BY LOREEN BERLIN: The Garden Grove Great Wolf Lodge — an indoor water park and hotel — that opened in March of this year is reporting a successful summer season.
”For the summer we just finished, we met our expectations," said General Manager Phillip Cunningham. "From an occupancy statistic, we were full throughout the summer.”
Cunningham said the market areas they pull from are the Orange County/Los Angeles areas, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix and Nevada.
BY LOREEN BERLIN: The Garden Grove Great Wolf Lodge — an indoor water park and hotel — that opened in March of this year is reporting a successful summer season.
”For the summer we just finished, we met our expectations," said General Manager Phillip Cunningham. "From an occupancy statistic, we were full throughout the summer.”
Cunningham said the market areas they pull from are the Orange County/Los Angeles areas, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix and Nevada.
"We have the largest number of guests from Orange County," he said. "Right now, we're going into our slower season, where the public can see a number of discounts we offer through our website at GreatWolf.com/SouthernCalifornia; look under 'special offers.' We direct people to the website because that's where they can find so much information about us."
Cunningham said that with Disneyland just up the street, also on Harbor Boulevard, the Great Wolf Lodge offered two-night, three-night and four-night packages and sometimes offer Disneyland tickets.
"We meet with the Disney representative monthly," he said.
He explained that they have different types of "Early Saver" packages where guests can save up to 50 percent for two-night stays.
"We have 'Howling Heroes' where veterans can get 30 percent off and there are 2-3 and 4-nights of 'Magic Stays,’” said Cunningham, going on to explain that two big events coming up are "Howl-O-Ween" and Snowland, where Lodge works make their own snow right in the lobby of the Great Wolf Lodge.
Great Wolf is proving to be a popular Southern California water park, with themed suites, which are also very popular
Planned is a Gingerbread House to be unveiled Nov. 26, which includes a holiday lighting ceremony, marking the arrival of Santa Claus.
"Santa will be onsite as part of our holiday celebration and the life-sized Gingerbread House will seat up to 10 people. Guests can make reservations to have their meal right inside the Gingerbread House," Cunningham said. "There is a $20-per-family reservation fee, with all of that money being donated to the Ronald McDonald House."
The baking of the Gingerbread House begins the Nov. 1 and that's when guests can smell gingerbread throughout the Great Wolf Lodge. This is something that takes place at all of Great Wolf’s lodges.
Garden Grove is the 18th city Cunningham has worked in in the hospitality industry, mostly as a general manager. He has been the GM since the Great Wolf Lodge opened in Garden Grove. There are also Great Wolf Lodges in Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Texas, Alabama, Atlanta, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
Water features at the Lodge include the tube ride, Wolf Tail, River Canyon Run, Raceway, Alberta Falls, Coyote Cannon and the Wave Flow.
City officials have said the primary objective of developing the Great Wolf Lodge in Garden Grove was to bring an attraction that was unique to the city and anchor the southern end of the Garden Grove Resort District on Harbor.
The water park was a project in the making since May 2010 and finally came to fruition six years later in March 2016 with a 600-room Great Wolf Lodge water park hotel that has a majority of the rooms as suites, which are nearly twice the size of a typical hotel room.
