Great Wolf Lodge - Day 1

Today we went to Great Wolf Lodge (www.greatwolf.com). It's a super fun family hotel with a huge water park built right inside! There are 10 of them in the US, and just one in Canada (in Niagara Falls). This one (Grand Mound)is just south of Seattle, about 3.5 hours' drive from home for us. A friend had told me about it and we've been wanting to come for a while now. Our plans to come in July fell through and since Holly & I didn't make it to Hawaii this year, we thought we'd take an overnight family trip and check it out. There are a number of different sections to the water park. . . the shallow kiddie section with small fort, and slides. . .



















The larger fort (Fort Mackenzie) - with a 1000 gallon water bucket on top that continuously fills up and dumps out every few minutes (you can see it in mid-dump here). . .














In Fort Mackenzie. . .



















In the wave pool - this section was great - the deep end is only 5 ft, so I could stand. The waves come after you hear the wolves howl - first they are gentle rolling waves, which last for a few minutes. After a break, the next set of waves are stronger and rougher. . .



















Paul under the giant bucket - getting 1000 gallons of water dumped on him. . .



















This part of the park (called Big Foot Pass) had a water basketball "court" and some floating lily pads and animals to sit on. . .















Stepping on a water spray - can you tell she's having fun?!. . .




















At the top of the big stairway, we are about to ride on the River Canyon Run - a 6-storey high water slide, which you ride on a circular raft that holds up to 5 people. We got Holly on it once (after about 10 minutes of coaxing from me) - and then she refused to go down it again. . .














Back to the little kids' section (slides more Holly's speed). . .



















Also in the toddler section - little watercraft with sprayers you can aim - and they even had water spraying out the back - very realistic!















After spending some time in the waterpark (we got there too early to get into our room), we stopped at the Bear Paw Cafe for some popcorn, which Holly could smell on our way in.



















We finally got into our room - one of the Kid Kamp Suites with a "tent" in the middle of the room and bunk beds for 2 children to share (and their own tv, too!). The walls have pretend windows painted on them with outside scenery and other paintings of things you'd find in a tent, like a lantern and pair of binoculars.





















Because it's the week before Hallowe'en, guests were encouraged to bring costumes and let their kids go trick or treating in the hotel. We got a map and 4 places to find and get treats from.



















I'd mentioned the lodge to some friends of ours and they decided to come down for 2 nights - a complete coincidence that we booked one of the nights on the same date! We met up with Claire and Sean to go trick or treating.



















This is the Clock Tower, where the scene comes alive for a 10 minute show several times a day - an animatronic show, like you'd see in Disneyland or some other theme park. After the show at 8pm, there is also Story Time, where the kids are encouraged to come in the pj's to hear a bed-time story and meet Wiley the Wolf.