Great Wolf Lodge - Williamsburg

[Anonymous]

The MagicQuest game can be worth it. I balked at spending the money but they played it for hours and hours running around the hotel.

[Anonymous]

Aren't you guys worried about bedbugs? That's what I hear about GWL.

[Anonymous]

Have gone twice, pulled room apart on arrival, zero bedbugs.

[Anonymous]

Bring your own towels. I liked having extra and ones that were bigger. We didn't wear water shoes, just flip flops to get to and from the room to water park.

Eating off-site is a good idea in theory, but in reality after a day of hanging at the water park and lure of magiquest and other activities the last thing you feel like doing is mobilizing everyone to leave for meals. Pizza was the cheapest option and wasn't terrible.

DD line isn't bad if you get there early. There is also a starbucks down the street.

Get to the water park right when it opens to get a chair/table. That place fills up quickly and it sucks to arrive later in the day when you can't even find a chair to leave your towel on.

We all had a great time at GWL! I think i had as much fun on all the slides as the kids. Especially the howlin tornado!

Oh and if you can, get a room as far from the water park/main stairwell as possible. Kids are running he halls all night long and being in the main area gets really loud.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed GWL with the kids. The water park is amazing. And I liked that our room had a separate area for the kids.

That said, +1 about the restaurant. It’s awful. And the coffee situation is rough. Consider bringing your own coffee machine and coffee paraphernalia.

I developed a wart on my leg after our visit to GWL. The dermatologist burned it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bring your own towels. I liked having extra and ones that were bigger. We didn't wear water shoes, just flip flops to get to and from the room to water park.

Eating off-site is a good idea in theory, but in reality after a day of hanging at the water park and lure of magiquest and other activities the last thing you feel like doing is mobilizing everyone to leave for meals. Pizza was the cheapest option and wasn't terrible.

DD line isn't bad if you get there early. There is also a starbucks down the street.

Get to the water park right when it opens to get a chair/table. That place fills up quickly and it sucks to arrive later in the day when you can't even find a chair to leave your towel on.

We all had a great time at GWL! I think i had as much fun on all the slides as the kids. Especially the howlin tornado!

Oh and if you can, get a room as far from the water park/main stairwell as possible. Kids are running he halls all night long and being in the main area gets really loud.

I agree with all of this advice, except I thought their towels were fine. There were plenty of them, and for me transporting and washing towels is a pain.

I just went last weekend, and we had a great time. We spent all of our energy at the water park, and there was no way we could muster enough energy to eat offsite. I brought plenty of food for the room. If I go again, I'm going to sneak more food into the water park. It takes 20 minutes to get food from the snack bar in the water park, and I would rather have instant access to better quality food.

[Anonymous]

We are going this weekend. I can't decide whether it's worth it to get the late check out. Are the dressing rooms that small? I was hoping we could all just shower and change there...

[Anonymous]

There were 3 showers in the women's bathroom. Men's is probably the same. We only had to wait a couple of minutes for a shower to open up. For us using the changing room showers was fine, and it was faster.

[Anonymous]

hope you like hand foot and mouth disease because that's where you get hand foot and mouth disease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hope you like hand foot and mouth disease because that's where you get hand foot and mouth disease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hope you like hand foot and mouth disease because that's where you get hand foot and mouth disease

We have been 6 times and never even came home with a cold. My kids got strep (twice) and a stomach bug (once) from our fancy shmancy swim club, though.

GWL has some downsides. But I feel pretty good about the quality of the lifeguards and the disinfectant.

That said, get some small hand sanitizers to carry with you. The community ones were empty/missing last time we were there.

[Anonymous]

The bowling alley is small but kind of fun.

[Anonymous]

Other than not being open in the winter, aren’t the outdoor water parks way better? I’d much rather go to Water Country or Typhoon Lagoon. How much can they fit in one building? I especially don’t get the folks who go to GWL in the summer.

[Anonymous]

We enjoyed our trip to GWL, and would maybe go back during an off vacation time. Room was a kid cabin suite. I brought a flashlight and checked for bedbugs and it was all clear.

We actually thought the food at the buffet for dinner was pretty good (blackened salmon, chicken Marsala, decent kid fare). Yes the Dunkin’ line is ridiculous. The pizza was okay.

By the end of the day, the waterpark is nasty with paper towel and napkins and pizza crumbs all around the ground. So go early or Bring water shoes. The locker rooms are also atrocious and we noticed a sewer smell and backups in one. You also need to bring your own shampoo and soap, and the wait was very long.

We went to Pierce BBQ the second night and it was just okay. Nothing to write home about.

The chlorine is STRONG (for obvious reasons) and my nose felt kind of burned for a day or so after we got home. Maybe I am sensitive, but it bothered me. Maybe not well ventilated

We hit the water park early before it got too crowded and nasty and then did magi quest, bowling and movies at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hope you like hand foot and mouth disease because that's where you get hand foot and mouth disease

We've been multiple times and never gotten sick...