Austin. Mom. Blog. » hotel

Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas

Dianna — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:11:46 +0000

Our family loves Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. We have been there a total of four times now. Our last visit was this past Thursday and Friday before Easter. The lodge was 75% full. We have been when it’s 100% full and 20% full. We absolutely loved it when it only was 20% full, but even when it’s full capacity the lodge can handle it. We don’t have to wait two hours to ride something. It’s the perfect vacation for our two boys. Andrew is five and Collin is four. Great Wolf Lodge’s main attraction is an indoor waterpark with tube rides, waterslides, a wave pool, and a huge treehouse with water overflowing each way you look. Since I’m a huge water fan myself, I also love it. There are several places you can dine at when you visit. They include Pizza Hut Express, Bear Paw Sweets and Eats (where we enjoyed ice cream), Starbucks, and Loose Moose Cottage (a restaurant). Inside the waterpark is a snack bar where you can buy small pizzas, hamburgers, fries, and miscellaneous snacks. We purchased a hot dog, a chicken burger, and fries. It was actually pretty good. The prices were typical. A hot dog cost us three dollars, the chicken burger was six dollars, and the fries were two dollars. I believe Six Flags prices are much higher. The lodge has so many activities for kids including a cub club with painting, coloring, or decorating items. Some items may have to be purchased. There’s also an arcade, a kids’ spa, and a game called MagiQuest where you have a wand and go through the hotel to conquer challenges. The game can last hours so this last time we didn’t purchase the game, but we will next time. Our boys were disappointed, but since we only stayed one night, time wasn’t in our favor. Our next visit we will stay two nights. When you visit Great Wolf Lodge, you are able to start enjoying the park as early as one o’clock and can stay until it closes the next day at nine. You have to check out of your room by eleven, but can still stay to enjoy the lodge. We always take advantage of staying. We all were truly exhausted after visiting Great Wolf, but we can’t wait to go back. It is truly a kid friendly, family friendly hotel.

Andrew and Collin Loving Great Wolf Lodge

Indoor Waterpark

Spring Break is Over

Dianna — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:12:46 +0000

I know it’s been awhile since I have posted anything, but spring break was here and now it’s over. I’m sad to say it’s over. It was so nice to have the boys home all week. We had such a great time. Now I’m looking forward to summer. We had a fun filled packed week. We arrived at Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, Texas at ten a.m. Monday morning. It was starting to get busy, but it wasn’t too bad yet. We enjoyed feeding the animals, but our best part were the giraffes. Out of our sunroof, my husband fed two giraffes out of his hands. Our two sons were smiling ear to ear. It truly was an awesome experience. We toured the property within three hours. The weather outside was windy and cold so being in our vehicle was perfect. Unfortunately the weather kept us from going to our next adventure. We were going to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park, but the weather prevented us from doing so. We proceeded to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day. We stayed at Embassy Suites and loved it. We went with another family and had conjoining rooms. Andrew and Collin (our two sons) loved it. All the kids ran back and forth and we felt like one big family. The hotel also had an indoor pool, full breakfast, and complimentary drinks from 5:30 to 7:30. We couldn’t ask for anything more. We stayed two nights. Both Andrew and Collin continue to ask when are we going back to the hotel. Fortunately summer is not too far away. Well, Tuesday arrived and we went to the Dallas Zoo. Out of all the zoos we have visited, in my opinion, Dallas Zoo has the best kids area. The boys got to ride a horse for $2 each, pet a pig, pet a rabbit, crawled in a mongoose tunnel, fed birds, and so much more. We could have stayed at least two hours in the kids area. Everyone was getting hungry so we had to cut it short. Our favorite animals to see were the gorillas. They were some fascinating creatures. The zoo had a monorail you were able to ride for $3 each to observe the animals and get information from a tour guide. My youngest son, Collin loved riding the monorail because he thought of it as a train ride. I still have a lot of information to share about our spring break, but for now I will end this post.

Fossil Rim

Children's Zoo at Dallas Zoo

Galveston Trip

Dianna — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:49:05 +0000

We went to Galveston on the 20th and 21st. We stayed at the Moody Gardens hotel and loved it. We have stayed at the hotel before so we weren’t surprised on how kid friendly the hotel was. The hotel had a room set up as “Santa’s Workshop” where the kids could do multiple Christmas crafts. We got to enjoy writing a letter to Santa, making gingerbread necklaces, Christmas door hangers, cookie decorating, and playing several board games. The hotel also had a heated pool. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast in the Terrace Restaurant (which did cost) in the morning. It was a little pricey, but for a kid friendly hotel and the walking distance from the hotel to the Moody Gardens resort, it was worth it. We paid approximately $150, which included taxes. We stayed at the hotel because we were aware of the activities it offered for kids. We knew we wanted to enjoy the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. The lights were really nice and we had plenty walking room through the trail. We weren’t inching our way through like we were at “The Trail of Lights” in Austin last year. Last year it was too crowded for us and instead of looking at lights we were just fighting our way to get through. At the Festival of Lights there is a fee of $5.95 a person, but I believe it was worth it. They had an ice skating rink you could have paid to use, but our boys are too little for that. Also, there was plenty of concession stands you could buy hot dogs, nachos, hot chocolate, kettle corn, drinks, and even smores. We got each of our boys a smore kit and they had sticks where you could roast the marshmallows over a large fire pit. The boys really enjoyed it. The cost was $2 per kit. After the lights we had the option to enjoy the aquarium($5 a person), enjoy the 4D theatre Polar Express film ($5 a person), or go sit on Santa’s lap, but we decided to call it a night. We used to have Moody Gardens season passes a few years ago and enjoyed it back then. I would recommend Moody Gardens to any family looking for a small vacation. The weather was so nice over the weekend that we also got to enjoy the beach both days. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect small mini-vacation.