It ain’t Disney, or even West Edmonton Mall, but the Great Wolf Lodge still gave the kids a pretty good weekend. Most people come for the waterpark, which was a lot of fun — it was only a fraction the size of the one in Edmonton, but unlike West Ed it’s only open to hotel guests, so it never seemed overly crowded.

The real attraction for our kids was MagiQuest, a live-action adventure game that sends you all over the hotel pointing your magic wand at treasure chests, trees and crystals that light up and talk to you. You have to buy the wands and the game (naturally) but it kept the boys busy for hours. They were also thrilled with the arcade, mainly because they each earned enough tickets to get a new Angry Birds plush toy.

Was it worth the money? Not really. But it was a nice little getaway.