Great Wolf Lodge Arizona

I hate to start a review out with Awful but thats exactly what this stay was. I have stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge in California and honestly its worth waiting till we can take a vacation there instead of using this location in our home state of Arizona. Now you would think that with our weather of upwards of 100+ degrees for about 7-8 months a year they would have a huge indoor set up. You would be sadly mistaken. So let me start by saying the drive there from Avondale, Arizona is not too bad about 40-45 mins. We got there and went to check in at 1pm. We were told in the email we could check in early and go to the water park but our room would not be ready till 4pm. We were ok with this as we had a group of 11 kids ranging from 5 to 14yrs of age. I suggest you go with your swim suits on other wise you will be fighting to get them on once in the water park. Now once inside the staff is supposed to confirm the height of your child and give a colored wristband according to heigth. Well we seen this step was by passed and many kids were running around with wristbands that clearly didnt match their heigth. This is in place for a reason so everyone is safe and the younger kids stick to the proper play areas. As for the play areas they are much smaller than other location so if your expecting something grand in size I would save my money and go stay at the location in California. They have Less water slides, smaller wave pool, no surf board section, no life vests for the youngsters who can't swim and two of the slides were out of order when we were there. Although we did not know this till after climbing the stairs all the way to the top. As for the park its self it was a shame. Once inside you have to immediately get seating or you will not have any. For a building that's 6+ floors of room and knowing that you have to stay at the hotel just to get into the water park they should have enough seating to accomidate everyone. As for towels they furnish them but if they are not brought back to the pool area you will be charged $4 each. As for the other attractions within the hotel (bowling, rock climbing, ski walk, ect.) remember to bring tennis shoes and a shirt. once we were done with the water park we went to the rock climbing wall and ski walk each of these activities you must have a shirt and tennis shoes on for. So when you think of water park the last thing on your mind is a pair of tennis shoes, maybe flip flops but not tennis shoes. Luckily we had pairs in our car for each child. Keep in mind the food options are like any other fun park, they are high priced also any additional activities inside the hotel all is an additional charge the only thing included in your room cost is the Water Park. The down side to that was we had to wait over and hour for our food because they didn't have enough staff to service all the guest staying. Now for the room, what a nightmare. So we got to our room which was nice just like the description 2 queen beds and a full size pull out sofa. As for the other group we were with they were in a two room suite and had NO A/C for the two nights they were there. To top it off they were told the hotel was booked full so no other rooms to switch them to. Upon the room reaching 80+ degress the front desk finally brought up fans, compted a breakfast and 30% off their room stay but only after sweating the first night and complaining a second time to the front desk. I have to say for a huge build up, advertisement and reputation to uphold this place is lacking. I get its the first month of their grand opening and the kinks need to be worked out. They need more staff ASAP.... as far as price I would have to stay the one in California is cheaper. Your going to pay quite a bit more (double the cost) for your room and park passes compaired to California. I really do hope hey work out the kinks come down in price and look at expanding the inside of the waterpark area if they plan on sustaining as a business here in Arizona.