Grapevine, Texas: Great Wolf Lodge

Family Getaway for the Whole Pack

by Autumn Rhea Carpenter

Tourist attractions have always made me cringe. There are the unending lines, bad fashion statements and usual stereotypes fully represented. There’s also the germ festival and overpriced, everything. When planning a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas, (the resorts are spread across North America, including Canada, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Ohio) the thought crossed my mind that we would be spending the night in a tourist trap.

I was wrong.

When my family and I arrived at the northwoods-themed resort, the lobby was filled with lifelike trees, and various robotic woodland creatures. A fire blazed in a welcoming hearth and kids looked down from a tree house. Within minutes we abandoned the frenetic outside world and snuggled into the lodge atmosphere.

After checking into our family suite, we headed for the lodge’s 84-degree water indoor water park. There are rides for various age ranges, including nine slides, a four-story interactive tree house water fort, a lazy river, wave pool, water basketball and a toddler spray-and-play section. While my youngest son and I floated in a joint inner tube, I watched his face fill with unrestrained glee. Those moments make it all matter.

(For the older kid set, there’s a spa, arcade and an interactive scavenger hunt called MagiQuest.®)

Teeth chattering, we headed to back to our suite for warmth and to debate where to enjoy the full tourist themed restaurant experience. We decided on the Rainforest Café. Yes, it’s part of the Grapevine Mills Mall and I don’t usually partake in mall cuisine. But forget all that – lunch in a rain forest should not be missed.

The café has truly brought the jungle indoors (similar to transforming a hotel into a lodge) with lush trees, an oversized mushroom housing the bar, a star-filled ceiling and salt-water fish tanks. My boys weren’t sure about the screeching that happened every few minutes from the monkeys lurking in the trees, but were impressed with the dinosaur-shaped chicken and donut holes dipped in chocolate and caramel sauce. We gorged on queso and chips, mahi mahi tacos, and burgers.

No Rainforest Café meal is complete without a visit from a balloon artist, so we left with bloated bellies, motorcycle and rocket-shaped balloon characters and a new outlook on theme restaurants.

Back at the lodge, our brood suited up in pajamas for the story time held nightly at the clock tower in the lobby. The raccoons, bears and squirrels sang songs, performed a brief skit about the wonders of Mother Nature and a tour guide read a bedtime story. The night ended with 50 wolf pups howling at the moon.

It was family tourism at its best.

Great Wolf Lodge
100 Great Wolf Drive
Grapevine, TX 76051
214.468.8399
http://www.greatwolf.com

Rainforest Café: Grapevine Mills
3000 Grapevine Mills Pkwy

Grapevine, TX 76051
972.539.5001
http://www.rainforestcafe.com

Photography by: Great Wolf Lodge and Autumn Rhea Carpenter