Salt River getting resort with indoor water park
Arizona is getting its first resort with an indoor water park. Great Wolf Resorts, a growing chain of family hotels that debuted in the Midwest and has expanded to warm-weather spots including southern California, plans to open a location on the Salt River Reservation near Salt River Fields in 2019.
“We’ve been working on Phoenix/Scottsdale for several years . ... People find our concept particularly appealing in extreme weather conditions, hot or cold.” Greg Miller Chief development officer, Great Wolf Resorts
Arizona is getting its first resort with an indoor water park.
Great Wolf Resorts is a growing chain of popular family hotels that debuted in the Midwest and has expanded to warm-weather spots including southern California. It plans to open a location on the Salt River Reservation adjacent to Scottsdale in the second half of 2019.
The 350-room all-suite hotel will be built next door to Salt River Fields, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ and Colorado Rockies’ spring-training home. It will have:
An 85,000-square-foot indoor water park with slides, raft rides, activity pools and splash pads.
A 27,000-square-foot family adventure center with a ropes course, miniature golf, an arcade and a live-action adventure game with interactive magic wands.
Outdoor pool with cabanas. Animated show in the lobby. Kids activities including yoga and story time.
Restaurants including a food court with Dunkin Donuts and Ben and Jerry’s and a full-service restaurant called Barnwood.
The Wisconsin-based company, which caters to families with children ages 2-12 and has 15 locations, said Scottsdale is a natural area for its expansion given its economic growth, demographics and popularity as a tourist destination.
“We’ve been working on Phoenix/ Scottsdale for several years,” Greg Miller, Great Wolf ’s chief development officer, said in an interview with the Arizona Republic.
An all-weather destination
Great Wolf Lodge Arizona won’t be the first Great Wolf on a reservation — Great Wolf Grand Mound near Seattle was — but it will be the first Great Wolf where triple-digit temperatures are the norm from April into October.
Miller knows the biggest question about Great Wolf Arizona will be who the heck needs an indoor water park in Phoenix, either in beautiful March or in stifling August. The chain’s advertising slogans include “Weatherproof your vacation” and “Trade in your sweater for a swimsuit.”
He said Great Wolf ’s experience and research have shown there is demand in all types of weather, in part because guests don’t have to change their plans if the forecast looks bad.
And the chain has plenty of experience catering to people fleeing temperatures on both ends of the thermometer. (Dallas is another warm-weather location.)
“People find our concept particularly appealing in extreme weather conditions, hot or cold,” he said, adding that the indoor water park is heated and chilled.
Arizona’s first indoor water park
Great Wolf Lodge Arizona will have plenty of competition for tourists and locals. Metro Phoenix has an enviable lineup of hotels and resorts, many aimed at the family market Great Wolf targets. Sprawling pool complexes with water slides and lazy rivers are the norm at three-, four- and five-star resorts.
The only one that can claim a true water park, however, is Arizona Grand Resort, home to Oasis Water Park and its giant water slides, lazy river, wave pool and other features. Oasis is an outdoor park.
Great Wolf clearly is not afraid of competition. In early 2016 it opened Great Wolf Lodge Southern California in the shadow of Disneyland. That is the nearest Great Wolf Lodge to Phoenix. It features 603 rooms and the company’slargest water park at 105,000 square feet
The California resort, which promotes itself as the “most fun for your entertainment dollar in the area,” has water slides and water rides, a surf simulator (like the FlowRider at Westin Kierland Resort in Phoenix), a wave pool and a lazy river where guests lounge in inner tubes. Other attractions include bowling, miniature golf, shows, arts and crafts and a spa.
A room in early March starts at $275 a night, including water-park passes. A stay this month starts at $180. Great Wolf does not sell day passes to the water park but guests may buy a few extra passes for friends or family to join them. During off-peak times, Great Wolf often offers discounts on deals sites including Groupon.
Some visitors never venture far
Miller said something that has surprised company officials in Anaheim is how many guests never leave the property, despite its shuttle service to nearby Disneyland.
In Arizona, Great Wolf expects to draw locals from as far as three or four hours away, a range that would cover much of the state. School breaks and summer vacations are expected to be the busiest times.
Miller said the chain expects to attract tourists headed to Phoenix to thaw out, play golf and go to Major League Baseball spring training since many visitors come from places that already have a Great Wolf Lodge in the region.
“They’re from markets that we already have a strong brand identity in,” Miller said.
Arizona’s will be the 18th location
Great Wolf has 15 locations across the country and in Canada. The newest one opened in December in Minneapolis. Next up: Atlanta, followed by metro Chicago. Scottsdale will be its 18th location.
Great Wolf will be built on 18 acres at the corner of Pima Road and Hummingbird Lane. It will be a big addition to the bustling Talking Stick Entertainment District that has sprung up around Talking Stick Resort & Casino off Loop 101 at Indian Bend. In addition to springtraining baseball, the area is home to Topgolf Scottsdale, OdySea Aquarium, Dolphinaris, iFLY Phoenix indoor skydiving and Butterfly Wonderland, among other attractions.
Miller said the attractions around Talking Stick were a big selling point for Great Wolf.
“It’s a unique site that positions us to offer (guests) a lot of great experiences ... right there,” he said.
He praised leaders from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
“They’re really forward looking and really just great partners,” he said.
Talking Stick Resort opened in 2010 with 496 rooms. Great Wolf will be the largest resort to open since then.
It won’t be the only resort under construction. The Ritz-Carlton Paradise Valley Resort, with 200 rooms, is due to open in March 2019.