Part 1 of our Great Wolf Lodge adventure can be found here.
So, after being given the gift of free activities for the kiddo, we went in search of food. We had wanted to try the “nicer” or the two sit-down restaurants, but when we got there, they weren’t running a dinner service. It was disappointing. So, instead, we ended up having to eat at the other, which seemed to be a little more relaxed and casual, kind of like a school cafeteria. The service was quick, so I guess that’s good, but the food was meh at best. Our appetizer was pretty good–a crab and artichoke dip–but dinner itself left a lot to be desired. The menu mostly consisted of burgers, sandwiches, a very over-priced steak, some stir fry, and things like baked chicken and mashed potatoes. S had halibut and chips, which was much better than my buffalo burger, and E refused to touch her macaroni and cheese (in fact, she demanded the mac and cheese after we had already ordered her a cheeseburger, so we got our waiter to change it. When it came, she ended up eating a quarter of my burger and a half cup of ketchup). It would have been overpriced if it had been good, but since it wasn’t that great… Ugh. I wish we had just gotten a pizza.
After that, we started our quest to do all of the Paw Pass activities, and E really had a blast. We ended the night with desserts. She got her dip’n'dots and we each got a sundae. They were pretty decent. It was close to 10 pm by the time we headed back to the room, and E was exhausted. She didn’t take a nap, so by the time we got her settled into the enormous bed, she conked out and was immediately snoring. We weren’t far behind.
Unfortunately, having a pregnant bladder meant I was up at 7 am to go pee, and she woke up when I got out of bed. So, we were up having breakfast by 9 am. GWL only has one breakfast option, and it was not cheap. E was free, but S and I were $13.99 and that didn’t include our drinks. Sure, it was a buffet, but the food wasn’t that great. I was really surprised they didn’t have a less expensive menu option, because if we were a family of 5 with kids over the age of 3, breakfast alone would have cost us over $75, and we would probably have just skipped it altogether and munched on pop-tarts. It seems like it would make better business sense to have less expensive options–a little money is better than none, right?
After eating, we packed up and got ready for more water park. Check-out was at 11, but we could use the water park for the rest of the day. We managed about an hour and a half. She had already done all that she could do the day before, and while she was having fun, we were bored. It was so crowded by 12:30 that we couldn’t get to E after she came down the slides, and it was just making me nervous and frustrated, so we dried off, changed, grabbed a snack, and hit the road.
I would definitely say that for us, the amount of time we were there was just enough. I am sure that if we had older kids, we would get more use out of it, or even if we had no kids we would have probably spent some more time in the park. If another deal like the one we got this week comes around in the future, we will probably take advantage of it. However, I don’t think we’ll ever put much effort into planning a vacation specifically to the GWL, here or anywhere else. A stop on a cross-country trip? Maybe. It might be something to break up the monotony. But otherwise? I’d rather save up a bit longer and take the girls to Disney World.
