For a quick summer vacation this year, we decided to take a road trip down to Colorado Springs, Colorado to visit the Great Wolf Lodge resort that opened there in 2016. For those who aren’t familiar with Great Wolf Lodge, these are resorts throughout the United States that offer an all-in-one experience centering around a “lodge-style” resort and water park. Think of it as you would going on a child-friendly cruise ship, but without the boat.
To illustrate how immersive and full of activities and fun the Great Wolf Lodge experience can be: our family arrived and, upon our packing up to leave two days later, we realized we hadn’t gone outside of the resort in almost three full days. And it felt like it had flown by. That’s how amazing it can be.
The down side? It’s not cheap. Great Wolf Lodge is cheaper than most Disney-branded vacations and definitely lower cost than a full cruise ship experience, but it’s not as inexpensive as would be a national park or less immersive theme park visit. Most of those lower-cost items, while fun, aren’t as all-inclusive as is Great Wolf Lodge. Nor are those other lower-cost options as immersive.
Most Great Wolf Lodge resorts are basically the same with only layout or size differences between them. They all offer an indoor water park and adventure park experience along with a few other commonalities. Restaurants, for example, might change with each region. Those who live in areas like Colorado where very cold winters are the norm can expect to stay entirely indoors during a Great Wolf Lodge stay and be happy about doing so.
Read all about it at TravelingDad.com.
