🐺 Why This Is Still Her Favorite
We’ve traveled to several places, far and near. But when we ask our daughter what her favorite vacation is, her answer is always the same: Great Wolf Lodge.
It’s her favorite simply because she likes swimming pools.
And I like that her favorite vacation is easy and nearby. There’s no long drive, no complicated planning, no pressure to see everything. We can go whenever we want, disconnect from daily routines, and relax as a family.
Sometimes the best trips aren’t the farthest ones.
❄️ Almost Didn’t Happen
We usually try to avoid weekends, Christmas, and New Year’s because prices are much higher. But as long as it is in school breaks, it’s still expensive. This year, I booked two nights at the beginning of winter break, just before Christmas. We were really excited.
Then, on the morning of the trip, she got sick 🤒.
We rushed to urgent care, and the doctor gave us a note for travel insurance. Before filing a claim, I tried contacting the hotel directly. The Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee has a great text message system. Texting had helped us many times before.
I tried calling. No answer.
I sent a text explaining our situation. They responded quickly and canceled the reservation without any trouble. We were very grateful.
After Christmas, she got better, so we decided to book again—this time before the New Year. This is exactly the same time we went last year. Without planning it, this trip had quietly become a small tradition.
🚗 Choosing Wisconsin Dells This Time
This time, I checked rates for both Gurnee and Wisconsin Dells. The Wisconsin Dells location was slightly cheaper and less booked.
It’s about a two-hour drive, longer than Gurnee. But she’s older now, and we’ve done much longer drives this year, so it didn’t worry me.
Another reason was the room setup. The Wisconsin Dells rooms have a microwave, which makes a big difference for us. At the Gurnee location, there are only shared microwaves in the hallway, but we really prefer having one inside.
Small things matter on trips like this.
🥪 Food: What Actually Worked
We packed a lot of food this time.
I’m not a big fan of water park food—burgers, chicken tenders, fries. They’re expensive and not especially appealing. We’ve done that before. This time, I wanted something different.
I went to Costco the day before and bought a lot of food and snacks. We packed a full cooler: cranberry walnut bread (my favorite), bagels for my husband and daughter, ham, almond butter, yogurt, bananas for her, and cucumbers for me. We also brought dried sweet potatoes—chewy and almost gummy—and dates filled with almond butter and peanut butter.
I brought deli food too: chicken rolls, meatballs with sauce, and a baguette so we could make meatball bombers in the room. We packed utensils, paper plates, and paper towels. Paper towels turned out to be especially useful when using the microwave.
Every morning, we had a simple breakfast in the room before heading to the water park 🏊♀️.
Once there, she ate a lot of snacks. I learned that for water park days, meals and snacks should probably be planned at a 1:1 ratio. She refused to leave the pool for lunch and wanted to stay longer, so she snacked instead. We usually stayed until around 1 or 2 p.m., then went back to the room to shower and eat. This made my husband super hungry and he ate two meatball bombers in a roll!
Next time, I’ll pack even more snacks. I also want to figure out better food to bring into the water park. Even ham sandwiches don’t hold up well. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches might work. Apples and oranges too 🍎.
🛏️ The Room: Convenient, Then Too Close
Our first room was very close to the lobby. At first, it felt convenient.
That night, it wasn’t.
She got tired early and wanted to go to bed before 7 p.m. But the lobby was full of music, howling, and holiday dance parties 🎶. We could hear everything clearly in our room. She couldn’t fall asleep. I drifted off briefly, then woke up to another round of music.
At 9 p.m., the last dance party started. With Jingle Bells coming through the door, I gave up and asked if she wanted to join the party or read instead 📚. She was too tired to dance and chose to read. We were glad we had brought books this time. In previous trips, she sometimes got super excited at bed time at hotels and reading would calm her down. After the dance party was over at 9:30pm, we finally went back to sleep.
Then the fire alarm went off 🚨 round 1am. Three times.
It turned out to be a false alarm, but by the third time, many families were standing at the front desk trying to figure out what was going on. We eventually went back to sleep.
That night made me realize how unfamiliar hotels can feel for kids, especially when routines are disrupted. She uses a night light at home. When travel, we always bring it because it is small enough to pack. It has backup batteries, so it doesn’t turn off during a power outage. At home we control it with Wi-Fi, and on trips we can still control it with Bluetooth. Having something familiar helped her settle down again.
The next morning, I asked the front desk if we could change rooms. They kindly moved us farther down the hallway. It was much quieter, though the walk was longer. It felt like a good trade.
🌊 The Water Park
The water park is divided into three large rooms, which helps spread out the crowd.
One room has a small lazy river, gentle slides, and two hot tubs—one for adults and one just for kids. This is super nice as most hot tubs are adults only. When my daughter looked cold, we brought her there to warm up. It became part of our routine.
There’s also a basketball pool that’s surprisingly warm. She liked swimming back and forth, and I joined her, pretending I was swimming laps. After all the holiday food, it felt good to move.
Farther down is the wave pool. She floated like a fish, letting the waves move her around 🐟.
On the other side is the big bucket tower. She’s been excited about it since her very first water park trip. She watched the bucket fill and waited for it to tip. The excitement never seemed to fade.
🎢 Slides and Growing Bravery
My daughter didn’t like water slides when she was a toddler. She hated getting her face wet. When we came last year, she started trying small slides, but only if my husband was waiting to catch her at the end.
This time, the first day felt the same.
On the second day, my husband found a slower double-raft ride. She sat in front, with him holding her tightly. I took a single tube down—it’s my favorite ride.
After the first nervous run, she relaxed.
Then came Alberta Falls. It’s a little faster, but still allows a double raft. After that, she wanted to do it again and again.
After each run, she ran straight back to the stairs. I tried to keep up at first. Then I walked. There are four stories of stairs, and we climbed them more than ten times 🥵.
After a while, the thrill was gone for me, and I started to feel dizzy. I slowed down and secretly hoped for long lines so we could rest. Normally, no one likes waiting. I did. I was thinking of taking a break and just had my husband go with her but I figured climbing stairs is a good workout. After the holiday food, it felt necessary.
Watching her run up the stairs made me wonder where all that energy had been during the adventure race a month earlier.
I’m not a thrill rider, but seeing her grow braver pushed me to keep going to another level.
🎯 Lobby Activities
On previous trips, we spent the afternoons at the arcade. This time, we didn’t.
Instead, we joined the free lobby activities. The scavenger hunt was our favorite. Items were hidden around the hotel, and the staff played along, offering clues whenever kids came by.
We also tried bingo. It was my daughter’s first time—and mine too. When you win, you’re supposed to howl instead of saying “bingo” 🦉. I won a round but didn’t howl. I was too embarrassed. The kids had no trouble with it.
❄️ Leaving and Coming Home
The final day is always tricky. We packed everything, loaded the car, checked out, and went back to the water park with winter jackets, boots, and clean clothes.
She refused to leave. Around 2pm, she finally agreed when we saw it was snowing outside ❄️.
Standing inside a warm water park and watching snow fall quietly felt calm.
We left the hotel around 3 p.m. It was cold and snowy. After two days inside, it took a moment to adjust.
On the drive home, we talked about the trip—the slides, the pools, the snacks. We all knew we had almost missed this vacation after having to cancel once.
When we got home, she finally ran out of energy. She lay on the floor and didn’t want to move. She didn’t want dinner, just sleep.
I made her some quick noodles 🍜 and fed her a little before sending her to bed.
That was how I knew the trip had done its job.