Great Wolf Lodge - Williamsburg
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Anonymous
| We're going to Great Wolf Lodge for Thanksgiving. Would appreciate tips from other families who have been there. Do they provide towels or should I take some extra pool towels? |
Anonymous
| they provide towels. plan to spend a lot of money. |
Anonymous
| Bring those drops that dry out kids ears to prevent infections. |
Anonymous
| The line for the Dunkin Donuts in the lobby is reminiscent of a Russian bread line. Do not eat at the overpriced and mediocre restaurant on-site. A quick drive will take you a number of better restaurants. Bring water shoes. And have fun. It actually can be fun. Turn the part of your brain off that worries about mold and water-borne crap and just have fun with it. Watch your kids and see how much fun they're having. And if you're there over the weekend the tiki bar inside the water area may be open with football on. So there's always alcohol. |
Anonymous
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Agree with PP - definitely go off site to eat. I'd suggest going into Williamsburg itself though it has a mix of college oriented places and overpriced tourist oriented places but both are much better than the in-house options.
There is a road that runs parallel to the interstate that is closer than going into town that has some cheaper options but they mostly seemed mediocre. |
Anonymous
Yikes. My children have outgrown their water shoes. Would crocs be ok? |
Anonymous
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They have towels. Definitely eat dinner offsite. I brought food for lunch or ate their overpriced crap. If I did it again, I would bring my own damned coffeemaker too. PP is not kidding about the DD. There are lots of fun activities throughout the day and evening for the kiddos. So, do check the schedule and figure out which ones cost extra.
I was resolutely refusing to upgrade our room to one of the suites last time we went. They kept sending me emails with the upgrade price going down and down. At check-in, they basically offered me one of the themed suites for like $10 more than a basic hotel room. I said yes then, and it really was pretty great. Obviously, they were underbooked that weekend. but if you're on the fence about paying more for a suite; one option is just to wait and see if the price drops. |
Anonymous
We have been several times to the one in NC and my kids usually do not wear water shoes. I insist on flip flops or crocs for walking into the bathroom, otherwise I don't worry about it. I prefer to wear water shoes but most people don't. Do bring a wrap or a bathrobe or something for walking back to your room. You are not supposed to take the towels out and it can be cold if you are in a bathing suit and t-shirt. I wear my fuzzy robe. It is definitely not the biggest fashion faux pas happening at Great Wolf Lodge. Bring snacks/water/food for your room (and beer/wine, too if you want). Much cheaper and better than waiting in line and spending tons of $$$$. We usually eat a banana and yogurt for breakfast and we're ready to go. Your kids will be very happy. |
Anonymous
| Oh, if your kids really like the waterpark a lot the best time to go is right when it opens. They can get in lots of rides before the lines get long. |
Anonymous
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I cannot agree more with the PPs who told you to eat offsite. The food is absolutely gross and very expensive. The restaurant in the parking lot (not affiliated with the Lodge but literally a walk across the parking lot) is also gross. Get in your car and drive somewhere better.
Bring breakfast and lunch stuff and keep it in the fridge in your room (yogurt, cereal and milk, fruit, etc). Bring lots of snacks too and then just plan to eat a big dinner out. |
Anonymous
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There’s a decent BBQ place on the same road as GWL.
Stay strong on not buying crap. The only extra thing I bought there was fries bc my kids were starving. Water shoes are good to have but my kids didn’t wear them oj the slides or anything. Obv flip flops for you. Agree with bathrobe or something to keep warm to go back to the room. We sprung for the “kids cabin” and my kids liked it a lot. Really, the room was fine; the way some people talked about it, you’d think it was a motel 6. |
Anonymous
| If you want to grab a quick bite to eat without leaving, buy a whole pizza. It feeds everyone and isn’t as outrageous as the individual meal options. Don’t buy the MagiQuest game unless your children have a lot of patience and perseverance. If you want to have designated chairs where your family can meet up all day, make sure one of you leaves a few strategic items on a couple chairs (other than the park-issued towels) as soon as the park opens, even if everyone isn’t ready to head to the park yet. All the chairs will be taken soon after the park opens. |
Anonymous
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LOL about the dunkin donuts. I think it took me like 30 minutes to get a donut and coffee.
Pierce's BBQ is great and about a mile down the road from GWL. http://www.pierces.com/menu.php |
Anonymous
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We had to have hit Pierces on an off day when we went, it was terrible; tough, no flavor, etc. but agreed, eat off site, unless you buy the whole pizza in the evening, that worked OK.
Magiquest is great when kids are a bit older, after spending a bunch of time at the Waterpark, it runs until 10pm so kids get a lot more activity. Wear swimsuits under clothes on the way there, the locker room is super tiny. The snack bar in the water park serves beer, FYI. |
Anonymous
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I agree with a PP about the pizza. I was pleasantly surprised by it, tastes pretty good and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
One piece of advice: bring more than one swimsuit for each of you. If you're like us, we'll go back up to our room at a certain point to chill out (and regain our hearing  ) and then head back down in the evening. But putting cold, damp swimsuits back on isn't fun so it's nice to have a dry one.
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