Hotel Stay with Daily Water Park Passes at Great Wolf Lodge Wisconsin Dells

Always a good time here

We had a wonderful quick getaway. The staff was so friendly.

Very clean and quiet room. We stayed in the condominium section of the resort. I really enjoyed the room it had 2 tvs which was great. We celebrated my son’s 16th birthday and the boys had a great time. Waterpark was very clean however if you stay in the condo part you will be super far from the waterpark which I disliked.

Great starter vacation, but not worth the expense paid TL;DR The Great Wolf Lodge was a fun place to stay for our first family vacation to Wisconsin Dells. Our kids enjoyed the waterpark and MagiQuest the most. The majority of the property was clean and centralized making it relatively easy to get where we wanted to, despite the lack of any reasonable maps. The TV system even had a Great Wolf cartoon for the kids to watch. Parking and maintenance issues marr the experience quickly but aren't pervasive throughout the property. Parking. The property has some challenges however. Due to limited parking space, and the waterpark being accessible to guests with day passes, GWL imposed some bizarre parking fees which are poorly understood. ACEParking leaves signs all over the lot encouraging the use of an app, text or web address. ONLY the QR code option (web address) works, and the site confuses the hell out of people leading them to purchase the wrong pass duration. The front desk knows parking sucks and tries to resolve it by providing paper passes for your dashboard; but the passes are again, only valid for 24 hours. If you are a hotel guest, parking should be covered for the entire duration of your stay and covered in the cost of your visit. Checkin. Secondly, the checkin process is painfully slow, which is especially difficult when you've had kids riding in the car for multiple hours when you arrive. To be fair, we did stay toward the end of spring break, which may mean the resort was busier than usual. The front desk did not provide an explanation of which building or direction in which to find our room, nor are any maps present on the property. This means finding things around the campus just plain sucks. There is a map in the GWL app, however it it is both buried under menus and is unfortunately, out of date. The Waterpark. Next, the waterpark has some maintenance issues which clearly need to be addressed. The Mountain Raceway slides near the wave pool are MOLDY and need cleaning. Fort Mackenzie has numerous broken components so kids tend to focus a lot of their time on the parts that are working. The Fort Mackenzie waterslides are not monitored and on more than one occasion I saw young children trying to play in the exit areas, which you can imagine is a bit dangerous. Worse, some areas of Fort Mackenzie are damaged (example, there are physical holes in structures) which are only guarded by moveable plastic barriers. The Tornado is fun all the same, but placed in a very weird location--behind Fort Mackenzie, so no one seems to know how to get to it. Just like other waterpark attractions, the Tornado needs some cleaning--from mold. To my surprise, all of the waterslides in the park are equipped with AI enabled cameras (to monitor guest safety) except... the Tornado. Something strange about the waterpark is that towels are available, but monitored by your wristband. Should somone take yours or you so happen to misplace it, a $15 charge (each) will land on your bill. We weren't at all surprised by this process, but the fee is steep. Maybe its a sufficient deterrent to keep people honest but a family of 4 or 5 would be stung with a surprise at the end of their stay should they forget to swipe their wristband to return their towels. Last, if you intend to enjoy the lazy river...its kind of a joke. It is disappointingly small, but oh well, the kids loved the rest of the waterpark. The best part of the waterpark would have to be the wave pool and tube slides. The wave pool cycles on and off every 10 minutes (or something like that) so you never miss a chance to enjoy the waves. It is also gentle so no one is crashing into each other or stuggling to get above the waves. Arcade. Nothing can describe how much I loathe this space on the property. It is obscenely loud, so much so that parents whom aren't paying attention miss the fact that their children are screaming to leave because it is sooooo overwhelming. To add to your frustration, numerous games are damaged or malfunctioning. What really set this space apart though is just how misleading it is. Signs are all over the walls pointing to the Prize counter, but absolutely nothing explains that the Prize counter is outside and behind the arcade. What confused the hell out us though, is that the $300 Food and Fun package included a $50 arcade card which no one on the property explained how to collect. The Prize counter is the only place where the arcade cards can be claimed. Onsite dining. The onsite dining is acceptable but nothing to rave about. The cantina in the hotel lobby is labelled as 3 different things, which is confusing as all hell. All 3 are operated by the same people and guests wander in confused, trying to figure out which is which. Hungry as a Wolf, the Freshwoods Market, and Bear Paw are ALL the same but only separated by which checkout terminal you visit. Its misleading and frankly a really bad way to make the property seem like there are more dining options than there really are. The Hungry as a Wolf pizzas are a little pricey but freshly made in a woodfired oven, so they do taste great. Kids' GWL drink cups are available for $17.99 each (ouch), but have unlimited refills. Not bad, but no kids need 30oz of soda at 9AM (yes, we observed kids loading up on code red mountain dew that early). The bakery items (Freshwoods Market?) are tasty but there isn't much variety. A few glazed donuts, huge cookies, cinnamon rolls, danish and muffins. The bakery case shelving appears to be damaged so the trays are askew, which is not all that important but needs attention. The Lodge Woodfired Grille was weirdly devoid of guests during our stay. The Friday night fish fry was good and the cook was able to accomodate our kids' unusual dietary needs. The quality of the drinks available at the bar were generally crap (the margarita is the best thing available, and its watery) but thats also not the point of staying of GWL, so I wouldn't dock points on this. The Lodge Woodfired Grille is also normally where breakfast service runs. The thing that drove me bananas is that during our stay, the property was busier than normal so breakfast service moved to the "Blackwoods", which NO one on site explained where or how to find it. Pullup shades were littered around the front desk and a strong wafting of bacon and eggs drifted through the hall, but without any bearings, we missed this enitely. Buckets inside the waterpark was decent for fast food, despite how busy it was. Oliver's Mining Company This is a neat little mining sluice where kids get to sift for gems. As other patrons called out the pey dirt doesn't offer much unless you opt for a family size bag. Oliver's seems to be busiest in the morning so be prepared for a brief wait, but with a little patience its still a quick little activity for kids. MagiQuest This was a pivotal place for my kids. The wands and gameplay are overpriced, but greatly discounted if you purchase the Food and Fun package. The MagiQuest building is definitely showing its age as several props in the building need paint or physical repair, but all in all they are still functioning, despite the computer system behind the scenes getting slow. Ashley in the MagiQuest gift shop was awesome and took the time to help our kids get setup, explain the game and tips for ensuring wands wouldn't break. Ashley was so helpful my kids decided to go back and finish their quests before we left GWL. Although the MagiQuest game is difficult at times, it is the exercise needed for both kids and adults alike. Unlike other guests have described, the guidebooks appeared to be current, although one or two icons didn't precisely match. MagiQuest had a task that was extremely hard to complete because it was timed. One huge disappointment about MagiQuest is that the building is NOT ADA compliant, so it is physically impossible for someone with limited physical abilities to complete any quest which requires access to the topmost floor. The elevator only covers 3 floors, although there is a stairwell. Some parts of the quests are only accessible through climbing nets. Our Room. The Wolfden Suite is exactly what we needed but literally nothing more. All of the vestibule drawers were broken so it was hard to find a place for our kids to stow their extra stuff. The bunk beds were exactly what the kids wanted and squarely fit so there was little room for injury from horseplay. The bathroom is teeny tiny so a family of four may struggle to find space to dry their waterpark gear and shower simultaneously. All Wolfden suites are apparently on the first floor, so if you want to find a quieter area, find a different option. The alarm clock has USB ports so those of us who forget our phone chargers have a backup plan! Summary The GWL is exactly what a family with young kids seeking a brief respite from the hassle of world expect. However, the onsite food options are pretty much all junk food, there are cleanliness issues which should be addressed, and parking is a hassle. PS I took my photos at checkout not checkin, so take them with a grain of salt.

Good for little kids! We have been here several times in the past and decided to come for Spring break. We had an okay stay. The waterpark is good but better for younger kids. The room was clean but lots of noise in the hallway. I do get it but not a place to stay if you are looking for a place to relax. I am sad the spa closed because it was very nice.

Not what we expected. We've just received a text, less than 24 hours from checking in, that some of their water slides, activities are down. When I call under the assumption of setting up a new reservation, they told me everything was working. What a scam! Our family is out on we expected, we're planning our vacations elsewhere after this.