Katherine Nash – Take me to the Lodge!

The most underrated place on earth is Great Wolf Lodge. It is the largest family indoor water park in America, and constantly has visitors. The resort has an expansive indoor water park, magic wands, amazing restaurants, animated shows, arcade, bowling, etc. It truly is one of the best places to take your children on vacation. 

While at Great Wolf Lodge children are able to purchase “magic” wands that allow them to go on a quest around the resort. This gives kids a sense of excitement and independence since they are able to go on the quest themselves. Ultimately, while on the quest most kids become friends with each other to help finish the tasks. They get to battle wizards and animals and find hidden treasure. Also, they get to be creative and dress up in items from the gift shop. The entirety of Great Wolf Lodge is fit to a theme. You can find log beams everywhere, make-shift forests, and wolves everywhere. Additionally, upon checking into the resort, children are given their own pair of wolf ears to add to the fantasy. 

 Another amazing part of Great Wolf Lodge is the water park. Now, I can speak for everyone when I say their water park is amazing and expansive. They have a wave pool, a lazy river, slides, etc. They also have a giant tank that dumps gallons of water on the waiting children. Most kids will find themselves in here for the entire day, only coming out of the water to eat. Now I’d say the most popular part of the water park are their humongous slides. They are still my favorite water slides to date. 

“The smells and memories are something I can not forget,” said senior Julia Morrell.

While some might argue that Great Wolf Lodge is overrated and expensive, I’d like to say they’re simply wrong. What happens when you eat too much of your favorite food? It becomes less appealing. This is not the food’s fault, it still tastes amazing, but you’re simply tired of having the same thing over and over again. Great Wolf Lodge might be expensive, but what paradise isn’t? I’d argue that Disney World is more expensive than Great Wolf Lodge. To this day, I have not found a resort that I have enjoyed more than Great Wolf Lodge, and I don’t think I ever will. 

Senior Chloe Cox said, “I have so many incredible family memories at Great Wolf Lodge. Given that my parents both travel a lot for work, there were very few times I can recall being so unified as a family. The kind of memories that I made at Great Wolf Lodge are precisely the kinds of experiences that I want to foster for my own children one day.”

Caroline Schilling – The Gross Wolf Lodge

The known, and (once) loved Great Wolf Lodge. Multiple locations which stretch the country.  The place that many children desire to visit during the dead of winter when there is nothing else to do. Personally, I have made the grand trip to the Great Wolf Lodge too many times to count, except for the fact that upon every arrival they aggressively welcome us with the “welcome to your # stay.” It is important to note, last time they said it was our 20th visit. 

This number is astonishing to me. I first visited Great Wolf in March of 2008, at a ripe 2 years and 1 month old. For the many years of visits that followed this, I had the time of my life at “the Lodge.” But, after returning here in June 2023, my once excitement and joy surrounding the place has now turned to anxiety, dread, and anger. Since these visits years ago, so much has changed. Too much.

Let me start off with the most aggravating… They removed the BEST water coaster. There were trips where I would ride this water coaster back to back through the duration of our stay. I would climb the dreadful stairs to the never ending line at least a million times. Now, at the top of this wild staircase is an empty space, where “the blue slide” once was, which apparently they have built a new slide to fill the space (see photo below). I have not had the opportunity to try out this slide, but I can assure you it will not compare to the “blue slide.” If you have ever visited GWL, you know what “the blue slide” is. If GWL reinstalled this coaster, maybe then my opinions would change. 

I have spent numerous birthdays at this location. For one of my birthday trips to GWL, I was able to spend a day at their spa, AKA “Scoops.” Now let me make it known, Scoops was the best thing GWL ever had to offer. If they brought this back, I would immediately book a stay. This delightful spa is filled with ice cream themed spa opportunities, ice cream sundaes, and crafts. This was my ideal spa day, a way to relax from the chaos of the waterpark right next door. Once again, if GWL brought back the spa experience to their lodges, I would immediately book a stay.

*Please note, the now gone Scoops has been replaced with a Build a Bear Workshop. I don’t believe that this is a fair trade. 

GWL also used to have a craft room, which was also removed and replaced with a glow in the dark putt putt course. I like some of the aspects of Great Wolf, such as the rooms and outdoor pool area. They also have a new pizza restaurant which is pretty good. However, their cleanliness and overall appearance has gone wayyyy downhill. 

This feeling is felt by many here on our own campus. When asked on their thoughts of the Lodge, the following said… 

Mrs. Hovanec: “Oh god. Yes I have been. I found it to be a little musty, very humid, and kind of a lot of people inside of humid musty conditions. Not my favorite.” 

Officer Dom: “The Great Wolf Lodge used to be a place where we went with friends and family and had a great experience but lately it seems as though it has gone downhill since Covid, similar to the Caribbean Cove that used to be in Indianapolis.” 

Ms. Wilson: “I went when I was like 8, but I do not remember it now. So could it have been that great?”

I could go on and on all day about how the Great Wolf has continued to change… but not for the better. The experiences they once offered, have now been taken away and replaced with incomparable activities. I have hope that they will continue to make changes, but hopefully they’re better. I have loved all the times I have visited and have a great amount of memories from the Lodge, but I hope that it is recognized that some new aspects should be added to the Great Wolf Lodge.