GREAT WOLF LODGE REVIEW

WHERE?  Great Wolf Lodge | Wisconsin Dells / Baraboo, Wisconsin

WHEN? December 2023

WHY? Family Winter Getaway

ACCOMMODATIONS: 2 Nights  

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Great Wolf Lodge for inviting us and making our stay fun!

Checking into Great Wolf Lodge / Accommodations:

We headed to the Grand Lobby and entered “Snowland!” There were beautiful snow & Christmas decorations, and everything was splashed with holiday cheer. Our girls said “Whoa!” as soon as we opened the doors. They were in awe at the beautiful environment! Great Wolf Lodge did a great job at creating a truly snowy and holiday ambiance! (Not to mention, every staff member that we interacted with was so kind and cheerful! We were amazed!)

We were given our room number and PAW passes and were told we could pick up our complimentary “wolf ears” (for kids 12 and under) at Buckhorn Exchange Gift Shop. The girls immediately grabbed their wolf ears and were excited to be part of the “pack.” The PAW passes are a great option for kids around our girls ages 5-7ish. There is also a PUP pass for younger kids/toddlers and a WOLF pass for older kids/teens. For our PAW passes, the girls received:

• One MagiQuest game (you can play it throughout your entire stay)
• Choice of MagiQuest Vellara wand, topper or Magi belt
• One Oliver’s Mining Sluice gemstone mining experience
• One small candy cup from GW Candy Shop
• One single scoop of Bear Paw Ice Cream
• One Paw Points game card for Northern Lights Arcade ($5)
• One leather treaty bracelet (ours was able to be customized with their names!)

As you can see, it’s a great option for kids! We highly recommend getting this pass for your little ones! For the weekend we were there, it allowed us to do so much that the girls enjoyed! Now, do you need a pass? Not at all, you can get away with not having the pass. You can buy those items separately or forgo them altogether.

Since we went during “Snowland” there were so many events scheduled that there was always something to do! Being a parent, you know how amazing this is! You can take a break or nap at any time or you can keep going, going, going, until your littles are so exhausted with overflowing “cups.”

Here are some of the Snowland activities at Great Wolf Lodge (an “*” denotes an activity our girls LOVED!):

• The Great Wolf Lodge Tower Shows
• ‘Twas the Night Before Snowland Yoga Tails (we didn’t attend)
• Character Appearances (we didn’t attend)
• Santa’s Arrival Experience*
• Santa Meet & Great Experience (our girls don’t believe in Santa, so while he was dressed awesomely, our girls weren’t quite interested in “sitting on a stranger’s lap” – words from my 7-year-old! LOL – I don’t blame her!)
• Snowland Scavenger Hunt*
• Snowland Arts & Crafts*
• Adventures… An Epic Story Time
• Frosty Fest Family Dance Party*

And of course, you get water park tickets included with your stay! A little secret that we found out is that you can get two days of water park passes for only a one night stay. For instance, you can use the water park starting at 1 pm on the day you check-in. You can also use the water park until closing (8 pm, usually) on the day you check out. Such a great deal!

Lodge Wood Fired Grill Restaurant at Great Wolf Lodge Wisconsin Dells

With our dining package, we decided to visit Lodge Wood Fired Grill inside Great Wolf Lodge. The food was very delicious! We decided on cheese curds for the family, the cheeseburger kids meal for the girls, classic wedge salad, NY strip steak, and roasted free-range chicken. Everything was very good and filling. Afterward, the restaurant manager treated the girls with some Dippin’ Dots as dessert! How kind! 🙂

What to pack for Great Wolf Lodge?:

A question I had before we went to visit, was what to pack for Great Wolf Lodge? I’ve never been to a water park or a water park hotel, so I wasn’t exactly sure what we should pack. After our visit, I’m happy to suggest some items that worked well for our time at GWL:

• Swimsuits, swim cover-ups, swim towels and swim goggles (for the little ones). Many people will tell you that you don’t need to bring towels. While this is true (GWL provides them for free but will charge you $15 per towel if you lose them, someone else takes yours, or you don’t turn them back in), we wanted to keep ours on our bodies while we walked back to our rooms from the pool. It would have been a very cold walk without them!
• You do NOT need to bring a lifejacket for your child. Great Wolf Lodge provides different sizes of life jackets for your kids. We never had a problem finding one that worked for our youngest daughter.
• Lockers around the pool area range in price. For a standard locker (that fit our items) it was $12 for the day. (Small was $10, Large was $15).
• Comfortable clothes and nice-looking pajamas. I didn’t see anyone dressed up besides the staff & Santa! haha. The pajamas come in handy for the family dance party at night.
• Food. This is optional, but we filled our IGLOO beverage cooler with snacks, sandwich fixings, water, etc. There is a little fridge in your room that fits a decent amount of items as well. Snacking or even having lunch in your room can save some money for your family if you’re looking to do so.
• Kevin and I brought our pillows because we’re very particular and the girls brought their blankets. Again, optional, but something our family likes to feel comfortable.
• Your typical items for getting ready. GWL provides conditioning shampoo & shower gel along with hand soap and lotion, but if you’re sensitive to different fragrances, I’d bring your own!
• As an FYI, there is NO safe in your room, but we didn’t have any issues.
• A few crafty/activity items for your kids. At least during Snowland, there are always crayons and coloring pages out to use, but back in your room, you might want a few activities. The water park opens at 10 am so we had a few hours in the morning to do a craft in our room (we could have done some of the lodge activities, but we were happy spending some morning time together). The girls enjoyed putting together some winter character ornaments that I purchased from Target earlier. Otherwise, they had their iPads, but didn’t use them except for the car rides, which was awesome for all of us! So many fun activities were to be had!
• Lastly, bring energy! I could tell by looking at most of the parents, that they were tired. Exhausted even. There is so much to do and the kids are so happy to do it, that you keep going until you and they are exhausted. But it’s all worth it in the end. Your hearts and minds are full of so much fun and memories!

The Verdict

This visit to Great Wolf Lodge was a wonderful experience for our family! Within a few hours, our girls were exhausted from fun activities and, overall, we were all thrilled to have made such wonderful family memories together! We highly recommend this trip for families with kids of teens and younger!

Hope you enjoyed this review! 

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