A Howlin' Good Time

It was our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge, in Grapevine, Texas. About a 5 hour drive from the house, which equates to 6 episodes of Spongebob, two scrapbook magazines and a leap into the third seat for a nice nap. This of course, is me, not my son. He watched movies on the DVD player, I watched Sponge on the iPod. My poor husband drove the entire route.

I had seen the commercials for GWL on TV, and really liked the catchy theme song 'Welcome to the Lodge, Great Wolf Lodge.." and kept singing it throughout the trip. Luckily for me, as you pull under the porte cochere the tune was in full swing, and replayed and replayed and replayed and...you get the idea...

I worked at a hotel where children reigned supreme, but this place puts my past to shame! Upon entering the lobby (above) I was met with some 500 kids waiting to check in and hit the water park...oh, did I mention that GWL operates some of the LARGEST indoor waterparks in the country???? The Web site touts it as "80 degrees year 'round" and right they were. Now that doesn't sound so bad, but once you are in the water area, it is steamy! Now, back to the kids. This place is quite possibly National Geographic's answer to Disney. All of the areas are woodland themed, the names of the food on the menus, the water areas everything! The rooms are also themed. We had a regular king room, but some of them are decked out like cabins, and have bunk beds!

Our son kept telling us over and over "This is the best vacation EVER!!" Forget New York, Maui, Kauai and Oahu and don't even think of the Disney Cruise or the many trips to various theme parks. The indoor water playground was the end all. Between the lazy river, slides, slides and more slides, he was exhausted every night. As was I!

I was quite impressed with the children's dining options. There was a Pizza Hut, and a snack bar, but the selections on the buffet were really great. "Ants on a Log" translation: celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins...fresh fruit, mac-n-cheese, chicken tenders, carrots and ranch dip and much more. Dessert was especially fun, we opted for the chocolate fondue, with marshmallows, graham crackers shaped like Nilla Wafers, and fresh fruit. Another table was enjoying the Campfire Sundae, large pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate, to form the fire wood, orange cotton candy atop the sticks to imitate fire and the "coals" were scoops of ice cream!!! So cute and very clever.

As a parent, safety and paranoia is first and foremost. The wave pool (above) was by far the most fun for me (yes, I did get in the water) the waves run for about 10 minutes, with a 5 minute gap between cycles. You can opt for an inner tube or just to "ride the wave." My son is 12 and an excellent swimmer, just getting his water safety merit badge, but not all kids are meant to be in the water. One parent decided to take her infant out in the wave pool, and placed the child on an inner tube, she lost her grip and the child fell under the water, luckily for her a lifeguard saw this horrible situation and jumped in and grabbed the baby before the mother could recover from the shock. The entire pool froze as he whistled and dove in.

In speaking to one of the managers, telling them how appreciative I was that they had such a well trained staff, he told me that each one of the lifeguards are highly trained, and were always on alert. He was telling the truth. Time and time again I noticed these young men and women watching and surveying the crowds in the water. I know many moms were thankful that day.

I was one of them.