PA Scotrun Great Wolf Lodge

[Autumn96]

Just returned from Great Wolf Lodge. It was supposed to be the last day of their Christmas specials. The lodge was decorated very nicely. Big snowflakes and lots of lights. It's atomosphere is cozy even though it's a large entrance area.

When we arrived there were hardly any lines at the check in desk... when we left it was mobbed! There was no real line formation, everyone was everywhere. There were no hotel personal there to direct anyone.

There's a small store, prices as expected for a resort. We purchased a couple of things and the cashier person tried to walk away from the counter. I asked " is there someone here to take care of this", and he answered rather rudely "there will be in a minute". Another worker heard him and told him to take the register and she stood next to him. He was apparently new. She never said one word to us, and the only other thing he said to me is "cash or credit." He never made eye contact at all.. and never said 'thank you' or 'have a nice day' or anything. Terrible service.

There are supposedly 3 restuarants, unless i was missing something I could only find 2. We had intended to have a late lunch at thier Camp Critter bar and grill. It's supposed to be a bufffet. We didn't know they were closing early to set up for the special New Years Eve dinner, but ok, we had a small snack and waiting until 3:00pm and made it an early dinner.

Now, noone had told us a price... noone handed us a menu. There were no signs outside the restuarant to tell us the buffet items or price. And, we did go over the the gentleman taking reservations and were told by him because there were only 2 of us so early we didn't need them. He never gave us prices or menus either (we were taken in about 3:10 with no need for reservations)

The menu sounded impression with their Prime Rib in bourbon sauce, Filet mignon, Stuffed Sole and just about anything you can want in finer foods. I figured it would be about $24.99, the same as the Christmas buffet as I was told by one of the staff members.

We asked for a table that overlooked the waterpark, but were told that was for 5-6 people... none sat at them the whole time we were there, I don't see why we couldn't.

If I started now and wrote for another 10 pages I couldn't begin to tell you how BAD the food was.

The prime rib was way over cooked, and I asked for a center piece! No taste whatsoever. I tasted no bourbon sauce at all. The sole was stuffed with what tasted like simple bread cube stuffing. Even the crab legs were over cooked and dried out. Every sauce on the buffet was crusted over. My daughter only ate the mac and cheese. Her hamburger was hard.. the chicken fingers very dry. I tasted many things and the only thing I can say was good was the lobster bisque. The desserts were barely ok, the cookie my daughter tried to bite fell from her hand from mouth level it chipped the plate! Ok, maybe it just hit the plate the wrong way.. but it was a big cookie and it was hard. All the food was horrible.

The service was ok as the server was very friendly, when she showed up. There had to be about 6-7 servers milling around and only 3 tables with people, yet we always had plates waiting to be taken from the table.

What an experience. What did I pay for this experience? A very reasonable $9.99 for my daughter, and an incredible price of $39.99 for me!! Wow... I couldn't believe it. I do plan on emailing their customer service though I'm sure it will do no good.

The water park is impressive, all indoors. But it was DIRTY! trash and towels everywhere. Yes, I know it's a busy time of season, but I have never seen anything like this! I love Disney World and go at least once a year, and even at the value resorts I have never seen trash all around the pool areas! You would never see it at a Luxury Resort... and Great Wolf is luxury resort prices. Cheap rooms mid week are $250 a night.

There's a nice sized arcade..but everything keeps breaking down. At any given time 3 of the 6 token machines are broken and the ticket counter machines stop working constantly! It took 3 machines to finish counting our tickets because they kept breaking. The staff do constantly walk around the arcade trying to keep everything going though.

It was snowing while we were there. It would have been really nice to have an outside area for the kids to go and play in the snow other than the parking lot. The one play area outside with a small outside pool was closed. So the only 'outside' there is is the parking lot.

Great Wolf is pretty... but not enough going on to keep you interested for more than a few hours. The rooms are nice.. housekeeping spotty. The staff is either very friendly or couldn't care less. The food is horrible to the point of being scary! For an average of $324 a night... go anywhere else!