Great Wolf Debuts Social Media First

Great Wolf Connect allows guests to automatically share photos from photo-friendly Paw Posts throughout the resort

Great Wolf Resorts, North America's largest family of indoor waterpark resorts, is debuting a new technology that's a social media first for the industry. Great Wolf Connect allows guests to link the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in their waterpark wristbands with their Facebook accounts to automatically share photos from photo-friendly Paw Posts throughout the resort.

The technology will be launched first at Great Wolf Lodge-Grand Mound, located just off Interstate-5, midway between Portland and Seattle.

This new use of RFID technology allows guests to take photos, which are then automatically posted to their Facebook page throughout their visit.

"Family vacations are what memories are made of, with photos lining the fronts of refrigerators and pages of albums for years," said Steve Shattuck, Corporate Director of Communications at Great Wolf Resorts. "Today, our guests use Facebook as both a virtual post card and a photo album. With technology we already had in place, we were able to make sharing one step easier."

Built by Fish Technologies, Great Wolf Connect uses the RFID technology imbedded in the waterpark's wristbands, which also serve as guests' room keys and in-house charge accounts. After check-in, guests can register their wristband at the Great Wolf Connect kiosks and link it directly to their Facebook account. Then, at five Paw Posts located throughout the resort, guests simply scan their wristband and smile for the digital camera at each spot. That photo – or a general photo of each attraction – and a caption are then automatically posted on the guests' Facebook wall.