If I'm not wrong, all the rooms in GWL has a mini fridge and a microwave. So, we packed some food to bring along as we have heard from friends that the food is expensive there! It was only about 1 hour and 30 mintues-45 minutes drive from our place, but to them it's a LONG drive...the question kept popping up " are we there yet?" ;P
When we finally got there, it was already one something. Right after we took the exit from I-5, there was a McD's. Naturally, that made the kids even happier! As we arrive, I was please to see that they have MANY trolleys kinda like the ones in the airports, to push your stuff. The entrance was grand too, with Chirstmas decorations up. We went to our rooms and I was very glad that we got the family suites (sleeps 4-6) instead of the standard room (sleeps 4), both cost the same! The suite was spacious (too excited that I didn't take a photo of it! :P).
After our lunch, we headed off to the water park. I have to say that I was a little tad disappointed because the place looked much bigger in their website than it is in person. But being the only indoor water park here, it's definitely better than nothing. I do hope they have room for expansion. They have a wave pool, a "sports" pool -- with basketball hoops, lily pads floating with netting above to hang on to, there's the slides at the fort, a baby/toddler pool (with 2 slides), hot tub, and of course the Howlin' Tornado. We stayed at the water park until it was dinner. And oh, they have life jackets, towels and lockers every where in the water park.
Besides the water park, there are also other entertainment. There's the arcade, the tech room, the cub club for toddler, kids spa, Magi Quest and other activities. I'd say that the Magi Quest is one of Yesmin's favorite, beside the water park. It's a interactive game ($10, last for 7 days or the duration of your stay, and each time you return, you can purchase the game and continue with the Quest you last solved) where you have to solve magical challenges with the magic wand ($15). Thank God it's not exactly "throughout" the resort as they mention on the website. It's mainly on the ground floor, 1st floor, part of 2nd-4th floor. I got my workout following her up and down the stairs searching for the answers! :P
We only stayed for a night. The next day, after checking out, we continued spending time in the water park and Magi Quest. There are showers/changing rooms in the water park, so we didn't leave until it was 4 plus.
I do have to warn those of you who plan to take your kids there, especially younger kids, that like any other theme parks, it's fun, and it's packed with people. However, we've gotta constantly keep an eye on our kids. I lost Lucas when I took him to the arcade while Nd(Lee) and Yesmin were playing the Magi Quest. Like Chucky Cheese, where the machine spits out tickets after each game so that you can collect and exchage for a prize, I was feeding the counter machine the tickets while Lucas stood by me. As I was feeding the machine, he took one step further, then another, and I was still keeping an eye on him. Then all of a sudden, he was gone! I couldn't believe it, cos' I have always been the one (between Nd (Lee) and I) to be the over protective, watch the kids like a hawk type of parent, and now I, of all people lost my child! I freaked out! Run around calling for him, running to the station/machine he liked best. After some 10-15 seconds that felt like FOREVER, I found him standing outside of the arcade entrance (which is still IN the resort), looking around (probably looking for me)! Thank God! I quickly picked him up and hugged him so tight...he was in shocked too, from the way he hugged me back. And I took this oppotunity to tell him to NEVER EVER AGAIN leave without me (or daddy)!!! I asked if he got scared too when he couldn't find me, he noded. And of course while I was holding him, Nd (Lee) showed out with Yesmin, asking what happened? Sure, I'm always telling him (ND(Lee)) how to watch over the kids, make sure they don't stray too far from him, this this that that...and now I have to tell him that I lost our child! :/ Unlike me, he(Nd/Lee) forgave me, but I had a lot of troble forgiving myself for not watching him like a hawk, like I always do! :( Anyway, I thought that maybe while I was feeding the tickets, he might have gotten distracted by the loud music and the dizzy looking pattern on the carpet, and the disco lighting in there...and with the place so dark, he couldn't see that I was just right in front of him, and wondered off to "look for" me! And I wasn't the only one that lost a child. While we were waiting for the showers, another family lost their son, who is about 7 or 8 years old. You see, the show/changing rooms has ANOTHER exit that goes some where else. The kid had take THAT exit instead of the one that gets back out to the water park where his parents were (you will get what I mean when you visit there)! Luckily, his dad found him.
Despite me losing Lucas, I do have to say we had fun in this vacation. Oh, one other thing, there's also a Safeway grocery store, a outlet mall, a casino, Walgreens (or was it Rite Aid), Subway, some fast food place, and resturants just 4 miles south of the resort...very convinent! :)
That's the stairs up to the Howli' Tornado, the Alberta Falls and the River Canyon Run
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