Great Wolf Lodge

About 2 years ago I saw an instagram story about great wolf lodge and was super intrigued with the idea. We were finally able to make it happen this past week and it was so worth the wait! We will definitely be going back! 

We started our journey at 5 AM, hoping to get to the Lodge early enough to swim. The kids were so excited and didn't fall back to sleep till later (Brett and Lizzie did, Alana never napped). The drive time says 8 and a half hours but it took us 10 with stops and lots of traffic. It was a beautiful drive though right up next to the Colorado River. 

 When we arrived we got checked in and hauled all our stuff up to our room. The room was decorated very cute! It was super clean and the beds were very comfy!

 The soap was so cute!

 We got a few things unpacked and then got in our swimsuits to go check out the water park. I will be honest that I actually don't love to swim. I hate the hassle of having to change and be wet (especially in the car)and I hate feeling cold. This lodge made all those things so nice! We could walk to and from the water park from our room without even going outside. The water park was warm and had lots of warm towels. I did get cold sometimes, but it was overall super comfortable temperatures. There were lifeguards everywhere and they were super attentive. I was so impressed and felt so at ease with my kiddos swimming. When we first got there they had a large part of the pool closed because someone peed in it and they needed to clean it and the wave pool's wave machine wasn't working so it was kinda a lame start. But it was good for all of us to get in the pool and get used to the water and the layout of things. Brett and I rode the tornado water slide and it was pretty horrifying for me! I later discovered that going backward makes the ride super scary. It was so much fun though and Brett and I had a great time. Brett took Sean on the tornado and then we all went up to get changed for dinner.

  We went to the Hungry Bear pizza shop for dinner and Uncle Dale and Romalo came and joined us. The pizza and cheese bread was really good and we got a refillable mug that we could use the whole week.

 The great wolf lodge offers some different passes that include some of the lodge activities. I got Brett and Alana a Paw Pass for something like $70 and it included so much fun stuff! I got Lizzie a Pup pass I think for $40 because I wasn't sure all of what shed be interested in. There was also a wolf pass that included the most stuff for $99. Each of the kids passes included a 12 ounce cup of candy. They had fun picking from all the different options and stuffing their cups. We did that while we were waiting for our pizza to cook and then we ate candy as appetizers.

 The kids passes included a Build a Bear, so after dinner we went and built some new stuffies.

 Uncle Dale and Romalo wanted to see our room so we invited them up! The kids got to sleep pretty easily that night, we were all so tired from the long drive, early wake up time, and swimming.

We woke up the next morning and had breakfast in our room ( I packed a bunch of food). 

 We went down to the craft space and decorated some rubber duckies for the rubber ducky 500 race.

 Next we went to the Magi Quest place where Brett and Alana redeemed their wands and games (included on their pass) and we bought Liz a wand and put it on mini magi mode. We then tried going around to different little portals and trying to play this fun scavenger hunt thing. Brett decided to buy a belt to hold his wand.

 It was really clever the way you could wave at the portal and the computer would recognize your wand and where you were at in the game.

 I thought it was funny the restrooms were labeled outhouses.

 After getting worn out of Magi Quest, we took a break to go do some gold mining. The Magi Quest game came with unlimited games the entire time we were there, so it was nice to know we could go back to it.
They did the mining in a very clever way. They had a water place in the middle of the adventure park part and they gave the kids a pan and a big bag of dirt. They would pour in a bit of the dirt, dip in the water, and pick out their gems, then add more of the dirt.

 They gave the kids a mineral identification guide as well so it was fun to see them guessing what they had gotten.

 After mining for gold we went and changed into our swim suits so we could get to the Ducky Derby at noon. They would measure the kids at the entrance and would give them a wrist band so it was easy to tell what slides they could go on. 

 They sent the duckies down these huge slides. It was super funny! I bought a water proof cell phone holder so that I could get pics while in the water, it was pretty scary letting my phone get submerged and trusting it would be ok! Some of the pics would be a bit blurry in areas though because of the humidity in the protector.

 The wave pool was Alana's favorite and some of the waves could get pretty intense! They would come on for 10 min and then rest for 10 min and then come back on. When they were starting they would play a loud howling sound.

 Around 1 we paused for some food from the Buckets cafe there at the water park. We got a turkey avocado sandwich, chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and some huge Bavarian pretzels. It was all delicious especially the sweet potato fries. The kids didn't eat much. Especially Brett who ate 3 bites and was ready to get back in the pool! The lodge had a nice buffet we were planning to eat at but the kids just didn't eat enough to justify the cost.

 After swimming we went up to the room to rest for a bit.

 We then went to the Airforce Academy with Uncle Dale and Romalo. He showed us this amazing chapel where there is a Protestant section, Catholic section, Jewish, and Buddhist. It was an incredible place to worship.

 Uncle Dale took us down onto the field where public isn't allowed. We saw this piece of an airplane from September 11. It was very touching to see it and think of the sacrifice. We watched lots of the airmen running relay races and then we were asked to leave, haha!

 Uncle Dale took us to his office and the kids took some of his gobstoppers he has for the students. He is a math professor there.

 After the academy we went to Cheddars restaurant where we were planning to meet Dale's girlfriend. We decided to order for the kids and then wait for our own meals until Elizabeth could come. The kids didn't eat much, but enjoyed playing kindles while we waited and then enjoyed our own meals. Elizabeth and her son Jack were really nice and we had some great conversation. Lizzie was so tired and it was cute to see her snuggle up on Brett.

After dinner we went back to the Lodge

 We played in the arcade.

 Brett got lots of tickets.

 I carried around all the stuffed animals.

We went back and conked out again after another super fun day! 

The next morning when Sean woke up he started playing Zelda, as the kids woke up one by one they climbed in next to Sean to watch. (I got scooted out, lol)

After another breakfast in our room, supplemented by the Dunkin Donuts there at the lodge, we were planning to go swimming. Alana's anxiety was a little stronger that morning and she was feeling way nervous about going to the pool and getting splashed. She wanted to start with some other things and then head to the water later. We did magi quest, rock wall climbing, and arcade stuff. On the way I noticed the chandelier in the candy store was made of gummy bears!

I took a picture of what we needed to collect so I could remember, lol!

Lizzie got bored with the magi quest so we played in the tree house and then went to the arcade for awhile.

They have a mini bowling alley there that the kids wanted to do next, but it was full and Sean was feeling a bit tired from playing video games at a 5 year old's pace, so we found a spot at the craft table and made some dream catchers. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing! After some rock climbing we went up and changed, ordered a pizza on the way to the pool and then got all set up at the water park while it cooked. We ordered a half cheese half sausage but they made us an all sausage. We told them we could just pick off the sausage no biggie but they said no and gave us an extra half a cheese pizza. We couldn't eat it all, but it was nice that they wanted to make it right.

After swimming, grabbing some Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and taking another rest we went to the gift shop and then to the arcade again. We played up the rest of our paw points and then got some pretzels, a hamburger, and chicken strips for dinner. We went out to the patio and bought a smores kit so we could roast marshmallows. It was delicious! They were playing fun music and Sean and the kids did tons of dancing! We went up to the Grand Lobby to see the giant animatronic show and the taking down of the camp flag, ran to claim some prizes at the arcade, and then ran back out to the patio to play Bingo =)

Uncle Dale really wanted us to see the Garden of the Gods and we wanted to see it (on a list of a ton of other fun things), but we just ran out of time and the kids really wanted to swim one last time on Saturday before we went home. We got to the water park right at 9 when it opened, swam till 10:30, got the kids glitter tatoos that were included on their passes, and packed up the car to get out before our 11 AM check out. We could have stayed swimming till 1 but needed to be out of the room by 11. We met Uncle Dale, Romalo, and Elizabeth at the IHOP for some Brunch and then headed back to Utah. The kids ate more at the meal than any other time! 

Here is the view from the 9th floor lobby where you can see some of the water slides. They were all so fun! Brett and I did all the adult ones except the tail twister, which Sean did and said was pretty intense.

We left about 12:30 and it took us 10 hours to drive home, but the kids did great and I felt so grateful for technology! This trip was so fun for us! We spent half of what we would have spent going to Disneyland and honestly had more fun for our family's stage in life. The way the cost worked was great too because the kids got so so much on their passes and I didn't feel super stressed about spending money on every little thing! Everything was less rushed and less crowded. We were able to sit and play and chill without needing to run from ride to ride. Everything was in a smaller space so the kids could feel a bit of independence but we all still felt safe. We loved the variety of things to do! Don't get me wrong we will forever be a Disney loving family, but this was just a perfect alternative for this year!