Great Wolf Lodge is the Indoor Water Park that Southern California Didn't Know It Needed

For the Blogger Kid 2.0's birthday in August, we gave him a choice: Throw a party with his friends, or go to the new Great Wolf Lodge in Orange County with his family. He chose Great Wolf -- with no regrets.

The idea of an indoor waterpark... in Southern California... in the middle of a drought... seems, well, a little odd. And indulgent. But Great Wolf Lodge is not the only water park in Southern California (it's actually smaller than many)... and because it's indoors, there's less evaporation -- so it loses less water than other parks. For parents, it's nice to know that the only people in the park are staying at the hotel (so there's a bit of a safety factor there), and no one's getting a sunburn.



We spent two nights at the Great Wolf, which is almost necessary in order to enjoy a full day at the park, as well as parts of the other days. (Actually, on the days you check in or check out, you can also utilize the park for the full day). The hotel rooms are fine but average; the food options include a decently priced restaurant, a breakfast buffet and even a Dunkin' Donuts outlet. (There are other choices nearby outside the hotel).



Many of the water slides are for multiple riders; there is also a wave pool, a body surfing pool, a lazy river and more.



Outside of the water park, the lodge also includes a small miniature golf area, an arcade and other games. At night, kids run around the hotel halls with wands in hand, playing the game "MagicQuest." It all costs extra, of course.



And that's one of the things about visiting a place like Great Wolf Lodge: You end up spending a lot more money than you thought you would spend.





At 105,000 square feet, the Southern California outpost of Great Wolf Lodge is the chain's largest water park.



The water park also closes at 8 p.m. on weekdays -- a little too early for people actually staying in the park (but I suppose they need time to clean it up for the following day).



Great Wolf Lodge
12681 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840

Here's a video from one of the larger water slides:

Los Angeles Ad Town: The Waterpark Ruins in Tony Hawk's New Commercial

In a new spot for Mini Cooper (above), Tony Hawk and his family sneak into an abandoned waterpark to skate:





Of course, anyone who takes the 15 to Las Vegas recognizes it as the remains to Lake Dolores and Rock-A-Hoola, a failed water park in the middle of the desert (Newberry Springs, to be exact).

Of course, in these drought times, the idea of a waterpark that deep into the desert is preposterous. But it was always a crazy idea. Yet, Lake Dolores had been around for decades before it went bust 15 years ago.

Here's what the front of the water park looks like now, via the Mini ad:



And here's what it looked like in full operation:



I wrote about it in 2011:

Opened by Bob and Dolores (the park's namesake) Byers in 1962, Lake Dolores is considered one of the first -- if not the first -- water parks in the country.

A popular recreational attraction for much of the 1970s and 1980s, it finally shut down in the late 1980s. Ten years later, in the late 1990s, it reopened as the 1950s-themed "Rock-A-Hoola." Here's a promo video from 1998:

The new owners went bankrupt, and it shut down for good by 2004. Since then the water attractions have been removed and the location has been vandalized. Now, it's a spooky shell of its former self. See more at my 2011 post here.

Retro Friday: Lake Dolores, America's First Waterpark

It's one of the many bizarre sites (along with Zzyzx Rd.) you can't help but notice while speeding down the 15 to or from Las Vegas. An eerie, abandoned water park in the middle of the desert: "Rock-A-Hoola," formerly known as Lake Dolores, seems to have been a pretty bad idea.

Yet it thrived as Lake Dolores. (Above, an 1980s-era ad for the attraction.) Opened by Bob and Dolores (the park's namesake) Byers in 1962, Lake Dolores is considered one of the first -- if not the first -- water parks in the country.

A popular recreational attraction for much of the 1970s and 1980s, it finally shut down in the late 1980s. Ten years later, in the late 1990s, it reopened as the 1950s-themed "Rock-A-Hoola." Here's a promo video from 1998:



But the new owners went bankrupt, and it shut down for good by 2004. Since then the water attractions have been removed and the location has been vandalized. Now, it's a spooky shell of its former self.

Now, people can't resist stopping off the freeway to take videos of the eerie water park ruins. Some videos:





And in the most famous example, the stars of MTV's "Rob and Big" took their skateboards and rode on the abandoned slides:



Lake Dolores isn't forgotten. Not only do thousands of motorists drive by it every day, but one filmmaker is even working on a documentary about the country's first waterpark. Here's a clip:



Check out more cool pics of the abandoned waterpark at Lost America here.