Waterslides, candy, mummies, and a giant spider. That is just some of the fun we encountered during our latest trip to Great Wolf Lodge. The resort is decked out for its annual Howl-O-Ween festivities, which include trick-or-treating and a big dance party with a balloon drop.
The hotel’s lobby is completely decked out for the occasion with a haunted house and a giant balloon spider leering at you from above. The lobby is party central with face painting for kids and activities throughout the day. In the evening, Great Wolf Lodge hosts storytime with the characters and then the lights dim for the Monster Bash Dance Party. It seemed like no matter when we passed through the lobby there was something fun going on.
My son’s favorite part of the weekend was collecting candy along the Trick-or-Treat trail. Great Wolf Lodge supplies the bags and a map. Your child then gets to explore the resort to find the candy stations, each of which have people in costume and games. We played a ring toss game at one station, pin the ears on a skeleton, and took a selfie with a mummy. The best part is that all of this is free. We found that there was so much to do inside the resort that we almost forgot about the water park.
I had a bittersweet moment as we stood in line for the Howlin’ Tornado. We have been visiting Great Wolf Lodge for several years and my son was pretty young during our first stay. He was just starting swim lessons at the time, which meant that we spent most of our time in the area for small children. As we visited over the years, my son was eventually able to swim in the wave pool without clinging onto us the whole time. He has grown tall enough to go on the big rides. And on this visit, he took his first solo trip on the River Canyon Run. I’m proud to see him grow, but I still miss those early years.
Speaking of things that change over the years, Great Wolf Lodge added a new attraction, Oliver’s Mining Company, which we tried out. The employees give your child a bag of sand, which they sluice to find lots of fun rocks and gems. My son is a bit of a rock hound and always collects unique rocks wherever we travel, so he loved this experience. We also went through the mine maze, adjacent to Oliver’s Mining Company, which was a neat little activity with some fun surprises. Its worth checking out on your next visit.
As always, we had a wonderful time at Great Wolf Lodge and the Halloween decorations made the visit extra special. The Howl-O-Ween activities continue through the end of October, so there is still time to plan your own family adventure. You don’t want to miss that giant spider!
