The "Woof" Lodge part 1

So we recently took a trip to the Wolf Lodge, yeah the one on tv. I have been asked a few times to let people know what I thought of it once we were back. Well here we are and I thought this would make an excellent blog. Its gonna be a 2 parter because I have to review the hotel and the waterpark separately, because I want to. I have that much to mentally unload on you. So let's begin!

First of the place is decorated very cute. I mean its a theme hotel and all, but its cute. I know in the commercials they say its a family place, but they lie. They lie right through their wolf teeth. Its a full on, crazy loud, chaotic kid resort. The rooms are normal enough unless you get one of the themed rooms, which we did. Ours had a little cabin style set of bunk beds for the kids to sleep. Other than that it was just a lodge style hotel room. It has your basic fridge and microwave, although our microwave bordered on nuclear reactor. I am sure that is not the case with all of them. We got lucky I guess. It burned a hole through my popcorn bag. Yes it did.
Ours happened to have a gas fireplace which was wonderful when we returned from the pool all cold and wet. It doubled as a people warmer and wet bathing suit dryer.

There are several restaurants in the hotel. We only ate at one, and that was enough. This place is like a mini resort so everything you could possibly need is under one roof, one huge overpriced roof. It was insanely expensive. We ate one meal there and were happy that we had brought food from home for the rest of our stay. If you want the wolf ears that all the kids are running around sporting you have to order kids meals from one of the restaurants. We didn't know that ahead of time. We just so happened to show up starving. I highly recommend you bring your own food. The fridge is tiny, but we made it work. It would be astronomical to feed all five of us for the two days we were there. So unless you are made of money bring food.

There is this game called MagicQuest. It is my nemesis. The deal is you buy a wand in the MagicQuest store and go around the hotel on a quest. The wand activates all sorts of interactive displays. The kids are running around the hotel waving these wands at all hours. They are in groups blocking the hallway and basically getting in your way if you dare to leave your room. They appear to be having fun, like I said this is a kid hotel. Don't think you are getting anywhere in a hurry. Prepare to dodge children who are enthralled in a magical journey. They aren't in a hallway blocking traffic, they are on a quest. What for? I do not know.

There are also other kids activities like a girls spa, that was totally adorable, and a teen kinda club/hangout place. We didn't do those, my kids are little. We did enjoy the show at the clock tower in the center of the lobby. Think "its a small world" except nature themed. We watched the show before story time. Its only 15 minutes long and cute, just cute. The kids were glued.
Right after the trance inducing show there was story time. They do it every night. All the kids fill the lobby in jammies and the mascot Violet, who is a tween looking wolf girl, helps an employee read the kids a story, then she poses for pictures afterward. I think the employee that reads the story works in some sort of kids club AKA babysitting room somewhere in the huge lodge. It was a lot of fun. The kids got a kick out of the story and thought it was cool to talk to Violet. My kids like people in costumes. They take after me.

The place is genius. I wish I had come up with it. I would certainly ask for a room away from any and all MagicQuest exhibits. It gets to be annoying trying to weave your way through all the oblivious kids and shell shocked parents when you are trying to get downstairs to get a latte. They do have a starbucks in the lobby, but don't even think about getting a coffee first thing in the morning unless you are gonna hot foot it down there at 7 when they open. Starbucks is staffed like its in downtown Mayberry, not an 8 floor kids resort so the line is unreal. You might as well wait until lunch. Which can make you kinda cranky. There are baby coffee pots in the room so if you aren't an early riser you might want to bring your own.


Overall it was a fun place. It was exhausting, busy and cuh-razy, but fun. People want to know if I think its worth the money. Well I don't know your budget, but mine says no. It was more expensive that Disneyland minus the plane tickets and that is the kicker. They know that to get a similar experience you would have to fly somewhere so they can charge whatever the heck they want to. Also, who else do you know that has an indoor waterpark? They own the market. There are sales and stuff so I think your best bet would be to take advantage of those. Keep your eyes open and jump on those sales. I would definitely go again if I got a cheaper deal. It won't be a repeat under any other circumstances, but you gotta go once. Your kids will thank you. Stay tuned for part 2: The waterpark