Key Lime Cove Post #4

Ok I thought I was done with three posts but realized that there was one area I did not share with you and it was what I was saving for last, ya know save the best for last.  Island Temptations is the name of the place and oh my goodness everytime I walked past it (quite a few times a day since the way to the elevators was either left or right past it and it was on the main floor of the hotel) I would start drooling.

“Before you’re ready to start your day, head over to Island Temptations — your nose will lead the way — for a fresh cup of coffee. We roast our own coffee beans here and the tempting array of fresh baked goods and sweet treats guarantee this will soon become your favorite hangout.”

There was so many different varities of delicious here it was hard to pick out some yummy treats.  There was muffins, donuts, bagels, cereal, milk, juice, coffee.

On top of that they have fudge made right there as well as a LARGE variety of candy.  It was so mouth watering and tempting that I had to put it all in it’s own post.  Don’t forget your toothbrush when you visit because if you are anything like me your sweet tooth will get the better of you, although if you forget it you can always visit the gift shop and buy one.

Key Lime Cove Post #3

So we talked about the hotel room, we talked about the pool/waterpark area.  Now last but not least lets talk about well the rest.  I did not get as many pictures of the hotel as I would like but with an impatient 2 year old lots of pictures are really not her priority, hers is making me chase her everywhere lol.

Ok so lets start at the front doors and work our way in.  When you first come in the door directly in front of you is a huge gorgeous waterfall scene, perfect for picture opportunities if you ask me to show off your families visit.

To the left of the door is the Crazy Toucan restaurant.  This is actually the one and only place I got the chance to eat at while we were there, the visit was simply too short to experience everything.  I had the most delicious chicken fajitas that were totally to die for but I am a huge fajita fan.  Not sure what my sister and her friend got because I was too consumed by my delicious food in front of me.

Of course then you have the front desk and right across from the front desk is a great seating area where you can relax, watch into the waterpark and wait to check in or check out or just get some away time from the kids if need be.  What would a tropical paradise be without a bird or two and luckily Key Lime Cove has three actually, two large parrots and one small one.  The small parrot sits on top of her cage, the trainer goes across the hotel and calls her and she flies straight to him it is awesome.  The two big birds you can actually have your picture taken with, I wanted to with Maddisyn but I never got around to it and I am very sad because of that.

There is a swim shop where you can purchase all your forgotten swimming necessities such as towels, coverups, swimsuits etc.  The gift shop was awesome and they had some super adorable clothing choices, I was even able to get the boys an iron on patch for their fire blankets from teh gift shop which was great because that does not happen often.

In the waiting areas off the elevators is a small seating area with a couple chairs, tables and maybe even a small couch to relax on while waiting on your friends/family, really a great idea since I spend a ton of time waiting lmao.

On the ground floor of the hotel along with the pool is a shop, Duke’s Dock Shop, with a ton of different shoe/sandal/croc styles I was so sad I just did not have time to shop.  There is also a great arcade that we spent some time at letting Maddisyn run around and pretend to play games and burn off some energy.  D.W. Anderson’s Icecream shop is also on this floor, I did not get in because there was not an opportune time to visit with my cranky toddler but I did take some time to peek at it to see and it was so cute themed like an old school ice cream parlor.

Last but not least was Maddisyns favorite place outside of the pool, Leapin Lizards.  This is a kids area where they have certain special crafts at certain times like a pictures scavenger hunt, make your own snow cones, color a bird in a cage etc.  On top of that you can go in and purchase stuff for your child to paint/color like piggy banks, shirts, bags, pillowcases etc.  On top of this there is some coloring pictures that the kids can just sit and color as well as some games to play, movie playing on the tv the entire time we are there, Maddy even got to pick once and picked a Dora cartoon.  There are toys, games, puzzles, books you name it this is a great area for kids, I took a bunch of pictures but let me share just a couple with you.

Ok well I know that there is so much more to this resort and that honestly it is not something I can tell you about it is something that you really need to visit and experience for yourself.  I will say this is so far one of the most amazing trips that i have ever been able to go on and the only thing that I would change for next time is I would bring my entire family instead of just Maddisyn.

I am again going to say, please do not go with all the negative reviews you have heard of this resort, I was a bit nervous going because of the reviews and they were so wrong and I was silly to even listen to them in the first place, it was nothing but A1 service the entire time.

Key Lime Cove Post #2

Last time I told you about checking in, the money-less wristbands, and of course the actual hotel room.  Today I am going to tell you about the waterpark area of Key Lime Cove.

I did not get to spend much time in the actual waterpark so my picture selection is very limited on this one but I will share with you what I can.

We got to the hotel, got checked in and of course Maddisyn seen the pool and NEEDED to go swimming at that very moment so we headed to the room and got our swimsuits on to take her to the pool.  On our way to the pool I got to meet the great Sarah, the PR rep who arranged my trip to Key Lime Cove, she was awesome although I did not get to talk nearly as long as I would have liked to because Maddisyn was just dying to go swimming lol.

So we got to the pool and right away I am amazed, they have several areas to play in.  There is an area with small slides and not so deep, like 3 ft at most I think, pools.  This was Maddisyns favorite area because she could slide all by herself.  Then there was the big giant waterslide (I did not get to ride this but my sister and her friend did once and said it was a ton of fun).  The lazy river which you started and finished in a wave pool.  When we started going around the lazy river the waves were not on in the pool, but when we came out they were and wow Maddisyn had so much fun floating in her tube up and down over the big waves and yelling wheee.   There was a pool off in the corner with basketball nets in it, we did not go in there at all there was just so much to do and so little time in the pool.  There is also an adult only hot tub for people 18 and older to use.  I was happy to see this although my sister wishes there was one that she could have used.

Right in the center of all of this there is a big giant tree fort type structure with all kinds of water play all through it from squirters to buckets to water guns.  When you climb to the top of this there is a couple of body slides which looked super fun.  There was two small body slides and Maddy loved to play there too.  Also on this tree house is a giant bucket that dumped water what I think was every 5 minutes but I did not really time it so I cannot tell you for sure.

All around the water park area you will find large plastic tables and chairs so you can eat some lunch/dinner from Sharkys Big Bites, which I will tell you about in a minute.  If you are not eating then you can park yourself on one of the plastic lounge chairs and just relax while your little fish swim around.

One thing that I was rather disappointed with was when my sister was told that she could not swim because she was not wearing a “swimsuit”.  She was wearing swim shorts that I purchased for her myself from the swimming section at walmart and she was wearing a bathing suit top (think tankini) but she was told that because her swim shorts were not a normal bathing suit bottom she could not wear them.  Although begrudgingly we let it go and just did not really visit the water park much more during our visit which was a bummer.  I was not overly upset about this though until I went up to their swim shop and there was almost the exact same shorts for sale in their swim shop to wear into the pool, then I was very upset.

We spent Saturday out of the hotel anyhow though and on Sunday we went back to the pool and my sister just kinda hung out not really doing much and clearly being bored but smiling so that Maddisyn could swim some more before it was time to head out from there.  On Sunday we had lunch at Sharkys Big Bites, Maddisyn had the chicken nuggets and french fries, she is my picky eater and she ate them all up so they must have been good.  Carley had the hamburger and said it was really yummy, I had the nachos and they were to die for.  The prices were very inexpensive there as well which was great, so all in all you get a lot of great food for a very good price what more could you ask for.

The lifeguards at the water park where always moving, always looking out for emergency situations that they would be needed at.  They were playful too though, walking right in the water in the area around the treehouse (we spent most of our time here) and at once point I even saw a guest splash the lifeguard and he got playful and splashed her back, it was good to see that they could be serious but fun at the same time.  One thing I wish that I would have saw though was a rescue of Timmy but I guess I just needed to spend more time in the pool area to see this.

So I did not post any pictures throughout the post this time, I am going to share them all with you right now though.

My other camera is in my car I will add more pictures to this later.

Chevy Equinox Test Drive – For a Week

I’ve had a really hard time trying to write this one, there’s just so many wonderful things I want to tell you about the Chevy Equinox I tested out on my trip to Key Lime Cove. I could honestly write a novel but I’m sure you don’t want to read that much so I tried condensing it but felt like I was then missing things so here is some of the most important information I felt I needed to share with you.

First, Let me start by saying I wish I could have returned my own van and kept the Equinox. It was a dream to drive, very roomy and comfortable and loaded with features. I love that i could just plug in my iPhone and control it through the stereo when listening to music, it had satellite radio but I only used it once as I have a pretty extensive play list on my iPhone. I used the Turn by Turn navigation provided by on-star for a little bit, however we had a technical glitch that prevented that from working properly so I would have to call back every so often to find out what and where my next turn was, a bit of a pain but i still got there without having to read a map so that’s still a bonus in my books.

The Equinox seemed to float down the highway and it was pretty quiet inside (well limited road noise anyways, I was traveling with 2 teenagers and a 2 year old lol) the cargo are had more than enough room for everything we needed for for all 4 people plus a stroller on top of that and I could still see no problem out the back window and even with a large car seat there was still adequate room in the back seat for a 16 year old to be comfortable.

What I loved the most about the Equinox was the fuel consumption, I drove the entire trip, there and home, which was about 2000km or 1240 miles and only burned about $120 in gas. (Here’s a little more about the engine and such copied from GMCanadas site)

Powerful Or Fuel Efficient? Or Both?
With Direct Injection and Variable Valve Timing (VVT) on both the standard 182 horsepower 2.4L ECOTEC four-cylinder engine and the available 264 horsepower 3.0L V6 engine, power and fuel efficiency are both maximized. At 6.1 L/100 km highway fuel efficiency and a driving range of up to 1100 highway kilometers, the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox has better highway fuel efficiency than Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and even Ford Escape Hybrid.** And the standard six-speed automatic transmission further improves fuel efficiency, with an ECO button that allows you to switch to a fuel-saving mode on models with the 2.4L engine. Advanced technology – for the power you need and the fuel efficiency you demand.

The sound from the stereo is rather impressive too, nice and clear and more than loud enough for me, I`m not one for loud music but that was one of the first things Lee tested out and now he wants to change the speakers in the van yet again lol.

Probably the only thing I didn’t like about the equinox was the small storage compartment that was above the stereo on the dash, it was very convenient for ID and sunglasses and small items like and it blended seamlessly into the dash adding a little to the look of the interior, however that part I didn’t like was the button to open it was very shiny chrome and the angle of it seemed to pick up the sun all the time shooting the glaring reflection into my face. It was rather distracting while driving into the sun most of the way home. It would have been nice if it was black or dark gray.

That being said I still absolutely loved the Equinox and would for sure consider buying one for our second vehicle maybe, I would consider it for our primary however at this current time we need to fit at least 6 people in sometimes so a mini van or similar is our first option solely for that reason.

KeyLime Cove post #1

Oh wow, this one is going to be a couple of posts long as well.  I walked into KeyLime Cove and I was in awe, what an amazing sight to see, so much for kids to do right off the start.  After I picked my jaw up off the ground I got into line to check-in, the lineup was a little long but it was certainly not for lack of staff, there was someone at each of the computers behind the desk (at least 10 I did not really count).  I was lucky enough to get Diamond as my check in person, she was so great with me it had been the worlds longest car ride and I really just need a kind face at that point and Diamond was for sure it I am giving her two thumbs up and a huge shout out.

When we checked in we got our bracelets that showed we were guests at the hotel, but more then that they were also our room keys, what a great idea not having to carry a room key with you, afterall there is not really pockets in a swimsuit haha.  On top of the bracelet being a room key though you could put money onto it and then use that to pay for your food/souvenirs because it is good at any store/restaurant in the hotel.  You simply show them that your bracelet has a $ symbol on it and they scan it and your good to go.  Then when you check out they just return the balance on the bracelet back to you.

The front desk was a gorgeous site as you can see from the picture below, I will try not to overload too many pictures into this post so for now we will cover the front desk and the hotel room since those are a lot of pictures of those.

Once we got all checked in we got to go to our room, there is two seperate sections of rooms and you have to take a left or a right past the candy shop, thats right there is a candy shop in the hotel lol and I have pictures of it to show you later.  I got lost the first time but it was a brief wrong turn so I went back the other way and found the room with little problems, we were the second room off the elevator which was nice.

When we walked into the room there was a special little package of stuff waiting for us that included two small beach balls, a bookmark, a few Key Lime Cove temporary tattoos, a very nice hand written note welcoming us and some of the yummiest fudge.

Once I was able to get past the yummy looking fudge I took some time to explore the room.  I love the bright colors of the bedding and the clean look of the white furniture.  We had the Queen Deluxe room which gave us two queen sized beds and a pullout couch which was perfect since there was four of us travelling and Maddisyn just shared a bed with whoever she felt like since she is only 2.

I was very happy with how clean the room was upon arrival, I had read a lot of the previous reviews online and was a bit concerned with what it was exactly I had gotten myself into and I would just like to say that although I am sorry perhaps some other people had a bad experience on their stay I can honestly say that I did not.  I also had a friend staying at the hotel at the same time as me and her room was just as clean as mine.

Ok so lets get down to the complete description of the room, the pictures will all follow at the bottom of this post.  There was a side buffet style table with a mirror above it, this was perfect for holding my purse and other stuff that I would need to grab on my way out the door.  It also holds the ice bucket and the drinking glasses, which are real glasses and not plastic cups wrapped in a plastic wrapper.

Then there was a larger dresser with 6 drawers and a door in the side.  In the drawers were extra pillows, blankets and in the bottom drawer a safe that you set with your own code so you can store any valuables in it and not worry about when you are off in the hotel pool, arcade or even shopping down the road or gone to Six Flags (post to come).  On the top of the dresser there is a huge LCD TV and the coffee maker.  The coffee maker is a mini-keurig brewer with donut shop coffee to drink, so yummy we absolutely love us a Keurig.  The door on the end of the dresser had the fridge in it, so perfect it was not out in the room taking up valuable space which if you have ever traveled with your family you know it is important to have all the room you can get.

Of course I have already shown you above the pictures of the couch/pullout and one of the beds, the other one is identical to the one pictured above.  Then there was a round table with two chairs that we used for Maddy to eat and I used my computer on that desk.  The room also had the luggage stand, closet shelf/bar, iron and drop down ironing board hair dryer, double sink which was in a little alcove outside of the actual bathroom.  The bathroom was smaller but had enough space that there was a bathtub/shower, the toilet and room for us to change in there.  I also really liked that the bathroom door was a pocket door so there was no space lost with that either, the only downfall was Maddy really liked to push the door open and closed because it banged when it hit either way.

Ok I think I have told you all about the room there is so much more about the hotel to share but I will save that for a new post that will be up later because this one was so long.  I just have so much to say that I know these are going to be long but I am strongly encouraging you to take your family and visit Key Lime Cove, it is so worth it.  Now onto the pictures.

I was provided a room at KeyLime Cove under their media rate in exchange for this review, the opinions in this post are mine and were not at all swayed by that fact.

GM Canada and Jabbering Jessi

I am very excited to tell you that I get the very high honor of reviewing the Chevy Equinox during my trip to Chicago and cannot wait to share with you all the details and my personal opinion of the car.  I am not sure which features it will come with but I cannot wait to spend some time discovering it.  I have heard that it is a very comfortable ride which would be great since we will be in the car for over 8 hours to drive there.

Mini-Cation Post #12 – Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark

Wow where to start, this one is probably going to be a long one but oh so fun.  Crooked creek is probably one of my favorite parts of the whole Great Wolf Lodge trip.  Lay back in a tube and just relax while the water flows you around the lazy river, perfect for when the babies want some down time and Maddisyn actually fell asleep while we were just floating around it was perfect.

Thunder Bay is the outdoor portion of the water park but is not open until Memorial Day weekend so i was not able to try that out or take any pictures of it.  Want to relax in the hot tubs?  Perfect you can choose one of two in Manitoba Tubs.  There is one for people age 21 and over so you can relax without a bunch of kids running around or one for the whole family to enjoy which I know my kids certainly did enjoy.  Big foot pass is a fun area where the kids can jump, or climb with the assistance of an overhead net from one side of the pool to the other on giant lilly pads, my kids loved that part.  Plus there was a floating snake in the same pool that they could climb all over and while in the same pool a small wall separated basketball nets where you could have some water fun with your kids or they could interact with other kids, this part of the pool is called Chinook Cove and is 4.5 feet deep.

The water slides are probably my kids favorite part of this all and there are slides for kids of all sizes.  The little ones can play in Whooping Hollow on the kiddie slides where kids under 48″ only are allowed to use the slides (adult supervised of course).  Maddisyn loved climbing up the stairs and sliding back down to her dad and I who were waiting at the bottom for her.  Alberta Falls is a four story high water slide that goes in and out of the building while you ride on a tube, super fun.  There are three water slide options in this area, one you can ride with up to three people and there are specific tubes.  The other side you carry your own tube up and you can ride either single or double down here.  I seen people bringing kids younger then Maddisyn down but I don’t think that she would like the water in her face so it would not work out for her.

The last area I have been saving is Fort Mackenzie. Fort Mackenzie is a four-story interactive tree house water fort offering 12 levels of super-soaking fun for the family. Younger kids can climb with their parents to reach the slides at the top. The older ones will love making their way over suspension bridges and cargo nets to spray stations and soaker buckets. (Watch out below!) The grand daddy of soaker buckets is the 1,000-gallon tipper that sits atop Fort Mackenzie. Every few minutes, the warning bell clangs, and the bucket begins to tip its contents over the roof and onto the giggling group below.

Here is a video i took of the bucket dump as well as a ton of photos I took that I wanted to share, just click on the thumbnail to open the picture and view it full size.

The last thing I want to talk about here is the most important thing.  We have been to Great Wolf Lodge before and this never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times i see it.  The lifeguards and their reaction time is awesome.  They test the lifeguards occasionally by floating a doll named Timmy into the different pools at different times without letting the lifeguards know they are there, they then watch to see how long it takes the lifeguard to react and get Timmy out of the water.  The one lifeguard I saw do it was amazingly fast how quickly he saw Timmy and we were in a pool full of people and Timmy happened to float underneath Lees tube at the time.  Lee then got to witness this again a little bit later and this time the lifeguard dove in jacket and all on to save Timmy.  I then got to see them jump in after a little boy who lost his footing and took in a bit too much water.  I have never had to use them but am extremely thankful for the lifeguards there and how fast they can react.  Kudos Great Wolf Lodge for ensuring your lifeguards are well trained and on the ball with everything.

Mini-cation post #4 – Great Wolf Lodge – Lodge Life Part 3

This is my third post about life around the Great Wolf Lodge.  I know there has been a ton of information shared already but there is still a few more things I want to share with you about the amazing atmosphere and activities that are there for you to do with your family.  This will be my last Lodge Life post but then I am excited to share the most amazing exciting part of our trip…the WATERPARK.

Lets get this party started by talking about having your wedding at Great Wolf Lodge.  There are ballrooms in the lodge that allow you to have your wedding reception right in Great Wolf Lodge, the bonus of this is if you have family travelling in from out of town they could stay right at the lodge and if they have kids they could bring a babysitter and leave the kids in the room with the babysitter while they enjoy your wedding reception all while knowing the kids are simply an elevator ride (or walk down the hallway) away and that there is lots of stuff for the kids to do to be amused.  There is a wedding coordinator, banquet facilities and gourmet cuisine all available for you to help make your special day perfect.

My family loves to play games so going to the Northern Lights arcade is the perfect thing for any fun loving family.   Jam-packed with over a hundred games. Dance, race, spin, throw — it’s the only “workout” that will let you earn prizes.  You play the fun filled games, earn tickets that are automatically dispensed from each machine in varying amounts dependent on the game and your points/success.  Once you earn your tickets you take them and feed them into the ticket counter which once done prints out a receipt that shows how many tickets you have earned.  Then you can go and redeem them for prizes of different values.  They have stuff from 5 tickets all the way up to over 2000 tickets.  We got Maddisyn the most adorable pink guitar for 1200 tickets and Maddisyn and Holden each a ball for 150 and 400 tickets respectively and we only spent 30 dollars playing the games.  The boys got a bunch of junk food, a couple balls and multiple other things that I have not even had the chance to see yet.  Tons of fun and a great way to pass the time.

Great Wolf Lodge even has a spa called Elements Spa for adults.  The prices are I think reasonable for a Spa although i have never been so I honestly cannot say one way or another on that front.  You can go and get many different treatments like an antioxidant facial, radiant skin facial, green science facial, the Elements signature facial, teen facial, a neti body treatment, aroma body wrap or a Caribbean Therapy Body Treatment.  I had not planned this time to have a spa trip but I will for sure be returning to Great Wolf Lodge and I will be going to the Spa then.  Want to send your little girl to the spa while your there to pamper her?  They have a spa for kids called Scoopswhere your kids can get a facial, manicure or pedicure.  Whats so special about Scoops?  Well other then that they are girls only, they do their treatments with ICE CREAM.  It is designed specifically for kids 4-12 years of age.

I have been saving my kids activity for the very last bit of this post because it is a big one.  Magiquest.  You purchase a wand and receive a quest book and it takes you all over the lodge playing, looking for items.  When you find a chest you can point your wand at it and it opens and gives you gold.  The same practice is with the quests, you go around and when you find the item you point your wand at it to activate it and it records to the wand.  Then as you finish each part of the quest you must report to the boxes with a certain character like a gargoyle or man or stone etc to check your progress.  Then you report back to the magic trees to start a new quest.  Once you complete all the quests you get to go on adventures and have to help power a fairy stone, defeat a gargoyle and defeat the dragon to become a dragon master.  The kids all complete the entire set of quests while we were there in no time at all, I was rather proud of them and while I bought myself a pink wand merely because it is pink I did not get to really play.

Well that was life at the lodge, and while I tried to share with you as much as I possibly could I truly believe that you need to visit Great Wolf Lodge at least once with your kids because in this case seeing is truly believing.

Mini-cation post #2 – Great Wolf Lodge – Lodge Life Part 2

So yesterday I wrote a post about lodge life at Great Wolf that talked about the rooms, lobby, story time and food.  There is just so much I want to share that this I had to split it into three posts.

While we were there I took Maddisyn and Holden off on our own little adventure so that Lee could go on the waterslides with the kids for a little bit because they love doing that with him but hitis too hard for us to all be in the water at the same time and me be with both babies while he his off sliding.  While out on our adventure we decided to take a visit to Cub Club.  Cub Club is a place where you can take kids and they can tye die or paint their own t-shirts or pillowcases.  They an also make a little necklace, paint a piggy bank or a turtle bank or make sandart.  There is also a computer that has a kids game loaded on it that your older little ones can play with.  There was a playhouse and a story corner complete with an adorable tree and rocking chair with a ton or books to read to your little one.  We painted the piggy bank and turtle and created a necklace, Maddisyn had fun and it was a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the activities we had been doing.

I love that Great Wolf is very environmentally friendly and gives you the option to not have fresh towels daily to help use less water, there are also recycling bins all through the lodge including in the rooms which is a large help in easily being able to dispose of not only our garbage but our recycling.  We are a green family as well so this was great.

I took a bit of me time and went and explored the gift shop, better known as Buckhorn Exchange.  They had so many great things branded with the Great Wolf Lodge logo as well as essentials you perhaps may have left home like tylenol or toothbrush etc.  The kids each got a gift from the shop, Chase and Blake chose a mug and a glass that is Great Wolf Lodge Branded, Maddisyn and Holden each got a stuffed wolf wearing a Great Wolf Lodge shirt, a pair of flippers and swimming goggles.  They are adorable, Maddisyns has a pink shirt and a pink hairbow, Holdens is wearing a blue shirt.  The gift shop is huge and even sells board games which is great for some down time in your room.  My favorite thing that I saw there was a Great Wolf Lodge scrapbooking page kit that came with over 500 pieces to make your own Great Wolf Lodge pages for your scrapbook.

The gift shop also has a Great Wolf stuffing station where you can Create your very own Stuffed Wolf and other stuffed animals friends from the animal kingdom! You can choose, stuff, stitch, fluff and dress your new furry friend, name him and walk away hand in paw with your friend for life, that you helped bring to life!  Forget your swimsuit?  No need to panic down in the pool area there was a Bear Essentials swim shop where you can go to get your pool essentials.  They have towels, swimsuits, flip flops, goggles, swim diapers, cover-ups and so much more.

We were there in March so it was still cold and yucky out but we are hoping to visit again in the summertime with the kids, why you ask?  Because we would LOVE to do the Howl-In-One Mini-Golf.  It was closed while we were there so I was not even able to get any pictures of it or really see it up close but we as a family love mini-golf so I know it would be right up our alley.  Giant life-like beavers, golf ball-eating fish, floating greens. Those are just a few of the wacky features you’ll find on our state-of-the-art, 18-hole mini-golf course.

This was another fun filled post, I was trying to get it all done in two posts but we will be headed into a third one tomorrow because I want you all to read all I have to say about the lodge and the fun that you can have as a family there.

Mini-cation post #1 – Great Wolf Lodge – Lodge Life

What a great trip, I love the Great Wolf Lodge we had so much fun while there, we spent hours swimming, playing in the arcade and doing Magiquest.   I am going to do this in a couple separate posts just because I don’t want to overwhelm you with all the stuff you can do here.  So lets start with lodge life.  When we arrived we went to the counter to attempt to check-in, now I say attempt because here at Great Wolf Lodge check-in time is at 4:00 pm but you can check in as your room becomes available.  We got here at about 2:30 and went to the check-in counter to register and at least get our water park passes so we could play in the water park while waiting for your room.  We were lucky and our room was ready so we were able to go right into our room.  If our room had not been ready we did have  a separate bag packed with our swimming gear because you are able to start using the water park area as of 1:00 PM on your check-in date even if your room is not ready.  We got to our room, got everyone settled and of course we went off to the water park.

I will get into more of the water park a little later on in another post but for now lets talk more about the lodge, the rooms and the fun activities.  We are staying in the Majestic Bear Suite which sleeps max of 8 people in it.  There are rooms that vary in capacity from 4-8 people or less.  Our room is simply amazing.  It has two queen size beds, a double sized sleeper sofa and a separate bedroom with a king sized bed in it.  There are two TV’s in the room and the one in the main area has a Nintendo 64 controller hooked to it and you can rent the Nintendo for a fee each day if you choose to.  You can also rent pay per view movies for after the kids are in bed.  The main area has a dress with four drawers and a chair in it as well as a door to the patio.  The bedroom has the dresser, chair with footstool and door to the patio area which is where you must smoke if you are a smoker because Great Wolf Lodge is a non-smoking lodge.

There are two restaurants you can go and eat in, the Loose Moose Cottage or Camp Critter.  I recommend the Wiley Wolf Wrap it is so delicious, my new favorite.  Camp Critter is absolutely adorable all done up like the great outdoors with trees and cabanas which you eat under at wooden tables.  Loose Moose Cottage is more of a family style normal restaurant except for Lucy the Moose who sometimes will sing for you.  There is also the Spirit Island Snack Shop for if you can’t get your crew out of the water park to eat.  The food there is great as well although I wish they had some sort of dipping sauce for the chicken strips they serve there.  They also have funnel cakes, soft pretzels, and hot and cold beverages both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

The hotel lobby is absolutely mind blowing.  It is all done up in the outdoors theme that is throughout the entire hotel complete with a tree house style reception desk, lots of chairs to sit and chat in as well as the Great Clock Tower which tells kids a story every night at 8 pm sharp.  It is a great tradition and one that Maddisyn liked to do every night, she would scamper into the room, get her pajamas on and then we would head to the lobby for the story time with Wiley Wolf.

Is your head spinning yet?  I know mine was there is just so much to see and do.  I have decided to break this into a two part post so that it is not too long and so that the pictures don’t make this post too long to load.  So look forward to tomorrows exciting installment of Mini-cation post #1 – Great Wolf Lodge – Lodge Life where I will tell you about the gift shop, howl-in-one mini-golf, iron horse fitness center and a few more things I really want to share.