A Night at Great Wolf

I am not a fan of water parks. There I said it. I know I won’t be popular now, but it’s just the way I work. I don’t think it is too uncommon once you hit a certain age (or clothing size). Running around in a bathing suit sounds like my version of personal hell. So as further prove that I really do love my kids, we went to Great Wolf Lodge.

I don’t know about your kids, but mine are obsessed with water slides. I took my kids to the Great Wolf Lodge, in Charlotte / Concord North Carolina. But from what I have seen on their website, they are very similar throughout their various locations. During my research, I found that if you get there earlier than your check in you can still use the water park. We got there at about 1:30 and (luckily!) they already had our room ready. But if they didn’t, they do have a full locker room for changing and showering so you can use it the water park before your room is ready.

Next comes the Water Park….cue horror film music. The water slides do have height restrictions. The lifeguards monitor this by measuring as you walk in and giving the kids wristbands based on their height. The different color codes show which rides they are allowed to ride. The park does have attractions for all heights, and to tell you the truth my kids spent equal amount of time on the smaller rides as they did the bigger ones.

I have to admit I was a little worried about the logistics of managing my three boys- ages 9, 6 and 1. The sets of rides for each was different. I didn’t want them to feel left out especially since I had to stay with the baby. Luckily Great Wolf Lodge is organized in a way that makes it easier for parents. All of the toddler rides are fenced in one little area in a pool that is less than a foot deep with lots of spray guns and climbing equipment. They have a medium area for bigger kids that has some slides some spray guns and the famous dumping buckets. The larger rides are all concentrated on one tower. The kids run up from the same spot and branch off to different slides. This made it a lot easier to watch them go up and then just walk over to where they come down.

Watching each of them come down the slides with big goofy grins and having the time of their life was great. Most of the lines weren’t fairly long, 5 to 10 minutes at most if there was a line at all. Maybe it would stretch to 15 minutes on the bigger slides if the wave pool wasn’t going.
I was a little worried about the wave pool with the boys even though they are excellent swimmers. I had my one year old, which would make it impossible to go in after them if something happened. The lifeguards at Great Wolf Lodge are something else! Watching them surveil the pools up and down, side to side, around back was it entertaining, especially after the drinks at the pool bar. But also, very reassuring! They even do mock rescues. As you walk into Great Wolf Lodge Pool on the right, you’ll see a lifeguard stand with a childlike doll in it. At random times throughout the day, on whatever schedule they’re on, that doll is thrown into the pool for the lifeguards to rescue. They have to notice it and rescue it in a certain amount of time. It’s very nice to see that they don’t get distracted on the job and it makes me feel a lot better as a parent.

The water park shuts down at 8 pm. By 7 the waterpark is practically empty. We rode everything. And I mean everything! Multiple times within that one hour. If you do get there late, don’t feel like you’re missing out on too much because with no one else there you get pretty much the same amount done.
They’re all there are all sorts of activities throughout the resort and even outside. They have a quest that you can do running up and down the halls. They have story time in the center Lobby. It was a good distraction for the kids who get tired at the park. We did go down to the arcade, which is always a big hit for three little boys. They have a zipline, bowling, and movies!

The camp sweets were pretty cool. I was able to put the crib in with the bunk beds and have all three children contained in a mini-Hotel camp. The next morning, I had Dunkin Donuts delivered to the room. Totally worth it by the way! I figure why not in splurge they’re going to be running stairs all day! We went back down to the water park when they opened at 10. You can stay till 4 on your check out day in the water park. We took advantage of the locker rooms and showers to get cleaned up before making the drive home. They even have a machine to ring out the excess water from your wet bathing suits. Just remember to bring flip flops!
We would do Great Wolf again, but one day is enough. All the slides start to get familiar after a while. You would definitely have to pay for the other activities to make more than one night last. It is a great way to get physical activity and water slides in the winter!