I was invited to stay as a guest of the Great Wolf Lodge, Sandusky in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A Great Wolf Lodge family getaway was our last item on our summer bucket list and I can definitely say that we ended our summer with a bang! This was our first ever trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio and the kids are already planning out their birthday parties and a yearly trip to the resort. I have to agree with them, I can’t wait to go back! We stayed for two nights and there was still so much more to do!
If you’ve never been to Great Wolf Lodge, it’s a massive indoor water park resort designed for families.
As if it couldn’t get any better, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Great Wolf Lodge is celebrating the joys of camping with special activities and events in their new Summer Camp-In program! You can enjoy pool/dance parties, stories around the fire, s’mores and more! Book your trip and take advantage of the discount code by clicking here.
If you can’t make your way to an indoor water park this summer, you can bring the pool to you and check out these best above ground pools here from Globo Surf.
Arrive early and use the waterpark
On your day of arrival your check-in time begins at 4pm, or as your room becomes available. But you can arrive as early as 1pm and enjoy the water park before you check-in. We wanted to arrive early to take advantage of some time at the water park on our first day so we arrived at 2pm and our room was already ready for us!
At check-in, kids also receive complimentary wolf ears. Ours never took them off besides going in the water park :]
Attend the events
When we first arrived at the resort the front desk staff gave us an event schedule so that we were aware of all of the free events that were scheduled every hour during our stay from 8am to 9pm. While there are a ton of activities you can pay for, the resort also provides a ton of free activities for the kids as well. You can see our schedule below that we had during our stay.
Our kids really enjoyed ending our day by hanging out with the characters for story time, crafts, and the dance party. The activities and events throughout the park are such a fantastic way to entertain your family. During the day when we took breaks from the water park to dry off we participated in some of the face painting, dance parties, and even a rubber ducky 500 race where the kids got to decorate their own rubber ducky and race it in the waterpark.
Purchase a Great Wolf Lodge Pass
During our stay we seen just about every kid with a paw pass or wolf pass. These passes will save you so much money while you try out new things and explore the resort. There are three types of passes – a Pups Pass, Paw Pass, and Wolf Pass. These passes differ in price and what’s included based on the age of your child and what they’re geared to. We chose the Wolf Pass for our 7 and 5 year old, which was perfect for them. They carried their new Build-A-Bear’s with them the whole stay and even included them in the dance parties and story time.
What’s included in the Wolf Pass
The Wolf Pass at the Sandusky location included:
- MagiQuest Game
- Choice of wand, topper, or Magi belt
- Build-A-Bear character
- Arcade Game Card
- Candy Cup
- Glitter Tattoo
- Great Wolf Lodge Goggles
- Leather Treaty Wristband
- Scoop of ice cream
MagiQuest is an interactive wand game that has stations set up through the resort. The kids used their wands to “collect” items to solve their quests. This game was played with the whole family and I love how interactive it is. The kids were amazed to see different things come to life from opening treasure chests to paintings and animals that could talk.
The Water Park
Great Wolf Lodge’s main attraction is the indoor water park and it’s great for little ones because there’s so much space for them to splash around. My kids were tall enough to ride all of the slides as long as they wore a life jacket. There are so many water slides, pools and play areas within the indoor water parks that there is something for everyone in your party no matter their age or adventure level. Life jackets are available as well as a towel service and lockers.
Inside the water park there are different areas including Fort Mackenzie which is a multi-level treehouse which was perfect for the kids to splash around in. The indoor water park also includes nine waterslides in different sections: Alberta Falls, Totem Towers, Otter Run, and Whooping Hollow.
There’s also a lazy river, and two hot tubs a lower and an upper one for adults only. My kids favorite was the 1,000-gallon water bucket that dumps water every three to five minutes at Fort Mckenzie and the outdoor swimming pool which featured activities and dance parties during the day.
Where to eat
We ate at almost every restaurant on site but the hotel does allow you to bring your own food. We enjoyed meals throughout the resort from breakfast with the characters at Gitchigoomie Grill. We ate a lot of pizza and ice cream from Hungry as a Wolf and Bear Paw Sweets & Eats as well. They also have a Dunkin Donuts located in the lobby which was a bonus for me and my iced coffee obsession!
With 18 Great Wolf Lodge locations around the country, be sure to check out the fun at a location near you! Follow Great Wolf Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the lastest news and special offers!
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