There are a number of Great Wolf Lodges around the country, and they all have waterparks with them. The best part is that your waterpark passes are included in the price of your lodge stay. We had a great time at the waterpark at the Colorado Springs Great Wolf Lodge when we stayed there.
The waterpark at the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs consists of a few different areas. There is a main area that has a play structure with slides and a pool which is great for children and parents. In the back left is the slide tower with the big slides for adults, teens, and older children. The back right is the toddler pool and slides. Next to the toddler pool is the wave pool which is great for everyone.
Lucy was two when we visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs, so most of our activity centered around the toddler pool and slides, but we were also able to check out most of the other attractions.
The Toddler Area
The toddler area was great, Lucy loved it and for the most part wanted to stay there the whole time we were there. She felt more comfortable with the slides here than the ones on the main play structure.
This area is essentially a wadding pool/splash pad with three short water slides at the end. Adults aren’t allowed to ride down the slides with children on their lap, so the child does need to be able to slide down on their own. At the beginning Lucy was pretty nervous about the slides so one of us would walk up to them with her and the other would catch her at the end.
After a bit Lucy got very comfortable on the slides and would walk (or run, which got her in trouble) by herself. She didn’t know how to swim yet so we always caught her at the end. She probably went down these slides dozens of times at least.
In the pool area there are fountains and some squirting guns. Lucy enjoyed wading through the water and liked squirting me with guns.
The only drawback to the toddler area is how small it is for the number of people that were there. It felt a bit congested and there aren’t a lot of tables and chairs in this area.
The Play Structure, Slides, and Pool
The play structure in the middle of the park is pretty big. It has three slides coming off of it. These slides are not very long and are perfect for kids (or adults who aren’t into huge slides). Lucy was pretty hesitant about the slides here which are quite a bit bigger when compared to the toddler slides.
There is pool behind the play structure that includes activities like basketball hoop, a small climbing wall, and stepping stones.
One of the big attractions in the play structure is the giant barrel that fills with water and periodically dumps on the area below. It is a lot of water so watch out! The main area to wait for slides is conveniently right under this barrel. Lucy was very surprised when it dumped the first time and we were standing under it.
The Big Slides
The tower in the back of the water park contains the big slides. I thought there would be more slides at this park, but there are just four of them. There is a standard tube slide, a raceway slide, a funnel slide, and a vertical drop slide.
We only rode the tube slide and the raceway slide because you needed at least two people to ride the funnel slide, and one of us had to always be with Lucy. Neither of us were going to a vertical drop slide, so that was out from the beginning.
The tube slide and raceway slide were both lots of fun. We each rode them several times. The raceway loads up very quickly because of how many people can ride it at once. You ride down it on mats. The tube slide is cool because it goes outside the building.
The Wave Pool
There is a good sized wave pool located on the same side as the toddler area. This was a nice place to go play when we were tired of being in that toddler space. The waves are bigger if you head in to the deeper part, but even in the shallow part they can be fairly forceful.
Other things to Know about the Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark
You will get an NFC wristband when you check in to the Great Wolf Lodge, this is required for getting in to the water park. You will also need it to get towels. The different colors on your wristband signify how tall you are so the lifeguards know what you can ride. We put Lucy’s wristband around her foot so it didn’t bother her as much.
Your band will get you into the park from check-in on your first day until the park closes on the day you check out. So even if you stay for only one night you can have two days at the water park (which is what we did).
There are bathrooms between the wave pool and the toddler area. There are also lockers near here that you can rent if you need them.
If you want a guaranteed and somewhat private place to serve as your home base you can rent a cabana. We don’t know how good these are since we did not do it.
One of the lodge’s dining options, a grill, faces inside the water park, so you can get food while you are there but you cannot bring your own food in. We didn’t eat at the grill so we don’t know how good it is.
To access the water park you walk through a store that can sell you anything you might have forgot for the park, swimsuits, goggles, etc.
Since the water park is indoors it is kept at a constant temperature year round! We were there in February and it was balmy.
There are lots of other attractions at the lodge which I will be touching on in my next post.
