Great Wolf Lodge (Review Part 2)

Ok, so if you read my first Great Wolf Lodge post (remember, that REALLY long one lol) I said I was going to make a part 2. Well here it is, and boy do I have plenty more to talk about!

I mentioned we went during the Howl-O-Ween events, and there was plenty to do. When we checked in, they give us 2 tickets for the trick or treating that night, it started on the 3rd floor and you worked your way around and down to the different areas. It was neat, they provided the bags, each area had a different character (tree, gargoyle, etc) and the kids had to help them find something (most of them were "crystals") Jeffery and Jaylin had a blast! At the end of the trick or treat trail there was one last character (I forgot already what she was dressed up as) but the kids got to pick a TOY out of a chest, oh boy, the kids loved that!

After trick or treating we were all hungry. Great Wolf Lodge has plenty of places to eat, even had a mini Pizza Hut. Actually in my interview with Curtis Brown, I asked him what sets Great Wolf Lodge apart from other resorts (such as Massanutten which is right next to us and also has an indoor water park) his answer was:

"Great Wolf Lodge offers total family experience. Customer service standards are extremely high, customer feedback and high percentage return guests. Guest experience total family vacation. It's a self contained destination. “Cruise ship on land” everything together, daily activities all in one area."

I also asked Mr. Brown what a "must try" dish was in the restaurant within the lodge. His answer was:

"Loose Moose Family Diner which is a buffet. There is also Jungle Jim's right outside.

In house offers breakfast lunch and dinner.

Dessert is the Kids Camp ice cream Sunday."

Unfortunately while we were there, we didn't have the money to eat in the lodge (the prices was out of our range), but just a short drive down the road was a Sonic. Trust me, we wanted to go to the buffet sooooo bad!

When we got back with our food we looked at the time and realized it was almost time for the last trail ride! So we grabbed the kids and took off down the hallway, only to be told the last one had already left. It was 8:50pm and we were told the last one went out at 9:00pm when I bought the tickets, disappointed and irritated I sent Amy back to the room with the kids to get their PJs on them for the last story time while I went to the front desk to let them know I was upset about the misinformation about the schedule of the Trail Ride. The front desk was so great about it, she thought just like I did that the last one left at 9pm, so she went to check again, she worked it out to have them do one more ride. So I frantically called Amy and told her to run back up with the kids lol. The Trail Ride was so cool, (While in the interview with Mr. Brown he said the Trail Ride is his favorite activity for Howl-o-Ween) we took a little ride around the lodge, to a makeshift "pumpkin patch" where we all were able to get our own little pumpkin. We then went to a tent where they had cookies and hot cider, along with a small craft for the kids (coloring magnets), then back to the lodge, just missed the Pajama Story Time. When we got back to the room, the kids fell asleep almost immediately once they got in the bed! Amy fell asleep shortly after the kids and I waited up for Jeff to get there with Jaxon after visiting with his parents for the day.

Jeff was AMAZED at the place once he got there, he didn't know what to expect, but he did like it! I took a lot of pictures while Amy and the kids were sleeping while waiting on Jeff, they are in the slide show below.

The next day before heading back to the water park (can stay in the water park even after checkout!) we went to the arcade (remember in my first post, Mr. Brown give the kids a cup of tokens) We had a BLAST! Jeff was there with us and he took Jeffery, I took Jaylin and had Jaxon, and Amy went and bought her some tokens (we offered her some of ours but she wanted her own lol) Jeff said some of the games that were suppose to give out tickets, were out of tickets, and some didn't give the amount they were suppose to. My favorite was the Deal or No Deal game, I love that show, and to be able to play it for tickets was AWESOME!!! I think I did pretty good, I walked away with 35 tickets (I think the max was 70 or 90) With just the cup of tokens, the kids racked up a TON of tickets. They have something I've never seen before, a machine you feed your tickets into and it counts them for you! Amy threw her tickets in with the kids (she said she didn't want any prize or anything lol) we had I think 900+ tickets, which got Jeffery some twizzlers, a 4wheeler toy and Jaylin a pink softball with Great Wolf Lodge on it!

After the Arcade, I went and took Mr. Brown's advice and took a tour of the Scoops Spa area. It's for girls who aren't old enough for the regular spa. It's really cool! They have 3 scents to have your manicure/pedicure in...can you guess by the name of the spa what they are? Ice Cream Flavors!!!! Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry! It looks so fun! They also do little "sleepovers" for birthday parties and such. I really want to try the spa next time we go, if we have the money...I could use a good massage or pedicure.

My goal for this 2ND post was to be shorter, that didn't happen did it? lol There was just so much to do at Great Wolf Lodge, we had so much fun it isn't even funny! Oh, and we also did MagiQuest! Jeffery loved that! I bought both of the kids a wand, and only activated one for a game since it was $10 each, next time we go I'll buy a game for both of them. I love that some of the things the animals come to life and sing. We didn't have a lot of time for it, because the kids wanted to go swimming again! This time Jeff watched Jeffery and Jaylin in the kiddie pool while Amy and I went on a few of the water slides, which were AWESOME! I loved the funnel one, we both sat in a raft and of course since I'm bigger I ended up going backwards so I had no idea where I was going. It was a blast! I can't wait til we can go again!!!

I am hoping we'll get to go for the Winter Events they have, they make it snow inside and I want to see that! We had so much fun, and there was so much to do, we couldn't do it with just 1 night! Plus, the kids staying in the room next to us kind of ruined my stay a little, I hated walking out of my room because they would harass me. That wasn't Great Wolf Lodge's fault though, I don't blame them, it's the kids' parents who wasn't watching them.

All in all we had a great weekend! After Great Wolf we went to Norfolk where I went to Chuck E Cheese for the 1st time. But that's another post lol.

I received a discount price for our stay at Great Wolf Lodge in return for writing this review. The discount had no influence on my opinion of Great Wolf Lodge.