![]() The card strategy is genius marketing, but, as I walked through that neon wall of noise and games and watched my kids eyes glaze over in the light, I got mad at the creators of Great Wolf Lodge for this. It’s why people who want to save are often urged to use cash. The same tactic is used in the Great Wolf Lodge pass set-up as well. The business has you load money up on cards and then disassociates you from your cash. Each of the games is fired up using a credit-card looking pass. We let them play on the games, but asked them what they wanted to do first and then came back another time to actually play. They wanted to ride the motorcycles and then the race cars. This isn’t a big thing for older kids, but with littles, this was going to be a big deal. It was then I realized every time we would be going to the waterpark, we’d have to go through a mall. ![]() A Build-A-Bear shop and a gift shop literally blocked the entrance to the waterpark. We almost ran to the elevators, went down a floor and then faced another long hall filled with an arcade lining one wall and restaurants lining the other. The hall led past a gift shop, a Starbucks and several MagiQuest boxes. They said the elevators were down the hall. We finally received our armband bracelets and I asked how to get to the waterpark. Was I sure I didn’t want an attractions package? Was I sure I didn’t want breakfast? Was I absolutely, positively, sure? The check-in staff worked hard to handle the influx of guests and move people through quickly, but their endless supply of what seemed mandatory promotional prompts continued to slow down the process. Have you ever seen parents who have traveled long distances stand in line with their kids champing at the bit to go to the waterpark? Parenting is sometimes not joyful. Check-inĬheck-in was pretty seamless, except it’s not clear where the line started. How great is that? Great Wolf Lodge, indeed. When we arrived on Friday, we were excited to get to the waterpark, as Great Wolf Lodge does have a wonderful policy: it permits folks to use its facilities starting at 1 p.m. The drive from Houston to Grapevine, Texas, was an easy one. This lack of packing is a huge deal if you know what packing for a family of four looks like for a beach trip. You get them at the resort at a cabana setup that’s linked to your room key armband. I didn’t even need to pack bulky beach towels. Just mostly swimsuits, pajamas and a few outfits for going out to eat. The beauty of Great Wolf Lodge is the ease of it for families. I archived the messages and started packing for the trip. I wasn’t paying $18 a head for that special joy, probably after waiting in line. My kids regularly will eat two – yes two – bites of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and say they’re done. And no, we didn’t do the breakfast package that this helpful couple pointed out was basically paying $18 for a child’s breakfast each morning. All of those things sound fun on the surface, but I thought about it a minute and put myself where I thought it would all lead: in a Build-A-Bear shop with two sopping wet, sticky toddlers who would be eating an ice cream cone, toting a sack of candy, repeatedly asking me for another arcade game. In the weeks leading up to our June trip, Great Wolf Lodge sent a total of seven emails with multiple promotions highlighted and especially its passes aimed at savings on its Build-A-Bear, candy, ice cream and arcade options. I didn’t do a ton of research for it, so I decided to make them work to convince me. However, I would be lying if I didn’t kind of want to see how hard the Lodge’s marketing department would work for my money before I committed. We wanted to go solely for the water park, which comes with the hotel stay. They’re varying degrees of attractions that are all basically, not the water park. Mom humor engaged.Īnd what exactly were all these attraction passes and breakfast options? Take a look if you’d like. ![]() I suppose it’s something you could expect from a water park. All the add-ons felt like I was buying a Spirit flight.Īs I clicked through the prompts, I immediately went into mommy money-saver mode, only purchasing the base fare, I mean, reservations for everything. I had my suspicions about Great Wolf Lodge when I was making the trip reservations. However, getting to the fun was a bit of a slog. GRAPEVINE, Texas – We had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. ![]()
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