So my children are homeschooled and my husband took his vacation at the end of August this year. For Mainers, that means back to school time. We decided to take the opportunity to check out Great Wolf Lodge and ended up creating a back to school tradition that we will want to do every year.
We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in the Fitchburg/Boston area. It was about a 2 hour drive from where we lived, so it was not too bad on the kids. Our stay was for 2 nights and they had a promo going on for the end of the summer so we got 30% off our room during our stay. We did stay during the week instead of on a weekend. The room averaged to be about $140 a night for 2 adults and 3 children, one of which is under 3 so she was free. We did add on a few packages such as the breakfast which added $144 to our stay, 200 dining credits which added $170 to our stay plus 3 wolf passes which were $90 each. Overall, our stay cost $992 for the 2 nights not including any extra spending we did at the resort.
Now, was that all worth? I think it was. We were able to check in to the resort at 11 am even though check in is not until 4 pm. Our room was ready at 12:30 pm. So what did we do during that hour and a half? We played at the water park as you are given access to the resort as soon as you check in. On check out day, we checked out at 11 am but stayed until 1:30 pm as we still had access to the whole resort except our room for that whole day. We had three days of enjoying the resort even though we only stayed there for two nights.
I know I am always interested in the food when it comes to reviews so let me discuss that. We did bring our own food for lunch as our room had a fridge and a microwave.
For dinners, we used the dining credits. We ate at each food service location except for the bars and Dunkin Donuts. The only sit down restaurant they had was the Lodge Wood Fired Grill which is a buffet style restaurant. The food was typical of a family resort. They did have a good selection from chicken, fish (which at a buffet I am always weary of trying so I did not try it), pork, beef, salad, nacho bar, pasta dishes and of course a dessert bar. We enjoyed our food and our waiter brought our drinks promptly and cleared our plates in a timely manner. I did notice the waiter bring allergy friendly dishes to other tables so that is a plus for the resort.
Our second night, we ate at Hungry as a Wolf which had family pizza meals. The pizza was good and we got salad and cheesy garlic bread with it. Better than Dominos but not anything above average but good enough to keep us satisfied. The last meal we used our dining credits for was actually lunch after we checked out of our room. That was the water park quick service restaurant, Buckets. It was burgers, dogs, chicken sandwiches, salads, and tenders. It was good, a notch above McDonalds. So we paid $170 for the dining credits and we ended up spending $20 over the $200 so we only spent $190 on dinner and lunch. For breakfast, we got the breakfast buffet package which cost us $17.99 per person, so for 4 people (since 3 and under is free) that totaled $144. Breakfast was at their sit down restaurant. The buffet had a good selection of items, all hot and ready for us. There were pastries, french toast and pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, sausage, hash browns, home fries, eggs in many forms, fruit and cereal to choose from. If you ordered coffee, you got a small pot brought to your table.
Overall, it was a filling breakfast that everyone enjoy. Breakfast hours were 7:30 to 11 so plenty of time to get up, get ready and get your breakfast.
Time to discuss the activities at the resort. Of course, the main attraction is the water park which was open every day from 9 am to 8 pm. There are two sections of it. Both sections have a number of water slides, a little kid area, and a pool/wave pool to enjoy. The pools were only 4ft deep. Both little kid areas had slides and water squirters/buckets that splashed water
everyone that the kids enjoyed. One section did have an attraction called Big Foot Pass. It was 5 lily pads in a pool that you would cross while using a net placed above them to aid you in the crossing. Both my older kids enjoyed that. The water slides did have lines but not super long lines. Of course the lines were a bit confusing as the were on stairs and multiple water slides were at the top of the one staircase. There is a sign near the water slides but it could get a bit confusing. The resort also has an arcade to enjoy and a magic game called MagiQuest. It is a scavenger hunt type game throughout the resort. The kids use a wand and go to different portals to enter into a quest and then run around the 1st level of the resort collecting everything they need.
It involves dragons, goblins, pixies and fairies. Each of my kids got their own wand with the wolf pass we purchased for each of them. My older two did complete all the quests and got a certificate at the end of our trip. The Howling Timber Play Park had a bunch of other attractions such as megaventure, which was a virtual reality game, a rope course, climbing walls, mining, mini golf and bowling. My oldest enjoyed the climbing walls and the rope course. They had a free rope course for the smaller kids which my middle child loved and spent forever going around it multiple times. My youngest was able to participate in mini golf and bowling with her sisters. The wolf passes I purchased covered the cost of all these other attractions with the exception of the virtual reality game.
Some things that you should know about the resort is that it is cashless. You can either charge items to your room by scanning your wristband which acts as your room key or use a credit card. If you are doing all the attractions and not just the water park then make sure to wear comfortable shoes as the resort was a lot bigger than I thought. The three days we had there was enough for us but to spread out the activities more, you could definitely stay longer. If your family is looking to take a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge or anywhere else for that matter, don't forget to reach out for my help and expertise on family getaways. #neverlandingtravelbysara #greatwolflodge #familytraveladvisor
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