DISCLAIMER: My family and I were invited to stay overnight at the Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim, CA and experience all the family-friendly fun at this resort in exchange for my honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

One of the most important things to my son whenever we stay at a hotel on vacation is how big the pool is. This kid loves being in water. On our recent stay at the Aulani resort in Hawaii, he spent hours upon hours every day pool hopping and boogie boarding in the ocean. The only time we left the hotel grounds was to have dinner across the street – once! – because he didn’t want to leave otherwise. So now imagine a resort where the pool is a giant indoor water park, with every type of water slide and kid-friendly water feature you can think of, that’s also clean and safe and even has eco-friendly features. That, my friends, is Great Wolf Lodge!

If you haven’t heard of this resort before, it started in Wisconsin and now has 17 locations across the US. Though each one is unique in some ways, they all have similar features like the awesome indoor water park, fun activities for kids on dry land, and roomy family suites. When Great Wolf Lodge opened in Anaheim a couple years ago, you could say it made a big splash (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist!). There’s just nothing else like it in Southern California. We have actually stayed here with some friends before, and it was great fun. But when I received the invite to return for this media event, I was eager to see what kind of sustainability features this resort has. And of course, my son was stoked to spend time at the water park again.

Bear Track Landing

So let’s just jump right into talking about the water park area, shall we? This massive site, called Bear Track Landing, has 14 water slides, 4 pools (including one outdoors), and multiple splash pad areas for youngsters. There’s a wave pool, a not-so-lazy river, and a low ropes area. My son’s favorite attraction here is Wolf Rider Wipeout, which is like bodyboarding on a Flow Rider. It’s challenging and thrilling, and it seems almost every ride ends with a big wipeout, which is great fun to watch!

Though these attractions may seem like a big waste of water going literally down the drain, I actually learned that all the water that is required to operate everything in Bear Track Landing is equal to the same volume in one olympic size pool. ONE!

How is that possible? Well, for starters, the pools and splash pad features here are not as deep as the deep end of an olympic pool. So that’s a little thought experiment in volume right there. Also, the water is continuously recycled through giant pipes running across the ceiling. But first, the water is run through a series of filters including UV light to kill bacteria. So, Great Wolf Lodge is actually able to run this entire water park on just a single olympic size swimming pool’s worth of water that’s recycled and reused over and over again!

 

Water Safety

On a safety note, there were lifeguards present at every water slide and pool area. I learned that Great Wolf Lodge actually has the highest lifeguard numbers of any water park brand. The state of California in particular has relatively stringent legislation regarding lifeguard requirements. Great Wolf Lodge actually goes above that required amount. This resort has also received the Platinum International Aquatic Safety Award, a water park industry standard, for the past two years. It’s only been in operation for two years, so that seems like a pretty good record to me.

My husband observed that the lifeguard manning the Wolf Rider Wipeout went above and beyond his job title. He was incredibly patient and helpful towards the younger guests who needed more instruction on how to enjoy the attraction without wiping out immediately.

 

Hotel Atmosphere

There’s actually a ton of fun stuff for families to do beyond the water park. From the moment you enter the massively tall lobby, you are surrounded by wood and forest motifs. Wood is the predominant material used in the decor, and gives the entire resort a feeling of connection to nature, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see at a water park.

That is because part of the theming for Great Wolf Lodge centers around a cast of furry characters, Wiley the Wolf and his forest friends. They’re the mascots for the brand and can be found throughout the resort, from the character buffet breakfast at Loose Moose Kitchen, to the free story time event for kiddos every evening in the lobby. Because this theming centers around woodland creatures, there’s an educational through-line in all the activities about the importance of respecting nature and preserving our environment for our furry friends.

 

Domestically-Sourced Furnishings

I especially loved how sturdy and authentic all the wooden furniture throughout the resort was. Reminded me of something out of the Berenstain Bears books. So I got a little thrill to learn that the wooden furniture I’d admired, and even the wooden bumpers lining the hallway walls, are solid pine and made in Wisconsin!

 

Family Suite Hotel Rooms

All the hotel rooms here are called Family Suites and sleep a minimum of 6 people. That’s really nice for larger families! We had a standard room with two queen beds plus a full size pull out sleeper sofa. Our room was plenty big for our family of four.

 

 

 

 

You can also stay in themed suites with bunk beds in a separate nook area for the kids. I’d love to come back and try staying in a Kid Cabin Suite, which features a full wall and bunk beds made from that Wisconsin pine. The whole room smelled like a forest when I toured it. My kids would have so much fun in this cabin within a hotel room!

Project Green Wolf

This is Great Wolf Lodge’s recycling program. We saw this logo on the recycling bin in our hotel room and throughout the resort. It’s also on the back of the mini bathroom toiletries. In fact, according to their blog, Great Wolf Lodge is the first national hotel chain to have all properties achieve Green Seal™ Certification – Silver – for the lodging portion of the resorts.

We observed this sustainability effort inside the water park as well. Food ordered from Grizzly Jack’s (one of the two food options inside Bear Track Landing) came on compostable plates.

 

 

 

We also saw many families bringing in cardboard boxes of fresh pizza from the Hungry As A Wolf pizzeria right outside the water park doors.

 

 

The drinks were served in bio-cups made from non-plastic compostable bio-based material. The straws unfortunately appeared to be plastic. But that will hopefully soon be changing now that California has a state law against automatically distributing plastic straws in restaurants.

Coffee cups elsewhere on property were “ecotainers” made in the USA from fully renewable resources and commercially compostable.

 

Organic, Local, Allergy-Friendly Food

Eating organic, sustainable, and local is challenging while on vacation. So I am always thrilled to see these options on menus when we’re eating out. Even more so at the resort we’re staying in. Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim had several organic and non-GMO options scattered throughout its multiple restaurant menus. Grizzly Jacks, for instance, offered organic baby greens and local heirloom tomatoes in their salad.

Lodge Wood Fired Grill, the upscale yet still kid-friendly table service restaurant in the lobby, offers antibiotic-free chicken and organic spinach.

All fried foods on property use 100% non-GMO rice bran oil.

The kids meal from Buckets Incredible Craveables comes with organic Honest juice.

 

Even the Great Wolf Candy Company which sells jelly beans by the bucket-full has an organic candy option!

Great Wolf Lodge is incredibly allergy-friendly, with a nut-free kitchen and gluten-free options in all food areas. They also use olive oil instead of butter for all their cooking, for those with a dairy allergy. You’d never know it to taste the food though, which still tasted decadent and delicious.

On a foodie side-note, the Executive Chef, Hany Ali, writes on their website that because he was born in Egypt and has traveled extensively, he’s brought some of those international flavors to his dishes at Great Wolf Lodge. We really appreciated that, since we enjoy eating different kinds of cuisine and not just the typical American foods you might find at an average theme park. Diverse flavors like Banh Mi, Mediterranean-style platters, and sriracha ranch dipping sauce kept the food options interesting.

More Family Fun

We had a fantastic time at Great Wolf Lodge during our stay, which happened to coincide with their Howl-O-Ween celebration. You can read more about that in my post for the Orange County Moms Blog here.

You can find great deals for discounted stays at Great Wolf Lodge throughout the year. Every hotel room includes access for its guests to the water park. This is the only way to visit the water park since you cannot buy day passes, which is nice because it limits the crowds. From now until December 30th, 2018, they have an offer where if you book two hotel nights you get 2 one-day (one-park) adult tickets to the Disneyland Resort using the promo code BUNDLE4. That’s in addition to three days of access to Bear Track Landing. I think it’s clever that they’re running this promo partnership, because it really is the Disneyland of water parks!

For me, being an eco-friendly mama but also a mama who loves theme parks and fun stuff for kids, being able to stay at Great Wolf Lodge and know that the resort includes sustainability features and other eco-friendly aspects is a huge win-win.

Have you stayed at a Great Wolf Lodge before? Let me know in the comments what your favorite part was, or what you’d like to do there if you were to visit! 

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