A Swimming We Have Gone

Just got back from Great Wolf Lodge. The kids had a wonderful time, and the Irish Woman and I got a good workout chasing Baby Bear both in and out of the water.

The Lodge itself is wonderful. It's 4 stars, and the service is excellent. It's extremely family oriented, with a lot of different activities for kids. There are a few things for adults, but you can only drink beer and sit in a hot tub so long when you've got kids with you.

I really have no complaints. We all had a wonderful time.

One note: bring your wallet. The money you pay for your room gets you into the waterpark and that's about it. Everything else costs, and some things cost big. That being said, I think we got good value for every dollar we spent. The non-waterpark activities sound great if you want your kids to have a good time and you want to relax, but they're expensive. There's a game of sorts for older children where they run around with magic wands and get points for finding things on a treasure map with them. The wands are ID'ed by the hotel's computer, so as the kids find things in the scavenger hunt, they gain points. The basic set consists of a wand and a treasure map. That was $25. If you want, you can drop a LOT more coin and deck your little wizard out like something at a dress inspection at Hogwarts. Girlie Bear got the basic set, and that kept her occupied for about 6 hours when she wasn't swimming.

Another note: The place isn't really set up for children under about 4 or so. Baby Bear had the time of his life, but all of the time he had to be held onto by Irish Woman or me. That tired us out almost as much as it did him. Even the areas that had fountains and the like that were appropriate for him had at least 6 inches of water. If I was to be asked what could be added to the park, then a splashpark without standing water would be high on my list. Also, I didn't see any changing tables in the restrooms or changing rooms. That meant we had to schlep back to the room to change Baby Bear.

If you're looking for a good, family friendly vacation, this is a great get-away close to Louisville. But it's not cheap by any means.