Our family recently stayed at Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca, CA, there were 19 people in our group!  We had family visiting from Canada for Christmas, so we planned a few days at Great Wolf Lodge.  

This is not a sponsored post in any way, we paid and booked our own rooms. We did get a group discount since we booked a room block with 5 or more rooms.  I will say Great Wolf Lodge is a little on the pricier side, especially if you go during Christmas or any holiday. But if you keep your eye out for deals they do happen!  Here is a YouTube video from our visit to the Grand Opening, it will show you a peek in the rooms. 

I tell people if you can get a room between $199 to $250 a night, I consider that a deal. Especially when you take into consideration for our family to go to our local swim park for the day only can be $250+ so to be able to enjoy the swim park for two-days, and spend the night it really is totally worth it.  Two-days of swim park enjoyment because you are able to enjoy both the day you check-in, before check-in time and the day you check out, stay until closing, well after check out time.

Great Wolf Lodge is an excellent option for families with all age groups because there are plenty of group activities to enjoy together and everyone can head to their room when they need a nap or break. 

Here are some things to know if you are planning a trip to Great Wolf. Our family has now been to this newer location a few times this year.  We attended the grand opening and have stayed a few times since they opened. 

1. Check-In Early - Although the official check-in time is 3 PM, you can check-in as early as 1 PM and enjoy the water park while you wait for your hotel room to be available.  You might also be surprised and your room may be available early.  The line to check-in will be much shorter earlier in the day.  When we arrived and checked in at 1 PM, the line was not bad at all.  Some of our group checked in after 3 PM and they waited hours in line to check-in.  

2. Wolf ears are FREE!  You can pick up your Wolf ears at check-in or in the gift shop. Most of the time they tell you this upon checking in, but if no one mentions it just ask about your free Wolf ears. 

3.  You can bring your own food.  This is a huge money-saving tip.  Each room has a mini-fridge and microwaves are available on each floor near the vending machines.  At this particular Great Wolf, Costco is right next door, you can literally walk there.  While you cannot bring food into the swim area, there is plenty of seating near the activities or you can take it to your room.  With our large crew, we used the tables in the general area.  One day we did Costco pizzas, another day we did salads, fruits, chips and salsa, a rotisserie chicken, this is a big way to save money.  There are restaurants and some great poolside nachos, we've had the delicious burgers from Buckets here on site as well, but if you are on a budget or trying to save money, you can always find other restaurants nearby. 

4. Plan to swim the day you leave. You can enjoy the swim park on the day you check out, feel free to stay until closing time.  Check-out time is typically 11 AM but the swim park is open until 8 PM. In the swim park area, there are lockers and showers. A great way to make it easier is to have a small bag or backpack with a change of clothes so everyone can change out of their swimsuits when ready to go. 

5. Wristband Room Keys - a really cool part of Great Wolf is the wristbands are also a room key and a way to charge purchases to your room.  If you have older children be sure to request that their wristband is also a room key and a way to purchase items if you wish.  

6. Don't bring swim towels! Leave your swim towels at home. You can check out swim towels in the swim park area for FREE! Just be sure to check them back in so you are not charged for them. You scan your wristband when you check out towels and scan when you return. I love that this is one less thing to pack and one less thing to wash when you arrive home. 

7. Do not overpack. Seriously think of a stay at Great Wolf-like glamping.  Other than your swim clothes and pajamas, you do not really need much.  We pretty much stayed in our swim clothes all day, other than the evening hours.

8. Bring a swim cover. Definitely worth bringing a swim cover to walk around the hotel lobby area, during character meet and greets, or while grabbing lunch at one of the restaurants. Makes it easy to not feel underdressed while dining or indoors. 

9. Bring board games and cards.  This is especially essential if you are with a group and another money-saving tip.  While there are other activities such as mini-golf, bowling, and the ropes course, for an additional fee.  Board games and cards are FREE fun! We brought two of our favorites Phase 10 and Uno.  We brought a few board games for the younger kiddos too. 

10. Life jackets are free. Another item you can leave at home if you have little ones.  There are plenty of life jackets available for you to use in the Great Wolf Water park area.

11. No sunscreen is needed.  If you are visiting during the winter months, leave your sunscreen at home, because you will be indoors. 

12. Bring a pool bag or backpack.  I liked this for a few reasons, the obvious to hold some of our items, especially on check out day, like a change of clothes.  The other reason is everyone has the same towels on their chairs, so having a distinct bag or backpack your kids are familiar with is an easy way for them to find where you are seated. I would save our spot and then text our group the photo of where we were seated.

13. Bring sandals and also closed-toe shoes. Sandals are the easiest way to walk around the swim park and to and from your room.  But if you plan on doing the climbing ropes course closed-toe shoes are required, so be sure to bring those along as well. 

14. Dunkin Donuts need I say more. You definitely want the early riser to get there early because the line can get long. Someone from our room would go down at opening and bring the Donuts back to the room and go back to bed. This way we avoided waiting in the long line. The donuts are very affordable and all the same price, the same price for a glazed as Boston Crème filled donuts. 


15. Magic Quest Wand Game. Our boys shared one wand and it worked fine, the younger two are the ones who mostly used it.  It was a great "activity" for my little guy who was not going to do the ropes course.  It was also something to do in the evening hours when the swim park is closed and early morning hours before the swim park opens. You can re-use the wands on future stays, you pay a small activation game fee, but it is nice that you can use them again. 

16. Seating & Cabanas. There are a lot of chairs in the swim park area, if you are visiting during a busier time, be sure to save seats when the swim park opens as it gets busier as the day goes on with new guests checking in. We visited during Christmas break and I was happy at least one person from our group was always down at the swim park at opening. There are very nice Cabana rentals and if you budget and plan those would be a nice treat. During the Christmas season, they were decorated, this photo is from another time we visited.

17. Enjoy the FREE activities. Take a photo of the schedule of FREE activities when you check in they have a list at the counter and some displays in the lobby or download the App. Throughout the day they have free craft activities, character meet and greet times as well as morning yoga and nightly dance parties. During the Christmas season, they had "snow" falling in the lobby aka bubbles and when we visited during the Halloween season, they had Trick or Treating stations for the kids to get free candy. We love these fun, festive activities. 


18. Use the App to Check-out. You can conveniently use the App to check out, no need to wait in line to go to the counter. We received e-mails and texts which made it easier to fill out the pre-screening items they ask as well as we received a text asking us if we were out of our room, all very helpful. I will add be sure to check the website often for updates, when we visited you did not need a Covid-19 Negative test or a Vaccination card, but that has changed at least here in California, so check and ask before your stay. I am so happy we visited before this change. 

I hope these tips help you plan your future stay at Great Wolf Lodge, we stayed at the new Manteca, California location which just opened June 2021, you can read about the Grand opening here. You can watch some of the fun we had on our TikTok. See the snow fun here. See morning yoga here. Watch the nightly dance party here. If you have any other questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram or Facebook, I am always happy to help if I can.