Somehow, we managed to keep this little outing a secret from our kids. On Friday morning, we surprised our kids with this photo collage in the advent calendar:
They were so excited! My boys had to go to school, but my daughter carried around this paper all day and insisted on bringing it with us to the hotel.
We headed there right after school, but it took us an hour to get there because of all the traffic. The front of the lodge was decked out for Christmas:
Christmas-themed activities
The lobby looked grand with all the Christmas touches:
We received special "Snowland" wolf ears at check-in.
The kids took a photo with Santa:
The clock tower audio-animatronic show was changed to a Christmas version:
The nightly story time was a Christmas book, followed by a meet and greet with Violet:
And then it started snowing in the lobby!
KidCabin Suite
We booked a KidCabin Suite that sleeps 7 people. It was perfect for our family because the cabin had room for 3 kids with a with a bunk-bed and a twin bed. The kids even had their own TV in there:
There was a queen bed and a sofa bed in the room as well.
Our room had a microwave and refrigerator. We brought food for dinner and breakfast and ate in the room.
The Waterpark
The indoor waterpark included a large structure with faucets and kid slides:
The area for younger kids:
The wave pool was my daughter's favorite. It was just like we were back at the beach! She and I spent most of our time in the wave pool. (This photo doesn't include the waves, which appeared about every 10 minutes and lasted for about 5 minutes).
The lazy river:
Another activity pool with an obstacle course and basketball hoops:
My husband went on the 5 larger water slides with my boys. They had a blast!
We ate lunch inside the water park on our second day. We arrived right when it opened in the morning and had no trouble getting a table.
Paw Pass Activities
My kids each received a Paw Pass as a Christmas gift from their grandparents. This was very helpful to us (as parents) because in the hallway leading up to the water park there are a lot of extra activities that are not included with your hotel stay.
We completed all of the activities on the pass during our two days at Great Wolf Lodge.
The pass included swimming goggles from the gift shop (not pictured).
Each kid got a personalized leather bracelet:
And a glitter tattoo:
They played the MagiQuest game with their new wands:
The paw pass included a cup full of candy:
Each kid got a photo with a frame to take home. In addition to the picture with Santa, the kids got a 3-D photo with the wolf characters and one with the dragon:
They also chose and made stuffed animals (similar to Build-A-Bear workshop):
Their animals came with a Great Wolf Lodge backpack and could also be used to play a Clubhouse Crew adventure game on kiosks throughout the hotel:
The kids received $5 worth of arcade tokens with their Paw Passes, but I didn't take any pictures of them in the arcade.
The surprising favorite activity of the Paw Pass was Howlers Peak Rope Course. This wasn't there when we visited Great Wolf Lodge 7 years ago. It's located outside and you have to walk through the indoor water park to get there.
The first level is a miniature course for younger kids. My daughter was nervous on this at first, but she soon got the hang of the transitions and became very confident on the course.
The bigger ropes course spanned three levels above the ground level. My two boys were fearless on this! My husband decided to join them.
Each level had a zipline on each side for a total of six ziplines at different heights. Here is my younger son going across:
From the very top level, there was a spot where participants could jump to the ground. Both boys loved this!
We were lucky that the weather was sunny and in the 60s that afternoon because we spent a few hours at the ropes course.
We only stayed one night at Great Wolf Lodge, but we were allowed to experience all of the activities for two days (until closing on the second day, which was 9 p.m. for the water park and 11 p.m. for the other indoor activities).
We had a great mini-vacation at Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas! The kids are already asking when we can return. Thanks for the Paw Passes, Grandma and Grandpa!
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