A big thanks to the folks at Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington for a fantastic family vacation earlier this month. Here are the elements I especially loved:
The Lodge — It’s beautiful, super clean and comfortable. All the rooms have a sitting area so you’re not hanging out on the beds. The lobby is huge with tons of room for lounging. In fact, our baby had tons of room to practice walking, which he started over our GWL weekend!
The Waterpark — My family had a great time enjoying the wave pool and all the water slides. The water was the right temperature and even our little kids had a good time. Though my husband and I remarked quite often how much fun the place will be when everyone’s just a bit older…
The Staff — It’s like Disneyland in Centralia. The staff is so helpful and friendly. I was particularly surprised at the lifeguards commitment to water safety. I’ve never seen such active lifeguarding in my entire life. These people were ultra-attentive and they know how to deal poop-in-the-pool situations. Twice someone broke the cardinal pool rule and, well, you know. The pools were cleared in seconds flat and doused with chemicals so no one got sick.
I just can’t say enough about their waterpark staff. Absolutely top notch.
The Conference Facilities — GWL hosted our group of bloggers for a breakfast and small meeting on Saturday afternoon. I was very impressed with the quality of the food, the facilities and especially the service by the conference staff. They were super-accommodating and actually happily rearranged the room for us an number of times.
I realize that most people think “family vacation” when they think of Great Wolf Lodge, but it is also a fantastic place to have a conference, reception or community event.
Disclosure: I was offered a special rate on my family’s room during this weekend in exchange for posting my opinion of our stay at Great Wolf Lodge. No cash exchanged hands.
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Amy,
With 4 kids and my husband in tow this factored out to be about $32 per person including tax for TWO days using the discounted rate this blog offered. I don’t see how I could even imagine having that much fun over 2 days with the family and factor in a motel room.
This is by far the best “bang for your buck” family activity we have ever had! We just made sure to eat in our room.
I suggest going and splitting a room with another family. Some rooms sleep up to 8 people. And no, I don’t work for GWL, but maybe I should. 🙂
I’d say ladies, that while this MIGHT be categorized as a frugal trip if you have enough kiddos to max out the bands-per-room allowance, this is in no way, shape or form a reasonably frugal vacation with one child and two adults and anything approaching the normal rate. Ridiculously pricey.
Thank you for the great discounted rate! Our family had a great time and we’ll be planning a trip again for sure. The staff was so friendly and helpful!
Thank you for offering our family a weekend out at an exceptional price. We had a wonderful time and please let us know if you will do this again.
My family went to GWL two years ago and we were able to go on a budget. We took a cooler and ate all, but one, of our meals in our room. We stayed for two nights and managed to keep the cost down by only eating the food we had brought. My husband did decide last minute that we should “splurge” and have one dinner in the cafe (which I would rate close to an Applebee’s or Red Robin type food). It was a fun challenge to take only the types of food that could be stored in a TINY hotel fridge 🙂
My son slipped while playing in the fountains by the wave pool and I swear a lifeguard appeared out of thin air snatching him up to see if he was ok. They are totally on the ball in the water park.
It was fun meeting all of you, even if we did only make it for the last 10 minutes due to traffic. Thanks for the goodies, the pretzel crisps are my new favorite snack to tame the pregnancy rumblings throughout the day.
I too was most impressed with the lifeguard’s attentiveness! I had no doubt that if I couldn’t get to my child if they were in trouble (not that I ever left them alone!), one of these lifeguards would in record time. We had a fabulous time and are already talking about going again in the spring (maybe during the week when it is less crowded?!).