Great Wolf Lodge Brings Even More Family Fun to the Northeast with Grand Opening of New Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut

Massachusetts native, longtime New England resident and mom of three, Mindy Kaling, joined Great Wolf Resorts Chief Executive Officer, John Murphy, this morning to celebrate the grand opening of the new Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket, adjacent to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. The company's first resort in Connecticut and third in the Northeast region, Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket is filled with immersive thematic elements, technological surprises and an incredible range of family adventures. It represents the company's "next generation" Great Wolf Lodge resort experience which debuted last summer at new locations in Webster, Texas and Naples, Florida.

The 549-room Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket is the brand's 23rd property in North America, and features an expansive 92,000 square-foot indoor water park, a 61,000 square-foot adventure park, and a collection of eateries and retail offerings, all under one roof. As part of Great Wolf's "next generation" resort experience, Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket features a new water-coaster slide element, a regional family raft adventure called Pequot Plunge, a new multi-level ropes course with an exhilarating zipline experience, and a new virtual reality attraction where families work together to unlock magical powers from the resort's popular interactive MagiQuest game.

Funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate and Centerbridge Partners invested more than $300 million to make Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket a possibility. The investment has already added more than 500 full and part-time jobs at the resort, and is expected to draw more than a half-million families to the region annually.

As part of the grand opening celebration, Great Wolf Lodge presented a charitable challenge to beloved actor, writer, producer and director, Mindy Kaling. The challenge was to test all the water-slides at the indoor water park, and for each slide she conquered, Great Wolf offered to make a $4,000 donation to Make-A-Wish, a global nonprofit that grants life-changing wishes to children fighting critical illness. Accompanied by Make-A-Wish kids, Kaling rode all 13 slides in the resort's expansive indoor water park, resulting in a $52,000 donation to Make-A-Wish Connecticut.

Great Wolf Lodge has celebrated multiple resort openings this past year, donating more than $160,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of America as part of its grand opening events.

The year-round family resort destination features attractions and amenities for all ages, including completely NEW elements that debuted as part of the "next generation" Great Wolf Lodge experience. Some of the highlights include:

• A 92,000-square-foot indoor water park, heated to a comfortable 84 degrees and featuring a variety of body slides, tube slides, raft rides, activity pools, and splash areas for every member of the family and level of thrill seeker.
  • NEW! Rapid Racer and Pequot Plunge. Rapid Racer is an exhilarating tube slide where riders race each other side-by-side and experience a thrilling water coaster element where high velocity water forces the tube up a hill, immediately after riders plunge down. Pequot Plunge is a family raft adventure unique to the Mashantucket resort and named by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. This up to five person raft slide drops riders into a cone shaped "tornado" where they slosh up one side and down the other before exiting into a 360-degree loop and plummeting into a giant bowl.
• A 61,000-square-foot family entertainment center known as the Great Wolf Adventure Park. Here, families can scale a multi-level ropes course, play a round of miniature golf or step into the world of MagiQuest - Great Wolf Lodge's exclusive live-action interactive fantasy adventure game where players use magic wands to enchant items, battle enemies and save the fantasy world of Vellara.
  • NEW! The Virtual Frontier offers families a collection of virtual reality adventure games where players can dive below the ocean or walk amongst dinosaurs. In one virtual quest, families can become immersed in the mystical world of Vellara from the resort's popular MagiQuest game and work together to solve puzzles and unlock magical runes in a spirited adventure.
  • NEW! At Howler's Peak, families will discover two aerial adventures - a Ropes Course where climbers can traverse across rope bridges, elevated passes and other obstacles, and an Adventure Trail where guests can freely explore a harness-free climbing adventure through a tree-fort. The Ropes Course features an element new to Great Wolf Lodge - an indoor Sky Rail™ – which is a set of two modern zipline experiences that stretches more than 200-feet in length and allows participants to soar over the entire Adventure Park.
• NEW! Every evening just before bedtime, families can gather in the Grand Lobby for a multi-sensory, immersive storytelling experience. During The Legend of Luna show, the lobby magically transforms, using projection technology and special effects to tell an enchanting fable about a young wolf who longs to find her place in the world.
• A collection of complimentary family events and activities including Yoga Tails, a program that combines tales of the Northwoods creatures with yoga poses, themed arts and craft projects, and Great Wolf Lodge's signature nightly dance parties.
• Several dining options that will appeal to a variety of culinary styles ranging from pizza and burgers, to the full-service, elevated dining experience at Fireside, to the premium ice cream and confectionery treats at Wood's End Creamery and breakfast delights at Dunkin'.
• 549 family-friendly suites featuring a new, contemporary design and available in a variety of categories and styles including themed suites which feature separate sleeping quarters for kids complete with bunk beds and Great Wolf Kids character theming.
  • NEW! Great Geyser Suite. A premium two-bedroom suite which includes a separate bedroom for parents with a King-sized bed and an additional themed bedroom with bunk beds for the kids. The room also features a living room with an additional sleeper sofa.

An overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket includes two days of indoor water park fun - with access to the water park starting after 1pm on check-in day. Standard rates start at $199.99 per night.

Hotel website