Last weekend my family and I took a trip to the Poconos to visit the awesome Great Wolf Lodge resort. This family-friendly waterpark resort, with a number of locations around the US, is the perfect little getaway for families looking for fun!

When we arrived at Great Wolf, it was snowing, both inside and out! During the month of December, Great Wolf Lodge hosts their Snowland, with twinkling lights all over, festive trees and glittering snowflakes, holiday music, and snow that falls throughout the day. As part of Snowland, they also had Santa’s Workshop (where kids could make and mail letters to Santa), North Pole University for Elves, Story Time with Rowdy the Reindeer, cookie decorating, horse and wagon rides, visiting with Santa, and more.

Of course, the true star of any Great Wolf Lodge resort is their fabulous indoor waterpark. With 11 slides, 6 pools (including a wave pool), a giant waterfort, a lazy river and more, it’s a great time for the whole family. Both of my boys (ages 5 and 2) had a wonderful time. There were slides and water attractions perfect for their ages, as well as more daring slides and attractions for older kids, teens and adults. (After my kids went to bed, I ventured to the slides for some mom fun. It was awesome!)

When we were ready to take a break from our waterpark fun, there were a number of other things to do inside Great Wolf that my kids loved. We visited the Cub Club, where kids can play games, read stories, do craft activities, and more.  There is also the Northern Lights Arcade, which is a huge arcade with games, skee-ball, and a ticket-redemption area for prizes. One of the most popular features of the Great Wolf Lodge is MagiQuest, an interactive action adventure that immerses children of all ages into a world of Renaissance-style fantasy. Throughout the hotel we saw kids with their interactive wands completing quests and accumulating powers. It was exciting! Also available is a kids spa, called Scoops, which is a bright and pretty space for kids to get “ice cream pedicures” and other treatments. (Of course, there is the Element’s Spa for adults should you want to pamper yourself too!)

Great Wolf Lodge makes it easy for families by providing everything you need within the hotel. With a Starbucks,Pizza Hut, gift shop, snack shop inside the waterpark, and restaurant/buffet, it’s easy for everyone to find something they like, in a friendly, fun, family environment. Our family enjoyed eating at the various restaurants throughout the hotel and noticed that the food was consistently very good.

We also really enjoyed our spacious Wolf Den Suite. Inside our well-appointed room was a couch, outdoor balcony, and separate kid-themed sleeping area with bunk beds and their own TV and Nintendo. My kids LOVED this space and had so much fun in “their own room” within our room. It was perfect! All of the rooms at Great Wolf Lodge are spacious allowing families (even families with more than 3 kids) to share a room together. Some rooms had sleeping areas that were partitioned off, others had semi-private living areas, and some had kids cabins within the rooms! With so many room types there is definitely a style to fit your family’s needs.

As someone who tries to be as environmentally conscious as possible, I was very pleased to learn that Great Wolf  is the first, and only national hotel chain to have all of its U.S. properties Green Seal-Certified. They recently unveiled their own environmental sustainability program, called Project Green Wolf, which touches every part of operations, including waste minimization and recycling, energy efficiency, management of fresh water resources, environmentally & socially sensitive purchasing, and a guest education program.

We had such a great time visiting Great Wolf Lodge, and we will certainly be planning a trip back soon. Check out the locations to see if there is one near you, and treat your family this holiday season to some special family time together at the Great Wolf.

Thanks to Great Wolf Lodge for providing a discounted room rate for this review.