$250M Great Wolf Lodge takes shape as opening day approaches

Construction of the new family-friendly Naples resort is well underway as the company readies for its first guests in September.

By Louis Llovio
| 5:00 a.m. April 23, 2024
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

Construction of the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples is well underway as the company readies for its first guests September 25.

Charlotte–Lee–Collier

With just five months to go before opening, officials at Great Wolf Lodge allowed about 50 visitors to tour the construction site April 18 for a sneak peek at what the new Naples resort will look like.

Great Wolf Lodge is a family-friendly chain of themed resorts centered around indoor waterparks. The $250 million Naples resort, Great Wolf Lodge South Florida, is being built on 20 acres just off of Interstate 75 on the eastern end of Collier County, near the Paradise Coast Sports Complex. Madison, Wisconsin-based Great Wolf Lodge broke ground on the resort in July 2022.

The resort, for now, is remains an active construction site, but many of the attractions and features the company is known for — and that will draw in tourists — looked ready to dive into. A bad pun considering there is no water yet and that much more work is needed.

A look behind the numbers of the project reveals a lot rooms, jobs and, of course, water.

Visitors will step into the lodge when they first arrive at the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples.

A tour group gets a sneek peek of the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples April 18. — A tour group gets a sneak peek of the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples April 18.

Crews are still working on the 92,000-square-foot indoor water park at the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples.

The main attraction at at the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples is the 92,000-square-foot indoor water park.

New elements will make their debut at the at the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples.

Alana M. Ostrowski, director of operations development and integration for Great Wolf Lodge, shows what the lodge will look like when the resort opens in September.

There will be eight room types to choose from at the new Great Wolf Lodge South Florida in Naples.

Beyond the waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge will have a resort style pool.

One of several eateries coming to Great Wolf Lodge in Naples in September.

author

Louis Llovio

Louis Llovio is the deputy managing editor at the Business Observer. Before going to work at the Observer, the longtime business writer worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Maryland Daily Record and for the Baltimore Sun Media Group. He lives in Tampa.