Continuing this series on our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte/Concord, NC, I hope those who are looking for information on this location will find this series helpful.

I would have loved to have read someone else’s experience before this trip. If I had, I’m sure we would have planned a bit differently.

After covering my overview ^[2] of our fantastic stay, I shared our reservation process ^[3].

This post continues from the reservation confirmation and arrival procedures to getting to our room.

Part Two: Arrival Procedures

Receiving a Warm Welcome

^[4]In talking to a friend who had visited this location, I learned that the Great Wolf Lodge was visible from the interstate. So, we were looking.

Thankfully, our directions led us right to the front door as there were so many large brown buildings. I was not sure we were at the correct one until we saw the sign with the two big wolves. 😉

As we pulled into the complex, we were met by a parking attendant, who welcomed us and gave us instructions as to parking and checking-in. The personal welcome was a nice touch.

Waiting in Line to Check-in

^[5]After parking, changing our shoes, and getting our needed bags with our swimwear, we headed inside around 2:00 p.m. There, we found a beautifully decorated lobby.

The check-in desk was located to the right with signs indicating online check-in verses walk-in check-in. Imagine that, the online check-in line was empty, so we had to wait.

Anyway, we waited in the 20-minute line to check-in. When our turn came, we were greeted cheerfully. Upon giving our attendant our names and the voucher, we were asked for a driver’s license and the credit card used to make our reservation.

Well, I made the reservation, but I had left my purse and identification hidden in our van. Thankfully, Paul had his available which was acceptable. Whew!

Our voucher was accepted, and we were charged $41.51 ($14.99 resort fee, $14.28 room sales tax, and $12.24 occupancy tax). In addition to this payment, $300 was authorized on our credit card and was released within a week after we left.

Our credit card number was linked to our account and accessed via our wristbands, so we could purchase what we needed without carrying our credit card with us.

Had Paul or I made any purchases by scanning our wristbands, our credit card would have been charged from that authorization.

^[6]

The attendant proceeded to give us 3 child wristbands, which were a nice, sturdy vinyl, and then 2 adult paper wristbands. She indicated that when our rooms were ready, we would get new wristbands that would also be the key to our door. Cool!

I asked for program information along with our $25 resort credit. The attendant gave me a sheet of paper with the information for the programs and indicated that more information on the credit would be with our new wristbands.

She also gave us a phone number to call after 4:00 p.m. to see if our room was ready. When our room was ready, we would go to the desk located outside of the waterpark entrance to get our information. We were then given instructions to proceed downstairs to the waterpark where there were changing rooms, lockers for a charge ($10 per day), and towels.

Getting to the Water

We followed her instructions and found the waterpark. We had to wait to have our children measured as they each needed another wristband to indicate which slides they could ride.

Both Mr. 8 and Miss 6 received green bands meaning they could ride all the slides. Miss 4 received a red band indicating she needed to be with an adult at all times and limited to the Cub Paw Pool and Fort Mackenzie.

^[7]

Once we were banded up, the girls went to our changing area while Paul and Mr. 8 went to their changing room. Once in our swimwear, we got our towels which are provided. We then searched for an empty seat to put our stuff.

It was a madhouse that day with people everywhere. As we did not want to leave our stuff unattended, Paul took our clothes out to the van.

The kids wanted to go play, but we were not sure where everything was. I had the kids wait until Paul returned, so one of us could stay with Miss 4 while the other walked around with the older ones to set boundaries.

It was not optimal as they had waited so long to come and just had to wait. However, once we got in the water, then everyone settled down.

Around 3:45 p.m., I went to the desk outside the waterpark entrance to see when our room would be ready. It was ready early, so the attendant handed me a small folder that included our wristbands and our room nu ^[8]mber.

Locating our Room

Ready to get into our room, we dried off and put on our covers. The children and I headed to our room while Paul went to bring up our stuff.

The Great Wolf Lodge has carts for your use, but they were all being used when we were moving into our room. 🙁

Paul made 2 or 3 trips to get all our stuff. What a guy! The longest part was waiting for one of two elevators.

While we waited in our Kid Kamp suite, the girls enjoyed exploring their bunk beds while Mr. 8 checked out the balcony. Once the camera arrived, I took lots of pictures.

The room was great with a good amount of space. I was able to get our cold items into the refrigerator and setup areas for each child’s luggage.

^[9]

Though the start to our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge was a bit chaotic as we were in unfamiliar territory, we got accustomed to our surroundings and found shortcuts to the parking lot. Once we got into our room with all of our stuff, we felt settled.

Surviving the arrival procedures, our stay improved once we had a good meal. More on scheduling activities is headed your way in the next post of this Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte/Concord, NC, series. Happy Howling time!

Question: At what point in your vacation do you feel settled?