Laini’s girls scout troop voted and decided to spend their cookie money this year on an overnight at Great Wolf Lodge. Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel with an indoor water park. This isn’t a hotel pool with a nice slide…this is Wet & Wild with a roof.

This picture doesn’t begin to cover how big this place is.

I was concerned that Laini would have difficulty on her own, and they really didn’t need me as a chaperone. So Eric, Emily & I booked our own room and we made it a family overnight as well. We were there Friday night.

The water park is kept at a constant 84 degrees, so it’s warm enough to be comfortable getting in and out of the water but not unbearably hot. The room rate covers admission to the water park, so when you consider that a day at Wet & Wild is at least $30 a head, the $250 we paid for the night is not that bad. There are 8 Great Wolf Lodges, this one in the Pennsylvania Poconos was a 2 hour drive away. It’s nice to pack bathing suits with no concern about the weather forecast or sunblock.

In addition to the water park, the hotel has a fun adventure game called MagiQuest. Throughout the hotel are animated items with a “Q” symbol. Some are stars hidden in the ceiling, treasure boxes, framed portraits and some are computer stations. For $25 you get a wand that you can wave over the “Q” and collect what you need to complete Runes. When you have enough Runes, you can complete adventures at special video stations. Emily and I played the game on Saturday morning instead of swimming. We didn’t come close to finishing it, but it was still a lot of fun. The hotel is only 3 stories, but we must have covered at least 5 miles of walking exploring the hotel looking for the right item to wave her wand in front of. We weren’t the only ones. The hallways were filled with 8-13 year olds madly dashing to collect their “prizes” and exchange tips and tricks for finding the more hidden treasures.

Ironically, I sat down to read the weekend Wall Street Journal this morning and there’s a cover story on these indoor water park hotels.