Vaughan to Great Wolf Lodge Niagara: the indoor waterpark weekend, chauffeured

The lodge, and why the timing matters

Great Wolf Lodge Niagara is the indoor waterpark resort on Lundy's Lane in Niagara Falls — a hotel of family suites wrapped around a heated waterpark of slides, a wave pool, a lazy river and the Fort Mackenzie play structure, with a kids' spa, an arcade, a bowling alley, restaurants and the evening storytime in the lobby — and it is the most-booked children's weekend on this site by a distance. The lodge's own logic drives the booking: waterpark access begins on arrival day at a set hour before the rooms are ready and runs until closing on departure day after checkout, so a family that arrives at one on Friday and leaves at four on Sunday gets three days of waterpark for two nights. A chauffeured family arrives at one, the bags go to the bell desk, the children are in the wave pool by half past, and the parent who would have driven the QEW is in the lazy river; the drive home on Sunday, with three wet, exhausted children asleep in the back, is the part of the weekend that nobody who has done it in their own car forgets.

The weekend, in shape

A family of five from Maple in a Luxury SUV: Friday at 11:30 with boosters and three swim bags, the 407 to the 403 and the QEW, Lundy's Lane by one; the lodge's porte-cochère, the bags to the bell desk, the wristbands, the waterpark until dinner; the room by four; the lobby's storytime at eight. Saturday: the waterpark, the MagiQuest wand game through the hotel's corridors, the arcade, the kids' spa for the eldest, the Falls after dinner if the vehicle has stayed — a fifteen-minute drive to the illumination. Sunday: the waterpark from nine after checkout, the bags at the bell desk, lunch, the SUV at three, and the QEW home with everyone asleep by St. Catharines; Maple by 4:45. A return pair — two one-ways — if the vehicle is released on Friday, one number in the booking engine; daily hire if it stays for the Falls.

Released or staying

The lodge is self-contained and most Vaughan families release the vehicle on Friday and book the Sunday collection — the return pair, which is the cheaper booking. A family that wants the Falls, Clifton Hill, the Butterfly Conservatory or the outlets across the bridge books the vehicle to stay: Saturday afternoon at the Falls with the Niagara Falls post's drop at Table Rock, the illumination from the parkway at dusk, and back to the lodge for the storytime. The Fashion Outlets post covers the American side for a family with passports and a parent who wants three hours away from the wave pool.

The waterpark, for planning

The park is heated to a summer temperature all year and its attractions are graded by height: the Fort Mackenzie play structure with its tipping bucket for the small ones, the wave pool and the lazy river for everyone, the raft slides and the body slides for the height minimums, and the toddler pool for the youngest; lifeguards are on every station and the towels are the lodge's. The lodge's site has the height chart and the day passes for families staying elsewhere, which is the other booking — a Vaughan family at a Fallsview hotel for a weekend with a Great Wolf day pass on the Saturday, the chauffeur moving them between the two.

March Break and the seasons

March Break is the lodge's busiest week and the one Vaughan families book in January; the summer's weekends are the second; the winter's weekdays are the quiet, cheaper version with the waterpark to themselves — the booking for a family with pre-school children who can go on a Tuesday. The Christmas season's Snowland decorations make a December weekend; the lodge is a year-round resort and the QEW is a winter road in January, which is the chauffeur's argument.

The route

The 407 west to the 403, the 403 to the QEW at Burlington, the QEW to Niagara's Lundy's Lane exit — an hour and a half from Woodbridge or Kleinburg with the 407, an hour and forty from Thornhill. The routing estimate's hour fifty is the no-toll version; on a summer Friday afternoon the QEW between Burlington and St. Catharines is the slow stretch and the chauffeur leaves before noon or after two.

Which vehicle

An SUV for a family with boosters at $25 each and a cargo area for three swim bags and a stroller; an Executive Sprinter for two families sharing a weekend and a fare — the lodge's family suites take six and eight — or for a birthday weekend with the guests. A Premium Sedan is not the vehicle for a waterpark weekend and nobody books one.

What the chauffeur replaces

The QEW on a Friday afternoon with children who know the wave pool is at the other end; the lodge's lot; and the Sunday drive home, which is the reason the booking exists — three children asleep in wet hair after three days of slides, and a parent who does not have to be awake for the Skyway. For one family the return pair is a comfort purchase and the site says so; for two families in a Sprinter it undercuts two cars and two lots.

Pairing it

Great Wolf pairs with the Falls and Clifton Hill for the staying vehicle, with the African Lion Safari for a two-day children's weekend that this site books as one daily hire with a Hamilton night between, and with the Fashion Outlets across the bridge for a parent's afternoon.

Two families, in order

Two families from Woodbridge — four adults, five children between two and nine — in an Executive Sprinter for a March Break Friday: pickup at 11 a.m. from the first address, the second five minutes on, five swim bags and two strollers in the bay; the 407, 403 and QEW with the children at the tables; the lodge's porte-cochère at 12:45, fifteen minutes before waterpark access opens; the bell desk, the wristbands, the two family suites' keys collected at four by one parent while the rest are in the wave pool. Saturday: the waterpark, the MagiQuest, the bowling, the storytime; Sunday: the waterpark from nine, the bags, the Sprinter at 3:15, the QEW home with five children asleep by the Skyway and two families' worth of wet towels in the bay. A return pair, one number in the booking engine, split two ways.

The lodge's other rooms

Beyond the waterpark the lodge has the things that fill the hours between wristband sessions: the MagiQuest interactive game that sends children through the hotel's corridors with a wand and a quest; the Northern Lights arcade; the Ten Paw Alley bowling; the Scooops kids' spa for the eight-to-twelve girls; the Howl at the Moon mini-golf; the Great Clock Tower's animated show in the lobby and the evening storytime and the pyjama dance party; the Build-A-Bear; and the restaurants — the Loose Moose family restaurant, the Buckets snack bar by the pool, the pizza. The lodge's site has the schedule; a family with two days never leaves the building, which is the reason the return pair suits most.

The day pass, for the Fallsview family

A family at a Fallsview hotel for a Niagara weekend — the Niagara Falls post's overnight — books a Great Wolf day pass for the Saturday when the lodge sells them, and the chauffeured Luxury SUV moves the family from the hotel to Lundy's Lane at ten and back at four with the towels; it is the version for a family that wants the Falls' view from the room and the waterpark for the children, and the day passes are the scarce item in March.

Costs, in shape

A family of five driving to the lodge pays fuel, the 407 and the QEW, the lodge's parking and a parent's Friday and Sunday at the wheel; the chauffeured return pair is one number in the booking engine with the tolls inside it, the lodge's own charges not, and for one family it is a comfort purchase the site prices plainly — the Sunday drive home is what it buys. For two families in a Sprinter it undercuts two cars and two lots without a discussion.

Pickup notes

The 407 from Weston Road for Woodbridge and Kleinburg, Jane or Highway 400 for Maple and the VMC, Dufferin or Bathurst for Thornhill and Concord, then the 403 and QEW. Give us the arrival time against the waterpark's hours, the departure, the seats and the swim bags, and whether the vehicle stays for the Falls; the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before.

The Falls afternoon, worked through

For the family that keeps the vehicle: Saturday at two, out of the waterpark and into dry clothes, the Luxury SUV at the porte-cochère, fifteen minutes down Lundy's Lane and the parkway to Table Rock for the Horseshoe Falls' railing and the mist, the Journey Behind the Falls' tunnels if the children are over five, an hour on Clifton Hill for the arcade the lodge did not have, dinner on the Hill at six, the illumination from the parkway's railing at seven in a coat, and the SUV back at the lodge by eight for the storytime — the lodge's own evening. Daily hire for the vehicle staying prices the afternoon; the Niagara Falls post covers the Falls in every season.

Packing

Swimsuits for everyone including the parent who said they would not, flip-flops for the pool deck, the lodge's towels at the park and the family's own for the room, dry clothes in a separate bag for the Sunday drive, the children's own goggles, and the wristbands kept on for three days; the SUV's cargo area takes it, the bell desk holds it, and the chauffeur's bin bag takes the wet things home.

Booking it

Book a return pair from your Vaughan address to the lodge with the arrival and departure times against the waterpark's hours, or daily hire for the vehicle staying with the Falls afternoon; tell us the seats and the swim bags, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before.

Book the Great Wolf weekend