Great Wolf Lodge will open its newest resort in Naples, Florida, on Sept. 25, 2026, marking the chain’s first property in South Florida and a $250 million investment in the region, according to a report from the Naples Press. The resort includes 500 suites and a 92,000-square-foot indoor water park under one roof.
Key Points
- The Naples property opens Sept. 25, 2026, as Great Wolf Lodge’s first South Florida location, per the Naples Press.
- The project represents a $250 million investment, with 500 guest suites on site.
- Its indoor water park spans 92,000 square feet, operating year-round regardless of outdoor weather.
- The development is expected to create more than 600 jobs in the Naples area.
- Great Wolf Lodge’s existing footprint is concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast, so a Southwest Florida location is a departure from the brand’s usual map.
If you’ve ever driven past a Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells or the Poconos, you already know the pitch: a self-contained resort where the water slides, wave pools, and arcade are indoors, so a Midwest snowstorm or a Northeast cold snap never cancels the trip. That’s the model the company is now testing in a state where outdoor pools already run twelve months a year, which makes the Naples opening a genuine strategic bet rather than a simple copy-paste expansion.
The scale of the investment signals how seriously the company is treating the Southern market. A $250 million build with 500 suites puts the Naples location among the larger properties in the Great Wolf portfolio, and the 92,000-square-foot water park gives families a reason to book a stay even when it’s warm enough outside for the beach.
For Naples and greater Collier County, the more than 600 jobs tied to the opening extend beyond lifeguards and front-desk staff to food service, maintenance, and hospitality management roles that typically come with a resort of this size. Local tourism officials have leaned on hotel and resort development in recent years to diversify an economy long anchored by beach tourism and golf.
What’s notable is the timing. Late September sits just past the traditional end of Florida’s wet season and ahead of the winter snowbird rush, giving the resort a runway to work out operations before its first true high season. Families driving in from Tampa, Orlando, or Miami won’t need to wait for a rainy day to justify the trip, since the appeal here has never depended on the weather outside. For a brand built around indoor water play as a snowstorm workaround, opening in a place where snowstorms don’t happen says as much about where Great Wolf Lodge sees its next customers as the price tag does.
