Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (formerly known as Great Wolf Lodge) is a chain of

resort hotel A resort hotel is a hotel which often contains full-sized resort facilities with full-service accommodations and luxury amenities. These hotels may attract both business conferences and vacationing tourists and offer more than a convenient plac ...

s and

indoor water park An indoor water park is a type of water park that is located inside a building. An indoor water park has the ability to stay open year-round, as it is not affected by weather conditions. History Some of the first indoor water parks are at Dui ...

s. The company owns and operates its family resorts under the Great Wolf Lodge brand. In addition to a water park, each resort features restaurants, arcades,

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

s, and children's activities. Great Wolf Resorts is headquartered in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

History

Great Wolf Lodge began as a small indoor water park resort called Black Wolf Lodge which was founded in 1997 by brothers Jack and Andrew "Turk" Waterman, the original owners of

Noah's Ark Water Park Noah's Ark Family Park Inc. is the largest outdoor water park in the United States. It features 51 water slides and dozens of various attractions. The park is located in the village of Lake Delton, Wisconsin. History In 1979, the Waterman fam ...

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. Black Wolf Lodge was purchased by The Great Lakes Companies Inc. in 1999. In 2000, president and founder, Craig A. Stark, and the team changed the name to Great Wolf Lodge and the company headquarters were established in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. In 2001, the company built a second location in Sandusky, Ohio, and named it Great Bear Lodge. When a third location opened in 2003, the decision was made to place all future parks under the Great Wolf Lodge banner. The name of the Ohio location was changed to Great Wolf Lodge in 2004. The chain has since added nineteen additional locations and has one under construction. On May 1, 2012, Great Wolf Resorts announced it was adding a new amenity or attraction to each of the resorts in time for the summer season. In addition, the company spent more than $4 million renovating the company's first two locations – Wisconsin Dells and Sandusky. In April 2017, Great Wolf Resorts relocated its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. In June 2023, Great Wolf Resorts opened its twentieth and largest resort in

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Apollo acquisition

On March 13, 2012,

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

announced an agreement to acquire the company for $703 million. Following the announcement, an investor group filed a complaint in Delaware Chancery Court stating that the deal, in which Apollo would pay $5 a share, undervalued the company. On April 12, 2012, KSL Capital Partners made an unsolicited offer of $6.25 a share, and Apollo followed suit raising its bid to $6.75 a share. KSL then raised its cash offer to $7 a share on April 8, 2012, beginning a rare public bidding war. After Apollo upped its offer again to $7.85 a share on April 20, 2012, KSL Capital Partners later announced it would not be making additional offers. The company's shares traded as low as $2.18 in October 2011, but climbed above $5 following the announcement in March 2012 and reached a 52-week high of $7.50 during trading in April 2012.

Centerbridge acquisition

On March 24, 2015,

Centerbridge Partners Centerbridge Partners, L.P. is a multi-strategy private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts and distressed securities. The firm manages over $56 billion of assets

reached an agreement with Apollo to acquire the Great Wolf chain for $1.35 billion. The acquisition was finalized on May 12, 2015.

Blackstone and Centerbridge joint venture

In September 2019,

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

made a deal to purchase 65% controlling interest in Great Wolf Resorts from Centerbridge Partners. The two firms agreed to form a $2.9 billion joint venture to own the company.

Properties

Great Wolf Lodge locations: Previous locations: *

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(2004–2011 as operator of Blue Harbor Resort; never carried any Great Wolf Lodge branding) Locations under construction: *

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England, north-west of Oxford. The town is a notable tourist attraction due to the Bicester Village shopping centre. The historical town centre � ...

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- A proposal to build a Great Wolf Lodge location in Chesterton near

was submitted in 2019. The proposal was accepted by planning inspectors in 2021. Work on remodelling the plot of land acquired for the site began on December 30, 2021, with construction of the location itself beginning in 2022. *

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis and 130 Miles Southwest of Nashville, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population wa ...

Locations under consideration: *

Squamish, British Columbia Squamish (; , ; 2021 census population 23,819) is a community and a district municipality in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the British Columbia Highway 99 ...

* Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey * Chester, New York *

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Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district. The civil parish for the town is c ...

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The corporate headquarters, the "Great Wolf Den," is at 350 North Orleans, (The quote shows that the

NBC Chicago WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (channel 4 ...

"Great Wolf Resorts Opens New Chicago Headquarters" is talking about the same building.) in River North, in the

Near North Side, Chicago The Near North Side is one of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is the northernmost of the three areas that constitute central Chicago, the others being the Loop and the Near South Side. The community area is located north and east of the Chi ...

. - Use the address and match it to Chicago community areas. The facility, the "Great Wolf Den," began operations in 2017. Previously, the headquarters were in

. According to the company, the headquarters move occurred so the company could be closer to various sites of business operation.

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

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, attended the ribbon cutting of the facility.

Other brands

Great Wolf Lodge also owns MagiQuest.

In other media

Great Wolf's previous CEO Kim Schaefer was featured in the U.S. version of TV's ''Undercover Boss'', which included visits to several lodges where she worked alongside a lifeguard supervisor, front desk clerk, and restaurant waitstaff as well as participated in the children's program. Great Wolf Entertainment and 6 Point Harness produced an animated film, called ''The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure'', which premiered at Great Wolf Resorts on

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

, September 5, 2022. The film, directed by former Disney animator Chris Bailey (''

Runaway Brain ''Runaway Brain'' is a 1995 American animated comedy horror short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the short centers on Mickey attempting to earn money to pay for an anniversary gift for ...

''), follows the adventure of five newly-redesigned versions of mascot characters Wiley Wolf, Violet Wolf, Oliver Raccoon, Brinley Bear and Sammy Squirrel.

Notes

:1.The project was announced in December 2015 and there has been no new information on the project since 2018.

References

External links

*
''The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure'' on YouTube

Official trailer
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