Great Wolf Lodge

Derek flew into DFW from his Canadian fishing trip, Justin and I drove up from Waco, and the three of us finally came together at a place called Great Wolf Lodge. Very conveniently located a mere 3 miles from the airport. Wendi told me about this pace that I had somehow never heard of, and we decided to have an early Father's Day trip at this new location.


It's an indoor/outdoor water park, where some of the slides are coming out of the sides of the structure, quite literally.


They are all into the decor at this place.


This monstrous tree was in the lobby of the hotel.


You'll notice throughout this post that the wolf theme is very prominent. A-WHOOOOOOOOO!


As you check in, they torture you with a glass wall overlooking the indoor water park. We checked in after grabbing a bite to eat at about 6:30pm. We quickly changed into our suits to enjoy ourselves until the park closed at 9pm.


The photos on the website really didn't do it justice, so here's some extra pix. You're welcome.

The big bucket at the top of this photo would fill up and dump a ton of water on people. It was always fun to watch everyone get ready for the big dump.


The back of that same structure shows the medium level slides available. Lucky for us, Justin was 2/3 of an inch past the 42 inch mark that they very persistently checked to give the allowed children a certain wristband to wear. These slides allowed Justin to ride them solo without us with him. We just sat back and watched.


The wave pool was cool, and quite literally cool water, but we didn't frequent this place much.


The lazy river was just short enough for Justin to stumble along in while walking/running/swimming. If he was any shorter, then he wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.


I have never seen so many lifeguards, much less moving as fast as they did always looking for anyone in trouble. I felt like we were on reality TV or something. They were diligent - very impressive.


These lily-pads were both outside and inside. Justin tried them once, but the bigger kids loved trying to walk across them.


These slides were the biggest hit. Justin could ride all but one with either of us since he was 42 inches tall. If you take any child that is not this height to the park, be prepared for a lot of disappointment as they will not be able to do most of the rides here.


The first night we were there, all we did was climb these stairs, sometimes lugging a tube with us, to ride these rides. Justin was in heaven.


Convenient for us, lifejackets were around for the taking. After the first night Justin decided he didn't need one.


The three of us rode this ride over and over. Shani is not a big fan riding it backwards. Rather frightening, while worrying her son is going to flip out. As if, we were always ok.


Justin came down with a big smile everytime.


Here is the one place you could hang out with a child under 42 inches. Justin liked it, but couldn't be bothered with it for long.


Before we all realized he could ride other slides solo, he slid on these small slides over and over while we hung out in the hot tub.


No, I am not being a negligent mother. The hot tub was within viewing distance of the slides. Cool thing about this hot tub is that it continued...


...outside. The outside pool was only open 10am-7pm, unlike the inside from 9am-9pm.


The outside pool water was also chilly, but we rode these slides a few times. You had to be...you guessed it...42 inches to ride with an adult.


They really dig the wolf decor.


The outside pool was equally chilly, but probably not in the dead of summer right now.


You are not allowed to bring your own food outside to the pool. I tried to bring some of our stash back t to the pool with us, but I had to take it back. We ate lunch in our room instead.


There was this Harry Potter type of themed game going on all around us. It was a huge deal for kids of all ages. I feel like some of then came to the Lodge just to do this game.


Everyone bought these wands and placed them on photos, treasure chests, etc. and were told if they were in the right place on the scavenger hunt. After receiving their instructs from the Wizard, they go through a maze all over the hotel and end up trying to slay a dragon in the end.


We somehow lucked out and got a room on the first floor.


I think only the first floor had 20 foot ceilings. Not to mention all the activities were on the first floor as well.


Justin got to stay in the Wolf Pup Den.


It was an open, yet secluded, area right by the bathroom that allowed him to have his own private nook. We are spoiled when we got to Lost Pines because we get a suite that closes Justin off during naptime. Derek was wondering what we would do during naptime. I suggested we should probably sleep as well. And that's what we did.


The pup den had it's own TV so the kids could watch TV, play video games, rent movies, etc.


Don't think the sleeping wolves made Justin sleep past 6:30am.


I loved the overhead light in the pup den - the face of the moon.


We let Justin rent one car racing game for 30 minutes. It was too hard for him to play alone, so Derek had to help him out.


The other reason we loved the first floor was because we had a built in backyard. This seriously helped us love the place that much more. We would come in after swimming and thaw outside in the humidity, eat a snack, watch the traffic go by, and just chat.


There was a dessert shop that they forced you to walk by every time you left the pool. Justin chose a lifesize sugar cookie to munch on for the entire stay.


Every evening Justin would race kids from other porches to the fence and back. Funny tidbit - the other kids never knew they were racing. Justin would just pronounce himself the winner everytime he came back. One evening he wanted to walk around the "neighborhood", so we took a stroll from one end of the porches to the next.


This was 2 hours after our arrival. So I forgot I had mascara on before we went swimming, and Derek didn't know Justin was taking a photo.


But we didn't care - we were just happy to have our daddy back.


The smartest thing about Great Wolf was this wristband. You wore this from the moment you came in the to moment you left. It not only gave you entrance into the water park, but it was your room key! Score - we were spoiled never having to keep up with the key. There was a sensor on the band that you put up to the door. Only adults got the sensor, though Justin wore a band the entire time as well. It was funny when he would put his wrist to the door - never understood why he couldn't get the door to open.


On the 2nd night of our stay, we managed to get our act together to go to the 8pm storytime. Everyone came in their pajamas, so we quickly showered up to go. Justin just had to have his hair in a towel like mommy.


The Great Clock Tower Show was fun, just a little on the Mother Earth side of things. The kids loved it, which was the point.


All sorts of critters were singing the songs. They also put on this performance at 9am, 10am, you get the picture. But it's hard to make that when you are too busy going down water slides with your 42-inch self.


We really did enjoy it, though we look a little stumped here.


After the 15 minute performance, Wiley the Wolf came out and a bedtime book story was read to everyone.


Then everyone got their photo with Wiley.


I had heard two negative things before going in to this vacation. The beds were hard and the food was not good.

The beds were fine - maybe we were too tired to care, but they were not like the reviews where people moaned about the lumpy mattresses.

We ate lunch in our room, dinner at a Bar/Diner on the 4th floor, and the breakfast buffet 2 mornings in a row. The breakfast buffet was worth every penny, especially where 3 and under eat free. I have never seen such a spread, with choices on all spectrums. If you don't feel like eating at the place, you are 2 minutes from Grapevine Mills and a slew of eateries. So that point is null and void.

We enjoyed our stay. If I had to do it over again, I would have come early on check-in day, swam til our hearts content, check-in at 4pm, and spend the night. The next day you check out but can stay until the park closes at 9pm. We didn't have that flexibility when we booked our stay, but would make it work like that next time. This was a pre-Father's Day weekend for us, so we made it work. For those that haven't been before, you are in for a treat.