For Eric’s 25th birthday, he wanted to go to The Great Wolf Lodge. I was going to try to surprise him with it, but he always figures out my surprises so the only surprise was that my family was chipping in so we weren’t in the poor house! We got a discount through his work so it was only $169 for the night. I saved $20 from every paycheck for a few months to make sure we could afford it. All in all, it was worth it.
The waterpark is pretty fun. The best thing to do/watch is the 1,000 gallon bucket that fills up. The bell starts ringing, everyone comes running….
…then it dumps on a spreader so it won’t take anyone out (like waterfalls do, danger!)
It’s really fun getting soaked and the best was a group of boys who all laid down on their backs but at the last second all but one brave one jumped to their feet. All the kids having the time of their lives was really fun for us. The Great Wolf Lodge is really designed with kids in mind, but we love kids and so had a lot of fun (If you don’t like kids don’t go!). If there were a couple kids in line in front or behind us we’d ask if they wanted to share a big inner tube. They’d get so excited and loved how we screamed and yelled.
The wave pool was another fun place to talk to kids, or just relax and talk to each other. The waves are pretty tiny so we didn’t try body surfing. The best kid activity is called MagiQuest, “a one-of-a-kind, live-action adventure game. Armed with high-tech wands, your family must solve magical challenges throughout the resort to gain powers (and points) and move to higher levels of the game” (from their website). Basically, it’s tons of kids running around with wands controlling everything all over the whole resort to play a magical adventure game. It was everything from a bearskin rug who asks if you’ve seen his brother Smokey, to a treasure chests that open with a magical sound. My favorite were the kids 5 and under who can’t yet tell reality from fantasy. Their eyes were giant saucers of awe everywhere they went.
This is Eric coming out of the Howlin’ Tornado which I at first refused to go on. I had seen the funnel shape from the freeway and thought you dropped in from the top of the funnel. It reminded me too much of the Shaka in Hawaii which was several stories straight down and then up the other side then back down backwards continuing until you lose momentum. I was rather traumatized by it (major fear of heights, went on it because I love my dad and he needed a partner). I told Eric “I know you love me, I don’t have to prove I’m brave to you or put myself in mortal danger to earn your respect, I’m not doing it.” So he went on it and had to ride with a couple teenage girls, then told me it’s not actually that bad. It’s only a five foot drop and then you go back and forth a little in the funnel. I trust him so I went on it and it was a lot of fun. I told the guy running I had to go forward because my fear of heights would probably make me freak out if I couldn’t see what was coming (the anticipation is always worse for me). The lifeguards rotated rides but every time we came to the tornado (which was next to another slide) the previous life guard warned the new one to make sure I faced forward and not to spin us. They were joking with us and very nice and respectful (not what I typically see for ride/waterslide operators).
Here’s the handsome birthday boy at lunch. I took pictures of the food but I’m not going to post them because honestly, it was bad! I got a Kobe beef burger and Eric got a buffalo burger. The onion rings were the best part. There just wasn’t really much flavor and it wasn’t worth the price. I had read reviews warning of lousy food so packed a dinner to microwave and oatmeal for breakfast, but we were checked out by lunch (you can still use the waterpark until closing) so I didn’t bring food for lunch. I think if we go back we’ll pack lunch too. Save money! I would highly recommend The Great Wolf Lodge for families with kids or people who love kids. I hope one day we can take our kids there (I really want to play MagiQuest!)