Nanny to Mommy

So since we didn't go anywhere at all last year for winter or spring break plus basically missed my birthday, I decided I wanted to go somewhere that I have been wanting to take the kids, but have personally never been and that was Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange, GA.

We decided to make a weekend trip and here are my tips to get the most out of your family trip to Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange, GA.

1. Sign up for their emails. They will send you percentage off codes. And like other hotels, if they have rooms available, then they are cheaper closer to the date. But if you don't want to risk not getting a room, then you can wait for a 50% off code like I used. Remember, you will have to pay an additional $50 fee for each guest above a certain age staying in your room since water park passes are included in the room. Check multiple codes for the dates that you want to stay. We went during "spring break" so our price was higher.

2. A one night stay with two days in the water park doing all the wet & dry activities is PLENTY. We booked two nights and man oh man I was ready to go after the first night! The kids have loved every minute, but I'm speaking from a parent perspective on this one. They also have day passes available. You can check in at 4pm, but you can go into the water park your first time as early as 1pm. Then regular check out is at 11am, but you can stay until 8pm in the water park and any of the indoor activities.

3. Pack your own drinks & snacks. They charge $9 for a six case of water, if you come unprepared. There's a mini fridge in the room, and you are allowed to bring small coolers in the water park. Spending $35 on snacks between lunch and dinner is no fun when bringing a few juice boxes & veggie straws would have been much more cost effective! We also packed breakfast and lunch options as well. We only ate out for dinner.

4. They have a little "convenient store" in the hotel that has a Keurig and microwave, so those may be an option to make your stay even cheaper food wise. They do sell dining credits before hand, like $150 worth for only $125 etc. If you buy alcoholic drinks, this might be something you want to look into. It didn't make sense for us since we brought most of our food and our dinner (with appetizer) was only $68. We did end up getting Arby's our first night there.

5. Pack a beach bag. This may seem obvious, but if you borrow one of their beach towels, they don't let you carry it out of the water park area so bring a cover up or t-shirts to walk through the hotel back to your room.

6. If you're spending the night, upgrade your room to the Wolf Suite. The kids can get their own little "wolf den" with bunk beds and their own TV. We didn't do this because we went during "spring break" season so many options were not available. But friends of ours did this and said it was worth the upgrade.

7. Download the app. They have a daily schedule so you can try out free events as well as meet the characters. We went to a nightly dance party where they had everyone spaced out to social distance. It was a lot of fun and we went both nights of our stay. They also have a meet the characters and nightly bedtime stories session as well as an art & crafts time in the middle of the day. Plus with the app, you may be able to check in early as well.

10. There were options to eat throughout that ranged from burger and pizza to an actual restaurant. We had to make reservations, but the restaurant was priced at what you expect and the food was delicious. My husband added a birthday package and they sang to me plus brought deserts for me and the kids. They didn't charge for this either. They did have a Dunkin' Donuts on site that we enjoyed for my birthday breakfast and a Ben & Jerry's on site as well. If you would like to go off campus, LaGrange has some local restaurants. Gus's Café was recommended to us for a super delicious breakfast! They also have some cute restaurants in their little downtown area. Another great option is to have food delivered with DoorDash. 

11. Since this was for my son's birthday (and mine as well), we could have thrown on the birthday package which included some balloons, a cake, and a t-shirt as well. My friend's did this and felt it was worth the upcharge, we decided to forgo this because we were already paying for peak prices on the room.

12. When signing up for reservations, they are going to try and charge you for a late stay, but you can stay at the water park until it closes for the day (8pm). So if you wanted to, take the other stuff to the car, but we were ready to leave by the last morning.

That's it! Let me know if you have ever been to Great Wolf Lodge or plan to go.