Great Wolf Lodge, Here we Come!
Great Wolf Lodge has been on and off of our bucket list of places to go for almost 10 years. While our kids were growing up in New Jersey there was a big competitor that kept us away. Kalahari, America’s Largest Indoor Waterpark, was being built in the Poconos. Since it was constantly under construction and development there were amazing deals going on for years. Unfortunately, as Kalahari has grown it has become more and more expensive.
Presently, we are embarking on a journey from the Northeast to South Florida and things lined up perfectly for us to make a stop at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina. Kellie made sure I was aware that I needed to make a planned stop during my 18-hour commute. I’ve made the trip without stopping many times, but when you are transporting precious cargo (the children) you must take precautions.
I opened my computer and went to Great Wolf Lodge’s website. What luck, if I book within 48 hours, the room is only $99! Let’s compare some hotels in the area shall we.
Hotel | Price per night | Benefit |
Great Wolf Lodge | $99 | Waterpark |
Hampton Inn & Suites | $174 | Breakfast included |
Hilton Garden Inn | $159 |
|
Holiday Inn Express | $139 | Breakfast included |
It just made sense if I was going to spend the night somewhere it should include a waterpark for the kids! Sorry to the other hotels but kids don’t get as excited to hear we may be staying at your place. They were ecstatic and cried out with joy when I mentioned the Great Wolf Lodge.
Things that Chap My Ass About Hotels
And this is not just directed at Great Wolf Lodge. I just happen to be writing this blog while staying at Great Wolf Lodge. There are so many hotels that pull these kinds of shenanigans (I’m looking at you Universal Studios Florida Hotels). Just tell me the actual price so I can make an informed decision. Why do you have one price until you go to check out and then suddenly Resort Fees show up? I love that the room at Great Wolf Lodge includes access to the waterpark. Then when you get to the final payment screen the Resort Fee for life jackets, towels, internet, virtual concierge (really?), coffee maker and mini fridge (seriously?), and complimentary arts & crafts show up. Let me just say one more thing here. You can’t call it complimentary if I am paying a Resort Fee. It’s the exact opposite of complimentary which means “given or supplied free of charge”. Don’t mess with our intelligence while grabbing up an extra $40 a day on items that most people don’t use.
Then you have an asterisk or other indicator that I must follow at some point to identify that there is an onsite fee to park in your huge lot. Just add it to the price of the room, for real. It’s annoying and it doesn’t build consumer confidence or brand loyalty. Yay! Congrats! You got an extra $15/day out of me. But you could have just charged me $115 and told me parking was complimentary. Then you could have had a valet parking option and charged me an extra $15-20, while creating an extra job or two in this bad economy.
Ok, I got that off my chest, let’s move on.
First Impressions
We were all thrilled to arrive at the hotel. We pulled into our spot, and we were greeted by a sign to make sure we locked up our car securely and grab anything of value. Great Wolf Lodge is not responsible for thefts. Great! The kids were a little concerned. The sign doesn’t give you the impression you are in the most secure area. It seems ok here, let’s go inside.
The lobby is small but decorated very pretty and festive for the winter and holiday season. There are 4 people at the check in desk and they are not helping any guests. But wait, there are also 4 computers that say check in here placed strategically at the beginning of the line. Ok, let’s do that. I type in the name on my reservation, I scan the back of my driver’s license. Error! Scan Again! Scan worked, thank goodness. A message pops up, “Name on reservation doesn’t match the ID”. I double check the email reservation. Yep, our last name was right on the reservation. Well, the problem appears to be that the computer system at the hotel dropped the first two letters from our last name, smh.
I continue to an agent. I let him know about the mix-up that occurred at the computer.
Another agent says, “O yea, the computer does that a lot.”
I’m a little taken aback. (Thinking in my head how to resolve the issue. Is it something IT is working on…. Seems like it could frustrate customers….Hold up…. Not my job…. Let’s just get to the room).
The agent that checked us in was extremely pleasant and helpful.
As a side note, almost every time I was in the lobby during the trip there was either no line at the check in counter or one to two people checking in. There were always plenty of check-in agents available. I would just ditch the computers during the slow season.
We are making our way through the hallway. The hallways are dark and feel dingy but that feels in line with the cavernous theme. There are lots of dark green and brown colors on the carpet and wall. It felt very woodsy. We make it down the hallway with excitement and anticipation for our room. We cracked the door open.
Wow! It looks so big. Pow! What is that smell? It’s a little musky but we can live with it. The room is huge! When you walk in there is closet space for your bags, followed by a sink that is about 4 feet wide parallel with the bathroom. Then there is another vanity with a large mirror, and the coffee maker and mini fridge supplied by my Resort Fee. Across from the vanity are the bunk beds for the kids. Further in the room is a small table with two chairs directly across from the queen bed. There is even more room for activities as there is a love seat across from a TV. To top it off we have a balcony. The room size really is a great value. You get used to the musky smell after a while. But we must keep the bathroom door closed. You open that bathroom door, and you get a strong waft of mold. We picked a bad time to forget our plugins and Febreze spray. Kellie usually makes sure those are packed. We’re staying in a waterpark so the smells, although not expected do make sense.
Our First Meal
A constant flow of Pizza Goldfish and a snack bar got us through our 8-hour drive. Our bathroom break at the 4-hour mark was at Wawa and the deli there smelled amazing. We were all tempted but we were excited to see the selection of food places at The Great Wolf Lodge.
We are deep into our drive, and we are feeling deprived of a solid meal. We are passing up amazing fast-food sign after fast food sign along the way. I keep reiterating to the kids not to worry, there is going to be something amazing at the Lodge and we are going to have an elegant meal to start our stay. My idea of elegant meal isn’t something to fancy, just your typical casual dining experience.
We got to the Lodge just after 7PM and disappointment filled within me. We can either order a pizza to be delivered to our room or there is one sit down option, the Lodge Wood Fired Grill. I remember seeing this as we were walking to our room. As we passed it during our entrance, I felt like it was small and didn’t have a lot to offer. However, we opt for the restaurant.
The atmosphere within Lodge Wood Fired Grill is ok and maybe as you would expect. It appears as a little wooden lodge with a bar in the main dining room. The bar has flaming signs over top of it. It makes sense they named it the Lodge Wood Fired Grill.
As a money conscious mind, I wasn’t excited at the prices. 6 wings for $15.99 seems steep even at a themed hotel restaurant for families. The picture of the Honey Bourbon Salmon looked delicious but based on the appearance of the restaurant, $29.99 was a little too high for me to take a risk on the meal. I settled on the Smokehouse Burger for $20.99. The Smokehouse Burger looked incredible in the picture on the menu. A 7 oz steakhouse burger patty stacked with pulled pork, crispy fried onions, bacon, sweet BBQ sauce on a soft brioche bun. Let me tell you, it was as good as it sounds. The kid’s menu had a lot to offer, and my kids chose Mini Corndogs (9.99) and a Cheeseburger ($10.99).
In the end, the price wasn’t terrible, however, it was not the upscale dining experience I envisioned throughout my 8-hour commute. I took a quick look at the map and there are a bunch of immediate options in the area such as Carrabba’s Italian Grille, Texas Roadhouse, Bonefish Grill, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, On the Boarder Mexican Grill and Olive Garden, just to name a few. That doesn’t include all the Fast-Food options for those trying to save a little bit of money. This is all just to say, that was probably our first and last meal at the Lodge Wood Fired Grill. There is too much competition in the area and not enough benefit of eating at this particular location.
MagiQuest
Let me just say this was my favorite conversation of Day 1 at the hotel. The kids have heard of MagiQuest and we saw other kids doing this throughout the hotel. My nephews have said good things about their experience with MagiQuest.
Let’s go to the MagiQuest store. This conversation may be a little paraphrased but it’s how I remember it, lol.
I asked, “out of curiosity, what is the difference in the wands?”
Cashier 1 responded, “nothing.”
I was confused so I asked, “oh, so why are there different prices and types?”
Cashier 1 responds, “the one closest to us doesn’t light up but all the others do.”
My initial reaction came out, “ok, so don’t get the one that doesn’t light up. Check. I see that there are Wand Mods to give you extra powers, what are they?”
Cashier 2 helps with this one. “You don’t really need them.”
I inquired, “so, no special powers then?”
Cashier 2 responds, “the differences are minuscule.”
My final question comes out. “So, there are differences? Is one better than the other?”
It turns out there are three Wand Mods they would “recommend”. Two of which help you defeat a dragon faster and one helps you find things. They noted the Dragon at this location was strong. In that regard, it would sound like the Dragon Tamer power would be good to have. My kids are older so defeating a dragon faster might not be necessary. But if you have a small child, it seems relevant to know that your child can use a special mod and take half of a dragon’s power.
Upon entering the small store we were asked immediately if we had any questions, so we had no time to look around. Although they seemed disinterested, the employees were able to help me with all my questions. Maybe there were signs that explained all that stuff, so I could understand why that would be frustrating. MagiQuest seems like a big activity in the hotel. By 9PM the hallways were lined with kids playing with their wands. Motivation is hard but maybe the MagiQuest Store could benefit by rewarding employees in some way. For example, for every 100 wand toppers they sell you get a $10 gift card to Starbuck’s. I’m sure if there were incentives there would be more excitement about how quickly you could slay the Red Dragon and his fiery wrath!
Arcade to the Rescue!!
The most expensive part of the hotel is also going to be most kids’ favorite part. There is a big arcade on the first floor by the waterpark. I can’t imagine anyone escaping from the arcade without spending a mini fortune. I tried to start small the first night. For $50 you get around 200 credits. Each game costs about 12 credits. Split that up between your kids and you and there aren’t a lot of games to be played by everyone. I let the kids know to take their time, pick games wisely and have a good time. I give the kids their cards AND BOOM the race is on. There were a lot of fun games but there are also those games that give the illusion of a lot of tickets with minimal effort. Those are the kid’s favorite ones. 20-30 minutes… that’s all it took to completely deplete our cards.
My favorite game of the night to watch Jordan play was Space Invaders. A few nights prior we watched the movie Pixels with Adam Sandler so Jordan was excited to play. This version of Space Invaders was on a huge screen with two large guns for team play. She did well, and the ticket payout was actually very good. She earned 57 tickets for the game.
My favorite game I played with the kids was bean bag toss. There are about 6 bean bags coming down on conveyor belts. You have about 30 seconds to play. You toss them at a spinning platform with three holes red, blue and green. Cornhole meets Skeeball. The big negatives on this game are you are reliant on the conveyor belt working properly, its super slow and stops, and the bean bags get caught up below the platform because the hole is not big enough for them to come out if they stack funny. All in all, it’s a fun game.
We finish up for the night. Now its time to check out the rewards store. How many tickets did you guys earn? 400 each. I can’t wait to see what you can get for 400 tickets. The store is small, and the shelves aren’t overflowing with prizes. It makes it easier to see your options. The kids have located the prize they want, a boba tea stuffed animal (2,000 tickets) and an Animal Cracker pillow stuffed animal (1,700 tickets) with each of the Great Wolf Lodge characters as the little animal crackers you can remove from the pillow. The prizes are just out of reach at the moment. I convince the kids not to spend their tickets at this time because we have two more days. We will try again tomorrow.
We’re all tired at this point so we head back to the room and turn in. As I work my way to sleep, I reflect on our first few hours at the Great Wolf Lodge. There were some bumps in the road, but I know tomorrow is going to be so much fun!
Check back in to see if I was correct. I’ll share our adventures from the next day and everyone’s final review of the hotel.
To be continued….
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