Conquering the Great Indoors:                                            Family Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge
by Teresa Thompson

The buzz began late last summer when we received the first promotional piece in the mail. A few weeks later, the television ads started popping up. Then, my children and I drooled over the website. Soon, parents were talking. “Did you hear about Great Wolf Lodge?” I overheard at the local playground. My cousin from Long Island called me, “What have you heard about the new indoor waterpark?”, then my friend from Connecticut, “Have you booked at Great Wolf yet?” Apparently, a new family resort was opening up, and they had one hell of a marketing department.

Located in the Pocono Mountains, the Great Wolf Lodge is now the Northeast’s largest indoor waterpark. With 11 waterslides, six pools and a four-story treehouse waterfort, I have to admit, this place sounded cool. I decided to check it out.

After a slew of pre-promotion, the Great Wolf Lodge opened its doors in late October 2005. I don’t normally like to visit resorts within a year of their opening (invariably, the kinks always have to be worked out), but this place was too tempting to resist. Plus, I had heard good reports from those who went as early as November. Turns out, I couldn’t get in there—the place has been booked solid. The earliest reservation I could manage, ironically, turned out to be Spring Break week. So, with bathing suits packed, we made the two hour trek to Scotrun, Pennsylvania.

One of the unique aspects about Great Wolf is that the fun is entirely indoors. Even during the doldrums of winter, you can don your bathing gear and be in an 84 degree environment. How fun is that? And, you don’t have to worry about your vacation being ruined by rain either (been there, done that). So, yes, this waterpark resort provides an ideal escape for both parents and kids.

The Lodge itself is huge: a four story, rustic log-sided resort sits on a 95 acre site on the top of a huge hill. The lobby is furnished with large tables, antler chandeliers and the Great Clock Tower, where an animated show is preformed at various hours throughout the day. The lodge contains 401 suites with ten different themed configurations, including the KidCabin, KidKamp and Grizzly Bear Suite. We stayed in the “Wolf Den”, one of the least expensive options. The room was divided into two sections, one for the children (which included bunk beds and their own flat screen TV & Nintendo), and one for the adults. This “room within a room” concept worked well, as our kids were just thrilled to have their own little “den”. My husband & I were just happy we had separate TVs and didn’t have to watch the Disney Channel for our entire stay.

It’s Spring Break time, and as expected, there are families with children everywhere. But, I would imagine this place is like that all the time. I have heard complaints from some former patrons that the Great Wolf Lodge is so “noisy all the time—not relaxing.” Well, yes. There are children here, lots of them, and they tend to make noise. Let’s face it, you are here for your children, to bond with them and have fun—as a family. If my husband and I were going on a solo trip, I would not choose Great Wolf Lodge as my destination (and you shouldn’t either).

Included in your room rate (and let’s get the sticker shock over with here—our room was around $400 per night) are your park tickets. If you are not staying at the Lodge, you don’t get to enjoy the waterpark—it is exclusively for overnight guests only.

The waterpark itself—dubbed Bear Track Landing—is massive. In addition to all the waterslides, raging from kiddie sized to fast-paced tube slides, there is a huge indoor wave pool, lazy river, two giant hot tubs and a zero-depth entry pool for toddlers. The treehouse waterfort has interconnecting bridges, cargo nets, web crawls and over 60 guest-activated water effects. A huge, 1000 gallon tipping bucket suspended at the top creates a huge, hard splash when the bell rings and its about to topple over. Inside the water park are lounge chairs, tables, a gift shop and a snack bar selling everything from hot dogs to pretzels to beer and soda. The waterpark itself is staffed by nearly 100 nationally certified lifeguards, so there are always extra eyes on your children.

Expanding on the rustic adventure theme are the Great Wolf Lodge restaurants. There are currently two, the Camp Critter Bar & Grille and the Loose Moose Cottage, both buffet style. Breakfast buffets offer your typical fare—omelet station, pancakes, bacon, cereals, oh yeah, and a huge selection of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (guess what my kids ate for two days?). Dinners offered a made-to-order pasta station, king crab legs, peel & eat shrimp, carved meats, and a dessert bar. There’s also an on-site Pizza Hut Express, a newly-opened Starbucks and the Bear Claw Café, which serves homemade fudge, ice cream and a variety of salads and sandwiches. There are plans within the next year to expand the dining facilities to include an a la carte restaurant, and add room service.

If you get tired of being wet, you can visit the Northern Lights Arcade, Iron Horse Fitness Room, and Cub Club—a children’s area where arts & crafts and other activities are offered. For adult pampering and relaxation, check out Elements—an Aveda Concept Spa. Great Wolf Lodge also offers a large on-premises gift shop, and for even more shopping, there are lots of factory outlets nearby (hooray—my favorite thing)!

Did we have fun at Great Wolf Lodge? Of course we did. In fact, I believe every child I saw at the waterpark had a smile on their face. Parents, too. I think I myself went down the waterslides about fifty times. After two days, my children still didn’t want to leave. And that’s the sort of thinking that has worked so well for Great Wolf Lodge thus far. Sales Manager Christina Borgia tells me that the response to the waterpark resort has well exceeded expectations. “We had to hire an extra 300 people within the first month of being open,” she recalls, “We never expected to be this busy right from the start.” Weekends continue to be sold-out, so if you want to try out this unique adventure anytime in the near future, book now.

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