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Great Wolf Lodge – reviews, photos

3.0 of 5
549 East Rochambeau Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23188
Hotel amenities
Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge
Ranked #33 of 91 hotels in Williamsburg
3.5 of 5 stars 673 Reviews
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673 reviews from our community

What travellers say about this hotel
  • Water park(115)
  • Wave pool(29)
  • Lazy river(21)
  • Very nice(19)
  • Pizza hut(18)
  • Snack bar(15)
  • Not sure(14)
  • Bunk bed(13)
  • Parking lot(12)
  • Magic Quest(11)
Traveller rating
    170
    253
    107
    78
    65
Only show reviews for Family (505) | Couples (7) | Business (6)
Date Rating
Mechanicsville, Maryland
Reviewer
4 reviews 4 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
“Understand what you're getting, and paying, and you'll be very content.”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 11 February 2012
3
people found this review helpful

For a room that comes with entertainment, this is a great way to entertain the family.

You absolutely have to understand two things:
1) The company has mastered the art of peak pricing. During off-peak rooms can be had for as little as $180/night (basic family room, rate only, includes 4 water park passes). Peak prices can easily exceed $500/night for the same class of room. Prices fluctuate significantly over time online so you can swoop in and do better, but if you have the opportunity to travel off-peak, it's worth it.
2) This is a small resort, not a hotel. They're now charging a "resort fee" of $10/night not included in your room rate (as of Feb 2012). Food, souvenirs, and other activities are resort-priced - not Disney steep, but way higher than off-property in Williamsburg. Just by walking across the parking lot to the tropical-themed restaurant you can save $5/head EASILY on a meal.
So: If you take advantage of the hotel fridge to provide your own breakfast/lunch, manage your dinner costs, and stick to the water park, you can get pretty good value out of this resort, with the constraints of your schedule dictating how much your basic room rate is going to be.

Pros:
- Water park is well maintained, very clean, and has several different degrees of intensity on the rides.
- Even when crowded, most of the lines move reasonably well.
- Rooms are very well appointed and the entire resort feels well "themed".
- Plenty of parking and distance to other food options is manageable (fast food very nearby, bulk of the sit-down restaurants are about a 10-minute drive).
- Staff is TERRIFIC both in and out of the waterpark.
- The sweets in the basement bakery are out of this world.
- Off-peak, you have the run of the place - there is nothing you can't do, repeatedly.

Cons:
- Noise control between rooms is awful. For a hotel that was always going to be packed with kids, they should have done a lot more insulating.
- When crowded, the place is a zoo. Lines may not be bad but if you don't get to the waterpark early, you may not get a table/chairs, which is severely annoying. If a ride breaks, the place turns from "crowded" into "uncontrollable" in a heartbeat.
- Lower food prices would keep more people on property and probably result in the same net profit, but oh well.

Other notes:
- The MagicQuest game is basically a big scavenger hunt that'll take several hours. It's a terrific way to wear kids out if they tire of the water park but it's about $30 the first time through PER PERSON. Best for 6-10 year olds.
- Hard to overstate how friendly the staff is. They're tremendous. You probably haven't seen more attentive lifeguards anywhere, either.
- Older kids also have a room full of computers/game consoles ($8/day/person I think) where they can avoid water/daylight/etc if that's their thing. The arcade is mostly ticket-earning games.

Room Tip: If booking via web, if you book a basic room you'll be offered a discounted crack at other class...
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  • Stayed February 2012, travelled with family
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Adam J about Great Wolf Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Washington, DC
Senior Contributor
41 reviews 41 reviews
Reviews in 16 cities Reviews in 16 cities
39 helpful votes 39 helpful votes
“Not particularly good, not too bad either”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 6 February 2012
1
person found this review helpful

Traveled wit two kids of 11yo. I will not dwell too much on the tackiness and the high prices - if you have come here, it either does not bother you, or you considered the tradeoffs and made your piece with it. On top of it - in the age of mobile navigation one should not really feel trapped anymore - when we felt like it, we used out Tripadvisor mobile app, and found literally 100+ eating establishments within 5mi range, and went out to one with great success.
Now, to sum it up, overall - a very mixed impression.
First, the good:
- the staff is very friendly and the service is overall very good, with one exception - see below
- the lifeguards work really hard to ensure the park is safe and accident-free
- the buffet - right across the reception desk - turned out to be an unexpectedly decent meal for a reasonable price
- Magic Quest is pretty well done, and keeps kids 9+ occupied for hours. (Kids younger than 9 would probably need your help a little bit in figuring things out).
- the room was quite nice, the only minor gripe being the fairly poor soundproof of the door.
- the wristband makes things extremely convenient - you can use it to open doors, buy things, etc. Literally - this is the only thing needed as long as you are inside.
- to my standards - the place is well maintained, well appointed, and well run

Now, the bad:
- expect the bill to be higher than quoted price by about $100 (per day? Don't know - we only stayed one night). I want to emphasize that it is not the resort's fault - there are about 4 types of taxes tagged onto their room charge. It would be nice to be able to know about this "surprise" ahead of time somehow.
- the water park is rather small, and is probably more oriented to kids under 12. Bigger kids have limited options. Consequently, when anything breaks (and it sure does - read on) - something like 20% of your entertainment options is suddenly gone.
- Tornado slide was broken; which in and of itself was not a bid deal - things happen. The problem was the way they informed us about it - when we were checking in, they said something to the effect that "sorry to inform you that it is not working, it just broke, we are expecting a part today, but this is not guaranteed". Even the nice lady who was saying this looked embarrassed uttering this "dog ate my homework" kind of stuff. Later on, when we asked for some money be refunded because of it - they not only did not object, but also indirectly admitted that it had been broken for a while, and it would take an additional while to get it fixed.
- we stayed over Super Bowl weekend, and got to experience the resort when it was pretty much full to capacity (Saturday), and when there were fewer people - on Sunday,as a lot of guests departed to watch the big event. What a contrast! Saturday was not a pleasant experience - it felt like the park cannot accommodate the number of people that the hotel can. Lines everywhere, crowded, could not get a tube for some rides for a long time, etc, etc.
- there is a ride where 4 people are sliding down in a raft (green tube). The wait lines were abominable; from what I saw - for two reasons: number one being that the conveyor that brought the rafts back up was getting either broken or stuck periodically. Second one, though, is more annoying: young people manning the rafts and managing the line on top should really be better trained. Specifically: there is about a minute between two consecutive rides, a minute that could be spent organizing the next batch of people - as it sometimes takes a while to form a four-person batch from disparate family groups. Instead of doing that - the guards just stand there. Many a time the line reached all the way down to the main floor (4 floors down!), and it took 40 min to get to it! Why wouldn't any of the supervisors notice this and make a correction?
My overall recommendation: do not go with kids older than 13, do not go if you need to travel longer than 2 hours, if even that; do not go on big holidays, as it will definitely get very crowded. However - if you have got little kids, if you are not too far, and you go on judiciously selected date - you and your young ones will likely enjoy this place.

  • Stayed February 2012, travelled with family
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask kisaDC about Great Wolf Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Contributor
15 reviews 15 reviews
Reviews in 9 cities Reviews in 9 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
“Kids will LOVE it!!”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 4 February 2012
1
person found this review helpful

We took our family here for a mini vacation. Our kids couldn't have been happier! They had such a great time. I was hesitant when booking, not crazy about public pools/water parks. They do a great job keeping everything clean. The only negative was the food. Very expensive and the food was not good. The room we stayed in had a refrigerator. Next time we will pack snacks and eat outside the water park. There is a restaraunt in the parking lot that was better than what they offered in the water park but still nothing spectacular.
Our kids also enjoyed the Magi quest- I think that's what it's called. A little pricey after the wand purchase and the accessories they "had" to have but it was great for them to play at night.

  • Stayed March 2011, travelled with family
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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See 2 more reviews by travelenfamilyof5 for Williamsburg
Ask travelenfamilyof5 about Great Wolf Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Hollywood, Maryland, United States
1 review
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Not for families with under 3”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 4 February 2012
2
people found this review helpful

Our 9 and 10 year olds had a great time in the water park! I enjoyed it too the first night however, there is not a place to corral the toddlers so they can play other than the room. Staff was great throughout the resort but the prices are ridiculous! We spent 52 dollars in change on the Breakfast Buffett! We went to dinner at cracker barrel and only spent 32 dollars and change! It's very very noisy at night! The running down the halls did not slow down til well after 1030 pm.
Overall, we won't be back until the youngest can play safely in the water park.

Room Tip: Choose a room at the far end of the resort!
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  • Stayed February 2012, travelled with family
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Angela D about Great Wolf Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Corunna, Michigan, United States
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Beware of booking rooms”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 3 February 2012
1
person found this review helpful

Very bad business practices. They tried to charge my credit card for $25.00 for a cancellation of a reservation that was not due for almost a month. I notified them that we could not reserve the room because my wife was having emergency surgery on the date we reserved a month in advance. There was a months notice of cancellation and they refused to cancel the $25.00 charge. Based upon this alone, I would not recommend dealing with these people or reserving a room.

Room Tip: Don't reserve a room with them.
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  • Stayed February 2012, travelled with family
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Dennis T about Great Wolf Lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
GWL Management, General Manager at Great Wolf Lodge, responded to this review
5 April 2012
Our cancellation policy is as follows: If you cancel your reservation you will be refunded your deposit but will be charged a $25 processing fee so long as you cancel more than 72 hours prior to your arrival date. If your plans change at the last minute (or anytime within 72 hours of arrival), call us and we’ll try to rebook your trip for different dates. You would only forfeit your deposit if we couldn’t rebook your getaway at all.

You should have been made aware of this at the time of booking and also through reservation confirmation. I apologize for any confusion.

Sincerely,
Curtis Brown
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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Additional Information about Great Wolf Lodge

  • Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg Va
  • Great Wolf Resort
  • Great Wolf Hotel
  • Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg
Address: 549 East Rochambeau Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23188
Price range (per night):* INR13,029 - 20,970

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