Great Wolf Lodge

The Burch family visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord last week and had a great time.  They were having a convention & visitor's bureau event, and since Mike works in Concord he was invited.  Part of the event was a FREE night's room!  If you haven't heard of the Great Wolf Lodge, it is a resort with an indoor water park up near Concord Mills.  There are about 10 of them across the country. Admission to the water park is free with the room, and you cannot go to the water park unless you are staying there. Not only does it have an indoor water park, but it has a HUGE arcade (you need tokens); putt putt course ($4.99 - kids; $7.99 - adults); kids' spa; adult spa; a kids club (I think this is free); MagiQuest (a medieval themed virtual scavenger hunt - not sure of cost); and a room for teens with Guitar Hero, karaoke, Wii and more ($9.99).  Did you notice that everything except the water park costs extra?  They also have story time in the lobby in the evening.

At first just Mike and I were going to go up by ourselves.  Then we decided to surprise the kids and take them with us.  They had already heard about Great Wolf and REALLY wanted to go.  I packed a bag, picked them up from school and told them I had a surprise for them.  We drove towards the speedway, and I told them what we were doing.  They were thrilled.

We got there about 4 p.m. and Mike had already checked in.  He had a little work to do, so the kids and I quickly got our suits on and headed down to the water park.  We had a blast!  There is a wave pool; an area for really young children; a fort/treehouse thing was a few smaller slides; a pool with basketball goals and floating lily pads that you try to cross; an outdoor pool, and then there are LOTS of slides.  There are a few that five people can ride down together, and a few that you can ride down with a partner and then several that you can ride down by yourself.  The water park is open from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Right now they are running a grand opening special that for $179 you get your room and then, of course, admission to the water park.  I believe this lasts through early to mid-June.  Once the special is over rooms will begin at around $300.  The rooms are VERY spacious and there are many layouts to choose from.  Some even come with built-in forts or cabins with bunk beds in the rooms.  We got to go look at all the rooms and the kids loved the fun rooms.

There is a main restaurant, a Pizza Hut Express, a Dunkin Donuts, a snack bar in the water park and a delicious-looking ice cream;bakery/candy/fudge shop.  We stayed at the park until about 8:30.  We were very tired when we left.  The slides are pretty high up and require a lot of climbing.  You definitely get a workout just going up the stairs.

I highly recommend this for a fun family "vacation."  The rooms aren't cheap but when you throw in the water park admission, it becomes a little more reasonable.  My kids are still talking about how much fun they had!  You can check out the website by clicking here.