Texas’ Newest Great Family Fun Spot – Great Wolf Lodge in Webster
There’s a new Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. Here’s everything you need to know about planning a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Webster Texas.
Texas’ Newest Great Family Fun Spot – Great Wolf Lodge in Webster
Great Wolf Lodge had been on our family’s bucket list since my kids, now teenagers, were tiny. We finally got to check things out for ourselves at the newest location near Houston. Great Wolf Lodge is a chain of waterpark resorts aimed at families with 23 locations in North America.
Read more: The 10 best water parks in Texas
Waterpark
Great Wolf Lodge’s Webster location has a massive (92,000 square feet) indoor waterpark and a smaller outdoor lagoon/play area. There’s a good mix of thrill rides and more sedate attractions, so there’s a mix of activities depending on age and thrill level. The wave pool is a good size for an indoor water park and there’s a small lazy river, Crooked Creek. Everything you need is there – lifejackets are provided and there’s a small store for anything you might have forgotten, such as bathing suits, swim diapers, sunscreen, and more.
Seating
There’s plenty of seating but no loungers. There are a limited number of indoor and outdoor cabanas for daily rental. Amenities include a mini fridge with beverages, a safe, a TV, an electrical outlet, and upgraded seating, including loungers. Food isn’t included but there’s an add-on package if you want to include meals.
If you’re set on a cabana, I recommend reserving ahead of your stay. Your mileage may vary but the indoor cabanas during our stay were going for over $400 for the day.
Towel service
The waterpark provides towel service and the towels are tracked electronically, so if you use Great Wolf Lodge’s towels, make sure you don’t forget to turn them back in.
Hours
The waterpark is open from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. – this may vary based on when you visit, so confirm once you get there, so it’s easy to fit your splash time into your schedule. Waterpark admission is included with all stays and day passes are also available.
If you want to enjoy the waterpark with fewer people, go early or late, or consider visiting on a weekday. That said, the park was packed during our visit and my kids didn’t wait in long lines to go on the water slides.
Rooms and Suites
Great Wolf Lodge lists all their rooms as “suites” with three tiers: standard, themed, and premium. I stayed with my husband and two kids in a “Family Suite,” which falls under the standard category. Although the room was nice and spacious, I calling it a suite is a bit of a stretch. We had two queen beds and a full sleeper sofa. The upside is that my teenagers did not have to share a bed. The room advertises as sleeping six, so it is technically bigger, family-friendly, but I think it would be a tight squeeze.
The room had a full bathroom with the vanity outside the bathroom, which gave us the option to have someone get ready while someone else was using the toilet or shower. There was a mini-fridge, a small, round table with two chairs, a 32″ flatscreen TV and plenty of storage cubbies. This room runs around $400 per night, depending on day and season. Weekday rates are always lower and the highest prices will come during periods when kids are out of school. The lowest rate I could find without using an promo codes or discounts was $239 for a weeknight stay in October. There’s also a house loyalty program called the Voyagers Club, which is free to sign up for and knocks a few dollars off your nightly rate.
Themed and more spacious suites are priced higher. There are themed suites that offer “kid cabins,” which are separate sleeping areas for kids with a log cabin-themed, woodsy decor. On average, these rooms are $100-$150 more than standard family suites, but they offer a little separation between parents and kids at night.
Other Amenities
There’s non-water fun at Great Wolf Lodge, too. My kids spend more time outside than inside the water during our weekend at Great Wolf Lodge in Webster.
- MagicQuest – An interactive game where players use a wand at stations around the lodge.
- Gem mining
- Mini bowling
- Northern Lights Arcade
- Ropes course
- Howler’s Peak Adventure Trail (a cross between a tamer version of the ropes course and a jungle gym)
- Mini golf
- Build-A-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear is inside the gift shop, which also sells a large variety of souvenirs, including lots of options for wolf ears, and sundries.
Wolf Pass Package
The water park is included in the room but if you’re interested in checking out the other things to do, which are priced separately, the Wolf Pass is a solid deal. The Wolf Pass is a selection of bundled activities and other goodies for one price. The bearer gets a punch card style lanyard they can use at select attractions or to redeem for merchandise or treats.
Dining
There are plenty of options for onsite dining, and if you want something different, Webster has many options within an easy drive of Great Wolf Lodge.
- Hungry as a Wolf Food Hall – pizza and other quick-service eats.
- Timbers Table & Kitchen – breakfast buffet and family-style meals at dinner.
- Fireside – table service.
During our weekend at Great Wolf Lodge in Webster we sampled the quick-service food – there are order windows inside the waterpark and on the dry side – and were pleased with what we had. We also ate dinner at Fireside, which has an American menu and level of service on par with Applebee’s or TGI Fridays.
There’s also an ice cream shop, a Dunkin’ Donuts that serves specialty coffees, and a market where you can purchase snacks. Fireside has a bar just off the main lobby and there’s a separate bar in the water park.
Things to Do Nearby
It’s easy to stick close to the lodge and have fun – a weekend is about the right amount of time to explore everything Great Wolf Lodge in Webster has to offer – but if you want to leave the property, there are fun things to do in Webster and all the amenities in Houston are just a short drive away.
- Space Center Houston – Allow a full day to see everything. 10/10 recommend Breakfast with an Astronaut before setting out to explore.
- Chicken N Pickle – Rent a court, take a lesson, or nosh on their delicious food.
- Top Golf
The Verdict?
This was a great weekend trip for our family. The drive from our home in the San Antonio area was about three hours, door to door, which is a good distance for a Friday night to Sunday afternoon stay.
I can’t turn back time but if I could, I would have made more of an effort to take my boys to a Great Wolf Lodge when they were in the 7-10 age range. Not because my teens didn’t enjoy their time at Great Wolf Lodge and overall, it is very teen friendly, but I think the optimal age for enjoying Great Wolf Lodge is a a little younger. There were fun, high-energy dance parties in the main lobby in the evenings where little kids were living their absolute best life and “wolfing out” like no one was watching. My teens are at the “I’m too cool for…” insert activity of your choice here and my husband and I kept remarking to each other how much our kids would have loved it when they were younger.
We still loved it and agreed that it was a successful mini road trip but if you’ve got younger kids or grandkids that you want to take to Great Wolf Lodge “someday” then don’t wait!
