Adventure at Great Wolf Lodge

We haven't been able to take a vacation in quite a while, so I convinced my DH that we should take the family to an indoor waterpark for fall break. I began checking TripAdvisor reviews for various waterpark hotels within reasonable driving distance from our home and the one that stood out was Great Wolf Lodg. Fortunately, the one in Mason, Ohio is only a little over 2 hours away. So, we answered the call of the wolf and booked our room.

With a longer fall break this year, we were able to go on weekdays when the hotel and waterpark are less busy AND the prices are lower. Bonus! We departed from home on Sunday and arrived at check in well before our room was ready. Reading information online beforehand prepared us well. We had a separate bag packed with our suits and headed off to the pool. The front desk called as soon as our room was ready.

It took our kids a little while to feel comfortable with the waterpark environment, but they caught on quickly. I was concerned that we would be pulled in several different directions with three kids of various ages, but it turns out that my two youngest were quite happy in the area designed with young children in mind and the wave pool. My oldest was perfectly happy in the lazy river, the wave pool and the big slides.

When we figured our little ones needed a break, we headed to our room to change and check it out. We splurged and booked the Kid Kabin room and boy were we happy! I had seen the floor plan online, but it didn't prepare me for the size of the room. There was more than enough room for our family of five. The separate area for the three kids was great and they loved having their own space.

Our oldest loved the interactive MagiQuest game. The only thing that surprised me was how many kids were running around without their parents. After many trips back and forth and up and down stairs, I started to understand. Much to my son's disappointment, I still didn't let him go without a parent, so I counted it as my workout. It really is an interesting game and the kids seem to have a lot of fun playing it. Ok, so there were several adults that were clearly having fun with it too.

Great Wolf Lodge does a great job of keeping kids entertained. Between the time spent in the waterpark and playing the MagiQuest games, our kids were so busy we didn't even check out the arcade or the kid's club. From the first day, my kids begged to come back. We departed on Tuesday and the kids were begging to stay at the pool or play just one more "Quest". Based on the fun our family had, I'm sure we'll go back. At least next time we will know what to expect. For one, we'll plan a little better for our meals. I leaarned that we could pay for our breakfast in advance when we made reservations and checked in at a cost of $40. Instead, we paid the morning of and were shocked that for a family of 4 (little guy was free) we paid over $60 for breakfast.

All said, it was an expensive trip for three days, but everyone had fun and it was a nice break from reality for a few days. I'll be watching for specials and seeing what kind of deal we might find to convince us to go back!