Great Wolf Lodge Water Park | Northern California

Great place for our group of 4 adults and 3 kids for a birthday celebration. The MagiQuest is a perfect way to spend time and energy when you don't want to be in the water. I was really impressed with the pizza taste and quality! Dinner at Barnwood was awesome. I highly recommend the cornbread and the salmon, but it was all great. Overall the prices were surprisingly reasonable for the food and drinks. However, the soft drinks should be refillable and the arcade was disappointing. Each game took a ridiculous amount of credits; 10, 20, 33 for one game so the 20 credits that came with the red pass we got only lasted a few moments. The service was really good, but our birthday cake package didn't come with a way to cut it or forks. When I contacted the virtual concierge they told me to go down and get some from one of the restaurants, but I thought they should have brought them up to us since we paid for the package already. Also, the soda bed wasn't made up with bedding which I thought was odd. We stayed in the wolf den suite, but really it was just 2 attached rooms so it didn't feel like a suite. Overall, a great time and we will be back for sure!

We love going to the Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca, California, but there are definitely things to know before you visit. The rooms are not very clean — we actually have to wipe them down ourselves because we know how quickly the workers clean them. Also, I do not recommend visiting in October. They decorate for Halloween, and even though they say it’s kid-friendly, it still feels creepy. Sure, there are ghost balloons and some light decorations at first, but in a few places, it gets too much for little kids. The big plus is the pools. Inside, there’s an indoor pool with waves, a regular pool, a kids' playground, a baby play area, food court, and fun slides with tubes. The outdoor pool is just a simple pool — no extras. As for the food, it was disappointing. We tried a couple of the restaurants there and spent about $200 for a breakfast buffet and daily fast passes — and it really wasn’t worth it. One time, I even paid $50 for two little meals when it was just me and my daughter, and we barely ate it. Now, every time we visit, we just go to Costco (only 2-3 minutes away) and buy a chicken bake and some snacks from their food court instead. Overall, I would only recommend Great Wolf Lodge if they made the rooms much cleaner and made Halloween truly child-friendly.

Helped with checkin. He was absolutely wonderful to work with. Our rooms were not ready at check in time, so we went to guest services. He immediately apologized and provided a reason along with explanation of steps to room cleaning, including how each room is inspected. He kindly adled us to wait longer. If we didn’t get a text within a certain timeframe to come back. We waited a while longer then headed back because we still didn’t receive a message. He immediately apologized which was great, but what made his service exemplary was his honesty. He told us that our room still wasn't cleaned because the cleaning staff was swamped, then offered us an alternative room. While some people may have been upset at the honesty, I was appreciative. We understand it’s busy, especially since it’s spring break. Lucas got us into a new room that was closer to the elevator. (Yay!) Lucas, thank you for being positive, empathetic, sincere and honest!

Okay. So the staff were all very friendly. It seemed like customer service is important to this franchise. The wait times were all reasonable for the water park. Other than one ride they were all 5 mins or so. The kids loved the wave pool. The chlorine is intense as you would expect. Even if not in the water the chlorine in the atmosphere is enough to irritate your eyes. We got there the day of check in and got into our room around noon (which was awesome), check in was super easy. The bracelets you wear are the keys to your room, you can use it to purchase things and it’s your pass in and out of the parking area (it was really nice to not need to carry a card or have to have my phone on me). The wand things are pretty pricey (like 50 bucks per wand cause they come in two pieces) and that doesn’t include the game (which we never got to). The ropes course is fun and the staff are awesome with helping scared kids and what not. Mini golf is a very small 9 hole simple course and bowling is a five frame mini game (everything is small, ball, pins, lanes etc.). But for kids less than 10 it’s all good. The mirror maze is fine…. Only need to do that once. Room was clean, everything worked etc. like most reviews the food is standard amusement park food, over priced and not very good. But you’re two mins away (and you could walk) from a Costco and a few other options to eat at. I felt we got our moneys worth. Kids less than 48” have to wear a life jacket in the wave pool (that was a bummer for my daughter) but rules are rules and after a bit she was fine with it. You feel very safe with your kids at the pool, the life guards are definitely on it and they aren’t rude with their whistles or anything (sometimes when you give young kids a tiny authority they go crazy) but they were all awesome. And we had two issues with being a few tickets short at the arcade for prized (daughter lost 2 one hundred ticket vouchers) and they were great about it; and we lost one wand and they were really good at doing what they could so we didn’t have to buy another 50 dollar wand. It was a really good experience and I felt worth the money. Kids loved it. I’d say 11 years old and under this is a great option. We also went during spring break and it was probably busier than normal but great wolf lodge was well prepared!

This place is a cruise ship on land. My kids absolutely love the indoor water park, and it’s an awesome 1-2 day trip. But it’s still a cruise ship on land. The food is all fried throughout the day and not very good. The restaurants are average at best. But it’s a great place to entertain my kids on vacation, so I’ll keep going back. Don’t let the review deter you. This place is clean and they have options for most allergies. Bring your own snacks and save yourself a ton of money.