Great Wolf Lodge!

We just got back from a few days at Great Wolf Lodge. We had a blast! It was our first "real" family vacation and it was so fun! We usually go visit family for vacation but since my sister got married in Utah and we saw both families earlier this summer we thought we would try out the "just our family" vacation... bad news... we loved it! We love all of you, but... this was so fun... we may have to do it again... 

Ok so we decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge. If you aren't familiar with the place it is hotel with an indoor (and outdoor) water park. There is one in Dallas, so we decided, what the heck 200 miles isn't bad and drove up. We decided to go this week because school was starting for everyone and it was... hundreds of dollars cheaper. It turns out this was the perfect time to go. There were no lines, it wasn't overly crowded, really it was perfect. We plan to go back again during a time like this. 

Here's a video of part of the indoor park. 

We left in the morning on Tuesday and got to the hotel around lunchtime. We waited int he car while Brian checked in.

 Mikey's view of the hotel (he wanted this picture).

 He really wanted to get to the hotel.

 Brian checked us in and came back with wold ears for all! I must say that this is a very family friendly place (no kidding, it is 100% for children). If you don't have kids I wouldn't go, it would be annoying for you, but if you do they are all set up to handle kids and it is great.

MIkey was a little but unsure about the wolf ears. 

 We went up to our room and mikey settled right in. And then... we looked at the beds and we thought for sure they were wrong. They looked like double beds, so brian talked to the front desk, and they upgraded us to a "kid cabin". This turned out to be a really fun room... but it turned out the beds were right which we discovered after the fact. Anyway they were pretty empty so it worked out for us.

 Here's the new room. The room has a queen bed and then a little cabin with a twin bed and a set of bunk beds. Mikey thought his room was so fun and it was nice that they had a place sorta too themselves. Would i pay the extra couple hundred dollars in the future... probably not but it was super fun this time around.

 One bed

 Bunk beds.

 Zach appreciated the bed. The first night he passed out at 6pm.

 The view from the balcony. This must have been after 6pm when the outdoor park closes.

He was really tired. 

 Brian read mikey a story in his "low bed"

 We only took a few pictures. We didn't want to get our phones wet. But here is the boys in the indoor water park. it turns out the indoor park is quite large, I didn't know all the sections until the second day. there are tons of life guards, its clean, but it is super loud. I think we came at the perfect time because there weren't a ton of people, but I think during the peak times it could be so crowded.

 they really were excited to be there despite their little grumpy faces.

 yay for swimming.

 everyone

 the wave pool. mikey thought this was pretty fun.

 some watersides. I think there were 5 large watersides inside (they go outside too), and 2 outside. There were also 2 smaller ones and then the kiddie slides.

 We went to the outside pool for just a bit. the boys don't love sunscreen and zach does not love the sun in his face... so we spent our time indoors.

we watched thomas king of the railway in our room. 

 mikey loved it.

 we went to the little ice cream shop downstairs and got a cake an some ice cream for a treat.

 pool at night.

 really hard to see but zach is passed out

 mikey liked the wrestle the "wolf"

 cutest little wolf.

So all in all we loved great wolf lodge. I have a few suggestions (which I am going to write so I remember next time we go). First, bring food to keep in the room. Mikey was too impatient to go play to go to breakfast even if we had been willing to pay the $15 for the breakfast buffet. We kept yogurt, oatmeal, and peanut butter in our room and it came in handy. The rooms have a mini fridge and microwave so you can avoid the expensive hotel food if you like. Second, go during off peak times, it was so much cheaper and it was so fun to get to do everything without the huge lines. Third, if you plan to eat at the restaurants prepare yourself they aren't cheap. We had pizza one night and it wasn't too expensive, it also wasn't the best and wasnt the best pizza ever but it was located in the hotel and that was great! No leaving, you can order from the room, etc. fourth, bring jackets. You can't take the towels from the pool area and the hotel is chilly, dry off and bring hoodies to wear back. Fifth, there are tons of places to eat right by the hotel, don't limit yourself to hotel food