Splashing Around at Great Wolf Lodge

We planned a family trip for January to drive up to the Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, Pennsylvania. Since the kids like splashing around, I thought they would love it. At the time of the trip, my kids were 4 1/2 and 1 1/2. Great Wolf was only two and a half hours away and the drive was rather easy. I remembered it well because it was also how I traveled to and from college.

On the way up, we stopped at the Red Robin that was about 10 minutes away for lunch. We met Carrie, Dan and Christian there. After the kids smacked us around with their free balloons that I unfortunately gave them before lunch instead of after, TK, the kids and I stopped at Giant for some groceries. I needed to get milk, bananas and frozen pancakes for the kids. I knew we would end up eating breakfast in the room, so I wanted to make sure I had something for them that could be microwaved and stored in the small refrigerator.

When we got to the resort, TK dropped me off to check in. There was no line, so I walked right up, got our bracelets and headed back out to get the bags. Luckily, they have little carts that you can pile your bags on to get them to your room much easier and quicker. The receptionist even gave us little wolf ears for the kids, so they put them on immediately and started howling.

Our room was a standard room with two double beds and a pull-out couch. We also asked for a pack-n-play for my daughter. I brought her sheets and a blanket from home. We knew our son would just sleep with one of us every night, so I only brought a blanket from home for him. Carrie and Dan got the Wolf Den room with a king bed and bunk beds in a little cove in the room. It even had a little television for Christian. The kids had a great time jumping around in there. It was really cute, but I didn't reserve that type of room because my children are daredevils and I didn't want to spend the weekend in the hospital.

When we unpacked, we took a quick walk to see the water park and amenities. It was wonderful to have our room on the same floor as the water park. It did get a little loud at night with kids running back and forth, but my kids sleep through almost anything, so I wasn't worried. Kids were playing a game with magic wands that had certain interactive stations around the resort. We didn't let Jackson play because he was still too little to run around the resort and it could get really expensive.

The water park had a section for little ones, another section for not-so-little ones, an indoor pool and big slides for big kids like us. We spent most of our time in the toddler section because Jackson and Christian loved going down the slides by themselves and Addison just liked standing in the water and pointing at the woodland characters that decorated the water park. I brought Jackson his life vest from home, so he was able to go from slide to slide with no issues. When we went in the pool, he did a great job floating and trying to swim. He pretty much loved every minute of Great Wolf.

At certain times of the day, the adults would break off into groups of two so we could enjoy the big slides. I screamed my head off and loved how fast some of them were. There was a nice variety of slides and we rode them in groups, so it was a great bonding experience. By Sunday, Paul, Kerri, PJ and Jenna arrived and we had more folks to ride the slides with.

For lunch, we brought food from the room to the tables that surrounded the water park. I ended up buying macaroni and cheese from the for my kids because they were inhaling the mac & cheese microwavable cups that I brought from home. I also had to buy a refillable cup and a soft pretzel. If there is a pretzel on the menu, I have to try it.

Our trip was for four days, so by day three, TK got bored watching Jackson go down the slides a million times, so we hit The Crossings Premium Outlets. We shopped at Under Armour, Converse, The North Face and Nike, but not before we hit Sonic for lunch. We find a Sonic during every road trip because who doesn't like shakes and burgers? I mean, there are no diets on vacation. The outlets were pretty empty too because it was a rainy Monday afternoon when we went shopping.

After Carrie, Dan and Christian left, we looked for some stuff to do that didn't include the water park. So, we went mini bowling and I took the kids to the souvenir shop to pick out one item each. We also had dinner at the buffet, which was completely empty. The food was OK, but there wasn't anything I especially liked. At the end of the night, we changed the kids into their pajamas for the dance party in the lobby. Jackson hated that, but Addison loved it. After Addison got bored, we headed back to the room. We were leaving the next day, so I went down to the pizza place to buy a bottle of wine to relax with and they even gave me a corkscrew to open it ... that I could keep.

We had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge and the surrounding area. We hope to make this an annual trip or a biannual trip because the kids had so much fun. Next time, I am bringing my own wine.

Things to know:

• The refrigerator is a good size, so you should bring food with you.
• The food on site is not great, so consider the surrounding restaurants for meals. 
• Pack n Plays are available for the little ones. 
• If your kid needs one, bring a life vest because they were abundantly available at some points and at some points folks had to search for the size they needed.  
• Laundry rooms are available and to use a dryer, it's a quarter. The washing machines cost more.
• There are no clotheslines in the bathrooms, so bring quarters.
• The staff is very accommodating, so if you need something, just ask.
• The Crossings Premium Outlets are close, so are Red Robin, Sonic, Longhorn Steakhouse, Chili's, Wendy's, Moe's and DQ.
• There is a Starbucks on site, but they don't have the same menu as other locations, so there are no breakfast sandwiches. 

Dutch Wonderland with our Toddler Prince

On day two of our Pennsylvania trip, we decided to head out to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster. We ate breakfast in the Hershey Lodge at Lebbie Lebkicher's. I didn't think it was fantastic and Jax was not excited to sit down and have a meal, but they did add chocolate chips to everything, so I couldn't complain.

After breakfast, we got in the car and headed to Lancaster. Dutch Wonderland was about 30 minutes from Hershey and easy to find with the GPS. We paid $10 for Premier Parking and parked to the right of the entrance, but we realized it really wasn't necessary. The walk wouldn't have been long at all. Jax was napping when we walked in, so we just took our time seeing where everything was situated. It wasn't long before we started taking pictures of ourselves acting silly with the animatronic dinosaurs.

Snapping a quick pic with a Tyrannosaurus Rex

TK hatching from a dinosaur egg

Jackson finally woke up from his nap and we headed back over to the dinosaurs and he enjoyed RAWRing at each one of them, and there were a bunch. He also photobombed a few people's family pictures. Oops. Then, we went over to the fossil area so Jax could dig in the sand. It was really hot, so he wasn't too fond of sitting in the sand for too long.

RAWRRR!

We decided to head over to the splash area called Duke's Lagoon. The small kids' area was having an issue, so the water was off, unfortunately. Jax wasn't able to splash around and slide down the little slides, but he did stand at the end of the big slide and crack up laughing every time a kid slid down and splashed him. Unfortunately, he wouldn't go down any of the slides by himself and didn't want to walk under the sprayers, but he enjoyed himself and cooled off.

By that time, we all got hungry, so we left the park and walked down to Sonic. We sat outside and enjoyed our slushes, sandwiches and tots. It wasn't a far walk at all, so we also decided to see what stores were in the outlets across the street. The stores I wanted to check out (Janie and Jack and the Disney Store) weren't there, so we headed back into Dutch Wonderland. We rode the cars and the train together, and Jackson enjoyed them both. The lines weren't long, and we are used to waiting on lines at Walt Disney World, so it was refreshing.

Fortunately, while walking around we saw that they sold Dole Whips, and like I said, we are used to Walt Disney World, so we know EXACTLY what those are and love them. TK and I both got a Dole Whip float and then left the park. They were so sweet and refreshing after that hot day.

On the way back to the Hershey Lodge, Jax fell asleep, so we went to the lobby bar and had one drink each. I had a Troeg's and TK had a Special Dark Martini. His drink was delicious and he was able to keep the glass. When we were done with our drinks, we went back to the room to freshen up and change for dinner.

Special Dark Martini

We took a drive to see if we could check out the outlets, but they were closed and so were most of the restaurants we wanted to try because it was Sunday. We saw lampposts on Chocolate Avenue that looked like Hershey Kisses and the Hershey Museum, which was also closed. Instead of eating at a Chili's or a Red Lobster, we headed back to the Lodge to eat at the Hershey Grill. When TK and I travel, we make a deal to only eat at places that we can't get at home.

Kiss lampposts

At the Hershey Grill, we all had delicious meals and I washed mine down with a Reese's Peanut Butter Martini that was pretty amazing. I was able to keep that glass also.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Martini

At the end of our meal, we walked back to the lobby of the Lodge and stopped at the gift shop. I got my mother some chocolate and smelly chocolate wax melts. I got my in-laws a magnet and my father sugar-free Jolly Ranchers. For us, I got a Reese's Peanut Butter Bar, a Reese's Christmas ornament and chocolate lotion. I wanted to make sure I bought things that were unique to Hershey.

Jax refused to shop anymore, so we went back to our room and turned in for the night. In the morning, we got everything together to leave. We couldn't find a check out option on the remote or the television, so I had to get on line at the front desk to check out. Lazarus, the attendant, was very friendly and the process was very quick and efficient. After we were squared away, I went to the Cocoa Beanery again to get us Frozen Hot Chocolates and bagels for our ride home, and TK and Jax went to the car. The bagels were terrible, even toasted, but the drinks were delicious, even without whipped cream. I guess during the morning rush, they leave off the whip to conserve time. I prefer it with whip, so I made a note for future visits and a note to skip the bagels.

We finished our weekend away with a final drive home and decided that we loved the Hershey Lodge, the food and Dutch Wonderland for little ones. We also concluded that we probably should've waited one more year to take Jax to these parks, but he had a great time nonetheless. I just think that we would've had more fun if he was more apt to get on rides, so we stuffed our faces instead and everybody won! We enjoyed ourselves.