2008 Christmas Day spent at Great Wolf Lodge 2 day getaway

Belated entry on how Mr. and Mrs. Stickgrappler took the little stickgrapplers to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) on Christmas Day for a 2 day getaway. Advertised as a 2 hour drive from Manhattan, we made it there in about 2 and a half hours.

Maybe it's because we stopped at Scenic Overdrive for a few minutes for a brief respite and I snapped this picture. There was still snow/ice on the ground.



For those that don't know the Great Wolf Lodge, it is a gianormous indoor waterpark.

Fort Mackenzie is a four-story interactive treehouse water fort offering 12 levels of super-soaking fun for the family. Younger kids can climb with their parents to reach the slides at the top. The older ones will love making their way over suspension bridges and cargo nets to spray stations and soaker buckets. (Watch out below!) The grand daddy of soaker buckets is the 1,000-gallon tipper that sits atop Fort Mackenzie. Every few minutes, the warning bell clangs, and the bucket begins to tip its contents over the roof and onto the giggling group below.

I am a bit scared of heights... the climb to the water slide with the huge bucket of water was a bit intimidating. The slide itself was like me doing the luge, it was that fast and I was forced to slide along the walls from the g-force. It was 4 stories tall and wicked turns had my heart in my throat most of the way down! I tried that twice and both times was lucky to be standing in the spot that the huge bucket of water pours out on! That was fun!!

WARNING: Check-in time is usually 4pm. They may not have your room ready. It is advisable you pack your swimsuits in a separate bag, so you can go have fun at the waterpark first. Leave the rest of the luggage in your car.

We got there about 11:30am and played there until about 6:30pm. In between, we had some snacks. Showered afterwards and had dinner. 9pm there was a storytelling event in the lobby. I had to work the next day and didn't stay. Sadly I left Mrs. Stickgrappler with the little stickgrapplers there along with her friends and their families. Drive back alone was uneventful. Scared of black ice, so I made it back in 3 hrs. I will say that "dayum, great to have a GPS". Makes driving so much easier, especially going solo with no navigator.

Next day, my family went to Camelback to ski, which is nearby. They skiied a few hours and then went outlet shopping, IIRC, Premium Crossings outlet is also right there. Loads of fun for adults and kids, except for Daddy Stickgrappler having to work the next day.

NOTE: Great Wolf Lodge photo borrowed from http://themeparks.about.com/od/indoorwaterparksphotos/ss/GWLpoconos.htm -- I didn't remember to take a pic of it when I was there.