My husband was brave enough to continue exploring as I sat out on the ground level patio. It is also carried through with the water park experience itself – with some of the attractions incorporating the characters and /or lodge theme. Second, certain areas of the waterpark, especially the hot tubs, the wave pool and small kids areas were overcrowded. We stayed from Tuesday through Thursday during July.Let me start by saying that we have visited the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, MA on 2 separate occasions and had enjoyable visits each time. Kalahari is the biggest of the 3 and has a wider range of offerings that will appeal to both adults & children. We can engage in many of the other activities closer to our home (and probably at less expense). We also enjoyed the Lazy River and the wave pool. If you would like to read a little more about our trip down to the Poconos you can do so here: Adventure Update # 018: My Tricycle is Very Very Fast! We did the empirical research – so you don’t have to! Just a small thing that can be easily rectified. For part of our stay both lazy river attractions were open – and there were other times when only one was open. For our Wednesday June 26th, 2019 stay @ Kalahari the cost of our room was $249.99 with taxes & fees amounting to $66.09, bringing the total to $316.08. Thank you to the staff we mentioned for really making sure our stay was the best it possibly could be! Update February 19th, 2021: COVID-19 has delayed our plans to stay at Aquatopia. As a native New Yorker, a bit of grit and grime doesn't scare me. It is the smallest of the 3 indoor waterparks in the Poconos, Pennsylvania. I actually made the kids wear earplugs (as did I) to go to this! If you’re looking for other vacation ideas – check out our Family Travel Tips for Niagara Falls! Let me start by saying that we have visited the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, MA on 2 separate occasions and had enjoyable visits each time. Our family loves to take trips to Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg every year. Kalahari Resorts vs. Great Wolf Lodge. At times Kalahari actually felt a little too big for us. CHECK IN/ROOM - We checked in with Kassi at...We visited Kalahari in the Pocono Mountains for a last minute trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 9. Once again, the food was mediocre at best. CODES (6 days ago) Property Location With a stay at Great Wolf Lodge Pocono Mountains, PA, you'll be centrally located in Scotrun, convenient to The Crossings Premium Outlets and Camelback Ski Area. They looped continuously – so they are readily accessible at any time. When it comes to Kalahari vs Kartrite, which indoor water park resort is better? Whether you're celebrating a birthday or want to bundle your meals with an add on package, there's an add on here that's sure to take your Kalahari family getaway to the next level. It is a wonderful family vacation spot that offers a lot of adventure & nature! We had no real negatives about Great Wolf but in all honesty, Kalahari Resort surpasses them on almost all levels, but to no fault of Great Wolf. The hot tub situation was disappointing. Bigger and overall more rides especially for those over 48 inches. Great Wolf Lodge Pocono Mountains | Groupon. It sounds like you were able to experience nearly every feature our resort has to offer! The NACHOS did not disappoint. Great Wolf Lodge is most highly rated for Culture and Kalahari Resorts is most highly rated for Culture. At that point, it was unmistakably the smell of cat urine. We have not yet patronized any of these establishments. Imagine what it takes to run this place?!? There are 2 lazy river type rides, the wave pool is immense, there are 2 hot tubs that are partly inside the building – AND partly outside of the building with a narrow channel to traverse back and forth. Kalahari is the largest at 220,000 square feet and Aquatopia is right in the middle at 125,000 square feet. Kalahari is newer and more efficiently run. If you can't afford it, don't bother making the trip. Enhance your Kalahari Resort and Convention stay with these discounts and add-on packages for our Pocono Manor, PA resort. Towel check-out is something new since our last visit. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this review. Water park temperatures at all three is the same @ 84 degrees. Speaking of loud – There is usually a dance party in the evening – which we found to be extremely loud! There was a large selection, with an emphasis on Italian cuisine. We have been to both resorts in the past – but thought it would be fun to do a back-to-back comparison. Kassie R, Social Media Coordinator at Kalahari Resort & Conventions, responded to this review. It needs to be checked more often. But we generally don’t patronize too many sit down restaurants with 4 kids – with ages ranging from 2-10. It felt cozy and definitely complimented the whole lodge theme & experience! Overall we felt like Kalahari was much better before the expansion. Note: There is no Flowrider / surfing simulator attraction at the Poconos location for Great Wolf Lodge. Water park access was included. I felt the prices were reasonable for this type of American Pub food. There is also a fountain near the middle of the lobby with chairs and tables to sit and eat. The room was clean and a good size and the 4 of us had enough room to spread out, with one person taking the full-size, pullout sofa bed. We appreciate it! On the lower level by the entrance for the water park, there is a pizza place with some tables in the lower lobby area. I look forward to connecting with you. The view felt somewhat private and we really enjoyed it! The first thing that struck me the most was how dirty and unsanitary the waterpark was compared to before. Lately we have been hitting the snack bar (Pizza Pub) down in the arcade – for the burritos and then the store (Marrakesh Market) right at the edge of the lobby for some of the soups. And the staff was friendly. Thanks for your review! (GWL = Great Wolf Lodge & K = Kalahari). I will be sure to pass your kind words along to Kassi, David, Robin, and Amanda! On our previous visit a couple of years ago we felt the place was showing some wear and tear. Thank you, again. Within the 72 hours of your stay, we would be happy to provide you a Kalahari Gift Card in the amount of your deposit paid. See rates on TripAdvisor. The ladies bathroom and changing area looked tike a war zone! One is about 13 minutes long and is about Brinley Bear’s fun day and the other is about 8 minutes long and is about the origin of Great Wolf Lodge. We ordered a pizza and had it delivered to the room from the in-house Pizza Pub...it was quite good and we felt reasonably priced! Seriously, I'm not being dramatic. Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. The bartenders were great, DAVID and ROBIN especially. This must be done via phone. (If we wanted to watch tv, we could go to our room.) This was our 3rd visit to Kalahari, the 2 previous times we stayed was before March 2017 when the resort was only half way completed. There was also a buffet which was closed but other little café options for grab and go type food, a coffee bar, ice cream stand, bakery....they forgot nothing!We felt like we needed more than one night so we asked to extend our stay another night and we were given a great rate to stay in our upgraded room so we jumped on the deal. I would request a higher floor again because the 2nd floor gets all of the foot traffic as that is the lobby floor and the waterpark and arcade are on the lower 1st floor.Take a minute to just look around and notice the décor, architecture, and design. When you check in the lodge they should offer you and / or the kids wolf ears at no extra charge – since, after all – it is the Great WOLF Lodge!…. Suite features: Cave-themed sleeping area with bunk beds and 15-inch TV; Queen-size bed At times Kalahari actually felt a little too big for us. The water park @ Kalahari is HUGE.