I do work in there. We are supposed to close at 10pm on friday and saturday but this past saturday we did not close until 11:45 or so, we turn off the token machines normally at 10 but the arcade itself stays open until people decide to leave. Until the time the arcade is sposed to close its only lit by blacklights, however after 10, or when we decide it closes, the white brighter lights come on.

[CoastersNSich]

I take it they charge nutty prices for water cameras?

If $19.99 is a nutty price for 27 pictures then Yes

It's not like you always take pictures in a wet environment, so $20 isn't too bad for the opportunity IMO.

[PKIDelirium]

I dropped by GWL for a few minutes earlier to check it out. I didn't have my camera with me, but I walked around a bit.

But... I couldn't find the arcade. The place was mobbed so I basically just walked the lobby and giftshop, but I had figured the arcade was right near there, but I didn't see it.

(Do you have to be a paying guest to buy something in the giftshop? I saw a few nice things but didn't have much time)

[The Interpreter]

Other than at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, I have never seen a gift shop that would turn down money. . .

[Avatar]

It's not like you always take pictures in a wet environment, so $20 isn't too bad for the opportunity.

True but you can easily bring one from home our buy one at the CVS four blocks away for $12.00.

I couldn't find the arcade. The place was mobbed so I basically just walked the lobby and giftshop, but I had figured the arcade was right near there, but I didn't see it.

The Northern Lights Arcade is located on the first floor. If you come in through the main front doors you have entered the lodge on the second floor. So go across the Grand Lobby and either take the stairs or elevator by the Clocktower down to the first level, then make two quick rights and you right there. If you like arcades it would be worth the trip back as I saw several nice games and I really can’t say enough about the cool atmosphere there.

Do you have to be a paying guest to buy something in the giftshop?

Any guest while staying overnight at the lodge are not, are welcomed to make purchases, visit the Elements Spa, have dinner at three of their restaurants or even to play games at the arcade. I also think it would be ok to watch the animated Clocktower show in the Grand Lobby.They only allow the overnight guest to use the other activity amenities such as the Iron Horse Fitness Room, Cub Club Den and the Bear Track Landing Water Park.

[CoastersNSich]

(Do you have to be a paying guest to buy something in the giftshop? I saw a few nice things but didn't have much time)

Other than using the water park, and I assume, the Club Den, you don't have to be a resort guest to do most of the Lodge's activities, including dining, playing in the arcade, and buying something at the gift shop.

[pkitrumpet08]

I dropped by GWL for a few minutes earlier to check it out. I didn't have my camera with me, but I walked around a bit.

But... I couldn't find the arcade. The place was mobbed so I basically just walked the lobby and giftshop, but I had figured the arcade was right near there, but I didn't see it.

(Do you have to be a paying guest to buy something in the giftshop? I saw a few nice things but didn't have much time)

No, the arcade either. the arcade is actually down on the 1st floor by the waterpark entrance.

[Mr.Son of Beast]

Just imagine going through those slides in the Winter.

[vortexdemon05]

i never been there but would anyone (who has been there) recommend visiting it even if you live in Cincinnati or Mason?

[Avatar]

Yes; because while you are there, there is so much to do for a family at the lodge that a family would not need to leave for a couple days for anything. So it would not matter if you traveled several hours to arrive or if you just crossed the street to get there, because the experience is on the inside of the lodge and not necessarily where it’s located geographically. Basically it’s a true get away from the rest of the world, once inside. Also if we lived in the area we would come to the lodge just to have dinner or to have the breakfast buffet on the weekends, it’s really that good.

[CoastersNSich]

I heard that GWL was going to offer local residents a special discount.

Likewise, I have seen some downtown Cincinnati hotels, like the Netherland Plaza, part ot the Carew Tower complex, offering area residents low rates, like $75. Sometimes, a hotel can offer a great getaway, even if you live less than an hour away. I can say the same about Great Wolf Lodge.

[The Interpreter]

Not to be the skunk at a Sunday School picnic, but most restaurants are fantastic when they open. The true test will be how good those restaurants are a year from now. . .

Just like most parks are fantastic the first several weekends of the season; the true test is how they operate on a packed to gills hot, miserable Saturday in July.