Great Wolf Lodge Illinois

Nightmare Fuel This is genuinely the most confounding customer service nightmare I've experienced in years. I booked 4 single day passes via Groupon for the Great Wolf in Gurnee, IL, having just moved to the Chicago suburbs around a week or so ago. Moving has been stressful, we have a 5 and 3 year old who love water parks, and the Mason, OH location was always great when we'd drive out there (prior to our move). The location is fine. The layout isn't as functional as Mason, but my kids had a great time. What came AFTER was a nightmare. I was first charged an amusement tax -- something I've literally never heard of, but I didn't question it because I'm new to the state. Then, I get a second authorization notification of almost $1,000 charged against my card. I'm confused and question in what universe a pre authorization of $1,000 would ever be charged against a guest's card. I triple checked Groupon -- my four single day passes total $240 and that's already been paid and posted. I call into the Gurnee Great Wolf support line and that's where the real nightmare fuel starts. I went through a phone tree, I have a support person confirm that I was charged ~960 dollars and she doesn't know why, but she'd "put in a ticket" and they'd get back to me. Fun - "no," I say, "I need to get this resolved now. It's $1,000 dollars and I don't want this to hit my billing statement." She transfers me to "billing" -- oh wait, no, she transfers me TO THE SAME PHONE TREE I STARTED ON. So I got back to a support person. He says they'll put me through to the front desk of the actual location. I got back to the phone tree. I talk to a nicer guy who checks TWO systems and sees the charge, puts me on hold several times, and tells me he'll patch me through to the billing department... Literally, back to the same phone tree. Now I'm on with someone who has a 10 second delay and asks me if I'm still there every 2-3 seconds. She guarantees she'll transfer me to a real person. I've been on "hold" now after confirming the same information a 4th time, and it's just silence in the background. This is NOT worth it. I will NOT be going back unless I have some kind of remedy or recourse here. I have lots of fun videos and photos from today - this honestly makes me not want to post them because I don't want to encourage anyone else to deal with this. How on earth does someone "accidentally" charge someone almost a thousand dollars for absolutely no reason?

Disappointing Stay – Hidden Fees and Poor Cleanliness This resort charges over $250 a night plus $45 in hidden daily fees for resort and parking—only revealed at checkout. Everything is overpriced (a 20oz soda is $4), and the place is filthy. We saw used bandages, dirt, and hair in the water park, and a half-eaten pizza slice sat untouched for over a day. Locker rooms were gross, showers went cold quickly, and people were vaping indoors with no staff intervention. Our room was clean but smelled odd, and the shower screeched loudly. Housekeeping was the only highlight. For this price, guests deserve far better. The lack of cleanliness shows serious neglect—it shouldn’t take a health crisis to fix it.

Stay somewhere else The water park was great for our 4-year-old and baby grandchildren, but the two Grizzly Bear Suites which for one night cost almost $1800 with fees for the 9 of us, were disappointing. We were greeted after our afternoon in the water park by one bathroom in our suite with the jacuzzi panel resting on the floor (see photo) the other bathroom shower handle turning round and around without turning on any water. I contacted our concierge who had advised us about check-in, Willow, and a plumber arrived in about half an hour. He said the cartridge in the wall for the broken shower handle needed replacing. I started to wonder whether that shower could possibly have been cleaned since the last guest was there? Our balcony faced a noisy busy interstate so not very attractive. Carpeting and curtains were damaged also. Sadly, although we'd love to go again for family time, we are likely not to at that price.

Fine, but not worth the $. It was fine, you just expect more at this price point. Marked from a 3 to 2 for reason I mention below. Things they can control to be better: told my kid he was tall enough for coyote canyon one day, not tall enough the next. My kids safety is priority 1A. But it’s either safe or it’s not. That kinda thing is hard to explain to a 5 year old. Room was nice, but it was dusty. I get it we were at the end of the hall. Maybe not used every day. But there shouldn’t be dust sitting on the lampshade For the price you pay, they nickel and dime you for everything. If you’re staying at the lodge can you not get a discount on MagiQuest or at the restaurants? Or literally ANY benefit other than the actual park? The attendant at MagiQuest failed to let us know that it wasn’t really age appropriate for kids that aren’t readers yet. Things they can’t control as much but an inconvenience: There needs to be more ventilation The place is rather small for an Indoor water park, there’s not really enough seating, and it’s extremely loud. And the major part for me is that on our last day they were “experiencing a power surge” that put power down for 3 hours. That was our checkout day, but we had just planned to play Magi that morning until leaving. Well we couldn’t play the game due to half of the areas we needed having no power. So essentially we paid an extra $50 for a wand that didn’t really do anything and to play the game that we didn’t really get to play. Like I said, I guess it was fine, but it certainly wasn’t good or good value and we likely won’t return.

Would stay again! Normally I don't write a review, but seeing all the lower reviews, I wanted to give a different perspective. We had a great time! Mind you, this was a Monday-Tuesday in March, so I can see how weekends could be more crowded and frustrating. We have kids who are 16, 14, 13, and 8. First, our check-in at 1pm on Monday was smooth and easy. 5 minutes or less. Our room was ready right away, which was unexpected! Next, the water park was great! #1 reason, it was very warm, and I hate water parks that are cold. #2 Tons of slides and pool options. The boys loved the slides and basketball hoops. The lines were much shorter than I usually experience. #3 The life guards looked attentive, but did not micro-manage us, which I appreciated. The only drawback is no hot-tub. In the morning we had breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin, and the service was quick. I would definitely stay here again!