I recently visited Great Wolf Lodge, a newly opened indoor water park in Perryville, Maryland that also has locations in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and more, with three kids. I was the solo adult, along with my son, who is 10, my 14-year-old daughter, and her friend.
I knew my son would have an absolute blast at the indoor water park, no questions asked. Hello. Water slides will keep just about any 10-year-old slipping and sliding for hours without complaint! But I wondered, briefly, if the two teens would ride a few slides before complaining that they were bored — bored of the slides, bored of me, you know. Just bored. The usual teen complaints.
My worries were short-lived, though. Upon arrival, I realized just how much there was to do at Great Wolf Lodge, and also, how safe the atmosphere felt. Just walking into the building felt like being at a mini Disney World of sorts. There were restaurants, easy-to-grab snack shops, a carpeted hangout space that turned into a Taylor Swift dance party later, and an interactive computerized game running through the entire indoor area. While I knew I didn’t anticipate riding more than a couple of slides, I genuinely got excited as soon as we arrived.
The interactive wand game was very cool and unique. Kids move through the live-action game point, using wands to earn gems, essentially a giant scavenger hunt. Whenever they point their wands at the different stations, inside a tree, bird’s nest, or just on the wall, it would glow and talk to the player. The big girls didn’t get too into it, but my son was totally captivated by it.
Of course, the water park was pretty epic. The kids rode on tons of slides, some of which had the option for double tubes — double fun! Some slides were suitable for young kids, but others were for big kids. On one, according to my kids (because there was no way I riding it) the floor dropped out and plunged them straight down!
There was also a lazy river, a wave pool, and a bar right in the water park area. Yes, I cozied up on a barstool after a few slides and loops around the lazy river, and I’m not kidding, my drink was on point (rather than the watered-down amusement park drink I’d imagined).
The kids couldn’t get enough of the water park, but once we were finished, took showers, and had dinner in one of the restaurants, there was still so much to do. There were shops to grab wand accessories, Build-A-Bear’s to accessorize, an interactive mining activity, a bowling alley, and a ropes course. The teens even cruised the arcade later in the evening and ended up making some more teen pals to bop around with.
Everyone had their favorite activities — mine being the bar inside the waterpark area, perhaps — but there was no shortage of things to do. That made it not just great for my younger kid, but great for teens, too. And truly, it’s tough to find a trip that keeps everyone content.
If you have teens, you know that “I’m bored” is always on the tip of their tongues. But you could easily spend a weekend or longer at Great Wolf Lodge without ever hearing it once. I definitely didn’t, and honestly, I can’t wait to go back.
