Spend Your Next Vacation at Great Wolf Lodge :: Impressive Safety Measures and Staff
Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange, Georgia should definitely be on your bucket list. This indoor water park and adventure park was an excellent vacation that felt truly safe for my kids.
First things first. In case you didn’t know, Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark and adventure park as well, including bowling, ropes course, mini golf, arcade, gem mining, and more. It has numerous food options, as well as Dunkin’ Donuts and Ben & Jerry’s. There is also Magi adventure quest all around the resort. This place is truly fun for all ages.
Now, let’s talk about safety.
To say that the combination of water and kids makes me nervous is an understatement. However, I’m happy to report that my nerves were at ease at this resort due to all the safety measures in place.
Most of the waterpark areas are rather shallow. My three-year-old wore a life jacket the entire time; however, he could touch the bottom in almost every attraction including the lazy river and the pool with the basketball goals. He was able to play in the wave pool with supervision. There were only 2 entrances to the lazy river which made it less accessible for little ones to wander in. Lifejackets were located at the entrance and were easy to grab and go (no rental needed).
There was 3 ft of water in some areas. The only 5 foot area I saw was the deep end of the wave pool. My worried momma brain truly appreciated the consistent factor of shallow waters throughout the facility.
The lifeguards were hard core. They were persistently pacing back and forth and checking all edges of the water. There was a trainer placing a dummy in the water to keep the lifeguards on their toes throughout the day. I saw this happening every day I was at the resort. Never have I been more impressed with lifeguards and safety at a water park.
The staff was attentive and helpful. My little wanderer tried to escape a few times. One time I was grabbing a spoon for his ice cream as I saw him round the corner into Build a Bear. I followed shortly after to find him with a staff member blowing bubbles. Another time, he ran ahead into the gift shop. When I caught up to him, a staff member was standing there chatting with him and said “there’s your mommy.” These instances were only about 5-10 seconds and I was right behind him. However, it was refreshing to know that there was an attentive staff member around every corner. There were two large exits out of the building which had heavy doors with double exits. Therefore, I was never concerned about him escaping the resort and thankfully he never tried. About half of the staff members were young, however, very informative and respectful.
Now that we’ve gone through safety, some of you may be thinking about possible deterrents such as the drive time or the crowds at Great Wolf Lodge, so let’s go over those briefly.
The Drive:
The drive was not bad. It was 6 hours from New Orleans. I printed out a map for my oldest, so that he could highlight the cities as we traveled through them. We counted big trucks and Waffle Houses. Our car activities included books, coloring, snacks, and movies were when the littles got restless. We stopped twice on the way. This was our first long six hour trip and the kids handled it pretty well.
The Crowds:
The crowds were low for Mardi Gras week in my opinion. When speaking with the staff, they mentioned that summers were busy and all Saturdays were crowded. Otherwise, spring and fall were less crowded times of the year. We saw lots of New Orleanians wearing their Mardi Gras attire on Fat Tuesday. We met some nice folks from Chalmette, found some children from my son’s school and even ran into my son’s 1st grade teacher. Apparently for Mardi Gras, people travel to Disney World, Tennessee and Great Wolf Lodge.
If you decide to go head to Great Wolf Lodge, here are a few things to know to make your vacation a little smoother:
- The Water Park is included in your room payment. There are packages for the Adventure Park such as the Wolf Pass, the Paw Pass, the Pup pass, and an unlimited package to look into. This will help with covering all the games and activities. (There are also some free activities throughout the day like story time, family game time, art activity, bingo, dance party)
- Make sure you return your towels and scan them back into the water park front desk because they will charge them to your room if the towels are not returned.
- Downloading the app was super helpful for check-in, event, schedule, and mobile food ordering.
- You can connect your credit card to your wristband.
- Your room key is your wrist band.
- There are massive slides (not pictured) and you have to be a certain height/weight to go on certain slides. Additional wrist bands are given at the door of the water park based on height. Green can ride everything. Yellow wristbands can ride with an adult. Red wristbands cannot ride the bigger slides. (My 7 year old had a yellow wristband and my 3 year old had a red wristband.)
- Life jackets, towels, and wolf ears included. Bring your own goggles.
