Our first time visiting Great Wolf Lodge and we ventured to the one north of Baltimore, Maryland in Perryville. Bottom line – it was amazing! We were able to get into our room early, which was great! Each person gets a wrist band which doubles as a room key card! To a 5 year old, it’s magic!

I want to help you keep your green (aka money) when you visit Great Wolf Lodge because the cost can quickly add up! Here are some ways to keep costs low and what we did on our one night (two day) adventure:

• Highly recommend booking with a coupon code. Recognize that weekdays will be cheaper. We booked on Leap Day for a Thursday to Friday deal in March 2024 for $142 total (that includes the $40 resort fee) and open to close admission to the water park on check in and check out day. Find the best deals through GWL directly (I like their IG as they sometimes do flash sales, like what I got) and also check GroupOn and CertifiKID (referral link).

• Bring your own food! There’s only a small fridge in the room so keep that in mind or consider a cooler you can put in the car after check out. Pack easy snacks and/or microwaveable food. We brought food for day one, then made a quick late night trip up to Wal-Mart (10-13 mins north of GWL and also a Dollar Tree and Little Cesar’s in the parking lot if you go earlier). And while you can’t eat food/drink in the water park brought from outside GWL, we totally went into the shower stalls to munch on a quick snack since (at least when we went) they didn’t look inside our water park bags. We only bought coffee from the Dunkin’ Donuts (order at a machine) and one small ice cream (like $5ish dollars). The hotel room did have coffee, but I didn’t see any creamer (so bring your own).
• Bring a water bottle or refillable one. There is a water fountain in the water park. I find the markup on bottled water hurts my feelings – it can be steep!
• Prepare your child for so many tempting things! My daughter knew not to ask for everything she saw because we talked about all the temptations that would be there and what we were willing to spend money on (e.g., one ice cream and one additional activity). We talk often about putting things we see on ‘the list’ for future birthdays or holidays. I highly recommend the practice of setting expectations. For me, it relieves a lot of stress and guilt!
• While tempting, we did not buy any of the activity/food passes. We were there for the water park, the free/included offerings and I splurged for the basic wand/MagiQuest game (which I felt was totally worth it by the end for $37 which included the basic wand and 96 hours straight of gameplay. Basically an interactive scavenger hunt and you periodically fight the bad actors. The wand is reusable for future trips).

• Download the GWL app and set reminders for all of the FREE/included fun! This included meeting characters, story time, movie (15 mins long), arts and crafts, etc. We didn’t make it to the MagiQuest ceremony or kids yoga but those are free too! The app is an absolute must!
• Towels can be checked out with your band, just remember to check them back in with your band so you don’t incur a charge (lines were never terrible, but this could be a reason you choose to bring your own towels). You can use a life vest, which is what we did for Addy, but it seemed like you could also bring your own floaties too. These you just borrowed.
• Pack more than one swimsuit! And if your kid likes goggles, bring a pair or two! (Addy’s broke while we were there and while she was fine day 2 without it, I wish I had brought an extra.)
• Lots of adults had the phone waterproof covers! I did not and found it was nice to disconnect at the water park, but no doubt I would have enjoyed having it. I bought one for our upcoming cruise off Amazon – I’ll share thoughts after I test it out. And for some, it may feel safer to have your phone on you, especially if you save money by not having a locker.
• Lockers are $17 or something like that. Don’t bring anything of importance to the pool or hide it deep in an unattractive bag that you periodically check on. We left our stuff (e.g., phones) on a chair each time with our shoes and never had an issue. Of course they were hidden inside my street clothes and towels. But I did lock/hide my wallet in the car once we checked out of our hotel room. Do what feels best to you!
• Don’t forget, at least to get north of Baltimore, you’re likely to go on toll roads! Make sure you’re prepared with an EZPass and it’s connected to a current credit card!

For a future/return visit, I would make a point to arrive early on check-in day to take full advantage of the water park. We arrived in the mid-afternoon and still had lots of time before it closed at 8 pm. We also stayed open to close on our day of check-out. We exited our room by 11 am and then stayed to enjoy it all. On the next visit, I hope I remember to bring my daughter’s MagiQuest wand again (would still need to pay to activate the game for 96 hours). I may also have her bring one of her Build a Bears (we did the birthday one where we paid $5 when she turned 5 and I’ve also found her some for less than $5 at the thrift store). This helps to avoid the FOMO if other kids have a BAB since they sell them in the shop. You may also get lucky and find a wand on Facebook Marketplace (worth a try).

On a future trip, I would consider buying her some type of light up bubble blowing wand ahead of time and giving it to her as a surprise during our visit. They sell them and you know the mark up is wild. That said, she was fine with me saying no on site (because I set expectations) and enjoyed popping the bubbles that other kids were creating. 

My daughter is about 43 inches tall, so she wasn’t able to go on the ropes course! She needed to be 46 inches. This was $15 a person and it looked fun! They had other things for a cost like putt putt (or mini golf), bowling, gem mining, etc. The pass may make sense if you would be willing to pay for each of these individually. Our splurge was the MagiQuest game/basic wand and I have zero regrets!

Have you been to this location or another GWL location? Any other tips to share? Feel free to add to the comments so we can all benefit. Please share, like and comment here or on my GWL Instagram post!

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