Heading to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky soon? We just got back, and I learned a lot. I’d love to share my Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips with you!
My son is in Kindergarten so this was the first year we were faced with an actual Spring Break. Unfortunately, my husband was unable to get the week of my son’s Spring Break off from work, so we couldn’t go on a legit Spring Break trip. We wanted to do something to get out of town for a bit and let the kids have fun, though, so we decided to spend the first weekend of Spring Break at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky.
I was a little hesitant leading up to our trip. My kids are 6 and almost 4, so I was a little nervous about them around all that water in an indoor water park. I was also a little nervous about Mom being completely overstimulated and losing it. Happily, though, the kids had a blast, Mom did not blow her top, and we had a really successful trip.
If you are taking a trip to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky soon and you want your trip to be equally successful, here are all of the best tips I learned. I did some things right, I did some things wrong, but hopefully all of my experience will help you have a great experience.
Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky Tips
How long
When we were deciding to book our stay at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky, we really had no idea how long we should stay. It’s a bit of a drive away from our home, so we wanted to make sure we made the trip worthwhile, but we didn’t want to stay too long either. In the end, we decided to stay for two nights – a Friday and Saturday.
We arrived around noon on Friday and hit the water park immediately. Our kids got hungry around 4:30, so we packed it up for Day 1 around then for dinner. The water park opens at 10:00 a.m., and we headed down when it opened. We played until about 12:15, took a lunch break for about an hour, and then hit the water park until about 4:30 (when we got hungry again). Our two nights also entitled us to access to the water park on Sunday, but we wanted to get home, pick up the dog, and get back to life so we left before the water park opened and forfeited our third water park day.
We did not optimize our time at the water park, but this length of time at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky worked out perfectly for us. Everyone had a ton of fun, but no one got too exhausted or overstimulated. I highly recommend staying two nights, even if you aren’t planning on playing all three days. This gives you the ability to go back to your room for food and rest, which we found to be extremely beneficial.
When to go
I highly, highly, highly recommend that you go on at least one weekday if at all possible. We went on a Friday and Saturday during Spring Break and we could still tell the difference. Friday wasn’t empty by any stretch of the imagination, but Saturday was markedly busier. The extra weekend crowds certainly aren’t helped by day pass guests – guests who aren’t staying at the hotel but pay to attend the water park for the day. I was very glad that we had arrived on Friday so the kids could get the lay of the land at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky without it being mobbed. One of my biggest Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips to myself is to go during the week for the whole time for our next stay.
Food
I have quite a few Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips about food. This actually might be the most important section of this post.
Bring food
The food at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky is expensive! And, although we didn’t try it ourselves, it didn’t look like the highest quality food. I decided that we would bring the majority of our food, and I’m really glad we did!
Specifically, we brought breakfast, lunch, and snacks with us. For breakfast, I brought bagels and cream cheese, yogurt, and fruit. The kids requested ham sandwiches for lunch, so I brought ham, cheese, and hamburger buns, chips, and more fruit. And then the snacks. I brought basically all the snacks known to man for our little weekend trip. Lara bars, trail mix, fruit strips, apple chips – we had it all! The final important food item I brought from home was a pan of brownies. Having brownies really helped keep the kids from begging for all the Great Wolf Lodge food items.
It’s important to tell you, though, that you cannot bring any of this food into the water park at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky. It all has to stay in your hotel room. I was a little bit worried about this, but it was a complete non-issue. In fact, having to go up to the room for food was a great built-in break for kids who were going hard.
Offsite dinner
Of course you could bring food to eat for dinner too (my neighbor brings her Instant Pot and dinner ingredients when they go), but half the fun of vacation for me is not having to cook dinner. We decided to go out for dinner, but go offsite instead of sticking to the offerings at the Great Wolf Lodge. Because we chose to go offsite for dinner, we got much better food for a much better price. If you’re heading to Sandusky in the near future, here are my picks.
Shore House Tavern
On Friday night, we headed down by the water to Shore House Tavern. I had done a bit of poking around the internet before we arrived, and Shore House Tavern kept popping up as a kid-friendly choice. The internet wasn’t wrong.
We got to the restaurant a little before 5:30 pm and were immediately seated. The friendly waiter, Drew, got us started quickly with coloring pages for the kids and drinks. He even understood that the kids’ root beers should not be filled to the top – a win for us all, Drew! The kids menu was packed with all of the things my kids like to eat most. My son got a cheeseburger and my daughter got mac and cheese and they both ate most of their dinner (a real testament to the food). My husband and I both opted for fish sandwiches (grouper for me, perch for him) that were tasty and satisfying.
When we find ourselves in Sandusky again, we will return to Shore House Tavern. If you’re headed to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky, I suggest you give it a try!
Brick Oven Bistro
Saturday night called for pizza. And not the gross-looking, overpriced pizza they had at the Great Wolf Lodge. Good pizza. I got to Googling again and found the Brick Oven Bistro, which was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Although the Brick Oven Bistro had other options on the menu, we went straight to the heart of the menu and chose three personal size pizzas. The kids shared a classic half-cheese, half-pepperoni. I was really grateful that they were willing to split a personal size pizza – not all places do that! My husband and I got a little more adventurous with our pizza selections. He ordered the basil meatball pizza and I ordered the chicken bianco pizza (garlic sauce, chicken, cheese, and arugula). We all ate to bursting and still brought a huge container of pizza home with us, which came in handy for lunch the next day when we got back home.
Brick Oven Bistro is another place to which we would happily return!
Items
You probably clicked on this post because you want to know what to bring with you to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky. Other than food (which was so important it got it’s own section), here are the items I recommend you take to Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky to ensure your trip’s success.
Swimsuits
Duh. Of course you’re going to bring swimsuits with you to the Great Wolf Lodge. But I’m here to tell you that you should bring at least two swimsuits, maybe even three. There might not be anything worse in the world than putting a wet swimsuit on your dry body. Having a second swimsuit will avoid this sensory nightmare. A back-up swimsuit will also come in handy in the case of a wardrobe malfunction. I hit something funny on a slide on our first day there, which ended up ripping holes in my bathing suit. Right on the butt crack. Needless to say, that suit ended up in the trash and I was extremely glad to have another option!
Something I didn’t have and definitely want to add to my list of Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips for moms, in particular, is a pair of swim shorts. You do so much damp walking and climbing that your thighs can take a beating if they touch at all when you walk. Swim shorts would greatly reduce the skin-on-skin friction. They would also reduce the wedgies, which might have been my least favorite part of our trip.
Goggles
Your kids will likely not wear their goggles for most of the time while they are at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky, but they will probably want them for the big regular pool, so it’s worth throwing them in the pool bag.
Towels
Yes, towels come with admission to the water park at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky. You simply need to go to the towel center, scan your wristband, and they will give you towels for your whole party. We did this, it worked well. But I’m still really glad I brought a beach towel for each of us. Why? You need to return the towels back to the towel center in the water park. We found that it was extremely helpful to have a towel to wrap around us (especially the kids) on our way back to the room. I wouldn’t go to a Great Wolf Lodge without bringing towels from home.
Shoes
Yes, you’ll probably take your shoes off when you’re at the water park, as cringe as that may be. But you’ll need shoes that are good in the water (either water shoes or water-friendly sandals) to go to and from your room and into the bathroom while you’re at the water park. Please promise me that you’ll wear shoes into the bathroom at the water park!
General
I’m not finished with my Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips, but I am finished with tips that fit into nice, neat categories. Here are my random tips that don’t really fit anywhere, but that I think are still important.
Breaks
TAKE BREAKS! The water park is exhausting. Yes, for your young kids who are excited and are trying to pack as much fun as possible into their days. But also for you! It’s physically exhausting chasing the kids around and doing all the slides and it’s mentally exhausting keeping track of the kids and making sure they don’t drown. You need breaks to make it sustainable.
Like I mentioned above in the food section, bringing snacks and leaving them in the room is a great excuse to take breaks. They also have other non-water activities that you could use as breaks, but I’d say skip those (more on that later) and opt for a simple rest in the room for a bit.
Bright colors
I love brightly colored swimsuits for my kids. Especially at the water park. It’s so nice for your peace of mind to be able to spot your kid quickly when scanning the park. And the easiest way to do that is to dress them in bright colored swimsuits.
Separate pool bag for check-in
When you pack for your stay at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky, I highly recommend packing a separate pool bag with all of your pool essentials plus a swimsuit and water shoes for each member of your family. Check-in for the rooms isn’t until 4:00 pm, but you can hit the water park as soon as you arrive. We got lucky and a room was available when we got to the lodge around noon, but that won’t always be the case. Have all that you need ready to go in one bag so you don’t have to delay the fun (or unpack and repack all your bags to find what everyone needs).
If you’re looking for the best pool bag, you can’t get better than the Simple Modern XL Getaway Bag. Cheaper than a similar size of the bogg bag, and I think it’s more functional. It looks like my bright blue color isn’t available anymore, but there are lots of beautiful colors to choose from!
Parking
Don’t let the parking fees sneak up on you! You’ll need to budget an extra $20/night to park at Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky. Go ahead and mentally roll this into your room rate now so the extra fees don’t surprise you.
Skip the extras
The main draw of Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky is the water park. I mean, that’s why you’re going and what you’re really paying for when you book a room there. And let me tell you, it’s enough! My kids had more than enough fun at the water park for two solid days, and your kids will too.
Sure, they want you to go to the arcade, or buy the magic wand, or build a teddy bear, but you need none of this to have a successful trip. These are all just expensive extras that aren’t worth the money and will just keep you away from the water park – which is what you’re actually there to enjoy.
Other posts
Do you have the travel itch? Here are a few more travel-related posts I hope you find to be helpful:
I really hope you feel armed with all the best Great Wolf Lodge Sandusky tips now. Where should we go next? I’ve got the travel bug for sure! Let me know down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.