My family, which included my husband and I and our 2 children (six and four) arrived at the GWL around 11:30 am. We went ahead and checked in and to our surprise, our room was ready for us. We hurriedly got ourselves settled in to our room (2 queen beds with a patio...nothing fancy like a suite or Kid Cabin) and got dressed into our swim suits so that we could enjoy the water park right away. We spent the next 3 hours in the park until our son got a bit whiny and then we knew it was time to take a break and get a late lunch early dinner. They had a menu in the room to the GWL restaurant with combo meals and decided to charge one of them to our room. The food (including a large pizza, chicken strips, french fries, salad, cookies and a 2 liter bottle of soda) was great and fed all 4 of us easily. Afterward we went back to the water park for a couple more hours and then we left to go to a T-Bones game. We didn't get back until after 11 pm. By the time we got back we were exhausted and hit the hay. We didn't want to get up in the morning and so we got a late start getting up and were rushing around to get checked out of our room by 11 am. It was about 10:30 when my husband and I talked about it and decided we should stay another night. The kids were especially excited about that. We spent the second day at the water park again, shopping at the legends, eating at the T Rex cafe and playing in the arcade at the hotel.

About the GWL in general...I used a 20% off promotion code but even with that plus taxes and the absurd resort fee was still over $200 a night. And we only got a standard room. I loved the room atmosphere and it was spacious enough for all four of us. The beds however I thought were very hard and uncomfortable as well as the pillows. The coffee mugs that were hanging up were dirty and had left over coffee in two of them. That's basically the only complaint I had about the room itself. The arcade was a lot fun when we needed a break from the water. The prizes required too many tickets for the small items, in my opinion. A ring pop, for example, was 80 tickets! We ate twice at the restaurant and they had decent food for okay prices. We didn't go there for breakfast. The lines were too long for the buffet so we got something outside the hotel. The sweet shop in the lobby had cute little tasty treats and I bought 2 no bake cookies in the shape of paw prints. A bit overpriced, I thought, but they were very good. The hotel had the MagiQuest and mini golf, which we did not take advantage of. I thought the price we were paying for the room and water park was extreme enough and didn't want to shell out any more bucks for something that should be included in the rate, in my opinion. The kids loved the Clock Tower show and meeting Violet after the pajama party/story time.
My immediate reaction of the water park was, "this is it??" I was expecting more I guess, but we all still enjoyed it regardless. I injured myself coming out of the Triple Twist slide backwards and slammed my shoulder into the middle partition down below. My husband and son got pretty banged up on the Alberta Falls slide. Around a tight turn toward the end, they both fell out and hit their head against the tube pretty hard. The life guard down below was very attentive and called for a medic right away. My husband just walked away with a headache but my son had a nasty black eye as a result. They gave him some ice and a cute little Wiley the Wolf stuffed toy with his arm in a sling and a band aid above his eye. Apparently this happens a lot if they have toys like that on stock. Still, though, they were very nice and attentive and the toy made my son feel better. Luckily that happened on our last day there, otherwise I don't think we would've enjoyed ourselves as much because we would've been too timid to go down the slides. We left to go home shortly after the incident. By then, we've all had enough anyway.
Overall we had an awesome time there. I just wish they included more complimentary amenities for the rate. We'll probably visit again and come back maybe once a year. Can't afford to go any more than that.

The pros: great waterpark and service
The cons: WAY overpriced (even if you get the waterpark), rooms outdated and need some TLC. Hall carpets dingy and the whole place needs an overhaul. Did I mention OVERPRICED! Go to a different waterpark and stay at a different motel/hotel. This place isn't getting better - but the prices are outrageous.

Next visit to Kansas City will not stay at the GWL; but instead will stay at a nice hotel and go to the Oceans Of Fun water Park. Not sure where to start: rooms are disgustingly unclean, service is poor, amenities are third rate, pillows bedding and mattresses are the lowest possible quality, ostaff is rude and unhelpful, and everything is overpriced. Sure the kids had fun, but as the decision maker will make sure they have fun somewhere else next time that doesn't make my skin crawl.

My son loves dogs (and wolves by extension), so this was a great surprise for him - and for my other son who loved this place for the waterpark. The lodge is nicely decorated in theme, even to the point of special kids mini-rooms inside the some of the rooms. (Parents beware the charges that will rack up if your child uses the video game in their area or watches movies on the TV in their area. You can have it disabled at the front desk if you don't want to pay for this.) The breakfast buffet was adequate, but nothing special. The dessert shop was expensive and our cheesecake was just okay. The gift shop service bordered on rude. The water park was probably the best one I've seen indoors, with five larger slides, a lazy river (with a waterfall but too little current), a dump bucket, a large climbing/play tower, a pool area with basketball and a large floating snake, and a toddler area with its own two small slides. There is also an outdoor pool, but it was nothing special, so we stayed indoors. There are many activities at the lodge for kids (mini golf, story time, a wizard game, etc.), but we didn't take advantage of any of them. The one thing I'd especially warn people about is, if you're flexible about when you stay, to check the rates for different dates. We paid 2.5 times what friends of ours paid. Even after subtracting the water park admission, it is still fairly expensive to stay at this lodge. They also don't tell you there is a "resort fee" you have to pay. Anyway, expect to pay a boatload if you stay on a weekend (like we did), a holiday, or some other time when availability is short.