Great Wolf Lodge New England Review

My family and I had the opportunity this week to attend the Grand Opening of the new Great Wolf Lodge located in Fitchburg, MA. The kids had no idea that we were going. We told them we were going to do "something fun" and they almost lost it when we pulled in and started unpacking the bags that I had secretly packed. It was such a fun surprise!

Welcome to kid paradise!

We headed up to our room which had two beds and a pull out couch which was perfect for our family of five. We didn't last long in the room though before we headed directly to the indoor water parks. Now I'm not going to lie - the thought of bringing my three young kids who are all varying degrees of non swimmers to just learned to swim without a safety bubble was a bit terrifying. I was afraid that it might be too much for us - like my husband and I would need to be holding them in the water constantly or there wouldn't be enough "little kid" stuff for them. Well I am so happy to report that that was not the case. The water parks were perfect for us! They check the kids height before they enter the park and give them a colored bracelet that they wear for the duration of the trip that tells lifeguards/staff what the kids can and can't go on.

Henry and Wiley the Wolf (x2)

They also have plenty of life jackets and encourage poor/non swimmers to wear them. With the exception of the water slides, even the littlest kids can really go in/on anything as long as they have a parent with them. Most of the pools are low entry as well so the littles don't have to go too far in if they don't want to.

Buckets of fun!

Love the look on his face!

Isabelle conquering the Big Foot Pass

The big kids loved going far in the wave pool and Daniel loved it by the "shore"

Henry was tall enough to go on all of the big slides except one. I took him on the River Canyon Run as his first ride and my Lord, the excitement and thrill on his face was totally priceless. He smiled, yelled, and giggled the whole way down. He LOVED the slides and spent most of day two going down them with my husband.

Isabelle was tall enough to go on all the big water slides so she and I went on the Tornado. There was a drop in it (a six story drop followed by lots of swishing/swirling!) where she was visibly freaked out but the good thing about slides is that they are over fast. At the end though she said she liked it and we hiked back up the stairs to do it again!

The Tornado!!

Another great thing about the water parks is that the life guards were so attentive. They were everywhere and constantly scanning the water. The kids had a BLAST - so, so, so much fun in the water!

So we finished up day one by getting a pizza at Hungry as a Wolf and headed up to our room with it. We were going to try out the sit down restaurant but there was a wait and it was already way past bedtime. We knew the kids were going to be crashing soon so eating alone in our room was the better way to go!

On day two, we first fueled up at their on site Dunkin Donuts(!!) and then split the day between water park activities and checking out all the other fun stuff they have to do at the Lodge. At the Howling Timbers Play Park they have video games, rides, indoor mini golf, bowling, and an adult and child ropes course. So fun, right?

Isabelle and I coloring a Great Wolf pillow case

All aboard!

Henry tackling the kids' rope course

Bowling fun!

They also have an indoor arcade, the interactive MagiQuest game, Lazer Frenzy, Scoops Kids Spa, plus stores and more. We spent most of our time at the water park, at the arcade, or at the Timbers lay Park. There was just so much to do everywhere! They also have discounts including the Paw Pass if you want to do a bunch of the activities at a discounted price.

The kids changed their minds about a million times as to what their favorite thing about the trip was. I'm not surprised since everything was so awesome for them. After we got home last night, Henry declared, "The Great Wolf Lodge is the best hotel ever." I think he might have hit the nail on the head - definitely a great spot for tons of family fun!

Check out Great Wolf Lodge New England's web site HERE to learn more.  You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter!

*My family received a complimentary stay with amenities for the Grand Opening. As always, all opinions are my own.

*UPDATE: Check out the fun we had when we visited Great Wolf Lodge a second time in September HERE!