Great Wolf Lodge Mini-vacation

this past weekend the officer called me and said, "i would like to take the kids to great wolf lodge in texas." we've talked about going, but haven't. on sunday night, the officer made reservations for us to stay tuesday night. the great thing about great wolf lodge is even though check in time isn't until 4 p.m., you can still get into the water park and play. the water park is open from 9 a.m-9 p.m. and it is only for guests staying the night at the lodge.

we did not tell the kids anything until tuesday morning. i packed everything after the kids went to bed. the officer told the kids we were going to stay at the night at a hotel. they were excited because they thought there might be a pool. my daughter made the observation, "i think we are going somewhere that might take a while to get there because i saw mommy pull out the dvd players." smart girl. we decided to get up early on tuesday and head to texas.

we left around 7 a.m. we made a couple of stops and arrived in grapevine, texas around 10:45 a.m. it's not a bad drive at all. we drove straight to the grapevine mall. it's huge! the kids called it the mall that never ends when we walked "around" the it. even though they have several restaurants around and inside the mall, we wanted to eat lunch at the rainforest cafe. the kids loved it. we had eaten at the t-rex cafe a couple of years ago and it's set up exactly like that. they had a gift shop, large anima-tronic animals and 3 very large aquariums.

the only downside to the rainforest cafe (well... be prepared to pay - one appetizer, two adult meals, two kid's meals, four drinks and tip totaled $60) is it was very loud. about every 10 minutes the apes, elephants, and cougars would start making noise. there was thunder and bird noises. it scared a lot of the smaller kids. you had to yell to hear each other. a lady came around and made balloon animals for the kids. she made my daughter a monkey and my son an alligator. they actually made it home without popping.

we walked around the mall, but we didn't really shop. the mall is HUGE. it's a big rectangle. it had a ton of stores and outlet stores in it. my daughter's favorite thing is to look in all the money slots of the claw machines or stroller returns to see if she finds anything. wonder where she got that from? she found a nickel so that just reaffirms her need to check every one of them. after the mall, we went to the bass pro shop. the bass pro shop is a like a bath & body works store for me. no matter where we are if there is a bass pro shop the officer likes to go inside. of course the kids like it too.

at this point the kids still don't have any idea where we are going. the great wolf lodge is maybe 2 miles from the mall. we left bass pro and headed to the great wolf lodge. when we drove up, the kids noticed the big colorful slides on the outside. i don't think they thought we were staying where the slides were. they noticed the huge wolves.

of course as soon as we got inside there is a HUGE window where you can see the entire inside water park.

the officer had to check in so we went over to the window. my son was very unsure of what we were doing here. my daughter just hoped she could go swimming. everything was huge inside. there was a huge clock tower where they had a story reading nightly at 8 p.m., tree house and fireplace. the fireplace wasn't lit but i imagine it's very pretty when lit.

the officer checked us in - fortunately our room ready early so we were able to unload all our stuff and change in our room. when we checked in they gave us bracelets, much like the ones you get at the hospital that snap on and do not come off unless cut. they were very convenient because with the adult bracelets you could unlock your hotel door and charge things to your room. there was no need to carry a hotel key or your wallet. that was nice. if you lost the bracelet, there was a $40 charge for a new bracelet. however, if it just came off you could return it and get a new one. the kids each had a bracelet too. if you thought your kids were old enough, they could have a bracelet with a room key too.

we were on the fourth floor in room 4076. when we got off the elevator, we saw this long, long, long hallway. it took us about 1 minute and 15 seconds to get from the elevator to our door. i don't know if you can see but the officer and the kids are standing at our door down the hall.

we had the regular family suite, two queen beds, but the officer upgraded us to the wolf den. it had a queen bed (not completely sure it was a queen, looked more like a full), fold out bed, and bunk beds for the kids in their own "tree". the kid's area had their own tv. we had a "view" of the water park. the room was nice and clean.


the kids were excited about the bunk beds. my daughter wanted to sleep on top because she has never slept in bunk beds. my son wanted to sleep on the bottom because he always sleeps on top in his loft bed at home. perfect right? when all was said and done, they ended up like this:

we unloaded and got dressed into our swimsuits. we did take a bag downstairs because i had to get all these wonderful pictures! :) you could rent a locker for $20 (with a $10 refundable deposit if you returned the key by 8:30 p.m.), which we did. it was just easier since we had our camera and the officer had to put his glasses somewhere. however, i left my t-shirt hanging on a chair both day we were there, and no one bothered it. the lodge provides towels in the water park and free life jackets! we had brought our own, but the kids didn't wear them after the first 30 minutes. of course there was a swim shop where you could purchase swim diapers, goggles, and other swim items.

when we got down to the water park, a lifeguard measured our kids and put another bracelet on them. the bracelet let the other lifeguards know which rides they were NOT allowed to ride. my kids were 46 inches tall so they were able to do everything except 2 large slides. as soon as we got inside, the kids took off! there was a kiddie pool area with 2 small slides, a gradual wave pool that went to 5 ft. (the "wipeout" sound and wolf howl would go off just before it started), a lazy river that was less than 3 ft. deep , 4 large slides, several hot tubs, then a playground with two smaller slides that did not empty into a pool. that was nice because my kids could go down them by themselves. you just sort of stopped at the end of the slide. each area (slides, lazy river, wave pool) had tubes (singles and doubles) which were to be left in it's area. i guess we went when it wasn't too crowded because we never had trouble getting a tube when we wanted one. you can to carry your tubes up to the slides and ride them down. neither the officer nor i were able to ride the big slide (the tornado) because you had to have two people to ride it and the kids were not allowed.

about every 10 minutes a bell would toll, and you knew the bucket that held 1,000 gallons of water was about to drop water. kids would run over to be under it.

the officer said they keep it 84 degrees inside at all times. even though it was 84 degrees, my daughter got cold after a couple hours of swimming, so we headed to the outside pool. the pool was gradual and it went around kind of in a circle. at the "end" of the circle it was about 4 ft. deep and had a place to play basketball in the water, walk across some floaties, and two more slides. the part that went in a circle gradually got deeper too. it was nice because you could let your kids play in the shallow part and they weren't getting splashed by the bigger kids. however, my kids were tall enough to do everything outside. my kids LOVED this outside pool, since they could touch in most of it.

i need to mention the lifeguards. they were great. they were not high school students (no offense if you are a high school student) who wanted a summer job at the pool to flirt with the other cute lifeguards or guests. there were many lifeguards. they were viligant. they did not chat each other or the guests. they were always moving, always watching the pools and guests. i never saw any of them messing around or being lazy. they were on top of the rules (no rough housing, no running, etc...). they were helpful, polite, and seemed very serious about their job. in fact all the employees we encountered were the same. the lifeguards made us feel better about being there.

after a couple of hours of swimming outside, we decided to eat. they have concession stands, the loose moose cottage, and pizza hut. we didn't eat at any of those places. i noticed a personal size pepperoni pizza cost $9. we opted to go to chick-fil-a down the street. the officer picked up dinner for us while me and the kids changed our clothes.

after we ate dinner, we decided to play the magiquest game. you buy a wand and game activate it ($30/wand). you can get a decorative top for your wand for an extra $12. you can also buy costumes or t-shirts. we didn't do that. we only got one wand. they give you a booklet with clues. when you buy the wand you are put into their system. you can use the wand the next time you come or if you go to another great wolf lodge location you can pick up right where you left off.

to start the game you first go to a big tree and pick a quest or adventure. you have to run all over the hotel (8 floors) using the stairs to find items. the items aren't down by the room so you don't have to worry about disturbing other guests. the items you are looking for may be paintings, pictures, treasure chests, lanterns, crystals, or other items. after you find a certain amount of items you are given a "rune". after you have so many runes, you fight the dragon. it does have a mystical side to it. there are wizards, fairies, and pixies.

my son loved playing the game. i think he liked all the running around and looking for clues. there were a lot of kids doing it.

we stopped playing the game so we could go the nightly story time at 8 p.m. by the big clock tower. kids were encouraged to come down in the pjs and listen to the story. at 5 till 8 p.m., the freaky animatronic people and animals sang several songs. after the characters sang, a lady and the great wolf lodge mascot, wylie, came out to read a story. after story time, you could take pictures with wylie. besides the boy with the freaky eyes that kept coming out of the tree, the story time was cute.

why does he need to have such big eyes?

we got up the next morning and decided to eat breakfast at the loose moose cottage. it was a buffet. adults were $10.95 and kids were $8.95. they had cereal, danishes, bagels, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, made to order omlettes, fruit, and a few other things. it was all good, but the kids each ate 1/2 of a pancake. the bill was $43. i only tell you this so you can either prepare yourself for the sticker price, or you can make other breakfast arrangements. there's a cracker barrel 1 mile down the street that we ate at for lunch. guess what the kids ate for lunch there: pancakes! :)

wednesday morning my son did the magiquest game and i went swimming with my daughter. even though we had to check out by 11 a.m., you are allowed to stay in the water park until it closes at 9 p.m.

if it seems like there are more pictures of my daughter than my son that would because he is going through the "don't take my picture" stage (does he not know his mommy needs these pictures for my blog and shutterfly books?) and my daughter never minds having her picture made. she wanted her picture take with this bear by the fudge shop in the lodge and by the "spooky" eyes on the wallpaper.

there was a spa for mother's where you could get a pedicure/manicure or massage. there was also the scoops massage where little girls could get the same treatment. there was a large gift shop, the iron horse fitness room, the northern lights arcade, and a build-a-bear store. you could get temporary tatoos. your kids could also participate in cub club from 5-8 p.m. nightly. they would play games, make a craft and other stuff. i think it was $40/child. we didn't do any of those so i am not sure how they were. the price tag of the stay at the lodge can add up quickly, but you can have a great time without doing a lot of the stuff. in one of the brochures in the room, it said you can "check out" board games, but they had to be left in the lobby. you couldn't take them back to your room. in the rooms, there was a coupon booklet for several of the things you could do. you know i loved that! :)

overall, we had a great time. would we go back? yes!!!! we plan to go back. it's a great place that really is fun for the whole family. there's a little something for everyone. we liked going when there wasn't a lot of people there. i'm sure that makes the experience a little different. the officer and i wouldn't have been as relaxed or enjoyed ourselves if it was spring break week. i am not sure we could stay more than 2 nights. the kids would love to swim, but the officer and i get tired after 10 hours of marinating in the chlorine. there are several different ways to save money if you come to the lodge. bringing your own food/drinks/snacks would save a lot of money! just not eating in the hotel would save a lot too. having pizza delivered is cheaper than buying 4 personal pizzas at pizza hut. bring your own stuff to do a manicure/pedicure with your daughters. you could probably buy everything thing you need and then some for the price of one pedicure in the scoops salon. mine wasn't really interested in it so that didn't matter. like i said before we only bought one wand for the magiquest game and let the kids share it.

alright if you made it to the end of this post, i'm sorry it was so long. i wrote a lot of detail so those of you who haven't been there could see what it was like and so i wouldn't forget either. :) thanks for staying!