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About
3.5
#36 of 48 hotels in Bloomington
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
Arrive as a family, leave as a pack. Conveniently located just minutes from Minneapolis, Great Wolf Lodge Bloomington is well-known for its 84-degree indoor water park, featuring pools, waterslides, a kiddie play area, and more. The rest of the lodge offers family-friendly activities and attractions, and is filled with delicious dining options for every appetite. The comfortable, inviting rooms provide a flat-screen TV and air conditioning, and getting online is easy, with Wi-Fi throughout the lodge. In addition, Great Wolf Lodge Bloomington offers easy access to numerous popular tourist destinations like the Mall Of America. Any trip to Minneapolis, St. Paul, or the greater Minnesota region should include a visit.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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Great Wolf Lodge in Minneapolis/Bloomington, MN, seems to offer spacious and comfortable rooms, complemented by a range of amenities including a water park, which is appreciated by guests. However, many visitors have expressed concerns over deceptive pricing and additional fees, feeling the value isn't aligned with the costs incurred. While some guests commend the constant cleaning efforts, others suggest a need for better maintenance and cleanliness.
The service quality is reported to be a mixed bag, with experiences varying from helpful to disorganized. Additionally, the hotel's atmosphere is often described as lackluster, with calls for improved ambiance.
Atmosphere
Uninviting
Rooms
Unkempt
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Satisfactory
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I debated three or five stars here. Five for the experience and three because it was a bit pricy so I decided on four. Our party was grandma/grandpa, daughter and son in law and grandsons age 10 and 12. We stayed three nights, a Tuesday-Thursday, arriving around 2:00 on Tuesday and leaving around 10:00 AM on Friday. First, the room. It was considered a "family suite" but was actually a larger regular room, at least to me. We had 2 queens, reasonably comfortable, and a two-cushion sofa sleeper to accommodate the six of us. It worked. There was a nightstand, a small table with two chairs, a built-in 4-drawer dresser, large TV, large closet. microwave, fridge, and cupboard. The bathroom was quite large. Since we were primarily in it only in the evening it worked. For the six of us, two nights were about $389/night and one night $349. Keep in mind though that included waterpark passes at about $40 each per day. EXTRAS: We added a cabana in the waterpark for one day at $225. There were more expensive cabanas and less expensive ones. It's worth it. We had a central location in the park. It was curtained off, sofa, chairs, table, overhead fan, ROKU TV, safe, towels, and stocked fridge with 6 bottles of water, 4 one-liter sodas, 4 hard seltzers, and some fruit. The cost of those items was worth the upgrade from a lower-priced cabana. We added a "meal" plan worth $150 for $135. Food in the complex is pricy. The 6 of us ate one evening at the pizza place there. It actually was pretty good and we spent $91 of the $150. Adding in the Dunkin Donuts and snack bar over the three days it did not take long to use the $150. THE WATER PARK: We enjoyed it. Very large. Most important the boys had a ball. There is a wave pool, a body surfing pool, a basketball pool, a lazy river, and many slides. We found it clean and towels were readily available, although our cabana was stocked with more towels than we needed. There is a large play area for the smaller kids and it is separated from the others which is helpful in keeping track of everyone. The water temp was great. There is a bar for adults in the center of the complex. There also seemed to be more than enough chairs. We found the bathrooms and lockers to be really clean. Plenty of lifeguards. ACTIVITIES: For the older (10 and 12) there was rock climbing, a rope jungle with harnesses, and miniature bowling. Those were the only activities they were interested in. We noticed in the lobby there were always things going on for the smaller kids such as story hour, yoga, limbo led by "great wolf" etc. They offered several passes ranging from $39 to $80 for kids but they did not have things the boys were interested in. We found they had just started an "Adventure Park Pass" for $40. It provided unlimited rock climbing, rope jungle, and bowling for the entire stay. At $40 per kid, it was a bargain. They must have bowled 30 games over 3 days and at $7/game those passes more than paid for themselves. If you have older kids seek out those passes. They are new and not advertised yet. With those passes, they didn't even think about the arcade games which are expensive and not worth it anyway. CUSTOMER SERVICE: Overall we found it very good. The front desk staff was friendly and helpful the few times we interacted with them. We arrived around 2:00 and the room was ready around 3:30. Check-in was 4:00 so I was OK with that. Everything is done with a wristband. Entry to the waterpark-show the wristband, get something to eat-swipe the wrist band-the room key was actually embedded in the wrist band-swipe your wrist at the door. Kind of cool and easy. Another easy feature was texting. Have a question-text them, need more towels-text them, want the room cleaned-text them. They respond really quickly. We needed towels on our 3rd day. I texted them at 7:00 AM letting them know we'd be out from 9:30 until 3 and any time would be fine. They texted back and said to leave dirty towels and trash outside the door and they'd take care of it. Actually, the clean towels were outside our door by 7:30. Departure was easy. Text "out" when leaving and they emailed me a copy of the folio. Want to check on it while there. Text them or stop at the desk. MISC: There is a lot of parking and luggage carts. There is a Dunkin Donuts, ice cream store, and small convenience store on the premises. Eateries include pizza/pasta. salad place, fast food burgers and chicken joint, and a sit-down restaurant (way too pricy to go with the kids). One night we picked up Subway from a store less than a mile away. We meant a family at the elevator coming back with food from Wendy's. It's a couple of blocks from the Mall of America. We visited the aquarium there (pricy but worth it) and the boys did a few rides in the amusement park. We ate there and of course, returned to the waterpark. The waterpark was used Tuesday afternoon/evening, all day Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon. All in all a good time and of course no concerns about the weather.
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Date of stay: August 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
When we arrived and tried to find a parking spot we found that the parking lot was essentially divided in half and un passable due to being blocked off due to falling ice. Depending on where you park this can make it really tricky navigating your kids and luggage. Check in was fast and easy. Our room was ready on time and clean. We did find a snap bracelet left by someone, so I’m not sure how clean it actually is. Water park is fun for kids of all ages, which was a concern of mine since mine are 14-1. Food is highly overpriced and very mediocre. The campfire kitchen has $24 Mac and cheese! I had a bbq flatbread for $15 and it was the least favorite I’ve ever had and probably the most expensive. There was no sauce on it at all and it was a ton of shredded chicken with cheese melted on top. Then bbq on top of that. Very bland. Kids meals were $9. We brought a lot of our own snacks and drinks which helped with cost. I was worried about a hold on my card as some reviews talked about but we didn’t get one of those. We did get charged $25 a day for parking though, which with the conditions of parking that’s laughable. Like I posted before that was one of the worst parts. There is one entrance so you can end up walking quite far with kids and luggage. Overall we would likely come again or try another location but with the price you pay for the rooms it would be nice if everything else wasn’t super expensive too. Our room was something like $300-350 a night and it was quite small and very basic. The bunk beds were tiny. Basically a room you’d get at any other hotel for $100 but for $350.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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My family recently spent 1 night at Great Wolf Lodge over Fourth of July weekend. We had 2 adults and 3 kids (ages 3, 1 & 1). We got the bunk bed suite. I thought check in was easy and pretty fast. Our room was ready early which worked out great. Since 2 of our kids don't walk yet, I was very worried about how clean the rooms would be. Thank goodness the rooms seemed very clean and the carpet looked good so I was fine with them crawling on the floor. We brought our own play n plays, so not sure if that is something that's typically offered. There were black out curtains, the sofa was comfortable, there is a little table with 2 chairs, a microwave, small fridge and the sink is outside the bathroom. The bunk beds were super cute and my daughter really liked sleeping in it. The bathroom was pretty small with no hooks that I could see to hang all of our wet swimsuits. Not a huge deal though. My only real issue was timing of activities. It's great to be able to use the waterpark before check in and use it basically the whole day you check out, but with our little kids, they wake up REALLY early. To avoid them all being loud in our rooms, potentially waking up our neighbors, we wanted to get out of the room. The earliest thing open was Dunkin Donuts at 7 am. There is nowhere really to sit in the main areas besides the floor where they do the kids activities. The waterpark opened at 10 am, the arcade, bowling, and mining, etc was all at 9 am or later. This really left us super bored for a few hours. Everything that opens before the water park also costs extra and I didn't do my homework to realize that ahead of time. (We aren't used to traveling with 3 kids! ha) Overall, I would stay here again, but I think it's more of a 1-2 night kind of place.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I wanted to LOVE it but in the end I was disappointed. We have stayed at other Great Wolf Lodges and have always been impressed but this was our first stay at the Bloomington location and I think that the customer service needs work. As a whole the waterpark and the staff were great but the front desk staff at check in was less than impressive, borderline rude. We arrived at 8 pm and had to wait at the frontdesk for someone for about 10 miuntes as NO-ONE was there to greet or check us in. The room set up was disappointing, everything was SQUISHED together to make it work. There is less than 1 inch clearance between the bathroom door and the toilet. To try and bath kiddos was next to impossible. The fan in AC was SO loud it hurt my ears but is needed because the rooms are so warm. We were on the 3rd floor and paid for a waterpark balcony. Our view on said balcony was of a huge vent in the ceiling. We were charged the FULL daily amenities fee in addition to the exorbitant room charge and ½ the waterpark was closed due to staffing and covid. All three Otter Runs were closed, the Raging Rapids Ride was closed, the basketball pool was closed. For the money spent it was such a letdown.
I appreciate the "Paw Pledge for cleanliness" and I loved that I witnessed the elevators being cleaned but as a whole it felt like large areas of "contact" were missed. I never once saw anyone clean/disinfect the arcade machines, the front desk, the magicquest, and other common areas. I never once saw anyone clean/disinfect the handles on the inner tubes in the water park or the tables and chairs. The choice to not have room/maid cleaning services in play is odd to me as that promotes "cleaning". I appreciate the separated out spaces within the waterpark to help with social distancing but it felt like a crazy game of musical chairs to run and claim a chair so you would have a place to sit in the waterpark.
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Date of stay: March 2021
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Def overpriced for what we got..we took Friday off 2/28/2020 to get there early so we could use the waterpark most of the day. Well the water was freezing. My 2 year had goosebumps the entire time and her lips were blue the whole time it was that bad. I as an adult thought it was freezing so i can imagine how cold she was and the other parents/kids. So we spent a few hours in the water park and that was it. We were planning to go back into water lark friday evening hit it was just to cold. Not worth the price as room wasnt anything spectacular. I will say checkin staff was friendly and went good. Cleaning lady was entering our room as we left and she ran down to first floor to bring us my daughters sippy cup with milk that we forgot in fridge. Greatly appreciated that. But overall wont be going back..wasnt worth $500 for 1 night to only use waterpark for a few hours
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Review collected in partnership with Great Wolf Lodge
Date of stay: February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at this great wolf lodge location in Minnesota back in November for my birthday trip which I decided that I wanted to go to the Mall of America. After looking into hotels around the Bloomington area I saw this and remembered that I get a discount with my work for gwl. So after looking into it more I found that it was only a few extra dollars to stay here instead of other places around and decided to book our stay. Upon arrival in the afternoon at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport which is really close to this resort we called for the free airport shuttle that they offer , which we ended up waiting quite a while for but we finally got on. They took us to the resort and when we arrived we got really happy because the place looked really nice and fun! The lobby was really coolly themed to a wilderness lodge and check in was easy and they explaned the resort and amenities well. We then took the elevator to our floor and got to our room. When we walked into our room we were surprised at how nice it was, it was huge and had multiple beds and couch even. There was a refrigerator and microwave and lots of storage space. The room was super clean. Even the bathroom was nice and clean! The bed was really comfortable and we slept well. The rest of the resort was great! There were multiple food options but the food wasn’t great it was okay. I liked the pizza place and the Dunkin’ Donuts! There was also a sit down restaurant that we didn’t try. They have an arcade, small bowling alley, rock wall, and a few other things in addition to the indoor water park! The water park was the best part, it was not too big but it had plenty to do. There was about 6 water slides, a wave pool, lazy river and even a kids area. We were two adults and we had a lot of fun! There were plenty of places to sit and there was a food place, a bar, and small gift shop located inside the park. It was so much fun!!! I can’t wait until the next Great Wolf Lodge trip I take this summer! Checkout is super easy, all you do is just leave you room by checkout time and you are all good, you do not even have to stop at the front desk! When we left the next day we took the shuttle to the mall of America, yes they even take you there for free! Overall it was a great stay and I am definitely going to come back there again sometime!
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Date of stay: November 2019Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We rented 4 rooms for 2 nights after Christmas. 2 of the rooms were available early and my room was available and I did not get notifications until I inquired 2 hours past it was promised. I also bought the meal plans. They had no way of letting me know how much I used unless I went to the front desk and had them look up for each room. They also did not tell me that I couldn’t put more than 1 room meal plan on one receipt. We ended up being charged for our meal (over $100) whenI had enough credits to pay for it. I didn’t discover it until we left. I got emailed receipts instead of paper. Never again. When I called and thought they were going to reimburse me for the food credits but I never was. I would consider the quality of the rooms mediocre. The activities didn’t start until after 10 am and we had 8 kids to entertain until the pool opened at 9. The water park was awesome. Some if the kids didn’t want to swim so were bored. The only good thing was getting together with family in one place.
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Date of stay: December 2019
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
First: Every staff member we encountered was well mannered, eager to please, patient, and friendly. All of my interactions with every staff member at the resort was positive.
We went to the sitdown restaurant for dinner. Two kids meals, two adult meals, and two alcoholic drinks totaled over $100.
The waterpark was jammed. Lots and lots and lots of people. Probably one available innertube for every five people that wanted one. Dozens and dozens of empty chairs with a single towel placed on it. (I’ll never understand why people covet seats in pool areas so much when they never actually use them)
We thought we were getting a reasonable room rate until I realize there’s a $30 resort fee tacked on as well as ridiculously expensive valet parking (there were 10 to 12 cars in line for valet when we arrived). Self-parking was FAR away.
Very few of the other activities are free, and most are very expensive.
The room was clean, though the kids cabin bedroom didn’t have a door, so there was no privacy, even after bedtime. There are two TVs, but only one remote control, and the main bedroom TV is within range of the kids hearing and seeing it (another reason to have a door on the kids bedroom).
Admittedly, this was exactly what I expected when my spouse made the reservation. My children loved it. They weren’t paying.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our room was perfect. We had a bunk bed room for the kids and a queen bed for us. The room was very clean, although a bit dated. The water park had something for everyone and the staff was always helpful and did their job well. Von went overboard in helping me find a card for my granddaughter's birthday and saved the day. The breakfast was a disappointing extra cost but the breakfast was delicious and they serve the best coffee. The air in the water park is way too cold. Kids should not get out of the water and have blue lips and shaking from the cold. I did see this over and over again with many kids.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:We enjoyed the privacy of the bunk bed rooms.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at GWL for my daughter’s 9th birthday Jan 20th-21st. We got the room (rm 257) with a queen bed, bunkbed, let out couch, and waterpark balcony. I usually slightly cringe when I walk into a hotel room and go into inspection mode, but this room put me at ease as soon as I walked in. The kids loved it and immediately started calling out their bed! The bunkbed and couch were firm and comfy, the queen bed wasn’t really my thing, but it worked for the night. The room was also pretty quiet.
The pool water is warm and the park is spacious enough to roam around and do different activities. There’s a kiddie pool for the littles and a basketball area, surf spot, and of course a water slide for the bigger (or braver) kids. The lazy river is for everyone.
The other parts of the resort is pretty expensive. I joked that its like ikea, you pay for almost everything. If you take a towel from the pool without returning it, I believe you’re charged $10. Now, an outsider wouldn’t probably take a towel from the pool area, but if you’re staying at the hotel be sure to return it or you could be charged.
We didn’t do a lot of spending, so it didn’t bother us too much, but some people like to do more, so just be aware that it could get expensive. On the contrary, there are a of couple things that are free. Our favorite free item was the wolf ears! The kids loved them! There’s a video on YouTube that mentions “15 things you didn’t know about GWL” that was helpful with being informed during our stay.
All in all, our stay was delightful thanks to kind staff and a clean, comfy, quiet room! We will be returning soon!
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Date of stay: January 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Mall of America (which is a very short walk from Great Wolf) has trains that run directly to the ballpark. Very convenient and much cheaper than an Uber!
There are more places to choose from in the Bloomington area.
PRICE RANGE
C$310 - C$443 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
United StatesMinnesotaBloomington
NUMBER OF ROOMS
404
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Are there any historical sites close to Great Wolf Lodge - Minneapolis / Bloomington, MN?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Historic Fort Snelling (6.5 km), Fort Snelling State Park (6.2 km), and Pond-Dakota Mission Park and Gideon Pond House (5.5 km).
Is Great Wolf Lodge - Minneapolis / Bloomington, MN accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access, reduced mobility rooms, and facilities for disabled guests. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.
