Have you heard the howls from the West? A new family-friendly resort is in town! It is only a hop, skip and a jump over Alligator Alley to Naples, exit 101. The Great Wolf Lodge has ventured from its original location of Wisconsin to the South Florida area. The Lodge is famous for its indoor water park, which offers Florida kids an opportunity to splash and play regardless of the hot or rainy weather. Sunscreen is not a needed essential, but we did wear our flip flops, water shoes, and wolf ears!
CELEBRATING A BIRTHDAY
For my grandkids’ 3rd and 6th birthdays, my daughter and her husband decided to celebrate their wolfpack at Great Wolf Lodge. The grandkids and I joined in the arts and crafts fun in the Grand Lobby, while their parents checked in. There always seemed to be something going on in the Grand Lobby from sunup to sundown. Once we were all checked in, we made our way to our guest rooms. My grandkids were so excited to see their room door decorated with a birthday banner and inside a festive party set up with a coupon for a birthday cake. The lodge offers different birthday packages. The birthday cake was delicious and decorated “wolf” style.
ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS
My daughter had reserved a Wolf Den Suite with a queen bed for the parents and a cave-themed sleeping area for the kiddos with bunk beds. The grandkids loved it. This style room is probably best for children ages 2-12. My room was adjoining, called the Family Suite. It looked like a regular hotel room with 2 queen beds and a full sleeper sofa. My queen bed was very comfortable. The rooms do include a small fridge and coffee maker. We brought a cooler of drinks and snacks for the room, they just prohibit outside food at the waterpark.
EVENTS & ATTRACTIONS
The Water Park pass is included in your room reservation. Great Wolf Lodge offers fun events like Yoga Tails, Character Appearances, Legend of Luna, Hustle & Howl Dance Party, Arts and Crafts, and story time featuring Wiley the Wolf and friends. These are all included in your stay. Most of the events take place in the Grand Lobby which is like the central hangout of the resort.
Attractions with an added fee include an arcade, putt-putt golf, a ropes course, bowling, an adventure trail (it is like an indoor 3-story play area which includes slides), mining for gemstones, Build a Bear workshop, and MagiQuest. The grandkids loved bowling and the arcade! The Lodge sells 3 different passes which include a variety of attractions and treats. For our 3 day stay, we invested in the Wolf Pass for the kids, which includes a MagiQuest wand and swim goggles, along with 6 attractions.
What is MagiQuest you ask? It is a featured attraction that sends the children on a magic wand quest throughout the resort. When a child completes the quest, they can attend the Master Magi Ceremony and be inducted into the order of Magi. They give each child a certificate with their name.
OUR WOLFPACK TAKEAWAYS
The Lodge does have two main restaurants, and we ate at them both for dinner. Fireside was our favorite and prices are equivalent to Disney dining. Timbers Table and Kitchen is their other dine-in option that serves a dinner and breakfast buffet. We chose Dunkin Donuts for a quick service of breakfast sandwiches and coffee each morning.
Additionally, we had some of our family meet us for the day since it is only a 1-hour drive and they were able to enjoy the waterpark with a Day Pass. It was fun to have everyone together singing Happy Birthday and riding waterslides! The Great Wolf Lodge has been voted as Best Family Travel Nationwide by Parents Family Travel Awards. Our family agrees that it is a resort designed mostly for those with children ages 2-12 years old. Three days seemed like plenty of time to enjoy all the amenities. Celebrating our wolfpack at Great Wolf Lodge was a Wolf Out! experience for the grandkids with lots of fun memories orchestrated by the parents!
