![]() We saw Timmy sprawled out there, looking very unhappy. Don’t look behind the front desk in the water park area unless you want to get freaked out. If you see a freaky baby named Timmy (not that you’d know his name – but you can see signs with his picture), that’s for lifeguard training. That’s just trivia for you to impress people. The ones wearing red shirts are 15 years old. Named after the giant bucket that drops hundreds of gallons of water every 5 minutes, this ice cream treat is so big this photo doesn’t do it justice. But the excitement on the kids’ faces? Priceless. ![]() Six of us dug in with long spoons (we marveled at how the plastic spoons turned blue when they were cold), and we failed to get to the bottom. Find extra people to help you finish this enormous dessert. The tipping bucket ice cream treat is available in the pool area snack bar. Fort Mackenzie, in the foreground, has lots of areas to climb and dump water on people. There will be people like my son and me waiting to dump a bucket of water on you if you venture right under. When walking by Fort Mackenzie, keep looking up periodically. Wherever there’s a drain on the ground, plan to get hit with unexpected water. Move quickly across the lily pads, which move with you. Fortunately the lifeguard finally blew her whistle and told her to get off. But it was clear she’d never make it and the line just got longer and longer. There was one hopeless mom (not me, and not the one pictured) who was hogging the lily pads as she was so determined. And if you’re really bad at it, just get off and give someone else a chance. Granted, I never quite made it across going quickly either, but she who hesitates falls off – and likely strains a groin muscle. Going slow is a recipe for falling off, from personal experience. On the lily pads, try going fast, not slow. Climb these stairs to get to the big water slides. We also really enjoyed Coyote Canyon, which we called “the toilet bowl” as you spin around a drain and the go down the drain. It was partly on a motorized track, and was unlike any water slide we’ve been on. We loved the Hydro Plunge, which is like a water slide roller coaster. As for which slide is most fun, it’s really a personal decision. There are signs at the bottom telling you what to do, but lots of people don’t look at them. One tower you climb carrying nothing (rafts go up on a conveyor belt), and the other you need to bring a raft. We did love the big kid (aka good for adults too) slides, which you access from the two towers you need to climb (good exercise). Just a warning that the boards are a little heavy, so kids may need help with them. Plus when you start at the top, it blares out music at top volume, which scared the hell out of us. You can ride the slide without activating your board, but it won’t monitor you and the slide lights won’t light up as you’re going through (the goal is to push the corresponding color button when going under that color LED display in the slide). The names we tried, which were deemed inappropriate, were “JerseyKids,” “Jersey” and “Deb.” Even if you play without a name, you need to at least activate your board – preferably at the bottom, or you’ll have to activate it on top which wastes everyone’s time. Unfortunately, it said that all our names (except Zack) were inappropriate and they might boot us out if we keep trying to use these names. ![]() First you log in at a kiosk and choose a name. You can play a video-type game when going on one of two slides with them. We were excited to try the slideboards, which look a bit like boogie boards with handles. The Great Wolf Lodge has 7 big water slides, plus smaller ones – 13 total. By late afternoon, the lines were much better, though one slide, the Double Barrel Drop, still had long lines. That’s essentially checkout time for those leaving the hotel (11 a.m.) and those coming in (new guests are allowed into the water park at 1:00 and departing guests can stay all day). Some of the water slides had longer lines than I expected (maybe 20 minutes), though we were also there at changeover times. Adults get RFID wristbands which act as room keys and can charge things. ![]() ![]() If your kids are young, that’s a bonus, but if they’re older, you may want to ask for an RFID wrist band for them. They do not give the kids these same wristbands, which means they can’t charge things (good), but they also can’t get into their room by themselves (bad). No room keys! Your electronic wrist bands will get you into your room and let you charge food and items around the hotel. Yes, I did some reading, but there’s still nothing like going yourself. As Great Wolf Lodge newbies, we weren’t quite sure what to expect on our weekend. ![]()
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