My kids are older (9 and 11) and I took them for the first time last summer. We went to the one in Williamsburg. They LOVED it and want to go back this year. At their ages, they are old enough to handle themselves at the water park and I sat by the outdoor pool. It was expensive and I didn’t think of it as a vacation, but did it for the kids.

I’ve been to the one in Williamsburg. Not impressed, water was cold and the rooms seemed run down. I am going to try the new one in MD when it opens though.

Anonymous wrote:Love it for a weekend getaway in the winter. Waterpark, arcade, Magicquest, bowling, dance party, it’s tons of fins for the kids! The rooms are themed with dens. They will celebrate your birthday with extras. You get wolf ears to wear. Outside there is a ropes course and pool during the warmer months. At night, they do a storybook reading. There are no luxuries for parents. Sadly, there are no bellhops and the food is pizza and low quality. Some rooms have a fireplace and most, if not all, have balconies.

The PA one has a spa.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a parenting masochism rite of passage. It’s like if Disneyworld and a mid-level conference hotel had an unsanitary baby. It’s a test to see how much you love your small children and how much you’re willing to prioritize their happiness over your own. They make it cost just enough to be extremely annoying.

Co-sign all of this. And I actually like Disney!

Love it for a weekend getaway in the winter. Waterpark, arcade, Magicquest, bowling, dance party, it’s tons of fins for the kids! The rooms are themed with dens. They will celebrate your birthday with extras. You get wolf ears to wear. Outside there is a ropes course and pool during the warmer months. At night, they do a storybook reading. There are no luxuries for parents. Sadly, there are no bellhops and the food is pizza and low quality. Some rooms have a fireplace and most, if not all, have balconies.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a parenting masochism rite of passage. It’s like if Disneyworld and a mid-level conference hotel had an unsanitary baby. It’s a test to see how much you love your small children and how much you’re willing to prioritize their happiness over your own. They make it cost just enough to be extremely annoying.

lol! Spot on. Do the trip! Your kids will LOVE IT. You will not.

Some rooms smell damp. One time my son was in the water and said he had to use the bathroom, paused a minute, then said - not anymore.

Kids had fun spent a lot of time in the arcade room,story-time mini golf and loved it.

The first time we went based on the price i expected a nice hotel and was put out - i think i flabbergasted the check in guy by asking for the bell hop - if you figure what a theme park ticket would be for each member of your family and back that out of the hotel rate it feels about right. My oldest daughter was an anxious child and loved GWL like no other place - I look back and am so glad we took her a few times as it was sheer bliss for her. The gimmicky rooms with a tent or cabin are kind of fun - the one in willamsburg seemed pretty clean ten plus years ago when we went and my kids loved the super tacky magic quest in their pgs. bad food choices - I would order in pizza v.s. the restaurant

Anonymous wrote:The one in PA was populated almost entirely with people I can only describe as Jersey Shore. I loved it because I felt like Jane Goodall but not everyone would enjoy it as much.

That’s rural PA for ya!

FWIW, there's one opening in Perryville, Md., on July 15.

As others have noted, you can sometimes find a cheap deal to get you in the door and spend money on food/activities/arcades/etc., which is where I'm guessing they make a lot of their money.

I found Kalahari in the Poconos to be nicer, though YMMV on how "nice" you think an indoor waterpark complex can be.

Anonymous wrote:The one in PA was populated almost entirely with people I can only describe as Jersey Shore. I loved it because I felt like Jane Goodall but not everyone would enjoy it as much.

This is a pretty good line, too!

We went when our kids were little, I think 4 and 7, and had a great time. I love water slides One night was plenty.

It is a lot of fun for the kids. Just remember it is loud, and Gerry, and the room will have either a moldy smell or strong cleaner smell or both. Because it is a hotel of people coming back to their rooms soaking wet.

It's really fun for kids between the ages of about 3 and 11, especially in the winter when there's not a lot to do outside. In addition to the water park, there is a magic quest wand thing that is really fun for the 5-10 age group, and mini pin bowling and an aracde. One night is plenty to stay there -- drive down late morning and they will let you use the water park starting at about 1. You can also use the waterpark after checkout the next day. If you have multiple kids, it's worth getting one of the rooms with bunk beds -- they love it and it comes with a little privacy screen so you can read in bed at night without bothering them.

You can combine it with a trip to do other things in Wburg, but it's worth switching hotels because the markup on GWL is high.