How Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine’s Renovation Made It Worse (And Better)

My family and I stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge near Dallas in Grapevine, Texas, in May 2023 and we returned in May 2024 to a renovated resort. Major renovations were just about finished when we visited this time, so we weren’t affected by construction, but we did have a slightly different experience.

Most of level 1 — the waterpark level — was changed, though the waterpark didn’t change at all. Great Wolf Lodge also made changes to how guests maneuver around the resort and some big updates to the lodge’s MagiQuest game.

Let’s look at how these changes affected our stay — good and bad — and what you can expect if you visit the updated Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine.

Limited Lobby Stairs

As we checked in, the first thing I noticed was a lack of stairs from the lobby — level 2 — to the floor below.

Here’s what the lobby looked like when we visited Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine in 2023, with stairs below the main staircase.

On this trip, though there was still a main staircase heading up to the third floor, there was no way to get directly from the lobby to the lower level. That made a big difference, as the lower level (the first floor) was where we accessed the waterpark, quick-service dining, arcade, and shopping. Instead of going directly from the lobby to the lower level, we had to walk down the long hallway on the lobby level past the gift shop, Starbucks, and restrooms and into the main elevator bank and stairs to get down to level 1.

From there, it was an even longer walk to the waterpark. Instead of landing at the bottom of the lobby stairs right at the waterpark entrance, we had to start from the elevator bank, walking past MagiQuest, restrooms, the arcade, dining, and even more long hallways.

I thought this was an odd renovation choice. Although it was easy enough to just walk to the stairs by the elevator bank and head down or back up, it added many more steps to our journey. In 2023, it was very easy to use the lobby stairs to pop up and down between the waterpark and the main gift shop, or head down to the arcade or waterpark after participating in lobby entertainment activities.

I didn’t understand why the stairs disappeared until we went down to the lower level.

Hot Tip:

The Grand Lobby’s redesign will highlight a new storytelling experience called “The Legend of Luna” which will feature a nightly snow flurry.

A Long Walk to the Waterpark

The first floor was majorly renovated. The stairs were removed, and a pretzel shop and hallway were put in their place. Another dramatic change: The waterpark entrance was much farther from any other points in the resort.

The walk to the waterpark started at the elevator bank and adjacent stairs — no more lobby stairs — and continued down the first-floor hallway, around a corner and down another hallway, and then around another corner with another hallway. That was much longer than it was in 2023.

Previously, we could either walk down the stairs from the lobby and be at the waterpark entrance or start at the elevator bank and walk down the main level 1 hallway to reach the park entrance without turning down additional hallways.

Here’s what the walk to the waterpark looked like in 2024, starting at the MagiQuest store near the elevator bank.

The Build-a-Bear shop moved into where the waterpark gift shop and entrance used to be. Instead of walking through this space, we took a right to continue following the way to the waterpark.

Turning right at Build-a-Bear led us to another hallway past the pizza shop and gem mining store.

Another turn led us to the final hallway and new entrance to the waterpark.

The old entrance to the waterpark — now the backside of Build-a-Bear — had a wall put up.

The biggest impact of the renovated first floor was a longer, chillier walk back to our room from the waterpark. However, the new carpeted hallways made it easier not to encounter slippery spots as we left the park.

I wasn’t a fan of the lost stairs or the longer waterpark walk, but ultimately, neither of these changes was a deal-breaker. Getting around Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine was already a journey, and the renovation just added more steps. Still, a renovation should make moving around the resort easier, not harder.

Hot Tip:

With a longer walk from the waterpark to guest rooms, you might want to take a towel with you. You can keep the park towels as long as you’d like to during your stay, but you pay $15 each for any towels you haven’t returned before you’ve checked out of your room.

A New Pretzel Shop and Updated Ice Cream Shop — But Less Seating

One of most welcome additions from the renovation was a new pretzel shop. The new shop had coffee, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, and pretzels, including miniature hot dog pretzels and mozzarella-stuffed pretzel bites. It was nice to see breakfast on the menu here, as breakfast at the resort was previously limited to the breakfast buffet and cold items at the market.

My family loved the mozzarella-stuffed bites. We also got the garlic bites, which had a lot of flavor but were too salty because they had both regular and garlic salt.

The ice cream shop stayed in the same place, but the front wall was opened up.

Where there used to be a small seating section within the ice cream shop there was just an open space. I later saw why when I got into a long line for ice cream during the nightly lobby glow party. It was a popular time to grab a late-night snack! The line used up all of the shop’s space and snaked into the hallway.

The pizza shop, Hungry as a Wolf, also changed slightly. Instead of a single window for ordering and pickup, there were ordering kiosks around the corner from the pretzel shop and a separate pickup area. You could also place an order with an attendant at the pickup spot, but you had to wait in line with people picking up orders and then get in line again for pickup.

The lobby restaurant also got a refresh, but we didn’t visit in 2023 or 2024. From what I could tell, it was mainly a rebrand of the buffet restaurant from Loose Moose to Timbers Table & Kitchen.

The lobby gift shop had new offerings for candy buckets. I was amused by a water dump bucket just like the buckets at the waterpark. It came with a lid to avoid unexpected spills.

Although I liked the new food offerings, particularly the pretzel shop, the renovations again cut back on some of the resort’s functionality. There used to be a small seating area across from the pizza shop, but that area was repurposed with the renovation. That left 3 quick service dining spots in level 1 (plus a small market and popcorn shop) with zero chairs and tables.

We had a few places to sit down and eat food purchased on level 1, and none of them were very good. We could take our food into the waterpark, where there were tables and chairs near the Buckets quick-service restaurant, but those tables were often covered with the towels and belongings of people swimming in the park.

Another option was making the journey up to level 2, where there were a couple of tables and chairs near Starbucks, but those weren’t always available.

Finally, we could eat in our room, which required more walking and had limited dining space. Though our room was designed to sleep up to 6, our in-room table was small and had just 2 chairs, so it wasn’t a great spot for all 5 of us to eat.

Hot Tip:

The renovation will also add a full-service restaurant called Fireside, a FatBurger location, and The Outpost, a new outdoor bar in the outdoor pool area.

A Closed-In Arcade

The Northern Lights Arcade didn’t see major changes, but the entrance became much smaller. In 2023, we could see about half of the arcade from the walkway.

In 2024, the arcade’s entrance was narrower and less visible. That didn’t impact our stay. However, I could see how a smaller entrance would make it easier for families with small children to keep their children contained in the arcade.

Hot Tip:

New attractions will also be introduced, including laser tag at Laser Trail and mini-bowling at Ten Paw Alley.

Updated MagiQuest

Along with the first-floor renovations, the in-resort game MagiQuest got a major update. This live-action role-playing game is half of the reason we visit Great Wolf Lodge, as we spent about as much time playing MagiQuest as we did at the waterpark on our 2023 and 2024 visits. We liked the game elements in 2023 just fine but returned to find an enhanced game that was more accessible and had new characters.

In 2023, the MagiQuest shop — where we could purchase a wand to play the game — was past the waterpark entrance across from the gem mining shop.

In 2024, the MagiQuest shop was near the elevator bank on level 1 and had deeper theming throughout.

The new shop was appealing, with easy-to-choose wands and game merchandise. An interesting addition was merchandise for each of the game’s realms: Dewdream, Timberstone, Starcloud, and Undermoon. Each had an accompanying main character, like the fox Telltail from Undermoon.

Aside from the shop changes, the gameplay changed, too. The biggest difference was condensing the game encounter floors from 8 to just 4. That was a hugely welcome addition, as in 2023, everyone got a little fed up with going up and down so many stairs.

In 2024, we still had to tackle lots of stairs, but it moved up and down 1 or 2 floors rather than 4 or more to interact with the game elements. That meant we could just stick to going up and down the stairs instead of sometimes relying on the elevators to go up to much higher floors.

But with fewer floors devoted to the game, there was less space for gameplay elements. For example, a few of the gameplay floors in 2023 had encounter rooms, like the sixth-floor Pixie’s Perch. That room was walled off when we returned in 2024.

Instead, the gameplay elements were entirely in the hallways rather than separate rooms. That complicated traffic moving throughout the hallways a little bit, but the updated elements looked and worked great.

What Didn’t Change at Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine (But Should)

Aside from the entrance, the waterpark remained unchanged. That’s too bad because this main-draw attraction could benefit from updates.

One of the first things I look for at a waterpark is a lazy river, and this park’s river was disappointing. It was very short and narrow, tubes were always in extremely short supply, and there wasn’t much of a current. You can usually find me in the lazy river at waterparks, but not this one.

Other water features could use repairs, like the worn-away concrete surrounding the Chinook Cove pool where the water met the edge.

Overall, we were happy with our guest rooms in 2023 and 2024. However, with limited seating for quick-service dining in the resort, we generally ate in our room. Though the room was designed to accommodate up to 6 people, that was only for sleeping.

We had 2 chairs at a small table and a small chest as a coffee table at the sofa bed. That was the extent of our in-room dining space for 5, so it was pretty tight. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to add a table that could seat 4 or more in the guest rooms we stayed in.

Final Thoughts

Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine has nearly completed its $40 million renovation, and while some of the renovations made sense, others hurt the resort’s functionality. I didn’t like not being able to get to the waterpark directly from the lobby. Likewise, I wasn’t impressed by the much longer walk to the waterpark entrance.

However, the new pretzel shop was a hit with my family, and we all liked the updates to the resort’s MagiQuest game.

At the same time, there were a few changes I would have liked to see that weren’t addressed with the renovations, like updates to the waterpark and more seating for quick-service dining. Overall, nothing about the renovations changed enough of our experience that we will be more or less inclined to visit, as my family enjoys the waterpark, MagiQuest, and overall experience. We’re looking forward to visiting the new Great Wolf Lodge in Webster, Texas, soon!