Great Wolf Lodge Adds Interactive Game to Pocono Resort
Great Wolf Resorts®, Inc., North America’s largest family of indoor water park resorts, has launched its latest attraction, “Great Wolf Story Explorers.” This new game blends storytelling, interactive engagement, and imagination into a fully participatory, hi-tech experience that the resort believes is the first-of-its-kind. Great Wolf Story Explorers is being debuted at Great Wolf Lodge® - Pocono Mountains, PA., with plans for future installation at other Great Wolf Lodge locations.
“The family entertainment landscape is evolving just as rapidly as the technology used by our guests, and that changes expectations entirely,” said Kim Schaefer, CEO of Great Wolf Resorts. “Great Wolf Story Explorers is our expression of how the power of imagination combined with cutting-edge technology can captivate the minds of a whole generation of children who have grown up experiencing entertainment in ways never before seen.”
Built upon a proprietary software platform developed by Creative Kingdoms, creator of the resort’s popular MagiQuest® game, the attraction takes young guests on an adventure throughout the resort, making the players the main characters. Unlike traditional interactive storytelling, the “explorer” is fully integrated into his or her chosen story and has the ability to choose a particular course.
The experience begins with the young explorer choosing a plush toy, which becomes the child’s companion. Players then pause to strike several pre-determined poses for a camera before becoming the main character in an interactive story which will lead them through a series of video screens. As they move from location to location, they must scan the RFID wristband worn by their plush toy at the various video screens.
Each time the RFID wristband is scanned, an animated video character comes to life on-screen, tells more of the story, and guides players to the next stop. The story, which was developed in collaboration with Creative Kingdoms, is told entirely by the animated characters in the game’s video screens. The same characters are the resort’s animal mascots known as the Great Wolf Kids®. After completing the entire storybook, players are given a keepsake of their adventure: A personalized storybook which integrates the photos taken at the beginning of their adventure with the actual story illustrations, literally making them the main characters in the story.
“What’s really exciting about Great Wolf Story Explorers is that it never really ends,” said Maggie Moore, corporate director of kids experience for Great Wolf Resorts. “Not only do explorers get to take their plush animals and storybooks home, but there will be new stories for them to experience during future visits. This is just the first of many stories yet to come.”
The installation of Great Wolf Story Explorers at the company’s Pennsylvania resort is the final phase in a capital project that added over $2.1 million in resort enhancements this year, including a six-lane, scaled-down bowling alley called Ten Paw Alley, expanded birthday party space in its Scooops Kid Spa, and the remodel of many existing areas throughout the facility.