MomMomOnTheGo and family recently packed our bags, hopped in the car, and headed for our summer trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound Washington. This was our second year heading for a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge and I think that we have more fun every time we go there.
This year we stayed two nights which was the same length as our stay last year. I know that some people stay one night at Great Wolf Lodge, but honestly, there is too much fun to be had and a minimum of a two night stay is a must for our family. We are also travelling from Vancouver, BC Canada so it takes us about 5 hours to get to Great Wolf Lodge depending on the wait times at the border and the traffic congestion through Seattle. With a 5 to 6 hour drive, I personally want to stay longer than one night. My kids want to live there forever, but that is another story!
For our last visit to Great Wolf Lodge we had a Wolf Den. This is a theme room where the kids have a private area in the form of a decorated den. It is so awesome and we just had to have a Wolf Den again this year. We ended up getting a first floor room with a patio. I absolutely loved being on the first floor. The ceilings are so tall at about 15 feet high and having a patio to sit on and dry our bathing suits out on the chairs was awesome.
With respect to which floor to ask for, any floor is fine. They are all accessible by the stairs and elevators. The first 5 floors have all the locations related to Magiquest, Shadowquest, and Compasquest so you might just want to stay away from the areas where the game stops are. It tends to get a little crowded and noisy with excited kids running around the lodge playing their amazing game. I will get into these games in a bit.
The staff is very friendly at Great Wolf Lodge. From check in to check out and everything in between, the staff makes you feel so at home and welcome at the Lodge. They are ready and willing to help you at any time and they are also smiling and happy.
There are so many options for add on packages that you can make at the time of your registration and some at the time of check in. I highly recommend that you research all the available ad on options as they save you money. I have noticed that from last year, that the ad on packages have changed slightly, so make sure to always take a look at what each ad on option includes as it might not be what you had the last time around. It seems that Great Wolf Lodge is always working at making their packages and ad on options better and better so this means changes from time to time.
This year we purchased a Paw Pass for our two girls, ages 7 and 11. There are three types of passes you can choose between being; the Pup Pass, Paw Pass, and Wolf Pass. Personally I think that each pass relates somewhat to how long your stay is. If you are staying just for one night or have younger children then the Pup Pass is likely for you. If you are staying two nights or more, or have older children the take a look at the Paw Pass. If you are staying for a longer trip of about 3 nights or more, then I would recommend taking a look at the Wolf Pass. I was wanting to get our girls the Wolf Pass this time around, but so much is included in it that we just would not have had enough time to get to it all in our two night stay.
Here is the difference between all three passes:
Package Includes
One Creation Station animal (outfit not included)
One Color-Your-Own Item at Cub Club® (t-shirt or pillow case)
One 12 oz. Mike and Ike® candy cup from Buckhorn Exchange™ Gift Shop
One single scoop ice cream cone from Bear Paw Sweets & Eats™
One pair of Great Wolf Lodge goggles from Bear Essentials™ Swim Shop
One small Glitz Glitter TattooCost $39.99 = 42% savings
Package Includes
Choice of MagiQuest® or ShadowQuest™ game
Choice of classic, color wand, standard topper or belt
One Creation Station animal (outfit not included)
One 12 oz. Mike and Ike® candy cup from Buckhorn Exchange™ Gift Shop
One Glitz Glitter Tattoo
One single scoop ice cream from Bear Paw Sweets & Eats™
One single admission to Great Forest Challenge
One pair of Great Wolf Lodge goggles from Bear Essentials™ Swim ShopCost $64.99 = 34% Savings
Package Includes
One Compass Quest™ game
Choice of classic, color wand, standard topper or belt
One Creation Station animal (outfit not included)
One 12 oz. Mike and Ike’® candy cup from Buckhorn Exchange™ Gift Shop
Great Wolf Lodge goggles from Bear Essentials™ Swim Shop
One small Glitz Glitter Tattoo
One single scoop ice cream from Bear Paw Sweets & Eats™
One single admission to Great Forest Challenge
One game of golf at Howl at the Moon™ Glow Golf
One play at 4D World
One climb at Howlers’ Peak Ropes CourseCost $89.99 = 31% Savings
I highly recommend that you purchase one of the three passes as your children are going to want to do so many of the activities and the pass will save you money. I also recommend that you purchase the late checkout option as it is really nice to have your room to go back to after a swim the morning that you are leaving. Please note that you need to add the late checkout option at the time of your reservation. The passes you can purchase upon your arrival or ahead of time.
With your room, your water passes for the water park are included. I love the passes as well because it is a wrist band that you wear for your entire stay and for the adults, the wrist band can also open your room and be used to charge things throughout the lodge.
There were 4 new activities at Great Wolf Lodge this year, but one opened the day after we left 🙁
The new activities were ShadowQuest, CompasQuest, 4D World, and Howlers Peak Ropes Course. It was Howlers Peak Ropes Course that was not open during our stay.
Howlers Peak Ropes Course™
Gear up and navigate your way through our brand new, outdoor Howlers Peak Ropes Course. You’ll have a whole new perspective when you’re 50 feet off the ground climbing through obstacles, balancing on ropes and crossing bridges – all the while of course wearing safety harnesses. Are you ready for the challenge? Please note shoes must be closed-toe with rubber soles such as athletic shoes. No flip flops or open heeled shoes. You must be 48” (1.22m) tall to participate in this activity or accompanied by a responsible adult. For little wolf pups, there is a smaller course to explore designed just for them.
If you are afraid of heights then you might just want to pretend that Howlers Peaks Ropes Course does not exist. If you are not afraid of heights, well then this looks so amazingly fun and I wish we had a chance to do it. We saw the crew training on the course and I was jealous of the fun that they were obviously having.
The last time we visited Great Wolf Lodge we did MagiQuest so this time we decided to do ShadowQuest. MagiQuest was a ton of fun last year and this year we had a blast with ShadowQuest.
Overview
In the mist of the long winter night, it is the job of the Magi to save the light of the sky before it vanishes. With the help of the Lumina and Ivan, conquer new quests, collect runes, battle creatures from the dark worlds and save the light. In the end, if you’ve accomplished your goal, receive the Medal of Light for completing this courageous adventure.
ShadowQuest is one of the three Quest games currently at Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound. My girls love the wands so that was pretty much the deciding factor on whether or not to try CompassQuest or to do ShadowQuest. Also, with our Paw Passes we received a ShadowQuest game and choice of different wand options which my girls decided to get another wand topper.
The Quest games are what I was previously referring to as the game that takes place on the first 5 floors of the lodge. So my biggest recommendations are to wear comfortable shoes and bring a drink along with you. You will be going up and down the 5 flight of stairs for hours with your kids. It is a great family activity and an awesome workout as well. Next time I think I will wear a pedometer because I am so curious as to just how many steps and stairs I do with my kids as they venture on their quest.
We really love the quest games and we will do them every visit. It is just a matter of which quest we will do each visit.
This time around we did the Great Forest Challenge. We really wanted to do it our last visit, but we ran out of time. This visit we had it in our minds that we were doing the challenge and we got it done.
Overview
Gather your pack and journey to complete the challenges of the Great Forest. As you navigate through each room of this fast-paced, skill-building, family-fun adventure, you’ll encounter the magical waters, gather mystical acorns and tackle laser mazes while collecting points and having fun.
The Great Forest Challenge is quite fun and will have everyone working together as a team and chuckling at the same time. The challenge occurs in 4 rooms. The first two rooms have two challenges that you do in them. The third and the fourth room each have a single challenge that you all do. Whether you are stomping on fish, collecting acorns, avoiding laser beams or hitting mushrooms, your pack is going to have a ton of fun. I think that it is great to at least to the Great Forest Challenge once with your family.
We also tried 4D World which is one of the new activities for our visit this time around.
4D World is like a 4D video game. It is pretty fun and I think it is aimed at the older kids and adults. Yes, I liked 4D World, but I did not get much of a turn! LOL!
You use your points on your arcade card to play the 4D World game. You are given the 3D glasses to play the game and you stand at the small counter with your gun and shoot the targets that you see in 3D. At the time we were there, it took 12 credits for each player to play so you will want to check it out, but it could get quite costly if you play it over and over again.
The other activity that we always love to do is go to the Northern Lights Arcade. Our family loves the Northern Lights Arcade and this is where we tend to spend a lot of time when we are not in the water park or doing the quest game. You collect tickets or points on your card at the arcade and it allows you to purchase items at the arcade counter with your points. The games are a ton of fun also.
Of course my Little One liked the stuffies, candy, and of course a colorful ball. 🙂 Not all the stuffies picture were won at the arcade though. There are awesome shops at Great Wolf Lodge, one of which you can stuff your own stuffie so the character pillows that you see were obtained through the one store.
One of the places that we spent a ton of time is the water park. That is one of the main reasons people go to Great Wold Lodge. Whether you love the wave pool, the multiple water slides, a 1000 gallons of water being dumped on you, or just soaking in the hot tub, there is something for everyone in the water park.
There is so much to do at Great Wolf Lodge that I have not even covered it here. There are multiple restaurants and I recommend the pizza which is so delicious. There are multiple stores. There are so many activities that you just will not have time in a couple of days to get a chance to do everything. There are still a ton of activities that after two trips to Great Wolf Lodge, that we have not had time to get to.
One thing I have to mention is that the Great Wolf Lodge characters do a walk about at certain times of the day. My Little One loves this and always gets her picture with her favorite character.
There is even story time at Great Wolf Lodge, one of which occurs in the evening just before bedtime.
Great Wolf Lodge is a family must vacation. Everyone in our family has an absolutely amazing time every time we go and we are always looking forward to our next vacation there. My Little One really hates walking away from Great Wolf Lodge.
Disclosure: MomMomOnTheGo was provided product for the purpose of conducting this review. As always, MomMomOnTheGo only supports companies, products, and services that she loves.
