This post about tween friendly vacations was made possible with the media rate provided to me from Great Wolf Lodge. No further compensation was provided and all the opinions expressed were 100% my own.

Anyone else feel like this winter is dragging on? With bursts of Spring weather and then snow, we are all getting a little tired of this. My kids don’t have any interest in going out in the snow, usually because this time of year it is more slush than fluffy white snow. My kids have different Spring Break weeks so that leaves us in a conundrum as to which one do we pull out of school or just do a quick overnight close to home. This year we headed to Great Wolf Lodge for a break from this cold, wet weather.

I had not been to Great Wolf Lodge for over 8 years. The memories of being there last, without my husband, 8 months pregnant and with 2 toddlers did not leave a great memory, just thoughts of exhaustion. You might be wondering why I had even planned that overnight. We had to get out of the house as it was on the market and we were having an open house weekend.

When the opportunity arose that I had to be in Williamsburg at 8am on a Saturday I thought let’s give Great Wolf Lodge another chance and now the kids were 7, 10 and 12. I was a little worried about the tweens thinking this was too babyish.

We booked a regular family suite  with a balcony and it comfortably slept 5. (my oldest was able to bring a friend along) There is a small pull out couch that would be a push for 2 older kids to sleep comfortably.

The kids immediately were off making their own way around the water park. I went on a few rides with my youngest until he felt comfortable. He is my cautious one. The others were told to check in every 30 minutes.

I started to feel lazy so I would get up and walk around. Fortunately for me we had family friends who spent the previous evening at Great Wolf Lodge and since you can spend the entire next day at the water park she stayed thru dinner time. She was originally worried her kids (the same ages as mine) would want to go home before we arrived but they were asking to stay another night.

Instead of eating in the buffet at the hotel, mainly because it was a Friday during lent and we did not have much time in the water park anyway, I just picked up a pizza. For $22 I fed 4 kids and 1 adult. Not a bad deal. We brought our own drinks so that saved a little as well. What tween does not like pizza? New non Water activities at Great Wolf Lodge. 

The kids did not have enough time to explore much more than the water park, but they were tired enough when we returned to our rooms, that there was not much in the way of fighting or complaining about lights out! No electronics at the water park made it a screen free couple of hours and they were getting exercise too. We walked through the lobby during story time but it was filled with much younger children.

Each room has a fridge and microwave so you can easily bring in breakfast and lunch items to save money on meals. We also brought in a case of water bottles as the kids drank them up in the water park.

Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg proved to be a great staycation for our family and everyone was happy. Having tired and limited time in our room together made for a great break from home and school. Now that the kids were older, it was less stressful on Mom too.

So pack up your flip flops, a cover up and some snacks and head for a family fun night at Great Wolf Lodge. You really don’t need anything else!! Check this post out for other great places to visit in Williamsburg