Showing posts with label great wolf lodge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label great wolf lodge. Show all posts

Sunday, March 8, 2015

MagiQuest - A Review & Tips

I've been wanting to do a review of this place for years, ever since we first became addicted, but of course other things kept getting in the way and before I knew it months would pass before i would have time. Magiquest has locations all over the USA and Japan too! It's an awesome place for families, not just kids. We go year round and once you invest in the wands, it becomes a great deal, since you will easily spend all day there. 
TIP: Call ahead and double check the hours, get there at opening and you will find you have the entire place (along with the employee and all their knowledge) all to yourself!!

TIP: Wear comfortable shoes or socks, since they let you run around barefoot (remember they are attached to a water park!) You will be up and down stairs non stop and the elevator only goes to the 2nd floor, not floors 3 & 4.
First things first, get the wands! You will be tempted to save money and have the whole family use 1 wand and then let the kids wander off while you sit and enjoy some coffee and conversation...don't! Make it a fun family outing that is worth the investment, because with so many locations, you never know when you will be at another one! We have been over 7 times already and cannot wait to do more!
TIP: Don't waste money on the toppers! You will notice that we have a few, although super cool, they weigh down your wand too much and often unscrew the cap, which makes your wand not work properly or effectively. It's a MAJOR disappointment and I wish it is something Magiquest would fix, but so far it's been a no-go.

TIP: Wear something with pockets or have some kind of a small bag (that won't get annoying). They hand you a booklet that you will need for completing your quests and they charge you if you lose it! Be sure to save them every time you complete the quest and bring them next time you come back, in case you do lose it, then you know you have extras!
My daughter even made her own cape, that's how into this we all are! If you stay in the attached Great Wolf Lodge, you will add more fun as there are Magiquest stations throughout  the resort as well, they bring many things to life and turn on lights or other fun things that always make people turn and look at what you are doing. You will be asked upon arrival to Magiquest if you want to play both ShadowQuest & MAGIQuest or just 1, go with just 1, you WILL NOT have enough time to play both games and you will just be out the additional money. 
TIP: This is a long day and you most likely won't be able to drag your kids away, pack a lunch or have something delivered. The one in Wisconsin Dells has a tucked away eating area with soda machines but nothing else. Having food in a cooler bag for the kids to graze as they play works great and then we go out for dinner after we play!

TIP: Once you have bought your wands and activated them, next time you go back you can still open treasure chests and activate things, you just cannot play the game without paying again. Sometimes my kids just like to go to play with all the net slimbers and slides, they bring their wands to open the chests and play with some of the things but have no interest in the games themselves. On these days my husband and I only activate our wands and challenge each other....I'm a level 7 magi you know ;)
Have fun with your family by eliciting a challenge before you begin, we like to say that the winner at the end of the day gets to pick where we eat or what movie we see or whatever we plan on doing that evening. You WILL work up an appetite with all the running up and down the stairs, using the net climbers and flying down the slides. It's an activity palace! Our kids are all old enough to venture off on their own, they know where the cooler bag of food is, where the bathrooms are and know to never leave the area, this makes playing to much more fun for all of us. 
TIP: USE THE EMPLOYEES!! Stuck on a challenge or battle? Run in and ask them for help, that's what they are there for! We learned many a trick while in there with them. 

TIP: As you solve riddles and find parts of your quests, be sure to wave your wand at everything! Stars in the sky, suits of armor, shields and pictures on the walls...they all add up coins, gold and points to your score and you only increase your levels by adding up more gold and points! Many people just solve the riddles and wonder why they don't make the high scores for the day and this is why! It's so easy to do and adds more fun to the game!
This place is 4 floors of pure adventure! You will find many parents sitting on the sidelines, but I fully believe it's because they have never tried it themselves! Get involved, and have fun with it, it's the only way to be when you are on vacation!!

TIP: DO NOT take your wands on the slides, the static electricity sometimes deactivates them. It's no big deal, as they only have to restart them and  you don't lose any information but it is a pain if you have to wait in a long line! We usually go up to the slides in pairs and 1 person goes down while the other takes the wands and just switch off doing that.
At 30.00 a person, it adds up fast your first time but please believe me that it is so worth it! This is one of those times that the money is well spent and if you are dead set on never going back, sell them to people as they walk in! We took friends with us one time and bought them wands, which they gave back as they don't live near a magiquest and this last time we were there, we were able to sell both 17.00 wands for 25.00, not too bad!
TIP: Still not sure about the cost? Check out Ebay and try and win wands there, they can delete the information on them when you arrive to a new Magiquest and then you are free to start from the beginning!
Hope this convinces you to try it out! Enjoy every minute my friends!


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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Tried & True Tips for Tuesday!

How does a week go by but it feels like months or even as though it never happened? I cannot believe that a week ago we were out of town without a care in the world. Coming back always seems to take too much effort, do you ever realize that? It's as though my brain is still on siesta mode. My husband has been texting me so much yesterday and today about how much he misses me and asks how the kids are, that I think it is hitting him too. He usually averages 4 texts a day, but this week has been so much more already!
Today, I am sharing some of my favorite tips with you. My kids absolutely love Search & Find books, but wish they could cross off what they find, so they could stop and take a break if need be. A simple transparancy does the trick! I slip one over the page and they use a dry-erase marker to keep track of everything. Once they are through, just wipe it down and move it to the next page
Transparancies strike again! Each child has a subject file folder, where they keep their notes, loose worksheets and any other information I need to pass on to them for that subject. Stapling on a transparancy to the back of each page allows us to use it for quizzes, quick notes and games. It saves us paper and can be used over and over again!
You can find awesome fact-a-day calendars for around 1 dollar right now and NOW is the time to buy them! We buy them now, based on the facts and use the facts like flashcards for learning or fun fact of the day. They don't have to be done in the right order or on a certain date, the information is good for any day and this Historical Events one is perfect for our Fact-of-the-Day for History. What a fun way to begin each subject. After we read it, I cut off the date portion and just slip them into a folder, this way I can band them togethether when we are done with them and pass them along to a new family! Do this for younger students with colorful calendars that have beautiful pictures and you can use them for art work and collages. Cut out the Months and Days of the Week and laminate them and you have instant flashcards for an ordering game. Cut out 1 month of calendar squares numbered 1-31 and you have flashcards for counting, skip counting, adding, subtracting...you get creative!
Enjoy every minute my friends!
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Where Are YOU?!

I'm here, I'm here, I promise! Sorry for the disappearance and delay, but we have been on the road with our lessons lately. Valentine's Day weekend had us in Chicago taking in sites, good food and also scoping out suburban eateries and shops. I truly love living within a spitting distance of busses, trains and planes to big cities and exotic destinations. 


Heart shaped foods abound all day and it was so fun to celebrate with the children. My parents took the kids Friday night, so we could celebrate with friends in the evening and then spend the morning together, the rest of the weekend was with them!

Sushi doesn't quite have that romantic sound to it, but it was an awesome lunch and the kids love ordering things that just sound wierd.

Monday brought us home to a fossil lesson set up in our home. Our homeschool group borrows trunks from the natural history museum, all with different themes, and I put together a coordinating lesson and activities. These work out so fun and have gotten a pretty good turn out so far!
We took off minutes after the last person left our home and headed up north for some fun in the waterpark capital of the world! We are having an absolute blast getting together as a family and just BEING! 
We had to mapquest a local church for our vacation spot but we found it and it was gorgeous and so welcoming. It's Ash wednesday, so we got some funny looks and comments at MagiQuest after breakfast when we went to go play! 
Waterparks abound and the kids do them from open til close and could probably continue to do them if they were 24-7! My goodness, where do they get their energy from? 
My level 7 Magis absolutely love Magiquest and it is worth every dollar spent. Okay, I admit, we love it too...we all have wands and love to play with them. Now THIS is a workout. They have locations all over the US, get to one ASAP! We are hitting up the one in Ohio next month! So this is where I have disappeared to, heading home tomorrow evening or sooo....maybe....record cold temps reaching -30* when we get back...so maybe the balmy 87* of the waterpark could sway me to stay! I will have some tips and reviews coming up this week along with adding links to everything, but this was just a break and it's time to do the Howlin' Tornado!
Enjoy every single minute my friends!


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Monday, March 9, 2009

It's Here Again!


OMG! Where did Monday come from? What a crazy week we just had. We took a last minute trip up to Wisconsin Dells and had an absolute blast! It was great to just have a little get-away from reality! We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and boy is it fantastic there! So now coming back home i'm pretty behind and of course tired :) did I mention that my wonderful and loving and sweet and most wonderful man in the universe-husband allowed me to sleep in until noon yesterday? hahah! It was a much -needed rest! So now back to work!

Monday means it's time to change up those Featured Items in your Shops! Choose something eye catching and fun! Today I chose to go with items that will help with the Spring Forward changing time ahead that we did this weekend! Coffee and Waffles help us start the day out right!

I have been featured in a couple of treasuries this week! They are fabulous! First up is a feature from PnkGeeni, check out her shop and then head over to the treasury. Don't forget to click on the items in any combination of 12 clicks and then be sure to leave a comment!! That's my dessert tray necklace in the top row of the treasury.


This beautiful treasury is curated by Peaches4Me and it's so pretty and full of fun! My Wellies Necklace is in the bottom row. Let's get out there and make this a fabulous week everyone!

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