We arrived back home today after spending two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI. Here's my review:
First off, don't pay full price. If you plan on going, make sure you get some kind of a deal. We paid half the listed price for our rooms, but have also seen better deals since then.
Next, be prepared to spend, spend, spend. The food prices aren't shocking, but they are pretty high for what you get. That seems to be the basic idea of the whole place.
The people all were friendly enough, and they seemed to have the right attitude towards kids. But I have a hunch that either they were short-staffed or they weren't expecting a full house during this time of year, especially mid-week. It should be their job though to know that many Detroit-area school districts were closed this week for winter break.
The big highlight of the place is obviously the waterpark. From the 1,000-gallon bucket of water that dumps its load every 5 minutes to the body-slides and tube-slides, it's hard not to have a great time in the water park. You will notice that amount of chlorine they have to use-- don't open your eyes under water. But what a great way to shake off winter. The water was warm, and it was a fun way to spend several hours each day.
Our kids are 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 - they are still a bit young to get the full enjoyment factor of all the slides and stuff. But for kids between 6 or 7 and probably 16, it's a great time. We figured two nights was plenty of time though; any more than that and you'll probably get burned out.
One of my disappointments was that they don't offer broadband connectivity in the rooms. You can either use dial-up or their TV-based access (at $10/day). Boo-hiss... especially for a place as new as this one. The other was the incredibly loud heater unit. I did sleep better the second night, but woke up everytime the thing fired up the first night.
So... bottom line: Our visit to Great Wolf Lodge was a lot of fun, and something we'll probably consider again in a couple of years when the kids are a bit older. I'm hoping plans to open a second indoor waterpark/hotel in Traverse City come true and force prices down some for the next time.
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