Great Wolf Resorts facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.

Type	Joint venture
Industry	Hospitality
Predecessor	Great Bear Lodge (Sandusky, OH), Black Wolf Lodge (Wisconsin Dells, WI)
Founded	May 1997; 28 years ago (1997-05), in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, United States
Founder	Jack and Andrew Waterman
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois , United States
Number of locations	25
Area served	United States, Canada, and United Kingdom
Key people	John Murphy (CEO)
Services	Family Waterpark Resorts
Owner	Centerbridge Partners Blackstone Group
Number of employees	6,000

Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas, Texas

Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. is a company that runs a chain of fun family resorts called Great Wolf Lodge. These resorts are famous for their huge indoor water parks! Besides splashing around, each Great Wolf Lodge has restaurants, arcades with games, relaxing spas, and lots of activities just for kids. The main office for Great Wolf Resorts is in Chicago, Illinois.

The Story of Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge started in 1997 with a smaller resort called Black Wolf Lodge. Two brothers, Jack and Andrew "Turk" Waterman, who also owned Noah's Ark Water Park, created it in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. In 1999, another company bought Black Wolf Lodge. In 2000, the name changed to Great Wolf Lodge, and its main office was in Madison, Wisconsin.

The company opened a second resort in 2001 in Sandusky, Ohio, which they first called Great Bear Lodge. By 2003, when a third resort opened, the company decided all their resorts would be called Great Wolf Lodge. The Ohio location also changed its name in 2004. Since then, many more Great Wolf Lodge resorts have opened, offering fun to families across different places.

Who Owns Great Wolf Lodge?

Over the years, different companies have owned Great Wolf Resorts. In 2012, a company called Apollo Global Management bought Great Wolf Resorts. This meant Great Wolf Resorts was no longer a company whose shares could be bought and sold by the public.

Then, in 2015, another company named Centerbridge Partners bought Great Wolf Resorts from Apollo. This sale was completed in May 2015.

More recently, in 2019, Blackstone Group joined with Centerbridge Partners. Together, they now own Great Wolf Resorts, working as partners to run the company.

Where Can You Find a Great Wolf Lodge?

Great Wolf Lodge location in Mason, Ohio, next to Kings Island

Interior of the waterpark at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington

Great Wolf Lodge has many exciting locations across the United States, Canada, and even the United Kingdom. Here are some of the places where you can find these amazing resorts:

The main office for Great Wolf Resorts, called the "Great Wolf Den," is in Chicago, Illinois. It moved there in 2017 from Madison, Wisconsin. The company chose Chicago to be closer to many of its business operations.

Other Fun Things from Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge also owns MagiQuest, which is a popular interactive game found in many of their resorts.

Great Wolf Lodge in Pop Culture

The former CEO of Great Wolf Lodge, Kim Schaefer, appeared on the TV show Undercover Boss. On the show, she worked secretly at different resorts, trying out jobs like a lifeguard supervisor or helping with kids' activities.

Great Wolf Entertainment also made an animated movie called The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure. It first showed at Great Wolf Resorts on September 5, 2022. This movie tells the story of five of the Great Wolf Lodge mascot characters: Wiley Wolf, Violet Wolf, Oliver Raccoon, Brinley Bear, and Sammy Squirrel.