![]() ![]() ![]() The only one who actually liked the cave was my 8-year-old George. Our luxury “Wolf Den Suite” earned its name, because it had a large plastic cave with bunkbeds. Instead, I rushed our “wolf pack” through the mobbed lobby, while a teenager dressed as a chipmunk blew bubbles at us for no apparent reason. Given that Melissa and I had just spent the three-hour car ride google searching “Great Wolf Sanitary Standards: Coronavirus,” I choose not to linger on this. The giant Wolf sits in the center of a perfectly groomed circular driveway and the whole thing lends itself to an illusion of some kind of ritzy Disney-ified ski lodge, with the exception of the boy’s underwear that sat wet and dirty in the curb just outside the lobby. “Does it resemble Steve Schwarzman?” Ian asked. The Wolf has its snout pointing toward the sky in what appears to be a howl to end all howls. It’s hard to miss the lodge because there is a five-story high Wolf standing just outside the entrance. In 2019, Blackstone got in on the action and created a joint venture with Centerbridge worth $2.9 billion. Apollo eventually won and went on to sell the company to Centerbridge in 2015 for $1.35 billion. Apollo Management attempted to purchase the chain in 2012, only to get into a massive public bidding war with KSL. The place is packed from January through May in all 18 locations and bills itself as “America’s Largest Indoor Water Park,” or, as many friends call it, “the ninth circle of hell.”īut whatever the formula is, it’s working - and the big boys know it. The formula appears to be kid-park-gone-lodge, which leaves you perplexed as you watch a giant woodchuck lead families in bathing suits through yoga poses in front of the lobby’s constantly roaring fireplace. It is hard to describe the full impact Great Wolf Lodge has on first-time visitors. “Listen, no one is going to tell you it’s 100 percent safe,” a pediatrician told me, “but to be honest, right now there are bigger health risks than COVID-19 at those kinds of places.” Plus, the Great Wolf Lodge we selected was in Massachusetts, where, at the time, there had been no reported cases yet. That’s why viruses tend to dissipate in the summer. Turns out COVID-19 is very sensitive to heat and humidity, as most viruses are. So I called the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But once again he made sure not to say the word “coronavirus.” Given the constant 84-degree temperature, high chlorine count and UV lighting in the waterpark, the manager assured me that we were in good hands. I asked to speak to the Great Wolf himself, which she didn’t think was funny, and transferred me to her manager. The lodge was at 95 percent capacity, with few cancellations and none that she knew of due to “that reason.” Not once did she actually say the word “coronavirus.” Sorry that isn't a real answer, but maybe helps you consider something you didn't think about before.“But there’s what looks likely to be a pandemic,” I told the lady on the phone, who was oddly unfazed. But I think a lot of people, maybe most people, would, if they were fully vaccinated. ![]() We're not letting our guard down completely, but we did schedule some massages, which obviously does involve 1 one 1 contact with a person in an enclosed space. We basically have been on lockdown, except for doctor appointments, since the start, have everything delivered, didn't even have hot food delivered for like 8 months, etc.īut, as of about 5/15, we'll both be fully vaccinated. Personally, me and my wife have been crazy careful. I don't want to downplay the risk of breakout cases or your daughter getting a serious case - but if you're both vaccinated, the risk of either is pretty low, like not quite "you're more likely to die in a traffic accident on the way to the resort than to die from catching covid there" but close enough that I would think the actual risk isn't crazy.Īnd of course, there are variants - we don't know completely what might be circulating, and which variants evade which vaccines, etc. That said, are you and your wife vaccinated? On top of that, as you pointed out, the nature of a water park is that enforcing guidelines is even more difficult, and its even worse because its indoors. I'm sure Great Wolf has good security, but its not Disney-level security, where an anti-masker quickly finds themselves up against an undercover guard (yes, if you see a generic Dad-looking guy alone at Disney, there is a good chance that is a security guard blending into the crowd, just in case). So, rules will probably be difficult to enforce, and you'll have lots of folks who refuse and staff who aren't paid well enough to risk their bodies to force the situation. I am by no means an expert, but I'd treat it like any similar scenario. ![]()
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