Great Wolf Lodge, Kansas City.

in a few words....life jackets. they are provided and i would suggest using them. we tried to go without, but our two year old took a header in the shallow part. they are cumbersome, but worth the extra effort. we enjoyed our stay. enjoy yours! ~S.

We've been to the Great Wolf Lodge a couple of times and love it! The kids have a great time! We swim all day, go out for dinner, and then make it back to the Lodge for storytime at 8:00. At storytime, all the kids go down to the lobby in their jammies, the animals in the lobby sing a little song, somebody reads the kids a book, and the Wylie the Wolf comes down to the lobby to give everyone a good night hug, and then off to bed! It seems to work out really well. They have a restaurant in the hotel, but we thought that it was a little pricey for the quality of the food. It's convenient if you don't want to leave the hotel, but there is a great mall right up the street that has a ton of restaurants to choose from. If your kids are into dinosaurs, there is a restaurant called the T-rex cafe at the mall. It is similar to the Rainforest Cafe in that it has giant animated dinosaurs and decorations. My kids thought that it was pretty cool. Call and make a reservation though...there is always a wait if you just walk in. As for the swimming. You will have a great time. They have a kiddie pool with slides and fountain things, a big tree house thing to climb on with slides and sprinklers, a bigger pool with basketballs to shoot, a hot tub, and big waterslides with rafts. You will have a great time. My kids did everything, and they could even go on the big waterslides with a parent. They also have towels and life jackets that you can use for free. Have fun! Everyone will be exhausted when you get home. We only stayed one night, but we checked in at 1:00 pm on Sunday so we could swim all day, and then we swam all day on Monday too. You can have two full swimming days with only one nights stay. They have lots of kid's club activities throughout the day, but I thought that my kids were pretty little for most of them (they are 4 and 2). They just had a great time swimming, so we didn't need to do the other things. You can also bring your own breakfast or snacks if you want to save money. We had a microwave and a fridge in the room. Enjoy!

We love the Lodge too! When traveling with small children, I highly recommend taking a cooler with finger foods/snacks, sodas, juice, etc. The suite we've always stayed in has a small "kitchenette" area and it sure beats running out for food or paying higher prices on site. We take dry cereal/fruit and rolls for breakfast and buy milk onsite. We also make sandwiches for lunch, chips and dips for snacking and take plenty of brownies! It's nice to be able to go back to the room to rest/snack in comfort instead of expecting the kids to be "restaurant polite!" The kids will likely enjoy the ambiance of the room also as they cater to the children's experience. Make the most of it and don't be afraid to join in on the fun; I had a blast once I quit worrying how I looked in my suit and went down the waterslide with my 8 year old! :)

My kids have always enjoyed our weekends at The Great Wolf Lodge! Take full advantage of the daily activities they provide for the children. As much as the kids love playing in the water park, these activities help to breakup the day. The evening activities are a nice way to help the kids wind down for the evening.

We always pack two of the three meals to tske with, but eat the third meal out. There are so manynearby options. Our kids love to eat at "T-Rex".

The dads like to take a break to go to Cabela's, and the girls can go over to the nearby shopping center!

Enjoy!