Great Wolf Lodge information

[KungFuPanda]

Maybe I'm panicking because nobody has really asked for anything big this year, but can you all give me the scoop on this place. I think it might be a nice family gift to spend a few days there. Our BIG limitation is my wheelchair bound son. He can maneuver in the water, but would need a shower wheelchair to get around the place. I'm sure there would be things he couldn't climb/do, but are there enough other fun things to keep him busy for a few days?

 

What does a couple nights there really cost? I'm not finding anything online. We could probably swing some weeknights, and we could do the VA or Poconos location.

 

Thoughts? Advice?

[gingersmom]

I have been to the Poconos one many times with my kids.

 

We go for one night and you get to use the waterpark for free the next day.

 

The wave pool is walk in (wheelchair accessible) and really nice. I spend most of my time floating around waiting for the waves.

 

There are also areas for younger children that are also wheelchair accessible.

 

There is a lazy river and then numerous water slides.

 

My kids love it. We are planning on going back in March.

 

If you check out their website it will show you the rates for the different dates you are interested in.

[Running the race]

My kids loved the place. Search for a homeschool discount. We found one online.

[Farrar]

We've been to the Williamsburg one. Much of the water area sounds like it would be accessible for him - there's a big beach entry wave pool, a very slow lazy river, a water volleyball area, and lots of spouting things in the flat, wheelchair accessible climbing area (near the bottom, that is). The big attraction is the big slides. All of those require lots of steps though. Also a "surfing" area, which, IIRC, is via a ramp, but I don't know that it's something he could do (maybe? Kids just lay on the board. I have no clue).

 

If you go during the "homeschool" days, it's very affordable - not much more than a "regular" decent hotel. They have them, IIRC, during September and early December. There may be another homeschool deal for the spring at some point, but I'm not sure. You just have to do an online search for the coupon code.

[lovetobehome]

We're heading to the Poconos one next week, if you have specific questions, LMK and I can get them answered! I have not been there before, but friends took my son last year and he LOVED it!

[Dmmetler]

He could also do the Magiquest-there's nothing that's not accessible via the elevators, even the stuff in the stairwells, and I think the heights would be OK.

 

We went to GWL Williamsburg recently, and I think that my DD enjoyed it more than past trips to Disney or Sea World.

[PeacefulChaos]

You should be able to find cost for particular dates on their website. They list special offers and such. :)

We went this past March and loved it! (Williamsburg location) We'll probably go back next fall sometime.

Note: in house food can be pricey - particularly at the restaurant. The snack shack in the water park area isn't so bad. Next time we'll go out elsewhere for dinner.

[jewellsmommy]

I was actually a little surprised at the reasonable food rates. The Williamsburg GWL has a little Pizza hut counter. There was a microwave in the room for snacks and a light lunch. There are also meal deals available for room service that are quite decent. It was like $30 for a full dinner. We used a homeschool discount when we went.

 

The only bad thing was probably unique to just us. Dd could only tolerate a little time in the water area. She had some sort of freak allergic reaction to the fumes. She started coughing, hr lips turned purpley blue, and we thought it was an asthma attack. After the 'attack' passed (used the inhaler) we ate, walked around, played arcade and then went back in to the water park. It happened again. We called the doctor and gave dd benadryl (doc suggestion). We tried the park one more time the next morning with benadryl having already been given, but it happened again! So, we did everything else that could be done outside of the waterpark and then went home.

 

Other than that, it would have been awesome. If you have an asthmatic, though, I would plan frequent breaks from the water area. I will say that dd has always been inclined toward the weird medical stuff, so it is probably just her :tongue_smilie:. The place though is awesome!

 

We spent more than we intended because we were doing all of the other stuff like arcade and the sweet treats place and the gift shop...etc.

 

Enjoy. I'm jealous of anybody whose children can actually breathe while there! :lol:

[PeacefulChaos]

I was actually a little surprised at the reasonable food rates. The Williamsburg GWL has a little Pizza hut counter. There was a microwave in the room for snacks and a light lunch. There are also meal deals available for room service that are quite decent. It was like $30 for a full dinner. We used a homeschool discount when we went.

 

 

You know, I actually remember reading that they had the Pizza Hut on the website - then when we got there, I didn't have a whole lot of time to 'look around' so I never even saw it. I totally forgot about it. :glare:

I also didn't know they had room service - all I saw when we were there was the snack shack and the restaurant (whatever it is that it's called - the buffet type thing, which wasn't what we were wanting but it's all we saw) which cost us $100 for dinner. I even looked through the book in the room and stuff, and couldn't find anything else (except restaurants outside the hotel). I do remember thinking, 'I could have sworn there was more to eat...' but I couldn't really remember off the top of my head. In any case, it isn't a vacation for me if I still have to bother with lunch in the room - we did breakfast in there though, and we don't really do snacks. :)

But thanks for reminding me of that Pizza Hut (though, knowing me, I'll end up complaining when we're there that we could have PH at HOME, so we need to go somewhere else...:lol:)

[Dmmetler]

If you're likely to do a lot of the out of water park stuff, you may want to consider getting the Paw Pass up front. For about $65 you get a bunch of the extras-Magiquest game and wand,stuffed animal, color your own t-shirt, arcade tokens, bowling, and stuff like that, plus a 10% discount on any other purchases. We got it because I knew DD would want to do magiquest and once I saw they had stuffed dragons, I knew that she'd be spending her birthday money to bring one home-and by the time you covered those two items, the rest of the paw pass was essentially free. I'm guessing you could easily split the pass items between 2 kids. If your child is out of the age range for the teen club or the cub club, you can trade in those items for more arcade tokens. I don't know that we'll do it when we go back (and I do think it will be a when) since DD now already has the wand for Magiquest, but it was well worth it for the first visit.

[SKL]

I have been to the one in Sandusky, Ohio a couple of times. We had a great time, but I must say I didn't see much in the waterpark that would be fun for a wheelchair-bound child - though I wasn't actively looking with that in mind. It sounds like the parks have significantly different facilities at the different locations. There is no wave pool in the Sandusky location, for example. There is other fun stuff to do besides swimming. Some of it depends on your child's age. They have different rooms with toys / crafts / video games for kids of various ages.