Great Wolf Lodge (with a toddler!) | Mason, OH

A place that holds a ton of great memories from MY childhood, that I absolutely couldn’t wait to take my own kiddo, The Great Wolf Lodge. Since I’ve been before I had an idea of what to expect (even though our trips there were over 10 years ago, it’s still engrained in my brain!) but realized when I was making plans before we left…I was in unknown territory taking a toddler! Here’s a quick look at our two night stay (& some tips if you’re planning yours)!

Find the deals

We went with family and were able to split a room (the biggest one they have!), on top of that GWL was running a special for 40% off so we ended up with a great deal! Make sure you check groupon, too…they often have specials that beat out what GWL offers on their site.

The Waterpark

The main event at GWL. Check-in normally isn’t until 4pm, but you have access to the waterpark starting at 1pm on check-in day. We were lucky and were able to check-in around noon because the waterpark was closed the entire week prior for scheduled maintenance…hooray for a decent nap for Eloise before the fun started!

From babies to adults, there is something for literally ev.er.y.one in the waterpark! We spent a lot of our time in the kids area with mini waterslides, Ft. Mackenzie water playground & fountains. We also loved the wave pool (it goes on/off every 8 minutes!) and the lazy river. The lazy river is actually faster than I expected, and a few water dumping hurdles to get through, but it was actually where I ended up nursing Eloise. Relaxing & a bit hidden, plus perfect to kill time while we waited for our friends that were doing the bigger slides! There was one large slide that we could take her on (River Canyon Run) with room for 5. The only stipulation is they have to be able to sit on their own, and they can’t send you off if your kiddo is crying. Eloise loved it, but there were a couple times we had to get her calmed beforehand since the very start is a little daunting for littles.

Another bonus going with other people, we were able to watch my niece while her parents went off to do a few slides together and then we swapped. And another time we left the guys in charge so the ladies could do a few, and vice versa. Definitely feels like you’re getting the most bang for your buck when everyone gets to do something they enjoy!

Other Activities

There is no shortage of things to do besides the waterpark at GWL! Our favorite (especially the boys, er - dads) was the arcade. If you go on a weekend the arcade is open 24/7…the guys took full advantage of that and spent way too much money on too many “paw tokens” and played games until probably 3am both nights with drinks in hand. They had a ton of fun & the kids reaped the rewards when it came time to cash out their tickets the day we left! Aside from the dads, the kids really did enjoy the arcade too – especially the mini carousel, we couldn’t get mine off of it!

When you check in you’ll get a list of the weeks daily activities, they had everything from crafts to yoga (we skipped most of these because we were too busy having fun in the waterpark!) but the ones I highly suggest you don’t miss are the clock tower show, storytime & bedtime dance party. Kiddos had so much fun getting all that energy out and watching the animated treehouse characters before bed!

We opted not to do the Paw Pass this time, if Eloise was old enough to truly enjoy everything on it it’s a good deal, but the only thing she would have really enjoyed on the pass was Build-a-Bear, so we just kept her distracted when we passed BAB (or simply said not this time!) and it was perfectly fine. There were plenty of other things to do to keep us busy – when she’s older I’m sure the popular MagiQuest will be fun but it will be several years before she’s ready for that!

Food

The one downfall of GWL is the lack of good food at a reasonable price. Thankfully at the Mason, OH location there are plenty of food options right down the road. My BIL did get the brick oven pizza one night and we had a few bites, it was pretty good & what you’d expect to pay for a pizza anywhere else! But everything else got pretty lousy reviews & seemed overpriced for the quality. I remembered this from my visits as a kid so we packed plenty of snacks, breakfast food & stuff to make sandwiches for lunches. A case of water is always a great idea, too!

Packing Tips

Pack a separate swim bag with change of clothes! Checkout is at 11am but you are able to use the waterpark until closing. They have locker rooms where you can shower/change and get cleaned up before hitting the road!
Bring your own towels. They do have towels in the waterpark but you’re not able to take them out of the area, and the walk back to your room can be a bit chilly, especially for the kids!
Bring a sharpie – want to avoid hearing “who’s wolf ears are these?” and “so-and-so took my paw card!” all weekend? Mark ‘em up so you know who’s is who’s.
Running low on space? Leave your life jacket/puddle jumper at home. They have plenty available for you to use! We opted to bring Eloise’s just because we had the space and she loves hers, but could have gotten by with theirs.

Don’t try to do EVERYTHING.

Especially if you’re only staying for 1-2 nights, pick a few things (for us – waterpark, arcade, storytime/clock tower show) and I promise that will be more than enough! Between all the playing, naps & getting out for 2 dinners it was still a jam packed weekend for us.