Launching a week earlier than originally announced, the massive Great Wolf Lodge South Florida resort and indoor water park will open Sept. 18 in the Naples area.

The 500-room Great Wolf Lodge offers a sizable economic impact to Collier County with its wealth of family fun under one roof, including its expansive water park and adventure park with many dining and entertainment options. Great Wolf’s 22nd location in the nation and the first in Florida broke ground in July 2022 on 20 acres in the City Gate commerce park, sandwiched between two other impressive local economic drivers—Paradise Coast Sports Complex and Uline distribution center.

“We’re really excited to be part of this community and help contribute to the success. You did an incredible job with the sports complex and all the other development. We expect the synergies between us and Paradise Coast Sports Complex will create a very unique draw that I don’t think we have at any other location,” said Steve Jacobson, vice president of domestic development for Chicago-based Great Wolf Resorts. “The draw of these two developments side by side will help attract families locally and regionally by creating a bigger destination experience, and give them a unique and another reason to stay longer—which will benefit Collier County and South Florida. It will additionally drive new tax dollars to Collier County.”

Jacobson cited a third-party report commissioned by the county that forecasts the resort’s generation of more than $5 billion in new net spending and $2.4 billion in new net earnings over the next 30 years.

“But, even more importantly, in the short run, this will equate to about $150 million in new tax dollars, which will be about $5 million in new taxes to the county every year. That’s a big number and we’re proud to be a part of that,” he said. “Additionally, this resort will create new jobs—approximately 600 new jobs—and it’s going to range from culinary to management to housekeeping to engineering. It’s kind of a full gamut of everything you can think of in a hospitality complex.”

The company also committed to contributing $500,000 over a 10-year period toward specific training for culinary and hospitality programs, Jacobson said. “The idea is that this training raises all ships in the entire community because, as you know, hospitality tends to be one of those [industries] that is hard to find employees. So we’re here to help with that, as well,” he said.

Collier County did provide the company with a financial incentive: Three years ago, county commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a $15 million economic development agreement with Great Wolf Resorts Inc. for the seven-story themed hotel and its 92,000-square-foot indoor water park. Commissioner Rick LoCastro was the lone dissenter on the issue.

“Lots of things could go on that footprint, on that property. You guys are the right thing, but I have a real problem with the $15 million of taxpayers’ money,” LoCastro said in 2021. “You are a one-of-a-kind destination, but so are we.”

LoCastro argued that the resort would have landed here anyway without the county’s incentive package. This year, he acknowledged the local economic impact of Great Wolf Lodge and voiced his support for the resort.

“This is something that’s a footprint for our entire community. As far as the economy, look at all the rooms that are here. These people need to eat, they need to buy gas, they need to buy food, they need to go visit gift shops, they need to go over the bridge to Marco to see what’s going on there, so this will attract a lot of people who have never been here before but they’ll come back,” he said.

Favoring the incentive for the resort in his district, Commissioner Bill McDaniel said it was easy mathematics for him.

“This has been a long journey, not without a lot of trials and tribulations—COVID, differences of opinion all the way across the board,” McDaniel said. “I have to say, originally, it was math to me. We’re all elected officials and when I ran for office I promised jobs; I promised economic well-being for everyone across the board.”

McDaniel pointed to the hundreds of short-term jobs the project created during its construction and the hundreds of long-term jobs it creates to operate the resort.

County Commission Chair Chris Hall applauded the county’s support for the family-friendly resort’s launch here. Hall recalled accompanying his grandchildren to Great Wolf near Dallas about eight years ago.

“As far as the commissioners go, we made a great investment into Great Wolf and we’re excited about it,” he said. “I’m excited to have Great Wolf Lodge here. I’m excited to have the return on the investment, the excitement, the draw—$5 billion over 30 years.”

Ben Wilson, chief operating officer for Suffolk Construction’s Gulf Coast region, which was the general contractor responsible for building the lodge, cited the massive amounts of materials and manpower needed for the project. As many as 1,280 workers were on site during a peak day to build the resort and more than 1,175 tons—or 2.5 million pounds—of steel were used in the vertical construction of the resort, Wilson said.

“This is being done by a group of people who live here, who raise families here and are going to enjoy this project when it’s all said and done,” Wilson said. “So, this is something that I’m incredibly proud of and I want to personally thank the entire Suffolk team for the immense effort that produced these epic statistics.”

Those epic stats extend to hiring efforts by the resort’s management team. During a mid-summer job fair, the Collier resort was fully staffed after 4,000 job interviews within three weeks, said Jason Bays, general manager of Great Wolf Lodge South Florida.

“We hired 626 pack members, and we are fully staffed here at this location. It exceeded our expectations in terms of the number of applicants and the amount of interest in positions,” Bays said.

More than 20 experienced resort employees relocated to Naples from existing Great Wolf locations, Bays said. “The remaining 600 were all staffed here locally in Collier and Lee County, primarily,” he said.

That interest extends to local residents who will be future guests of the lodge here.

“With the rooms that we have on the books, we’re seeing plenty of people book locally in the community and want to come check us out and be part of this experience, which we are really excited and grateful for,” Bays said.

The average guest stays two nights at a Great Wolf Lodge, but Naples is anticipated to see a longer length of stay because of the area beaches, restaurants and other places of interest nearby. “We think it may be above that here with everything we have to offer,” Bays said.

In addition to the proximity of Naples within a four-hour drive from major metropolitan areas in Florida such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando, the income level and number of grandparents here also makes Naples an attractive spot for a Great Wolf Lodge. The company eventually may build one additional location in northern Florida.

“Great Wolf has always been a spot where multigenerational families have come to vacation and enjoy our resort,” Bays said. “Then, I think from an economic standpoint, this is a growing area. There’s a lot of population growth. There’s a lot of business growth here. It’s an exciting place to be.”

Splashy new resort offers many amenities 

Each new Great Wolf Lodge adds a few more bells and whistles. As the 22nd location of the water park resort, the recently launched South Florida location in Naples is no exception; Great Wolf is pushing boundaries with its most immersive experience to date. 

“It’s the newest generation of Great Wolf Lodges and it’s going to feature the latest of what we have to offer and it’s going to create a one-of-a-kind experience for families here in the Naples area,” said Jason Bays, general manager of the new resort at 3900 City Gate Blvd. N., east of Collier Boulevard and north of Interstate 75’s Alligator Alley. 

While not offered immediately, expect day passes for the Great Geyser water park to be available this fall, starting at $50 per person for weekdays and more on weekends. Initially, Great Wolf Lodge didn’t plan to introduce day passes until early 2025. Those plans have changed, so local residents or visitors not staying at the lodge will be able to pay separately to use the water park when occupancy levels allow it. “We are going to be more aggressive,” Bays said. 

Great Wolf has restaurants and entertainment features in the resort’s 62,000-square-foot Adventure Park that are open to the public, not just for guests of the resort. 

FAMILY EATERIES 

• Fireside, an outdoor-themed, dine-in, upscale restaurant and bar offering fire-cooked American cuisine for lunch and dinner off the resort’s Grand Lobby.  

• Timbers Table & Kitchen, a casual family eatery inside Adventure Park that serves a buffet-style breakfast and a family-style dinner with American and Mexican cuisine. 

• Hungry as a Wolf pizzeria and snack bar serves Brooklyn-style, hand-stretched pizza, as well as Italian and meatball sandwiches, garlic cheese bread and fresh salads.  

• Wood’s Edge Creamery ice cream shop has milkshakes and sundaes made with the resort’s signature ice cream. The dessert shop adjacent to the Grand Lobby includes lodge-made fudge, cookies, baked goods and smoothies. 

• Dunkin’ coffee shop franchise adjacent to the Grand Lobby offers a quick-service breakfast and lunch with bagels, sandwiches and doughnut holes.  

ADVENTURE PARK AMENITIES 

• MagiQuest, an immersive game experience that takes users on a magical adventure through the lodge. To unlock challenges, participants use magic wands they purchase that they can take home as souvenirs and bring back to use again.   

• Ten Paw Alley, bowling alleys with shorter lanes and smaller balls for a more kid-friendly experience. 

• Howl in One Mini Golf offers nine holes of interactive play for putters of all ages. 

• Howlers Peak Ropes Course provides an aerial attraction for families to climb. 

• Northern Lights Arcade features challenging arcade games operated by Paw Points, reloadable gaming currency.  

• Oliver’s Mining Co. allows guests to pan and sift to find gemstones and minerals. Guests then take their discoveries home with them in keepsake collection bags. 

• Build-A-Bear Workshop allows patrons to create a plush keepsake by choosing Great Wolf Pack characters, outfits and accessories. 

WATER PARK FEATURES 

• Breakaway Bay: Making its Great Wolf Lodge debut, this family raft adventure accommodates up to five riders. Rafts quickly accelerate before they’re dropped into a cone-shaped “tornado” where they slosh up one side and down another before exiting into a 360-degree loop. They head down a long straightway before entering a giant bowl that will spin them around before freefalling down into the splash channel. 

• High Paw Holler: A body slide has riders surging through enclosed flumes, racing along the outer wall of open-air saucers and experiencing a few more twists and turns before splashing down. 

• Forest Flume: This open-flume body slide accelerates riders through 360-degree loops, high-banking turns and quick-acceleration drops to provide an exhilarating ride. 

• Rapid Racer: Riders can race side by side down a course featuring drops, chutes and serpentine curves.  

• River Canyon Run: A rollicking family raft ride that sends up to five riders on a whitewater adventure down one of the park’s longest slides. As they slide down, guests will pass enchanted hieroglyphics with no steep drops. 

• Slap Tail Pond: A family favorite, the audio cue of a howling wolf brings this gigantic wave pool to life with waves reaching up to 3 feet. The active surf rolls through every 5 minutes.  

• Crooked Creek: A reprieve from the more active attractions in the waterpark, guests can relax and float on tubes down this winding lazy river that encircles the Otter Cave Waterworks play structure.  

• Otter Springs: A special section of the water park designed exclusively for toddlers and younger guests. This play pool is filled with small water slides featuring gentle slopes and tiny turns. 

• Chinook Cove: Activity pool featuring basketball hoops, floating obstacles and other action-oriented elements for children. 

• Big Foot Pass: Unique water obstacle challenge where kids and adults alike balance on floating logs and lily pads while traversing the pool. Cargo netting hangs down to help guests cross from one side to the other. 

—Tim Aten