Around The World

Great Wolf Lodge

Fitchburg, Massachusetts

Charles Isaac Rabinowitz

In the summer of 2021, I had a blast at the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It is one of the nearest (if not, the nearest) locations to Easton. (Please note that I’ll be focusing on that Fitchburg location specifically, although Great Wolf Resorts, the parent company, operates 19 locations, is building 2 more, and is considering building 8).

Over 2 hours away from Easton, the Great Wolf Lodge is possibly the greatest tourist attraction in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts. The Great Wolf Lodge has 5 main attractions: its water park, its arcade, its activities/attractions room, restaurants, an, and a small gift shop. a small gift shop. I’ll get to each one individually.

First of all, the activities/attractions room. What is it? The so-called activity room contains fun activities for all: a bowling alley, a mini-golf course, a rock climbing wall, a rope course, and a hunt for gemstones. Additionally, there’s a game called MagiQuest where you get a magic wand and you point at TV screens to see what it reveals. These TVs are placed all over the building. It’s not actually magic, however. It uses IR technology. If you ever had a Wii video game console, you would know that the Wii remote used IR is supposed to be pointed at the television so you can play. Wands cost money though, so take that into mind. However, back to the activity room; what did I think of it? I thought it was neat. Not the highlight of the vacation, but still a neat commodity. My favorite attraction in the activity room was the rock-climbing. Your goal was to get to the top of the wall as fast as possible. You could also go on the rope course. You can freely go around the course’s obstacles until you decide to go out or you’re shooed out. The rope course has a fee, though.

I will be honest with you: I never actually ate at any of the Great Wolf Lodge’s restaurants, so I don’t have the authority to give you a review on them. Despite that, I can tell you the list of restaurants, and the list is: Lodge Wood Fired Grill, Wachusett Brew Barn, Buckets Incredible Craveables, Hungry As A Wolf, Bear Paw Sweets & Eats, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Lodge Wood Fired Grill is huge, and contains many different foods like steak, seafood, and ribs. Wachusett Brew Barn is a bar, and if Mr. Breyer taught us anything, it’s that children shouldn’t drink alcohol. So, if you’re a kid, avoid that place. Buckets Incredible Craveables is conveniently located inside the water park, but I wouldn’t recommend returning to playing immediately because you don’t want to vomit. Hungry As A Wolf offers pizzas, salads, and pasta dishes for the “whole pack” (as they call it). Bear Paw Sweets & Eats is a bakery offering baked goods like cupcakes and ice cream. Lastly, Dunkin’ Donu’ts is, well, Dunkin’ Donut conveniently . It’s conveniently located inside the building, so get your donuts and coffee if you wish! And with that, that’s it for restaurants. If you don’t want to eat at the Great Wolf Lodge, Fitchburg, the town the Great Wolf Lodge resides in, and Leominster, the neighboring town, both have plenty of restaurants for you to go to.

Northern Lights Arcade is in the building’s heart, and it’s a good old arcade! Similarly to the play at the s, I never bothered to play at the arcade, s when I walked by I’ll just describe what it’s like when I walked by and what the website tells me. It’s open from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM. That’s over 12 hours of opportunities to have fun! Like mosty games to earn Paw Points. These points can be exchanged for gifts at the arcade’s shop (not to be confused from the gift shop, which is another souvenir shop located in the building). Paw Points can never expire, so you can spend them 10 years after you got them (for example)!

arcades, Northern Lights Arcade requires you to play games to earn points called Paw Points. These points can be exchanged for gifts at the arcade’s shop (not to be confused with the gift shop, which is another souvenir shop located in the building). Paw Points can never expire, so you can spend them 10 years after you got them (for example)! From my limited witnessing, there seems to be multiple ways to load a game. One way you can pay for an arcade game is via a credit card. However, because of that, parents should keep an eye on their children if they have their credit card just so they don’t get into debt.

I actually lied to you; the Great Wolf Lodge’s gift shop is not actually one whole shop, but 4 shops bordering each other. However, it just seems like one shop, honestly. The first shop is Buckhorn Exchange Gift Shop, and its main purpose is to sell souvenirs to tourists. It sells Great Wolf Lodge-themed merchandise like clothes, toys, kitchenware, accessories, etc. Never forget your visit here, in other words! The next store is MagiQuest Marketplace. If you remember when I mentioned MagiQuest earlier, just know that I’m giving you more information! MagiQuest actually sells wands. The higher-priced the wand, the better stuff it unlocks around the building. The next shop is Build-A-Bear Workshop. Unfortunately, there’s little-to-no information about this place, nor do I remember walking by it. (Side note: I had to walk through the shops and Northern Lights Arcade to get to the water park because of where my hotel room was, which is why I know a thing or two about those places!) Next, there is Great Wolf Candy Company. Again, like last time, there is little-to-no information about this place, nor do I remember walking by. Then there is Bear Essentials Swim Shop, the rebellious store that isn’t connected to the other 4 stores. That’s because it has essential items if you want to go to the water park! If you need more swim shorts or you realize that you are too big for them, this store has you covered! So, basically, it’s a water park gear shop. I remember my father buying a phone protector so he can videotape him and I going down one of the water slides.

I saved the best attraction for last. It’s why you would go here. It’s the most fun attraction. It occupies the building’s two biggest rooms. It’s… the water park! This time, I definitely have some stories to share. But first, what’s in the water park? Well, I obviously can’t cover all of them so you can see the full collection here. The water park has stuff for everyone! From slides big and small, to interesting playscapes for youngsters, they’ve got it here! First of all, let’s talk about the playscapes. My favorite (yes, my 11-year-old self really went on the playscapes) was Fort Mackenzie, which may be the only playscape (I forgot if there was another). It was pretty basic, and I soon noticed that I should probably get myself out of there because the fact it was for little kids. About every minute, the buckets on top of the playscape would dump out an insane amount of water. It might hurt you if you stand directly below it! Next, there is Slap Tail Pond, which I always saw as a makeshift beach for some reason. Basically, the further you go into the pond, the deeper it gets. To add some thrill, lifeguards turn on the waves from time to time. The waves are why I consider this a makeshift beach. Then, there’s Crooked Creek. Supposed to be used when you’re tired and want to take a break, you would grab a tube and enjoy the manmade river! Now, let’s get into the big and major stuff. The water slides you would visit for. The first one is Wolf Tail. It’s one of those slides where the floor drops on you, and you fall into the slide. The slide, and this will be a recurring theme, extrudes in and out of the building. Please keep that in mind. The next water slide is Howlin’ Tornado. It’s the big guy in the collection of water slides. I remember going on it (unlike Wolf Tail, I should add) and it was crazy. You start off normal, but then it drops you right into the so-called tornado. Once you reach the tornado, it swishes you around before spitting you back into a slide that will bring you to the end. It’s the most crazy out of the water slides, as well as its most famous (probably) because it’s the most visible slide when you arrive at the Great Wolf Lodge. Howlin’ Tornado’s counterpart is River Canyon Run. It’s very similar to Howlin’ Tornado, although the major difference is that the tornado part isn’t present in River Canyon Run, as well as other small differences like rafts used in the two slides are not the same. Now, the next 3 slides are in the bordering room. First in the neighboring room is Otter Run, the only major slide to not require a raft (because it’s too small to fit one). You’re swished down the slide with “gentle twists and turns” as the website calls it. I didn’t go on it, but I kind of regret that because it looks really fun. It extrudes in and out of the building, but it looks tangled with other slides because they’re all blue. So, what are those other slides? The other 2 slides operate under the title Alberta Falls, and I went to those slides more than any other. Swooping you around but not too viciously, the slides are for pretty much everybody! I, honestly, loved them. Up to 2 people can go on each slide, I should add. Also, one of them (the one on the right when you walk up there) is darker than the other one. Alberta Falls is the best because it’s not extreme nor boring. Now, there’s one thing I should mention about Wolf Tail, Howlin’ Tornado, River Canyon Run, Otter Run, and Alberta Falls. The walk to get to the slides is pretty long! For Otter Run and Alberta Falls, the walk up the stairs to get to the slides is long, but not bad. However, the walk for Wolf Tail, Howlin’ Tornado, and River Canyon Run is definitely longer. While the amount of stairs you have to climb shouldn’t be a factor in you going to the Great Wolf Lodge (it’s probably good exercise in my opinion), it is something you might want to know. The latter stairway I mentioned actually diverges at the very top; the right side goes to Howlin’ Tornado while the left side goes to Wolf Tail and River Canyon Run. This doesn’t happen with Otter Run and Alberta Falls. Before I leave you off there, I should mention that you’ve got to pay attention to weather forecasts during your stay. Since the slides extrude in and out of the building, staff may temporarily shut down the slides if a thunderstorm comes rolling by. I remember the National Weather Service declaring a Tornado Warning in southern Worcester County when I was at the Great Wolf Lodge one day. While the warning didn’t include Fitchburg, the storm system still could’ve brought severe thunderstorms. I forgot if they actually did suspend the water slides from being used, but it was pretty close! Even then, the water park was extremely fun for me and is certainly why you should visit the Great Wolf Lodge.

How were the hotel rooms? Let me answer that. Unfortunately, you may want to bring some extra blankets because they weren’t the warmest. Overall, the building was pretty cold. I remember freezing walking from the water park to my hotel room. Also, for me at least, the shower pressure was a bit too hard on my skin, which is why I would make my showers very quick. The hotel rooms did have some positives, though. There were enough television stations to keep you happy (although my family really only watched the news since there was a crazy news headline at the time). There was a nice couch and table. There was even a safe for you to lock your stuff in. There was also a wide array of hotel rooms you can get too. You can get a windowless room, which probably which, for me, is certainly unwanted. You can get a room with windows facing the outdoors which is what my family got. You can get a windowless room right next to (or inside, depending on what you would characterize it as) the activities/attractions room. You can also be one of a few people to have a room facing the lobby. I don’t know if sound will leak into the room if you’re staying in a room bordering the activities/attractions room or the lobby. The activities/attractions room is pretty loud, while the lobby gets loud when they have a party-like event nightly when they get very young tourists to do something. I remember walking back up to my hotel room only to start cringing when they started playing the Baby Shark song.