We are HUGE fans of Great Wolf Lodge getaways! After a recent stay there (Great Wolf Lodge hosted us this time, but the opinions are all mine!), I wanted to put together a helpful Great Wolf Lodge review for other families who are considering planning a trip to one of their many locations!
In this case I went to a Great Wolf Lodge near me, but you can check out a full list of their locations here.
Try Out The Great Wolf Lodge MN Location, You’ll Love It!
I have been itching to try out the Great Wolf Lodge MN location since it opened as a Great Wolf Lodge and our family finally got the opportunity! We’ve already been to the Kansas City Great Wolf Lodge and the Wisconsin Dells Great Wolf Lodge so I was stoked to see what this location had to offer, and put together a robust Great Wolf Lodge review, now that we’ve seen a few different locations.
And, let me tell you, we were not let down in our stay!
What does the Great Wolf Lodge Minnesota location offer?
I think a better question to ask might be, what does the Minnesota Great Wolf Lodge location not have to offer? At all of the Great Wolf Lodge locations you can always expect an overly friendly staff, lifeguards that watch the pools like hawks and a lodge feel around the entire hotel, but I have found that each of the locations have their own special touches.
The Minnesota Great Wolf Lodge’s unique feature is the rock wall and ropes course. The older kids loved the ropes course. On our stay we had 5 kids including my two ages 7 & 10 and my nieces and nephew ages 11,9 and 4. Our niece who is 4 wasn’t quite tall enough to do the rock wall and ropes course, so the super staff let her trade in her ropes and rock wall on the Wolf pass for a little bit extra arcade money – she was totally fine with that!
The Great Wolf Lodge in Minnesota also has a few extra fun unique things that I had never seen before including the cutest candy store, a Ben & Jerry’s, a bowling alley and a Dunkin’ Donuts (GASP! coffee.at.all.hours.!) And, I was super impressed that the donuts and coffee prices weren’t outrageous either. You know how sometimes “resort” prices can be priced so much higher? Yah, these weren’t and my coffee lovin’ self loved that!
And, of course our kids loved the pools and slides. At the Minnesota location there is a ride that seats up to 5 people – everyone rides in a raft together and slides down this monstrous sized tube that is half covered and half not – and the kids could pick out a theme for the ride before getting on the raft – that ride was by far the kiddos favorite slide. It was so much fun – but I’m not gonna lie … my heart was pounding at the end (hear: don’t go on this ride if your heart’s not prepared to beat outside your chest!)
There’s the slide that requires no tube, and then the slide that requires a tube – single or double riders can go on that one and it’s equally as fun. We loved that going during the week allowed us to go on and on and on rides again and again. If you’re able to hit up a Great Wolf Lodge during the week – do it. The prices are less and the lines are shorter as well. Win-win!
The lazy river was a great chance to take a break and get some well, lazy time in! It’s super cute seeing the moms and dads ride with their littles around the lazy river. Adorable. Also available is an island of sorts that the smaller kids can enjoy and the parents can keep a closer eye on them. Even the older girls enjoyed this area of the park. My niece absolutely loved this part of the park.
I mentioned that one of the greatest things about Great Wolf Lodge is their staff and the Minnesota location is no different. I love the fact that I feel comfortable letting our kids have some freedom and roam the park a little as their lifeguards and staff are so, so friendly. You’ll often see mock rescues while at the park and I even caught one on camera while we were just getting ready to leave after our fun stay this last trip. The staff does a fantastic job.
What is the Dining at Great Wolf Lodge like?
There are so many dining options at the hotel also that I simply must include in this Great Wolf Lodge review. I have often told friends that one of the perks to staying at Great Wolf Lodge is that you never have to leave the hotel – there are so many things to do while you’re there and so much food! I think the best deal at the Minnesota location was the breakfast buffet. It was out of this world and had so many options. I would venture to guess that I ate enough fruit, yogurt and bacon to make the cost of my buffet a wash (pretty sure they lost money on me there! Ha!) And, the pizza and salad dinner at the restaurant conveniently located right next to the bowling alley was perfect for food on the go – a quick bite and then back on our way.
And, I already mentioned the candy store – this Great Wolf Lodge employee was my FAVORITE – she was so so so super friendly. When a piece of candy was accidentally dropped on the floor she came skipping over – “no worries! That’s why I’m here!” and even posed for a picture with the kids.
Is the Great Wolf Lodge Mall of America location worth a stay?
Yes, yes and YES! When we had time to go there was a suite available that slept 6, but we all had fun staying in this room – it truly had so much space to sleep even more if you wanted to have even more stay – even equipped with two bathrooms and all.
This would be perfect for a birthday party or getaway like we did.
Is the Great Wolf Lodge Paw Pass worth it?
On this trip our kids enjoyed all of the fun perks with the Wolf Pass and for the older kiddos this was awesome! The Wolf Pass allowed the kids to unlimited usage of the ropes course, some rock climbing and gemstone mining (which was one of my daughter and nephews favorite things!) I love that when you buy the pass it (in a way) forces you to do all of the things that Great Wolf Lodge thinks are the best parts of their park. Although, I’ll say that the water park could sure keep you busy enough!
The nice thing with the passes is that since the water park opens at 10 and closes at 9, the extra things open at 9 and close at 10 so you have an hour on both ends that the kids can still play (and wear themselves out!) Pretty smart planning by the Great Wolf Lodge folks – and one of the many reasons I wanted to put together this Great Wolf Lodge review!
Where can I find a Great Wolf Lodge Offer Code?
A great place to find a Great Wolf Lodge Offer code is through the Great Wolf Lodge site here, or another place to look is Groupon or Living Social. I find that Groupon offers unbeatable deals on Great Wolf Lodge stays and surprisingly they’re at great times of the year, too! This is an awesome way to save BIG on your stay as well.
Psst: I have a HUGE roundup of how to find deals on Great Wolf Lodge here – check it out!
When are Great Wolf Lodge discounts usually offered?
Will we be heading back to the Minnesota Great Wolf Lodge?
You bet we will! We had an absolute BLAST at the Minnesota Great Wolf Lodge! It was certainly nice to find a Great Wolf Lodge near me that wasn’t a hassle to travel to, and since there are so many locations throughout the country, you should be able to find relatively close to you as well!
Have any fun stories to share from YOUR family’s trip to the Great Wolf Lodge? I’d love to hear! Leave them in the comments.
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