Check room rates and availability at Great Wolf Lodge
 The temperature is a brisk thirty degrees outside. Winter has settled in and we're in the middle January but we are heading for the water park! What? Too Cold? Well, not if you're going to visit the Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, Pennsylvania.
Yes, this is GoKidsNJ. Yes we do focus on what to do in New Jersey for kids and families, but there is nothing like the Great Wolf Lodge in New Jersey, so you're going to have to venture into Pennsylvania for a quick warm weather get away, right in our own backyard.
The Great Wolf Lodge is a family resort located about 30 minutes from the New Jersey border in Scotrun, Pennsylvania, near East Stroudsburg. Getting to the Lodge from Jackson, New Jersey took about 2 hours on a weekday mid morning with very little traffic.
Great Wolf Lodge is a great family destination for families with younger children (aged 1-12). They also advertise the resort as a place for business meetings, weddings and more, but I think if you go there expecting anything more than a great time with your family, you may be a little disappointed. Some trendy dot-com's might find a business retreat to Great Wolf Lodge fulfilling, but it is definitely not for corporate America.
The entire resort is geared for children. From the indoor water park, to Magic Quest to the other great children's programs they offer, it is 100% children oriented, which is why we chose to stay there to begin with.
trip advice:
Come to Great Wolf Lodge with kids. If you're looking for a quiet romantic get away, you probably don't want to stay at Great Wolf Lodge.
Getting there
 Getting to the lodge was easier than I had anticipated. The directions on the website were convenient and accurate.
The lodge sort of jumps out at you as you're driving down interstate 80 west into Pennsylvania. The lodge is a quick exit then a quick left turn right off the highway. When you see Camel Back Mountain,named for its 2 "Camel Humps, you will know you're getting close.
As you drive around the bend and up the mountain towards the lodge, you will pass the outside of the indoor water park and the small outdoor pool area. As you turn the corner, the sheer size of the resort is a bit overwhelming. It was definitely bigger than I thought it would be. As my daughter yelled from the back seat "Oh my gosh Daddy, look at that big log cabin!".
trip advice:
Avoid rush hour traffic. Plan your trip accordingly. Rush hour traffic in certain areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania can add up to an hour to your total trip time.
Checking in
Check room rates and availability at Great Wolf Lodge
Unloading and getting a parking spot proved to be a simple and easy task. I was able to park right next to the nearest entrance to our room. The website cautions visitors to avoid checking in in right away as the lines can get pretty long on busy days. We checked in around 5:00pm (Check In begins at 4pm). If you arrive early, you are allowed to use the water park from 1:00pm on.
Check in was quick and easy. Within 5 minutes of walking through the front door, we were situated in our room and ready to get a quick night time romp in the water park in.
trip advice:
Several members of the website Trip Advisor complained about long waits at check-in, so a good travel tip would be to avoid getting there at exactly 4:00 PM.
The Water Park
 Bear Track Landing, the water park at Great Wolf Lodge is the main attraction at the lodge. Whether you go during the day or night, there's just so much to do crammed into this huge temperature controlled space. They keep the temperature at a warm 80 degrees around the clock. Sure, it's not Great Adventure or Morey's Piers, but it's also 30 degrees, January and the North East United States.
trip advice:
The lodge provides towels at the Water Park, but you are not able to take the Water Park towels back to your room. Bring a warm cover-up or a change of clothes with you for your trek back to your room. Try to get a room as close to the Water Park as possible. You won't hear anything and you won't have to walk far when you're wet.
The toddler section, Cub Paw Pool includes Whooping Hollow, 4 slides of varying levels of difficulty, so they're great from 2-10 years old. There's a toddler water basketball court, wading pool and a couple interactive water features.
Moving up from the toddler section to Totem Towers, you have the kids play area which is a three story interactive water play area that include water cannons, buckets, ropes, bridges, the huge bucket of water that drops every few minutes and it ends at 2 intermediate slides that even the little ones can enjoy.
Next to the kids play area is Chinook Creek, a huge three to four foot deep recreation pool that includes a soft play snake floating in the pool and 4 adult sized basketball hoops.
trip advice:
Parents are not allowed on the toddler slides and they are not allowed to accompany their children on the smaller slides. Start your kids off on the small slides and gradually work them up to the longer slides if they are not comfortable with waterslides. The lodge does provide life jackets for kids.
Beyond that, there is a rope climb obstacle pool where kids climb across soft-play lily pads while pulling themselves across on a rope bridge. Parents are allowed to enter the pool and assist the children across the pool, but they are not allowed to use the rope climb.
There is a small lazy river in the far corner which isn't too huge, but what would you expect in an indoor water park? The wave pool is a decent size, about 1/3 the size of the one at Hurricane Harbor. The wave pool at Bear Track Landing can get pretty rough along the edges as the waves bounce off the walls. The smaller size of the pool creates waves and turbulence which is a bit stronger than the Hurricane Harbor wave pool.
There's 4 advanced water slides for older kids and adults (although I did take my 3 year old daughter on 2 of them with me because the height requirement is 42 inches, where it is 48 in New Jersey for those slides). You can go down these slides by yourself or with another person in a two-person tube. Tubes are required on the four large slides.
trip advice:
The minimum height requirement for the advanced slides is 42" and for 48" for the HydroPlunge uphill family water roller coaster. Certain toddler areas have a 48" maximum height limit.
Another great feature of the water park is two over-sized hot tubs and one is for adults only. Use caution when bringing young children into the hot tub area.
If you don't enjoy hundreds of screaming children giggling, laughing, playing and splashing, I definitely would caution you against Great Wolf Lodge. If you're here to have a great time and join in the excitement, it's the place to go in the dead of winter.
trip advice:
If you're uptight about children yelling, screaming, running wild and having fun you may want to think twice about Great Wolf Lodge.
Restaurants
The Great Wolf Lodge offers 1 dining option and several snack food options throughout the lodge. The main dining area serves sandwich type food and has a buffet. The buffet is $11 for adults, $8 for children and 3 and under eat free. The food isn't quite what you would expect from such a huge resort, but on the other hand, it's not all that bad either. We would have preferred a higher scale dining option, but we survived and had a great time eating while overlooking the water park.
trip advice:
You have to travel to East Stroudsburg if you want fine dining. There is a diner near the entrance of the Great Wolf Lodge, but the food is not much better than what you get at the buffet. Hotel rooms are equipped with refrigerator and microwave.
Arcade
Downstairs is a fairly good sized arcade which has everything you would expect an arcade to have. Games, air hockey, video games and more. The arcade is similar to a small boardwalk arcade you would find in New Jersey, just a tad bit cleaner.
The Staff
 The staff was great. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. I did have issues with some of the kitchen staff's ability to conduct themselves in a professional manner, but this was mostly in reference to off-cuff bickering between who does what. It wasn't as bad as some of the reviews I've read, but enough to be noticed. Beyond the kitchen the waitresses were great, the concierge, cleaning personnel, life guards and other staff were extremely helpful, cheerful and great with the kids.
Kids Activities
Three times a day, there is an animatronic Tower Clock show in the main lobby for the kids. There is a Cubs Club day camp, daily scavenger hunts, night time story time pajama book reading and of course, Magic Quest at Great Wolf Lodge Poconos , an interactive fantasy adventure game/scavenger hunt that is all throughout the main area of the hotel.
trip advice:
The Cubs Club is a pay per activity service. The 12 minute show at the Great Clock Towers are at 10am, 8pm and 9pm. Night time story readings are immediately after the tower clock shows at 8pm and 9pm. Arrive 5 to 10 minutes early as the area fills up quickly.
Magic Quest wands cost $15, wand toppers are optional and range from $5 to $20. Each Magic Quest game costs $9.95. Children can share a single wand and complete the adventures as a team.
Room Service
There really isn't much in the way of room service food options here if you're looking for a quick midnight snack. If you're a midnight snack addict, pack your snacks in your suitcase.
We needed extra pillows and blanket and they came within minutes of asking. Rooms and hallways were kept clean and room cleaning is available from 8 am into the early afternoon. The maintenance staff was friendly and helpful.
A great place for kids and family
 As I mentioned earlier, it is January and the weather just started dipping below freezing in New Jersey, but we had a great time enjoying an artificial summer get away. The Great Wolf Lodge met our expectations and we'll be visiting again.
New Jersey has so much to do the other three seasons of the year, but nothing in New Jersey can top a weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania.
If you think spending a few days doing nothing but enjoying a water park with dozens of other families with young children makes for a great getaway, then Great Wolf Lodge is definitely for you!
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