I will start off with a warning – I will use the words ‘poop’ and ‘throw up’ in this blog, if that is something that offends you, stop reading now. If you have small children, you know that those are everyday household words :) Also - I promise I don't complain all the time! I just seem to be going through an unlucky phase in my life right now.
So I don’t want to slam the Great Wolf Lodge completely. I think had my kids been older, this would have been a better experience. My brother Will, who is 7 had a great time there. I recommend not bringing your kids there unless they are over the age of 3.
I wanted a vacation close to home, all-inclusive, and fun for kids of all ages. They just put a Great Wolf Lodge here in Concord and it seemed like the perfect solution. Their web site made it seem like it was great for kids of all ages. I thought it would work out great.. boy was I wrong.
The place is kinda expensive, but also included in the room rate is full access to the water park. So I really thought the cost would prove to be worth it. Well things started out bad and just went downhill from there! The day we are to check into the lodge it seemed like I was never going to get out the door. Someone was eating, sleeping, pooping, clinging to my leg every moment of the day. Just before we left Brenden had a very watery poop. He really never gets sick so I just figured something he ate gave him diarrhea and headed out the door. We get checked in and all seems to be going okay. Brenden hadn’t had any more pooping episodes and both kids were ready to go play. Well once I get there I read the booklet in the hotel room and come to find out that NO inflatable floaties/rafts/etc are allowed in the pools. WHAT??!! Also no water toys are allowed either (I let Logan play with toys anyway)! This wasn’t good. What was poor little Logan supposed to do? They had life vests for the kids there but they were pretty big and were all wet and cold from being used all day by other kids so Brenden didn’t want to wear one and they were way too big for Logan. So we ended up just taking the kids over to the toddler area and letting them sit in the zero depth end of the pool. It was okay, but the kids got bored fast and wanted to do other things, but there wasn’t much else for them to do. Brenden doesn’t care for having water sprayed in his face, and many of the toys in the toddler area did just that so he wouldn’t go in the water. He thought it was fun to watch, but I paid a lot of money for him to just stand around the edge of the pool not wanting to go it. It was also very cold in the toddler area and many of the kids (Brenden included) stood there shivering from head to toe.
We went to the outdoor pool next. This was a little better. It wasn’t as crowded, the water was warm and there weren’t any objects squirting the kids in the face. However, again, they couldn’t go much further than the zero depth area. It would have been so nice to have been allowed to put Logan in the little baby float I brought him. Brenden was a little more brave in this area and actually ventured out to waist deep water.
We went to dinner next. We had the buffet and it was pretty good for adults, but the things on the kids bar weren’t so great. They had hot dog (B doesn’t like) and chicken tenders that were VERY tough. I couldn’t even cut them with a knife. So B just ended up eating crackers for dinner that night. Thank goodness under age 3 eats free. I enjoyed my food, but the kids got so tired that I didn’t really get to eat much before I had to leave the rest of the family at the table to take the kids back to the room and get them ready for bed. Brenden’s bedtime diaper was a little runny again so I’m starting to wonder if he’s sick…
The complimentary wolf ears given at dinner... "aoooooooooo!"
Brenden slept in the sofa bed with me and Logan had his pack n play. The sofa bed was AWFUL. The springs could be felt throughout the bed and it actually leaned backwards so your head seemed like it was lower than your feet. Even Brenden could tell the bed wasn’t level. Brenden tossed and turned all night long. It was like sleeping with a wild animal. He rolled off the bed at one point. I was so tired. About 5 a.m. he wakes up and coughs a few times and then starts crying and wakes up Logan in the process. So mom takes Logan and I take Brenden and notice there is a little wet spot on the bed. I wasn’t sure if he threw up or not, because the wet area wasn’t that big and was also clear, but the way he cried and held his mouth, it made me wonder if he had thrown up. I stripped the bed down. Mom got Logan back to sleep and Brenden never went back down. Around 10:00 we head down to the water park. Brenden hadn’t had anymore diarrhea and seemed just fine. He ate breakfast and everything stayed down.
We get to the water park and decide to skip the toddler area and just go outside. It was only in the 80’s (so rare for our 90+ average temp area) and overcast. Mom had brought a life vest for Brenden so we tried that one out and he was willing to wear that one. Mom sat on the sidelines with Logan and I got B to go in the water, but he wasn’t really digging it. He kept putting his hands over his ears and not really wanting to play with anything. He wanted to be held nonstop and I can only hold him so long before my arms/back get tired. Then he started dishing out attitude and being defiant. I decide that he is in desperate need of a nap so I take him back to the room and Logan stayed with mom and took a nap in the stroller. --- oh and speaking of stroller, that IS a complaint I have about the GWL. They have this magic quest game for the kids there to play. They get these wands and have to flick them at various objects on the walls throughout the floors of the lodge. EVERY time I tried to get my stroller on the elevator to go up/downstairs, I was ALWAYS knocked out of the way by these kids playing the game wanting to go between the 3rd and 4th floor (apparently taking the stairs is too much exercise for kids). It was AWFUL. Most of the kids were unsupervised, or the ones that were had parents who didn’t care that their children were being very rude. I get it.. its part of the experience to play the game.. but I don’t think its fair for people with small children to get knocked over and shoved out of the way because of this game. I just wished the staff would have done something to keep the game separate from the main elevator so those of us just trying to use the resort didn’t have to deal with the chaos… ANYWAY I end up spending most of the day up in the room with Brenden while he finally napped and got his nasty attitude out of his system. I finally decided to take him down to the lobby and just let him run wild. You could tell he was getting cabin fever being stuck in a small room for so long. I have to say.. sadly.. running around the lobby was the most I saw him smile the entire vacation.
I then had my mom take Logan and I got Brenden dressed to go play in the water. I felt like he had been there over 24 hours and pretty much hadn’t played in the water park at all. We played a little bit in the toddler area. There were these little jet skis (stationary) that kids could sit on and they’d spray water everywhere. B wanted to ride one but there were a bunch of big kids hogging them all so he never got a turn (too big to be in this area, and the staff did nothing to control them). So I took him to the outside pool again. This time he got a little more brave and was wading around the water and played with one of the little basketballs they had floating around the water. He still didn’t do much and wanted to be glued to my leg the whole time, but he did try to have fun this time. After an hour I took him back to the room and we ordered a pizza for dinner that night. B didn’t eat much. We went down for story time in the lobby (lame – GWL, pick a person who can actually engage kids in a story to do your story time from now on!) B did enjoy the big stuffed wolf that came down to say hi to all the kids. He didn’t want to leave him and give other kids a turn.
Everybody was pretty cranky from not sleeping the night before and having to get up so early. I had the front desk deliver a second pack n play for B to use so I could just sleep on the couch and not even try the sofa bed. B went right to bed and Logan did great too. I wake at around 3 a.m. and see everyone sound asleep and think.. “ahhhhh, we will finally get a good nights sleep, this second pack n play was a great idea Amy”… well about 20 minutes later I hear B coughing in bed again and crying and this time I am POSITIVE.. he’s throwing up. I run and get some towels to put in the bed and he continued to throw up a few more times. I get him to the bathroom and clean him up. Obviously he couldn’t use the pack n play anymore. Oh and he woke up Logan when he cried so Mom had to get up and occupy Logan. I get some towels and make B a bed on the floor. He was so wore out he didn’t care where he slept at this point. I start to take Logan from mom to get him back down and I hear B crying again.. I go back to him and he’s thrown up again, this time it’s a lot and his pj’s are soaked. Logan gets mad and starts screaming.. B is screaming (I want to scream). I get him changed again and make another bed for him. He falls back to sleep and Logan starts to fall asleep.. I close my eyes.. and B throws up AGAIN! So Al has to go to the front desk to get some more towels and sheets as we had nothing left for me or B to sleep on. This is where I compliment the hotel as they got us fresh linens, told us to just put the soiled sheets in the hallway and they’d take care of the rest and said if we needed a Dr. or anything to not hesitate to call them.
The kids get back to sleep and everyone gets to sleep until 7. B wakes up in a good mood and wants to eat so I give him some dry cheerios and some sprite to drink. He made it a good 2 hours before he started throwing up again. At this point I said “I give up.. I’m going home!” It was check-out day anyway, but even on check-out day you have full access to the water park until 9pm but it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I was miserable, the kids were miserable, it was stupid to stay just because I wanted to get my money’s worth. It just wasn’t meant to be. I packed up the kids and the car and went home. Both boys seemed much more relaxed at home. Mom, Al, and Will stayed at the park and got to play so I don’t feel like the money was a complete loss.
In the end I can say I would have had more fun staying in a regular hotel with a swimming pool and it would have cost me half the amount of money. I think it was just a bad combination of having kids too small to enjoy a vacation, B being too sick, and the vacation spot just not being right for the age of my kids. I now need another vacation to recover from my vacation.
