Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark and hotel located in Traverse City Michigan. We went in fall 2004, and again in July 2005 with two children, ages 4 & 6.

Rooms: The rooms are themed, The Wolf Den had a divider and two bunks in a small "den" area, complete with log table and a TV. The Kid Kamp is similar, with a tent theme. There is a pull out sofa and double bed as well. There's also a mini fridge, and the bathroom had great wolf lodge toiletries. Rooms were clean and fairly spacious. Kids loved their "room" and stayed in there a lot...

Restaurants: The restaurants have mediocre food and are also themed. The Loose Moose had a buffet or menu service. Lots of kid oriented food at the buffet. The Camp Critter had tents to dine in, complete with picnic tables. They have a campfire sundae...huge with cotton candy flame...needless to say, kids loved it. The food was actually reasonably priced for a hotel. The Bear Claw Cafe had homemade potato chips, lots of baking and Starbucks coffee. This place was overpriced. There are lots of restaurants & pizza delivery available in area, with a McDonald's right across from the hotel.

Service: We had a problem with room key on second stay ...kept canceling, desk staff were very helpful & apologetic. Cleaners, desk staff were great, really. Check in is crazy (more on that later) but they don't rush you.

Activities: OK, this place is stupid expensive, but you are paying for all the family activities, and for a splurge weekend, it's worth it (even better when you can book deals & stay on "off" times, like Canadian holidays). The gigantic waterpark is open 8 am to 10 PM. There are slides, water fort, pools, hot tubs (1 adults only) and an outdoor pool & water play area too. There's a zero depth pool with lots of toys, free lifejackets, you can even borrow a waterproof digital camera (cost of course for disc of pics, but cheaper than ruining your own!) The waterpark lifeguards were friendly, but diligent. They never yelled but were enforcing the rules. The pool area was kept very clean. There is the Cub Club open for crafts all day, some a $2-5 charge, some free, with a puppet theatre, log house, toy trucks and the kids can make their own T-shirt or pillowcase. The staff there are so patient and friendly, my kids spent a lot of time there, which surprised me, as they love water. There is a "Wolf Walk" in the AM's to learn about various animals of the wild, buffalo out front (yes, REAL live buffalo), and at night, there are 2 sittings of storytime with the Lobby Clock singing a story and then a Cub Club staff reads from a giant book. So much to do, and that's just in the hotel itself.

Tips: OK this place is expensive, but if you go during week, or on non-holiday weekends, there are lots of specials on line...www.greatwolflodge.com .

We brought breakfast foods and drinks and snacks to cut down on high fat/high sugar (overpriced) snacks all weekend.

You can check in at 4 (and there is a line up...) but you can also get bracelets earlier and use lockers at pool, so you can go as early as noon, I think. We arrived at 3:30 once & room was ready....You can also stay at pool area after check out, until 4 P.M., using locker area.