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Defunct Stores and Active Waterparks · I Hate Talking

• 0:29
  I Hate Talking: Welcome to episode 90 of I Hate Talking.
• 0:33
  I Hate Talking: Hi everyone.
• 0:33
  I Hate Talking: So, we've been getting some new listeners and it's the new year, so I suppose it's a good time just to recap our format because maybe you're a brand new listener and you have no idea sort of how the flow of the show goes.
• 0:48
  I Hate Talking: Or it's just the new year and the holidays make you all wonky.
• 0:53
  I Hate Talking: And it's a good reminder for all of us, me included.
• 0:57
  I Hate Talking: So you're saying they forgot what the flow of the show?
• 1:00
  I Hate Talking: Well, maybe we did too because we do have it posted on our in our studio here.
• 1:09
  I Hate Talking: So we do it to make sure we hit all the points that we normally do.
• 1:11
  I Hate Talking: So typically we'll have our intro and then we will have a word or phrase of the episode where we discuss the definition etymology.
• 1:22
  I Hate Talking: And history of a particular word that we find interesting or has been used in recent times within our own conversations and that could be a phrase as well.
• 1:33
  I Hate Talking: So it could be a number of words grouped together in a Certain order That we talk about, OK, and that is the definition of a phrase.
• 1:44
  I Hate Talking: Yes, and then usually we'll do a topic related in some form or fashion to that particular word.
• 1:51
  I Hate Talking: Uh, sometimes it will just go in a completely different direction.
• 1:55
  I Hate Talking: It's really up to us because we're the hosts.
• 1:57
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I love that.
• 1:58
  I Hate Talking: And then we usually have a call to action.
• 2:03
  I Hate Talking: Most episodes, try not to wear out that too much because I think as a podcast listener, I personally sometimes tire from that when it's like the exact same phrasing or people on repeat asking for likes and subscriptions and Shares and all that.
• 2:23
  I Hate Talking: So we do that every once in a while just as a reminder that you can like share and subscribe or share it with other people and it's helpful even just to share it with just one other person if you enjoy this episode or any other episode.
• 2:36
  I Hate Talking: So that is the format of our show for the most part, and we, I think, do a pretty good job sticking to that.
• 2:45
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, so you wanna get started?
• 2:47
  I Hate Talking: I suppose so.
• 2:49
  I Hate Talking: We can jump right into our word or phrase of the episode, and that word is the word defunct.
• 2:54
  I Hate Talking: OK, defunct.
• 2:56
  I Hate Talking: Yes, do you remember how this came up?
• 2:58
  I Hate Talking: No, not at all.
• 3:00
  I Hate Talking: Oh, we were looking for white elephant gifts for Christmas.
• 3:05
  I Hate Talking: And attempting to do that at a variety of different places like thrift stores.
• 3:11
  I Hate Talking: I think we tried a Dollar Tree and attempted, at least I did, a 99 cents store, but the 99 cents store was defunct.
• 3:24
  I Hate Talking: Oh yes, OK.
• 3:26
  I Hate Talking: Now you recall the situation.
• 3:27
  I Hate Talking: No, but I do remember that you went there and there, uh, there's no more 99 cent stores, right?
• 3:34
  I Hate Talking: They're all gone.
• 3:34
  I Hate Talking: I guess there may be one left.
• 3:37
  I Hate Talking: Maybe we'll do some extra research on this episode and see if there is indeed any more 99 cent stores that are not defunct.
• 3:44
  I Hate Talking: OK.
• 3:45
  I Hate Talking: And then you use a phrase, -- or did one of the children that -- were with you?
• 3:49
  I Hate Talking: No, I said 99 cent store is defunct, and you're like, what is that?
• 3:52
  I Hate Talking: What does defunct mean?
• 3:53
  I Hate Talking: Oh, OK.
• 3:54
  I Hate Talking: Well, teach me because I don't, -- you -- still, you still don't know.
• 3:57
  I Hate Talking: My brain's a little mushy after all the holidays and sugar.
• 4:02
  I Hate Talking: So Without looking it up and maybe getting into a little bit of the etymology, I would say that the word defunct is basically something that is no longer doing its function.
• 4:16
  I Hate Talking: So it's not processing something, it's not working, it is no longer doing what it's designed to do.
• 4:24
  I Hate Talking: And I think probably if I had to guess, the etymology has something to do with the root word that also Informs the word function.
• 4:33
  I Hate Talking: OK, but I don't disagree with that.
• 4:36
  I Hate Talking: That makes sense and that would be similar to my guess, except that's not, you don't spell it like function, right?
• 4:43
  I Hate Talking: I think you do.
• 4:45
  I Hate Talking: -- I -- suppose we'll look.
• 4:46
  I Hate Talking: OK, so can I tell you how I'd spell it?
• 4:49
  I Hate Talking: OK.
• 4:49
  I Hate Talking: I also remember y'all, I ain't a good speller.
• 4:53
  I Hate Talking: OK, defunct, D E F U N K.
• 4:57
  I Hate Talking: No, no.
• 5:02
  I Hate Talking: Where do you live?
• 5:03
  I Hate Talking: Russia or something?
• 5:04
  I Hate Talking: Using yours?
• 5:05
  I Hate Talking: Defunc.
• 5:05
  I Hate Talking: No, defunct.
• 5:07
  I Hate Talking: OK, -- how do you spell it -- then?
• 5:09
  I Hate Talking: Cause, well, I spell it the correct way.
• 5:11
  I Hate Talking: D E F U N C T, -- I would be see if my autocorrect lets me spell it -- that way.
• 5:19
  I Hate Talking: It will not.
• 5:19
  I Hate Talking: Or if it does, it will underline it and say this is incorrect, and I had no idea what you meant.
• 5:25
  I Hate Talking: Oh yeah, it changes it to defund, right.
• 5:29
  I Hate Talking: Which is odd because the K and the D aren't next to each other, but nonetheless.
• 5:33
  I Hate Talking: OK, so defunct.
• 5:36
  I Hate Talking: How do you spell it in real life?
• 5:38
  I Hate Talking: D E F U N C T.
• 5:40
  I Hate Talking: OK, yeah, like function.
• 5:43
  I Hate Talking: OK.
• 5:43
  I Hate Talking: All right, -- I'm following -- now.
• 5:45
  I Hate Talking: So, the definition according to our favorite Oxford language dictionary is no longer existing or functioning.
• 5:57
  I Hate Talking: So there you go.
• 5:58
  I Hate Talking: One single adjective definition.
• 6:02
  I Hate Talking: So the suffixd means not.
• 6:05
  I Hate Talking: Correct.
• 6:07
  I Hate Talking: So not functioning.
• 6:09
  I Hate Talking: Not functioning, quite literally, yes, so.
• 6:12
  I Hate Talking: Exactly that from the Latin origins.
• 6:17
  I Hate Talking: So in terms of the etymology, D being the negative.
• 6:21
  I Hate Talking: Fungi for perform.
• 6:24
  I Hate Talking: That became then used as fungi, which is to be carried out or finished and then defunct, which means dead and then Uh My brain's making a lot of connections that don't seem to be lining up.
• 6:45
  I Hate Talking: I don't think so.
• 6:46
  I Hate Talking: And then.
• 6:48
  I Hate Talking: In the mid-sixteenth century in the English, it basically meant deceased.
• 6:54
  I Hate Talking: It makes sense.
• 6:56
  I Hate Talking: The story is deceased, no longer.
• 6:58
  I Hate Talking: But in the modern English, it would be a little bit more broadly used term where it is just something that no longer exists or no longer functions.
• 7:08
  I Hate Talking: OK, am I way off by thinking that you could also use it in terms of proving something wrong?
• 7:16
  I Hate Talking: Like his theory was defunct, right?
• 7:19
  I Hate Talking: That's a word.
• 7:19
  I Hate Talking: That's a phrase people use.
• 7:22
  I Hate Talking: Or we can Google that particular phrase.
• 7:25
  I Hate Talking: Are you maybe thinking that his theory was debunked?
• 7:28
  I Hate Talking: I probably.
• 7:32
  I Hate Talking: Defunct, yeah, I'm probably thinking of the latter.
• 7:38
  I Hate Talking: So apparently his theory was defunct or the theory was defunct is.
• 7:43
  I Hate Talking: A particular phrase that is used.
• 7:46
  I Hate Talking: Nice.
• 7:47
  I Hate Talking: And it basically means that the theory is obsolete, no longer valid, disproven, or superseded by a more modern, accurate explanation.
• 7:56
  I Hate Talking: There you go, see.
• 7:58
  I Hate Talking: So, yes, I think that the word defunct can be used in a variety of ways, right?
• 8:05
  I Hate Talking: It will be much more broad in its usage and definition than the mid-sixteenth century English where it just meant deceased.
• 8:13
  I Hate Talking: So that helps though with what you just read, that helps me because it makes sense because I was like, oh wait.
• 8:18
  I Hate Talking: Defunct.
• 8:20
  I Hate Talking: Like it's dead, it's no longer existing.
• 8:24
  I Hate Talking: But if you're saying like he had an idea.
• 8:26
  I Hate Talking: And then it was proven wrong.
• 8:29
  I Hate Talking: The idea is dead now.
• 8:31
  I Hate Talking: It is no longer alive or accurate.
• 8:34
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, see, there you go.
• 8:36
  I Hate Talking: So now I guess we'll check and see if all 99 cent stores are defunct because certainly the one that I tried to go to was.
• 8:44
  I Hate Talking: We have no, none near us.
• 8:47
  I Hate Talking: So it was where we were on vacation that we saw them.
• 8:51
  I Hate Talking: Side note, um, while we were on vacation, I was talking to a friend, and they said when they drive past a 99 cents store, they always slow down a little bit and like pay homage to it.
• 9:03
  I Hate Talking: That's why I think they're completely gone.
• 9:05
  I Hate Talking: It's because they made it sound like they're so sad they're gone.
• 9:09
  I Hate Talking: So according to AI overview, there are no existing 99 cents stores.
• 9:17
  I Hate Talking: In anywhere, which I thought there was one more or one left essentially.
• 9:24
  I Hate Talking: Somewhere in California, but I guess that is probably not true.
• 9:29
  I Hate Talking: So the entire chain of 371 locations.
• 9:33
  I Hate Talking: California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas were closed down in 2024.
• 9:38
  I Hate Talking: And they were only there.
• 9:41
  I Hate Talking: Now some other companies acquired leases for at least 170 of these particular locations and reopened them under a different brand name.
• 9:49
  I Hate Talking: OK, so you did not grow up with 99 cent stores then.
• 9:53
  I Hate Talking: No, I did not.
• 9:54
  I Hate Talking: On the East Coast, that was not a thing.
• 9:56
  I Hate Talking: We had Ollie.
• 9:58
  I Hate Talking: Ollie's was the big thing on the East Coast.
• 10:01
  I Hate Talking: Oh my goodness, -- I love a good Ollie's -- and I hate it.
• 10:04
  I Hate Talking: I always sit in the car and wait for you because I get so stressed in Ollie's.
• 10:10
  I Hate Talking: I don't know.
• 10:11
  I Hate Talking: I, yeah, it's enjoyable.
• 10:12
  I Hate Talking: It reminds me of my childhood.
• 10:14
  I Hate Talking: Yard sales, auctions, and ollies.
• 10:17
  I Hate Talking: -- That's where we got all -- the sales and auctions also stressed me out.
• 10:20
  I Hate Talking: No, that's where you get all the good stuff cheap.
• 10:22
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, no, I agree.
• 10:24
  I Hate Talking: And if you have the time and energy to put into it, I just see all the items, and it's just, I get so overwhelmed and stressed out and want to leave.
• 10:36
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I don't.
• 10:38
  I Hate Talking: No, I, that's fine.
• 10:40
  I Hate Talking: I sit in the car and you can go through all the bins and we're all happy indeed.
• 10:46
  I Hate Talking: Almost makes me want to go visit Ollie's right now.
• 10:49
  I Hate Talking: Do we have one near us?
• 10:51
  I Hate Talking: I don't know.
• 10:52
  I Hate Talking: I think, I feel like we do.
• 10:53
  I Hate Talking: I don't know.
• 10:55
  I Hate Talking: -- I've never I -- mean within driving distance, I think probably.
• 10:57
  I Hate Talking: So Certainly, a number of businesses or different things have become defunct over the years.
• 11:08
  I Hate Talking: So there may be a water park or a theme park or stores and businesses that have become defunct, but certainly one thing that is not defunct, at least as of right now, is the Great Wolf Lodge.
• 11:21
  I Hate Talking: Oh yeah, that was one of our best vacations we've had this year.
• 11:26
  I Hate Talking: Or last year, I guess, right?
• 11:28
  I Hate Talking: We're in the new year now.
• 11:29
  I Hate Talking: That's right.
• 11:30
  I Hate Talking: Oh man, we have one kid that is beating that with a debt, that horse, wait, what's the term, beating the horse the stick.
• 11:38
  I Hate Talking: Now I don't even know myself beating the dead horse, beating the dead horse, yes.
• 11:45
  I Hate Talking: New, new word or phrase for next time.
• 11:48
  I Hate Talking: Everything he does, everyone he sees, he's like, I haven't seen you since last year, and things like that.
• 11:53
  I Hate Talking: It's, it's fun.
• 11:54
  I Hate Talking: Doesn't get old for him.
• 11:56
  I Hate Talking: There you go.
• 11:57
  I Hate Talking: So yes, so last year.
• 12:00
  I Hate Talking: One of our favorite little getaways was the Great Wolf Lodge.
• 12:05
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 12:06
  I Hate Talking: So I think what we'll do for this episode and for perhaps a few episodes in the future, do some reviews, as it were, of some different locations or venues that we've visited over the last year or so and just talk about those and Keep them alive because the more one talks about them, the more 1 may be interested in going to it or you will learn something that it's worth avoiding and maybe they will be defunct in the future.
• 12:36
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, perfect.
• 12:37
  I Hate Talking: All right, so there are multiple roof lodges.
• 12:41
  I Hate Talking: So we did go there, I guess this was in the Summerish time, so it wasn't OK, yeah, so it wasn't like extremely cold out, but it wasn't hot either so it would have been rough.
• 12:57
  I Hate Talking: um, the outdoors was closed.
• 12:59
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 13:00
  I Hate Talking: The outdoor pools, it had been too cold for that, right, but that's sort of their thing is like the indoor portion of it, right, is like this is open year round and you can go to the indoor water park.
• 13:11
  I Hate Talking: So I think that is something that makes that special.
• 13:15
  I Hate Talking: Is there really any other Particular franchise that has indoor water parks as like a chain.
• 13:20
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I mean, oh, franchise, maybe not.
• 13:24
  I Hate Talking: There definitely are others.
• 13:26
  I Hate Talking: Right, -- but it's not a chain -- like Pigeon Forge has that big one.
• 13:30
  I Hate Talking: Um, there's one in, uh, Arizona, but yeah, no, not, I think Great Wolf is like a nationwide chain that's fairly similar.
• 13:43
  I Hate Talking: I think they definitely have differences, place to place, but the key things you can expect to be the same.
• 13:50
  I Hate Talking: Yes.
• 13:51
  I Hate Talking: Now, when we booked it, it was kind of a spur of the moment.
• 13:57
  I Hate Talking: We got a flash deal midweek sale, and I was like, I've never been, let's, we should do this.
• 14:03
  I Hate Talking: And for a family our size.
• 14:05
  I Hate Talking: You know, having the water park included with the guest room.
• 14:11
  I Hate Talking: It's ended up being a great deal.
• 14:14
  I Hate Talking: What I didn't realize because we never looked it up before, was how expensive it can be.
• 14:20
  I Hate Talking: Because people were shocked we were going.
• 14:23
  I Hate Talking: I was like, what?
• 14:24
  I Hate Talking: No, like it's crazy cheap, but it was cause of that really good sale.
• 14:29
  I Hate Talking: Like once in a while they'll have like 40% off or such deals.
• 14:35
  I Hate Talking: And so that's what we got and that's why it was a great deal for us.
• 14:39
  I Hate Talking: If you're just going, especially on a weekend, just full price, I think it's pretty high.
• 14:45
  I Hate Talking: Right.
• 14:46
  I Hate Talking: Or I guess there's some people that like make this their vacation for like an entire week or longer, and this is sort of what they do for that entire time, or at least a good portion of the time and maybe see some other things around the area, touristy type attractions and things, but this is like the core thing that they are doing their vacation around, and that would be very expensive if you're doing 7 to 10 days and if you're eating on campus and such.
• 15:13
  I Hate Talking: That's true, yeah.
• 15:14
  I Hate Talking: Because they do have a ton of food options there.
• 15:18
  I Hate Talking: Right, but it's not exactly cheap -- food -- options.
• 15:21
  I Hate Talking: No, we DoorDashed food.
• 15:23
  I Hate Talking: It was much cheaper and it was good food.
• 15:26
  I Hate Talking: We got it in like 30 minutes and well, we weren't the only ones.
• 15:29
  I Hate Talking: There's like multiple delivery drivers, so they probably know that address pretty well.
• 15:35
  I Hate Talking: Yes, but yeah, DoorDash was a great option for us.
• 15:39
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 15:40
  I Hate Talking: So we did do a lot of the water park activities.
• 15:46
  I Hate Talking: So the one that we were at a lazy river where you could sort of float around in the circular pool shaped thing on a tube or sort of just float in the water.
• 15:59
  I Hate Talking: There weren't a ton of rules or structure around that.
• 16:03
  I Hate Talking: And then they had the wave pool, so that was exciting for a number of our kids.
• 16:09
  I Hate Talking: And it had sort of like the playground area where it had water streams that you could shoot at people on the lazy river or dump buckets of water and so on and so forth.
• 16:17
  I Hate Talking: And it had a very large bucket that would accumulate with water and then dump on playground and sort of drench everyone that was around that particular area.
• 16:30
  I Hate Talking: And then the slides, I guess that was the other.
• 16:33
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, there were a lot of, there was also a toddler area we didn't do, but yes, there was a little area for young kids.
• 16:40
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 16:40
  I Hate Talking: We try to stay as far away from that as we could.
• 16:43
  I Hate Talking: But there were multiple slides.
• 16:47
  I Hate Talking: And I think that was our kids' favorite thing overall.
• 16:50
  I Hate Talking: Was it your favorite?
• 16:51
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, that's probably the favorite for me as well.
• 16:56
  I Hate Talking: It was also.
• 16:57
  I Hate Talking: Exciting and also slightly odd that some of our kids, or many of our kids in fact, could even do the slides because typically the last time that we've been at a water park per se, they're either too small or, you know, not comfortable doing the larger activities, but for this particular vacation they had the confidence to do it and the height requirement and Did it Very well and enjoyed it and it was a weird moment -- as a father I -- suppose.
• 17:33
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I mean it was very different the last time we stayed at somewhere like this we had uh went with my parents and part of the reason was so they could watch the kids so we could do the slides.
• 17:45
  I Hate Talking: Our youngest couldn't even sit up at that point.
• 17:47
  I Hate Talking: And our oldest was too short for most.
• 17:51
  I Hate Talking: He did go on a couple of the rides then, but was too short for most of them.
• 17:55
  I Hate Talking: So they just watched our kids while we did the rides.
• 17:58
  I Hate Talking: So this time we got to go as a family or take turns parent and kid or kid and kid.
• 18:04
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, well, I think the Number of slides, right, were done as a group.
• 18:10
  I Hate Talking: So they did have a Single rider, double rider, tube slide, or I guess two different varieties of that.
• 18:17
  I Hate Talking: And then they had like a group.
• 18:20
  I Hate Talking: One where there's like 5 or 6 people that sit on a very large inner tube and slide down that, right, yeah, the 5 was the max 5 was the max because I sat out for that one you'd go with the kids, correct and then the ones that were extreme are the ones that are just Going down the slide and those are extremely steep and the one.
• 18:42
  I Hate Talking: is where it drops you basically you go in the tube and you, yeah, the floor drops out from beneath you and you're in freefall for a few seconds.
• 18:51
  I Hate Talking: We had kids that did that one and that stressed me beyond belief, but I knew like I trusted it was safe, but I.
• 18:59
  I Hate Talking: Oh, it was hard to let them go up there and wait for them to drop.
• 19:04
  I Hate Talking: Now, did you do either of those?
• 19:06
  I Hate Talking: No, do you want to know how lame I am?
• 19:09
  I Hate Talking: Guess how many slides I did?
• 19:12
  I Hate Talking: Well, you definitely did the inner tube ones.
• 19:15
  I Hate Talking: Was that it?
• 19:16
  I Hate Talking: I did an inner tube.
• 19:19
  I Hate Talking: -- You -- only did one.
• 19:20
  I Hate Talking: I just did one with one of our kids, one of the double riders, because they all wanted to go together and wanted to go with you.
• 19:29
  I Hate Talking: So mostly I let them do that and I just was really stressed out.
• 19:34
  I Hate Talking: I, I think I'm getting scared of heights.
• 19:37
  I Hate Talking: I never used to be, but when I'm with my children.
• 19:41
  I Hate Talking: I'm scared of heights.
• 19:43
  I Hate Talking: And um I don't know why when I'm by myself, I'm OK or just with you.
• 19:48
  I Hate Talking: But I guess I feel like I can't control, like I'm scared for them.
• 19:52
  I Hate Talking: So I only went on one, and I was happy to take pictures, and Watch everybody the rest of the time.
• 19:59
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 20:01
  I Hate Talking: So I went on all of them at least once, many of them several times.
• 20:06
  I Hate Talking: And I thought it was interesting to note, and maybe our listeners would like to know this if they ever find themselves at a Great Wolf Lodge with two different slides where you don't use any inner tube of any kind, is that the one that is the one that drops you into freefall is actually tamer than the other one.
• 20:24
  I Hate Talking: And I was surprised that our smaller child that did the one that looked tamer because you're not going into freefall immediately at the start.
• 20:34
  I Hate Talking: Enjoyed it as much as he did because it was actually quite a bit more chaotic because it kind of just jerks you around more, right?
• 20:43
  I Hate Talking: It's less steep, -- but it is more twisty turny type thing -- that makes sense because the one is higher and it just drops so steep and then you're done where the other one, kind of jerks you around back and forth more, right, right.
• 20:59
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, um, I think that one y'all got kind of cut up on, right?
• 21:04
  I Hate Talking: You, your backs were not cut, but like rug burns.
• 21:09
  I Hate Talking: Your back, your back and one of our other kids' backs were really red and sore, right?
• 21:14
  I Hate Talking: Mm That was not where I was sore at, but.
• 21:20
  I Hate Talking: I don't recall.
• 21:22
  I Hate Talking: I do.
• 21:23
  I Hate Talking: Well, I do, your back was that the ride or a different ride that your back was really red?
• 21:29
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, it must have been that one.
• 21:31
  I Hate Talking: I don't know.
• 21:31
  I Hate Talking: That wasn't bruised and it didn't even hurt.
• 21:34
  I Hate Talking: It was, I guess, probably just like you said, maybe a little bit of abrasion from the friction or water of the slide, but it did not really cause any pain per se.
• 21:42
  I Hate Talking: So, so those are all the different things for the water park, right?
• 21:48
  I Hate Talking: So I think that pretty much covers sort of all the amenities within the water park.
• 21:54
  I Hate Talking: And there are a lot of different restaurants with a lot of different themes, but all very expensive, so that was why we opted for DoorDash.
• 22:01
  I Hate Talking: And then I guess we were all in a suite, is that right?
• 22:03
  I Hate Talking: So we all had sort of like multiple beds and everything like that for our sleeping arrangements.
• 22:08
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, we had the kids had their section and it kind of looked like they were in a cave, so that was really cool.
• 22:14
  I Hate Talking: They had like bunk beds.
• 22:16
  I Hate Talking: In a little, it was the same room but they kind of built out the sides so it looked almost like -- a secondary room -- right and there's like a wall-mounted TV in that sort of they got their own TV in their little cave.
• 22:29
  I Hate Talking: And then we had a couch in our bed in the bigger area.
• 22:35
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 22:36
  I Hate Talking: And then we also did like magic wand tour which this -- so everything up to this point I think -- recommend it.
• 22:44
  I Hate Talking: The wand magic wand thing not ever again.
• 22:51
  I Hate Talking: I could see how like it would be fun.
• 22:54
  I Hate Talking: If you did it in like little chunks, like if you were really there for a week, you could do like 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there, but It's sort of a grind.
• 23:06
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, so we were only there, um, so a perk of Great Wolf Lodge, as far as my understanding goes, is when you buy a night, we, we're only there for one night, but you can go.
• 23:19
  I Hate Talking: From the start of the day, I think the pools open at 10 a.m. and we got there pretty soon after that.
• 23:25
  I Hate Talking: And then you can spend that whole day, check into your room, sleep, and then you get it the next day when you check out.
• 23:34
  I Hate Talking: There the whole time.
• 23:36
  I Hate Talking: So we got 2 entire days at the pools.
• 23:40
  I Hate Talking: Spending one night, so that is a definite perk.
• 23:45
  I Hate Talking: But saying that, we got the magic wands, the magi, the magi quest.
• 23:52
  I Hate Talking: And we did a quick research about it and didn't realize how much it would entail.
• 23:59
  I Hate Talking: And I don't know how you can do it, and there's no way you can do it in a day, right?
• 24:05
  I Hate Talking: I mean if it's like the only thing that you do, you might be able to with like the exact routes that you have to go find all these things because for those that don't know, basically you have this magic wand and it will activate certain features within the hotel lobby hotel and amenities and everything like that so you scan your wand essentially that has some sort of IR signal and it activates the particular thing within the system and that tracks your progress because it is a particular IR code that is tied to your wand and account and you have to like collect a gold bar from the food court.
• 24:50
  I Hate Talking: And then you have to take the gold bar to the troll, and then that's at the other end of the hotel, and then you have to gather the five crystals that are all different places within the hotel, and you have to do this in order, and you have to do it in order, so you're like going back and forth, back and forth because they don't make it like in sequence.
• 25:09
  I Hate Talking: It's like -- skipping around because they want -- you, I bet they want you to see the whole hotel, right?
• 25:14
  I Hate Talking: Like while you're over there you're gonna get some french fries and then over here you're gonna play skee ball or whatever.
• 25:20
  I Hate Talking: Right?
• 25:21
  I Hate Talking: They're trying.
• 25:22
  I Hate Talking: That's why it's not in sequence.
• 25:23
  I Hate Talking: They want you to circle the whole place.
• 25:26
  I Hate Talking: I guess so, but it became a bit much, especially when trying to do it in an entire day.
• 25:30
  I Hate Talking: So we did, I think like one of the quests, like the 5 gem quest.
• 25:34
  I Hate Talking: And then it's very easy to reset your progress.
• 25:37
  I Hate Talking: Like, like you can scan this thing and if you're on a different quest, so you're like you're trying to do the five crystal quest, and then you accidentally scan a different quest feature item thing and it says, would you like to start this different quest?
• 25:56
  I Hate Talking: And it's like.
• 25:56
  I Hate Talking: So easy to hit yes instead of no because you're like trying to do this with your wand thing or like a touch screen that half works and then you -- lose all progress on your previous -- list.
• 26:07
  I Hate Talking: That's what's different is because it made sense.
• 26:09
  I Hate Talking: I think I encouraged a kid to do it.
• 26:11
  I Hate Talking: I'm like, oh yeah, let's do this one while we're going.
• 26:13
  I Hate Talking: I thought you could do them both or maybe you do this one and it pauses the other one or something, but no, you lose all your progress and that was really frustrating.
• 26:23
  I Hate Talking: And you have to take time.
• 26:26
  I Hate Talking: So we have multiple kids, they all had wands, and if one waved it, then you had to let the whole thing reset before the second one does it.
• 26:36
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 26:36
  I Hate Talking: If they both waive it at the same time, only one person got the points for it, right.
• 26:43
  I Hate Talking: And then I guess there were mini games.
• 26:45
  I Hate Talking: We did one of the mini games.
• 26:46
  I Hate Talking: Like if you get to a certain progress within the quest, then there are like other things to do besides just walk around and scan different things.
• 26:55
  I Hate Talking: So we did at least make it to one of the mini games, but I guess those are more progressive in nature, so like the more you do, the more fun the more interactive the games are.
• 27:05
  I Hate Talking: We did, yeah, we've watched some people do some of the bigger ones and they do look fun, but this is, yeah, this is why you'd have to go for a whole week or something, spend an entire day or several days because you can do it the entire length of your stay.
• 27:20
  I Hate Talking: So when you're only there for one night.
• 27:22
  I Hate Talking: You just get that 24 hours or 48 hours or whatever to do it.
• 27:28
  I Hate Talking: But if you're there for that a whole week, then you can because our progress isn't saved.
• 27:34
  I Hate Talking: If we go back we have to start from the beginning.
• 27:37
  I Hate Talking: We have the wands.
• 27:38
  I Hate Talking: I think you have to pay for it all over again too.
• 27:40
  I Hate Talking: Well, we have the wands, so I don't think we have to have to pay for the wands, but you do pay for the game, yes, so I felt bad because our kids didn't understand.
• 27:51
  I Hate Talking: I didn't understand when we booked it because they have a whole ceremony too, like a knighting ceremony.
• 27:58
  I Hate Talking: And they really wanted to do the knighting ceremony.
• 28:02
  I Hate Talking: But man, we were not even close to earning that.
• 28:06
  I Hate Talking: No, we were not.
• 28:08
  I Hate Talking: So, um.
• 28:09
  I Hate Talking: I would not try it again unless we're there for multiple days.
• 28:14
  I Hate Talking: I don't even know if I would attempt to dig in at that point.
• 28:18
  I Hate Talking: I was trying to YouTube people's while we were there because I was so trying to get like a walkthrough guide for how to do this.
• 28:25
  I Hate Talking: Yes, like, tell me where to go, and it even that wasn't working and helping much.
• 28:31
  I Hate Talking: I don't know, maybe they cut it out, like, maybe they scan YouTube and don't let them post it.
• 28:37
  I Hate Talking: I'm not sure.
• 28:38
  I Hate Talking: Or maybe people just don't like it and they don't bother recording it.
• 28:42
  I Hate Talking: Or the YouTube video would be like 8 hours long, and that's just too much.
• 28:47
  I Hate Talking: But I mean, the wand is cool.
• 28:50
  I Hate Talking: It is fun that you can do stuff like, most of the things we ended up doing was you walk down the hallway and you wave your wand, and it makes the picture change or interact with you.
• 29:00
  I Hate Talking: So if you're having that attitude, like, oh, that's cool, that's fine.
• 29:04
  I Hate Talking: If your goal is to become a knight or whatever they call it, you have to invest days.
• 29:09
  I Hate Talking: So it would seem, yes.
• 29:12
  I Hate Talking: So that is our review of Great Wolf Lodge and all the indoor water park amenities and food and the magi quest.
• 29:22
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I mean they have other stuff too we didn't do.
• 29:25
  I Hate Talking: They have like a ropes course.
• 29:26
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 29:27
  I Hate Talking: The kids want to do, but we said no.
• 29:29
  I Hate Talking: We did the magic quest instead because everything is.
• 29:31
  I Hate Talking: Basically, a la carte, a la carte, yes, -- I -- mean, yeah, evenings parking was a la carte.
• 29:39
  I Hate Talking: You had to pay.
• 29:39
  I Hate Talking: You did well, yeah, yeah, -- it's all -- a la carte, but yeah, there are packages you can get and there's food packages and all that, but we just paid for us, like I said before, we got the boat, the deal.
• 29:53
  I Hate Talking: Midweek and for 6 people.
• 29:57
  I Hate Talking: Staying at that price was like the typical price.
• 30:01
  I Hate Talking: I feel like we stay for 6 people in a hotel.
• 30:04
  I Hate Talking: So, adding a water park onto it seemed like an amazing deal for me.
• 30:11
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 30:12
  I Hate Talking: If you're adding all those extra things on or you think of the price of the wands we bought and the magi Quest game and all that, you know, then it adds up big time.
• 30:24
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 30:24
  I Hate Talking: Would not do the Magic Quest ever again.
• 30:27
  I Hate Talking: So would you, but would you go to Great Wolf?
• 30:28
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, I would go to Great Wolf and not do the Magic Quest and Would you eat there or would you DoorDash again?
• 30:37
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, a DoorDash if that's available and convenient, I think, I mean, we had like a snack at one of the food court things, but so I think the DoorDash is a better option.
• 30:47
  I Hate Talking: And then, yeah, the water park, that's, I mean, the main attraction, so that's why you go there.
• 30:53
  I Hate Talking: Oh, and they give you ears too, the wolf ears.
• 30:57
  I Hate Talking: That was really fun.
• 30:58
  I Hate Talking: We had one kid that was so into that.
• 30:59
  I Hate Talking: That's true.
• 31:01
  I Hate Talking: That's the best perk of all, and they were free.
• 31:02
  I Hate Talking: That was like the one thing that was free.
• 31:04
  I Hate Talking: Yeah, well, there you go.
• 31:08
  I Hate Talking: We will review some other venue next time.
• 31:12
  I Hate Talking: Do we know what it is?
• 31:13
  I Hate Talking: We do not.
• 31:15
  I Hate Talking: So you will have to come back and find out next time what we talk about in terms of our short series on reviews of things that we've done in 2025, but that, I guess so concludes our Great Wolf Lodge review.
• 31:31
  I Hate Talking: Sounds good.
• 31:32
  I Hate Talking: So from your friends at I Hate Talking, until next time, remember, it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding.