A few weeks ago I attended the Reviewers Retreat conference at Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. The conference was worthwhile, and I learned a lot of things and met some great bloggers including Mary from Sweeping Me and Paula from The Tween and Me. I got some tips that will help me improve my blog, all I need now is time to start implementing them. Hopefully this summer things will slow down a little so I can devote more time to blogging. I also received an amazing amount of swag, including coupons, beauty products and games. The family favorite thing I recieved is the game Perplexus, which is fun for all ages. I would recommend the conference to anyone, since it was well worth attending. and lots of fun.
I had never been to a Great Wolf Lodge before, but I figured it was an excellent chance for me to attend a conference while my kids had some fun. Since my kids are 18, 15 and 12 they were able to fend for themselves while I went to conference presentations, so it worked out very well. It seems like Great Wolf is directed mostly at kids ages 5-12, so before we got there I wasn’t sure if there would be enough there to keep my kids amused for 3 days and 2 nights, but there definately was.
Right away when we arrived we were thrilled to see we had been upgraded from the Family Suite to the Majestic Bear Suite. Since there were only 4 of us at the Lodge the Family Suite would have been large enough, but our upgraded suite included a master bedroom with a king bed and a huge wet bar area. We also had a patio which overlooked the outdoor pool (although it was closed.) So we had more than enough room, and the extra beds and tvs made for an argument free stay from the kids. Unfortunately I let my kids take the room pictures, and they took them without tidying the room first. Since the pictures don’t do the room justice and would only convince you (correctly) that my kids are slobs, so I won’t post them.
While I was atending the conference the kids explored the water park and enjoyed the Magiquest game. The Magiquest game was such a big hit I’m going to post a whole separate article on it this weekend. Their favorite ride at the water park was the Double Barrel Drop slide. This slide has vortexes, a funnel and hair pin turns and is a wild ride. My son sprained his thumb right before the trip, so he wasn’t able to go on this ride, but his sisters have assured him he missed an awesome experience. He had to settle for the Big Foot Pass agility challenge, dumping water on himself at Fort Mackenzie, the wave pool and the tamer water slides. The only thing the kids didn’t like about the water park was that the good hot tub was restricted to ages 21 and over. This was a major disappointment to my 18 year old, but I’m sure all of the adults appreciate this rule.
My kids found there was plenty to keep themselves amused. They would go to the water park for 2-3 hours, then head back to the room, eat, and play Magiquest for a few hours, and then start all over again. I think with older kids 3 days is about the right amount of time, since they had lots of fun but a longer trip might have started to get boring.
