Hotel Stay with Water Park Access at Great Wolf Lodge, Connecticut

Great!!

We loved being there, when I walked in I slightly got the feeling like we were at a Disney hotel. Daily they had multiple activities for both families and kids to participate in. I highly recommend going here, the rates are high so maybe wait for a Groupon if you can get one.

Everyone was great and accommodating. The overall facility was spotless considering the heavy traffic in the hallways, public restrooms, and lobby. Our whole family had fun, the staff are very friendly and helpful especially the front desk, retail shops, and both hosts at the main restaurant (8 pm, Sunday) The bartender was very nice on Monday morning we were at the Waterpark. We will stay again.

Great Resort, Kids had a blast Felt compelled to write a review after reading how many negative ones there were. Overall, this was a near perfect one day family getaway. The resort was clean, modern, kid friendly and perfect for a one night getaway from NY. Waterpark was much smaller than the Poconos (kalahari/great wolf) but still had more than enough for the kids to do. The main issue is that this place is either likely a ghost town (when kids have school) or a complete zoo (like when we went, on a kids break) - so it was very understaffed. No joke Pizza took over an hour for lunch (kids were not happy) and getting Dunkin in the morning wasnt even an option (guy said 30-45 min wait) — Overall with Foxwoods next door it added tons of dinner options (and a place for us dads to go after the kids went down) - a short 1-2 minute walk away. Kalahari is much more of a “Vegas” like Hotel for Kids but I would definitely come back here, just have to not go on a obvious “gonna be a zoo” day…. When we checked out, the hotel was near empty, water park the same… so yeah, choose when you go wisely.

Great WAIT lodge never again Awful experience ! Slowest service I’ve ever had anywhere 30 minutes to get a towel?! 90 minutes to check in? 2+ hours for uncooked chicken tenders Understaffed miserable staff Zero customer service Would never return

Never again! High end resort cost, basic hotel-level room (but w/ cute decorations) Sad, could have been so much better. Read the reviews of others, and believe them! While this wasn't a 1-star terrible experience, it certainly was NOT worth the huge costs involved. 1. Plan to spend more than the cost of your suite... WAY more. This place is designed to "nickel and dime" your credit card into a whimpering fetal position. For the considerable cost of our 2-night stay for 5 people, you would expect to be valet parked. Not so. Parking is $25/day for uncovered tarmac space (beware! They'll charge you for 3 days of parking for a 2 night stay!) Expect to pay the cost of a MUCH nicer resort, without the feel or comfort of even an average resort. 2. If you're not sleeping on one of the main beds, don't expect to sleep much. There are much nicer sleeper sofas available... Great Wolf decided to skimp instead and gave you interesting decorations (painted bugs on the lights - yeah, I know... - and "kid camp" wallpaper) in the Kid Cabin "Wiley's Clubhouse sleeping area" to look at while you're still awake in the wee hours, desperately trying to get comfortable on the bunk-style bed shelves. For the cost, these easily could, and should, have been much more comfortable. There's no reason you should need a day to recover after a trip to this "resort" - but that's exactly what we all needed. 3. No clothing drawers in the suite. No safe in the suite. No microwave to be found. No sound deadening between rooms of possible suite areas. C'mon Great Wolf, there is so much space under the sleeping shelves in the kid's room, there should at least be drawers built in for the kids' clothes in there. But no clothing drawers in the main area for adults? Just pathetic and embarrassing. We were legitimately shocked. 4. For the extreme cost of the food, GWL should do far better in this area, and with much less of a wait time. Think fever dream of an overcrowded theme park and add a dash of screaming kids in your nightmare - and then wake up with an empty, depressed wallet, and you're just about there. It's less costly, and a much nicer experience, to dine in the casino instead when you can. Having said that, the pizza was pretty decent. 5. The logistics of just about everything was a disaster. It felt so crowded, and so understaffed, I wanted to jump in and help on more than 1 occasion. Some of the staff were very professional and polite, others just appeared to be barely able to wait to get off shift to go cry uncontrollably while scrolling job listings for better employment. *BONUS - Don't even get me started on the large police presence during our stay, apparently due to some maniac threatening people with a knife. No, not kidding, but wish I was. The armed police on our floor actually told members of the family not to get out of the elevator on our floor.... But to go to the next floor up, or back to the lobby, and hang out for 10-15 minutes. 90 minutes later, police and security were still on our floor with no resolution yet. All this was happening while we were cutting cake for a child's birthday in our group, so should I bump up the rating 1 dot for entertainment? (No, I agree, definitely not.) There's SO much more that could be said, but others have covered some of other concerns in their reviews. Read them. Believe them. Plan accordingly. Work extra and be prepared to spend more than you could possibly want to spend. And then expect less from this place than you would like at the cost.