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.
- Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg Va
- Great Wolf Resort
- Great Wolf Hotel
- Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg
