Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas

Holly had some time off and wanted to go somewhere.  After batting around a few ideas, she settled on doing a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge near Dallas.  Ivy even invited her friend Hanley along. 

I’ve seen ads for this place, and even checked it out online, but I was a little skeptical about spending two days there – especially for the price.  

Turns out, we LOVED it!  

The indoor water park is excellent.  I was expecting some small kiddie rides and lame water slides.  Nope!  They have several water slides and some are quite big and fast…even a little scary!  Plus a wave pool, and lazy river, and a treehouse type thing with lots of ways to squirt water on the people below.  It was impressive!  

As for the hotel itself, it was very nice, too.  Our room was big and spacious, with separate sleeping areas for the kids and grown-ups (kids have bunk beds in a enclave).   The rooms were clean and fully stacked with towels and bath items and all the usual hotel stuff.  Downstairs were 2 restaurants and 4 bars, all of which served some tasty food.  We had the buffet breakfast and dinner, and both were good.  No complaints whatsoever from us about the food!  It was all good.  They even have characters in costume come out and sing a song and take pictures with the kids.  

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There were plenty of other things to do, as well, such as the 4D movie rides, an arcade, and the Magic Quest.  Surprisingly, the girls didn’t really care much for the Magic Quest…. but I did!  LOL.  I was walking all over the hotel gathering clues and interacting with the Paintings on the wall, statues, pedastals, trees, and everything else that was rigged to respond to the ‘magic wand’ that they give you when you register.  If you find a specific painting on the wall and point your wand at it…it lights up and begins speaking to you!  Or if you find a statue of a wolf, it would howl.   I even made a friend or two as I was walking around – adults, mind you – who were gathering clues.  We kept crossing each other’s paths, so we joked about how silly (but fun) this was, and also shared tips and clues on where to find stuff.  It really enjoyed it.  

I also enjoyed the Zip-Line, Rope-Course thing outside.  The girls totally chickened out on that.  After I climbed up I began to see why.  It was indeed kind of scary!  But I managed to climb all 3 levels and do nearly every course.  Yes, it was scary even though you know you’re safe and won’t fall to your death.  The most frightening thing of all is stepping off of the platform and zip lining to the other side.  That step-off is kind of nerve racking.  It takes some courage.   And if you don’t step off with some speed then you are likely to slow down and stop in mid ‘zip’.  Which is what happened to me.  That was uncomfortable and frightening.  But the lady on the ground below said, “Just swing your feet back and forth!”  So I did, and eventually puttered to the other side.  I learned my lesson – get up some speed and step off the platform into thin air!  From then on, zip lining was fast and fun.    Below is a 3D video (not mine) of the rope course.  It gives you a bit of an idea of what it is like… 

Overall, we give Great Wolf Lodge 5 out of 5 stars.  Totally loved it!  A bit pricey, yes, and even the food and drinks are a bit over priced.  But that is how it goes in a environment like that.  It is sort of like a cruise-ship that is on land.  Totally fun and relaxing, with plenty of things to do.  You don’t even have to leave the resort for 2 days (which we didn’t).