From Hiking to Lodging

It's Good Friday and what a good Friday it has been.  In fact, it's been a really wonderful vacation, the only bad thing being that it's almost over.  Amy talked about the "last stretch". Fourth quarter is here, summer is around the corner.  She's right, well kind of.  May hasn't begun, and even though it's nice out, I still worry the cold air will come back and the work days will still be long.  Anyways, let's just go with her mindset - summer mode.

We did a lot of things this vacation, including hosting a birthday party, a night away at the beach, the Aquarium and more.  Although many people we know went on vacations to Florida, California or further the farthest we went was outside of Boston to the Great Wolf Lodge.  I have to say that it looked really cheesy from all the ads, but it came highly recommended by a few people we know.  We wanted to take the kids somewhere  - some place new, exciting before we tackle a longer, farther vacation.  Honestly, it is kind of cheesy.  It reminded me a lot of a casino, with the lights, music and smell to match, but on the real - the kids had a blast.  It was expensive as hell, but they enjoyed every second.  Worth it?  Ultimately, yes.  If you're interested here are a couple tips (many of which I got from others, a few I learned myself):

1.  Plan your trip when it's cold.  We ended up staying a night and the weather was decent.  Felt weird to be inside in a dark place when it was sunny and light out.
2.  With little ones you only need one night.  We used the water park for hours in the afternoon and the morning before we left, but I think another 24 hour period would've been overkill.
3.  Bring your own food.  You get a fridge and a microwave in your room.  Toddlers don't need a buffet (do adults?).  We made sandwiches and mac n cheese in the room and saved time and money.

Pool area said "no outside food,"
but we don't follow rules.

4.  The hotel stay comes with the water park and I didn't purchase any of the extras they offer when you book.  I figured we would check it out when we got there.  That was a good decision.  We didn't need much beyond the water slides, lazy river and hotel room.
5.  They offered us an upgraded room for $54 more.  I grabbed it.  I think the kids would've liked it either way, but it felt good to be "fancy."
6.  We brought towels, but you didn't need to.
7.  Bring water shoes for everyone, even though it looked liket things were clean.
8.  Even though the water is heated, it's still freaking cold.
9.  Get a Groupon if you can.
10.  Check-in online (they'll send you an email). Get there right at 1pm, but have one parent wait in line while your family waits "joyfully" in the car.

Hope it helps.  Our next year-long research will be thinking about Disney.  We'll need lots of help from you all on that one. Until then, explorations of New England abound.