Post by skinnyguy on Sept 7, 2008 15:44:56 GMT -8
Okay, so my wife and I took a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA for a couple of days, and we had a great time. Here's the TR:
We arrived on Monday evening, September 1 and checked in to our room. Upon check-in, you get a wristband that has an RFID tag on it, and this is your room key/wallet for the trip. Very convenient, as you can use the wristband to pay for anything (charge to the room), but kind of annoying that you can't take it off.
First up we had scheduled massages at their "Elements Spa" massage place. My wife was up first, so I decided to walk around, check the place out, and grab a bite to eat while I waited for my turn. The place was just incredible looking. Animals and statues all over the place - wonderful theming, and a great "log-cabin" feel throughout the building. That, and all the rooms had flat screen LCD TV's in them! I grabbed a sandwich from the snack shop inside the waterpark and took a seat to look out at what I had waiting for me the next day.
I then had my massage, and that massage place was really impressive. Very fancy, and professional. Very pricey, but I thought it was worth it.
On Tuesday, we got up and went to the breakfast, and this was the lowlight of the trip. Not only was the food less than average, it wasn't free. It wasn't even cheap - $14 per person for adults! In this day and age when you can get a free breakfast at a Super 8 Motel that's better than what we had at the GWL, this was just ridiculous. Needless to say, we went to the McDonald's down the street the next morning. Having said that, it was the only real downside to this place, and that's not bad if you ask me!
So we headed to the main attraction - the indoor waterpark - around 11 or so, and it was really cool. It's small - I'll admit that, but it was still fun. The waterpark is only open to guests of the hotel, so the crowds are usually small, but since it was still the end of Labor Day weekend, it was a bit packed that morning. They had a wave pool, a regular swimming pool with basketball hoops and other toys, a kiddie area similar to Polliwog Park at Boulder Beach (only smaller), a little-little kid area, two large enclosed tube slides, and a fully enclosed Pro-Slide Tornado. The wave pool was nice - smaller than most, but still fun. I loved how instead of a buzzer to signal that waves would start, you'd hear wolves howling - nice touch! They also had two modes for the waves - the traditional big ones, and then smaller ones - it would rotate between the two. The kiddie area was fun - only had two body slides, but they were both pretty fun to go down and race on. The inner tube slides were great - they weren't completely black inside like the ones at Silverwood, and they were really fast. Finally, the Tornado was just awesome - we rode it a couple times and loved it. Silverwood needs one of these. They also had a nice hot tub that was partially inside, and partially outside.
We then ate lunch, and headed back inside the main hotel section to do some more stuff. We spent a little time at the arcade, played some complimentary board games in the lobby, and browsed the gift shop. Then we ate dinner at their Bar & Grille, which was much better compared to the breakfast! After that, we headed back to the waterpark for the evening.
And it was dead - most of the guests had headed back home, there were no lines on ANY of the slides, and it felt like there were maybe 10 to 15 people in the wave pool. We did the Tornado slide three more times, and the other slides several times before the park closed. We were only there for about an hour! And let me tell you - doing a pro-slide tornado in the dark is an experience all of its own. I had no idea which direction I was going. If you go to this hotel - make sure to ride the tornado slide in the dark - trust me you won't regret it.
The next morning, we checked out and went back to the waterpark. Nice thing about this hotel is that even after you check out, you can still use everything for the remainder of the day. Again, the waterpark was dead - we did the tornado slide another 5 times, along with tons of rides on the other slides and time in the wavepool, all in only about 1.5 to 2 hours. This place was sweet!
We ate lunch at the same Bar & Grille, and bid farewell to a very fun little vacation spot. I'm tempted to go back during the winter - having an indoor waterpark is such a great idea especially in this part of the state!
I'd really recommend this place if you have kids as most of the things were geared towards the younger crowd. They had this MagiQuest thing (we didn't do it), but it looked fun, and the kids that were doing it seemed to think it was a blast. There was also a teen center room that had video games, computers, and dancing for that generation, along with what looked like a day care center for the busier days.
Great, great place - highly recommended by me, and, though the waterpark is small, it's indoors, and that's a huge plus to me - never have to worry about weather!
Anyone else been to this place yet?
We arrived on Monday evening, September 1 and checked in to our room. Upon check-in, you get a wristband that has an RFID tag on it, and this is your room key/wallet for the trip. Very convenient, as you can use the wristband to pay for anything (charge to the room), but kind of annoying that you can't take it off.
First up we had scheduled massages at their "Elements Spa" massage place. My wife was up first, so I decided to walk around, check the place out, and grab a bite to eat while I waited for my turn. The place was just incredible looking. Animals and statues all over the place - wonderful theming, and a great "log-cabin" feel throughout the building. That, and all the rooms had flat screen LCD TV's in them! I grabbed a sandwich from the snack shop inside the waterpark and took a seat to look out at what I had waiting for me the next day.
I then had my massage, and that massage place was really impressive. Very fancy, and professional. Very pricey, but I thought it was worth it.
On Tuesday, we got up and went to the breakfast, and this was the lowlight of the trip. Not only was the food less than average, it wasn't free. It wasn't even cheap - $14 per person for adults! In this day and age when you can get a free breakfast at a Super 8 Motel that's better than what we had at the GWL, this was just ridiculous. Needless to say, we went to the McDonald's down the street the next morning. Having said that, it was the only real downside to this place, and that's not bad if you ask me!
So we headed to the main attraction - the indoor waterpark - around 11 or so, and it was really cool. It's small - I'll admit that, but it was still fun. The waterpark is only open to guests of the hotel, so the crowds are usually small, but since it was still the end of Labor Day weekend, it was a bit packed that morning. They had a wave pool, a regular swimming pool with basketball hoops and other toys, a kiddie area similar to Polliwog Park at Boulder Beach (only smaller), a little-little kid area, two large enclosed tube slides, and a fully enclosed Pro-Slide Tornado. The wave pool was nice - smaller than most, but still fun. I loved how instead of a buzzer to signal that waves would start, you'd hear wolves howling - nice touch! They also had two modes for the waves - the traditional big ones, and then smaller ones - it would rotate between the two. The kiddie area was fun - only had two body slides, but they were both pretty fun to go down and race on. The inner tube slides were great - they weren't completely black inside like the ones at Silverwood, and they were really fast. Finally, the Tornado was just awesome - we rode it a couple times and loved it. Silverwood needs one of these. They also had a nice hot tub that was partially inside, and partially outside.
We then ate lunch, and headed back inside the main hotel section to do some more stuff. We spent a little time at the arcade, played some complimentary board games in the lobby, and browsed the gift shop. Then we ate dinner at their Bar & Grille, which was much better compared to the breakfast! After that, we headed back to the waterpark for the evening.
And it was dead - most of the guests had headed back home, there were no lines on ANY of the slides, and it felt like there were maybe 10 to 15 people in the wave pool. We did the Tornado slide three more times, and the other slides several times before the park closed. We were only there for about an hour! And let me tell you - doing a pro-slide tornado in the dark is an experience all of its own. I had no idea which direction I was going. If you go to this hotel - make sure to ride the tornado slide in the dark - trust me you won't regret it.
The next morning, we checked out and went back to the waterpark. Nice thing about this hotel is that even after you check out, you can still use everything for the remainder of the day. Again, the waterpark was dead - we did the tornado slide another 5 times, along with tons of rides on the other slides and time in the wavepool, all in only about 1.5 to 2 hours. This place was sweet!
We ate lunch at the same Bar & Grille, and bid farewell to a very fun little vacation spot. I'm tempted to go back during the winter - having an indoor waterpark is such a great idea especially in this part of the state!
I'd really recommend this place if you have kids as most of the things were geared towards the younger crowd. They had this MagiQuest thing (we didn't do it), but it looked fun, and the kids that were doing it seemed to think it was a blast. There was also a teen center room that had video games, computers, and dancing for that generation, along with what looked like a day care center for the busier days.
Great, great place - highly recommended by me, and, though the waterpark is small, it's indoors, and that's a huge plus to me - never have to worry about weather!
Anyone else been to this place yet?