LoLoCation: Great Wolf Lodge (and traveling with Littles)

(This? Is a very long post about a great hotel we stayed in. If you’re interested in some day staying in this hotel, read on. If you’re not interested in staying in this hotel….this post will hold very little to excite you. But I love you anyways, and I have some videos I’ll post in the next few days that should make you smile. Now, carry on!)
A few months ago, my fabulous sister Myrnie let me know about a deal at our local Great Wolf Lodge. A group of homeschoolers had secured a group discount, and were looking for other families to join them, to make sure they had enough rooms booked. Well, since we were assured that homeschooling your preschooler totally counted, we went ahead and booked a room! (And the fact that the booking just happened to fall right on our Ming Wai’s birthday? Well, it was fate, y’all!)
We packed up our bags (a few swimsuits…yup. that’s about it!) and headed out. You can show up, and use the water park, as early as 1 pm on the day you’re scheduled to check in, but your rooms are not guaranteed until 4 pm. There are lovely clean locker rooms to use, and lockers available to rent. We were lucky, though – since we scheduled our trip for the end of September, the hotel was mostly empty, and our rooms were ready when we arrived at 2:30 pm.
From the moment you walk in the door, the place is for the kids. Not in a HI! WE’RE CRAZY AND FLASHY AND IN YOUR FACE AND I HOPE YOU BROUGHT YOUR MOTRIN ‘CAUSE YOU’RE GOING TO NEED IT! kind of way…but in a wonderful, magical home-y kind of way. Just inside the front door is a fifteen-foot tall wooden bear, with a seat carved out of the bottom. Just perfect for the Under Four car-weary travelers to rest their tired tootsies. Further inside is a two-story clock tower, surrounded by animatronics trees and animals (that come to life three times a day to tell stories and sing songs). And beyond that? A two-story glass wall, giving you a (broad) peek into the huge indoor water park.
Check in is quick and easy, and leaves you with wristbands for nearly every family member. (This was my only quibble with the entire experience. I would love to see wristbands on EVERY mobile member of the family, with your room number written on it. It would have given me that much more peace of mind, knowing that if Siu Jeun took off, someone could figure out who he belonged to. He didn’t have a wristband, though.) The wristbands are color coded. Gold for the Littles, and Pink for the adults.
The pink bracelets were one of the highlights for me. Not that they were particularly fashionable (they look like hot-pink hospital bracelets), but each bracelet has a computer chip in it that makes the bracelet into both your room key and an in-hotel charge card. That means that when you leave the room, you don’t have to bring anything with you! (As a friend pointed out, this makes the lodge into a land-bound cruise. The food wasn’t quite as tasty, though. *grin*)
The Lodge really does try to be a “home away from home.” Each suite is equipped with a coffee maker, a refrigerator and a microwave. Now, I don’t know about you, but the Alton Brown in me is thinking that that is quite enough tool-power to make at the very least plenty of snacks….not to mention any other meal of the day. During our 24 hour stay, I saw no fewer than 12 men walk into the Lodge at some point or another, carrying coolers, bags, boxes and cartons of food.
There are activities for all ages. The Cub Club for the small kids (not a drop off babysitting service, but a place for parents and children to go and get creative), the Gr8 Club for the teenagers (with video games and internet connections) and the arcade for the children in all of us. The arcade was actually very popular with Ming Wai (3) and Siu Jeun (1). We bought $5 in tokens, and spent them over two days. Siu Jeun was perfectly happy to roll a single skeet ball up and down the skeet ball ramp. Ming Wai was only slightly more successful in getting the balls over the bump and into the cubbies.
Another thing I adored about the Lodge was that there were kids. Everywhere. That means that when my super rambunctious one year old needs to burn off some energy…I had absolutely! no! qualms! about holding relay races in the hallway outside our room. Nope. Not a one.
Now, the water park. Oh. My. Goodness. The water park. First off, let me say – if you would like to visit an indoor water park, may I recommend that you do it in September? When it’s still warm enough outside that most people would just go to the park or the beach if they want some recreation? But late enough in the year that 99% of all children between the ages of 5 and 18 are safely locked inside of schools? Because, my friends, there were no lines. Anywhere. For anything. That meant that Lo Gung and I could take turns chilling with the kidlets in the kiddie pool (which was really cool!) while the other ducked over to the four Big Slides (and bummed their way into a group, because you can’t ride solo on two of the slides). And the one ducking away? Was only gone for 15 minutes, after riding all four Big Slides. Awesome sauce, y’all.

Finally, a few tips:
1. Look for deals. We got our rooms for $80 off the normal price. It made the whole experience a lot more…manageable.
2. If you are going to do the breakfast buffet, it closes at 11 sharp, so arrive before 10:30. Kids 3 and under eat free, and if you buy the Breakfast Package when you make your online reservations, you get a really great deal. (Approximately half off the normal buffet price.) You’ll pay the full four-person cost, and they will refund you the difference for any Freebie kids you have with you when you check in.
3. Pack food. Any food you want. Your fridge will have a tiny freezer compartment, so TV dinners are also an option!
4. You don’t need to bring much. A few swimsuits, a cover-up for going from room to park, a duffel for toting sundries between room and park (an extra diaper and a few wipes?) and a few clean shirts. Oh, and cute PJs for the kids! They will want to look their best for the nightly story-time. *grin*
5. If at ALL possible, go during an “off season.” Our trip wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if Lo Gung and I had spent hours waiting in lines to ride the Big Slides while the other spouse played with the kids in the kiddie pool.
6. Pack your sense of humor. It’s a water park. And a hotel. There are LOADS of kids. The kiddie pool was closed when we first arrived, for an hour, because a guest had had an “accident.” At story time that night, a little girl stood up behind me while I sat on the floor, and her fresh piece of pizza tipped off her plate, bounced off Lo Gung’s shirt, and onto mine. Things happen. Just smile. It’s vacation!

Edited to add: 
Thank you to Buckeroo Mama for reminding me about Safety Tats! If you are worried at all about children wandering away in such a huge water park, you might want to try a Safety Tat! They are temporary "tattoos" that are waterproof, wear-proof and pull off as soon as you want them to, and last up to five days. You can write any contact info you like on the tattoo. Go here for more information. I'm totally kicking myself, because I WON two Safety Tats from Buckeroo Mama earlier this year, and this would have been the PERFECT way to test them out! Argh.  Thanks, Buckeroo Mama!