Our family enjoyed a nice stay over the Labor Day weekend. I visited once 17 years ago with my…read morechildren, so it was nice to bring their children back for a visit.
Lots of changes for sure, but in a good way. The activities in the main hall were so much fun, family games, dance party, stories, yoga we did it all and had SO much fun.
The indoor waterpark was perfect, we have two pale gingers and the ability to have fun and not have to worry about a sunburn is a game changer. The ages of children for our group were 5, 7 and 9. There was something for everyone. Our favorites are the HUGE bucket dump, the wave pool and the lazy river. However the slides are all super fun. The youngest very much enjoyed the smaller play area.
Highly recommend renting a cabana, I find that just makes the organization of the day much easier. We had wonderful cabana service.
For our trip we did the Miner's dig, Laser Tag, Ice Cream, Build a Bear and the arcade-all due to the Wolf Pass we included. (Great value)
The absolute family favorite 17 years ago and now, was the Magiquest. It is such a family fun event.
We had great encounters will all the staff, in restaurant, waterpark, hotel, gift shops, everyone was kind and helpful. I always make sure to go in the app and compliment each person after our experiences-I recommend doing this.
While there were lots of good, there were some challenges, which keep this from a five star from me.
The app is ok, but not really helpful unless you want to see upcoming events. I didn't find I used it that much. The one function I did use was the Chat which helped.
Two main issues I still have with GWL 1.) The elevators, you are going to wait and eventually find its easier to get on what ever lands whether it's going up or down just to start moving. 2.) The cleanliness of the elevators-rough 3.) When you arrive there is not valet, and if you are a solo adult, it's hard to navigate pulling up, unloading, securing your items and littles-and figuring out parking. There needs to be a better system for this, and bigger carts lol. Once I got littles situated, I had to navigate parking, it was so full I ended up parking at the very back of the parking lot, it was quite a trek on a very hot day.
For checking in, we used the kiosk-and had to get assistance, and then more assistance as we had wolf passes, splash pass, and the kiosk wasn't scanning correctly. It took a bit but we got it worked out. A little frustrating, as two days before check-in I received an email to pre-check-which being a solo adult with three littles that would have been nice. The function however never worked, I tried multiple times. Thankfully our room was immediately ready and we were able to go up and change and start playing. Even if your room isn't ready they have great options for you to enjoy while it's prepared.
While the lodge has had many updates, I still think it has room to go to navigate the scale and crowd it sees on a daily basis.
On to the food, I recognize many of the quick serves, are just that fast food. The pretzel and hot dog places are quick and not bad. The pizza isn't horrible, but over priced. The restaurant was meh at best. The buffets were disappointing, not a huge selection and quality of food just was not worth the price. I see a lot of folks recommending eating elsewhere, aside from the convenience I have to agree. The value and flavor are just not there.
We did not go outside so I cannot speak to that.
Our room was clean, however multiple outlets did not work, the shower struggled, and our lights flickered a bit. Nothing we couldn't manage, but for the price I would expect better. We did the wolf den, the kiddos loved the little nook and said the beds were comfy. The pull out couch took an act of congress to pull out, but once out worked as designed. We could not get it to go back in so had to leave it out for the duration of our stay.
Housekeeping was very kind and generous, GWL has a great team of humans for sure.
I probably won't wait another 17 years to return, but I might rethink staying onsite, if we do, we will definitely make different food choices.
