Water park resort company Great Wolf Lodge has debuted its first Connecticut location, on the campus of Foxwoods Resort Casino.
The $300 million development includes 549 hotel rooms, a 91,000-square-foot indoor water park and a 61,000-square-foot family entertainment center. It’s the company’s 23rd resort in North America and third in the Northeastern U.S.
The resort has hired 500 employees, about half of them full time, and says employment will expand during the summer.
“What we’re opening here in Mashantucket represents the next evolution of the Great Wolf Lodge experience, leveraging storytelling technology and immersive theming to elevate the resort experience,” said Great Wolf Lodge CEO John Murphy.
Great Wolf Lodge is majority owned by asset manager Blackstone, which formed a joint venture with Centerbridge Partners to acquire the resort chain in 2019. The company has been in negotiations with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation for several years over the Connecticut development.
“As a testament to the strength of this partnership, we weathered many, many fits and starts,” Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler said. “It’s a strategic investment in our long-term prosperity.”
The park has been monitoring visitor numbers through a soft open in the last few weeks.
“We target a three-hour drive,” said the park’s general manager Henry Tessman “We’re a destination resort. We’re already seeing great results through the whole 95 corridor all the way into New York and also that 395 corridor going up towards Massachusetts.”
Great Wolf Lodge is projecting 500,000 annual visitors.
