Mashantucket ― Great Wolf Lodge, the much-anticipated regional attraction that’s been under construction next to Foxwoods Resort Casino, will open Friday, May 23, three weeks earlier than projected.

Construction work has advanced faster than expected, enabling Chicago-based Great Wolf Resorts to move up the $300 million waterpark resort’s scheduled debut, a Great Wolf official said Thursday in a phone interview.

During a “topping out” ceremony this past June, Great Wolf officials said they were targeting a June 15 opening.

The earlier date is the start of Memorial Day weekend.

Great Wolf, which has been booking rooms at the resort for months, is now accepting reservations for the additional dates, said Henry Tessman, the property’s general manager.

Tessman, who said he recently moved to Preston to be near the resort site, managed the opening 10 years ago of the Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg, Mass., the only other Great Wolf Lodge in New England. The Great Wolf Lodge at Mashantucket will be Great Wolf Resorts’ 23rd lodge. Its first, in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., opened in 1997. It opened one a couple of months ago in Naples, Fla.

The Mashantucket lodge, being built on Mashantucket Pequot reservation land Great Wolf Resorts is leasing from the Indian tribe that owns Foxwoods, will be larger than the Fitchburg facility, Tessman said.

The resort’s hotel will have 549 rooms, all of them suites that can accommodate from five to 10 or more people. The resort will offer 92,000 square feet of waterpark activities and 62,000 square feet of “dry play” attractions, including a rope course, an arcade and bowling. The lodge will have a 5,000-square-foot ballroom for groups and meetings, a variety of food-and-beverage options, retail outlets and daily entertainment that culminates in “The Legend of Luna,” an immersive LED show.

Tessman said features unique to the Mashantucket lodge include the “Pequot Plunge,” a water ride involving rafts that can hold up to five people, some “pretty good drops” and “quick turns,” and “Rapid Racer,” in which guests will ride inner tubes down side-by-side water slides and experience a “watercoaster.”

While patrons can buy full- and half-day passes to the water park, Great Wolf is promoting overnight stays.

“If you stay one night, you get two days at the resort,” Tessman said. “Come at 1 p.m. and we’ll text you when your room’s ready. When you check out the next day, put your luggage in the car and stay all day at the park.”

Great Wolf expects many of its guests to visit Foxwoods.

“We complement other attractions very well,” Tessman said. “We’ll complement Foxwoods greatly because of the family attractions and food-and-beverage there as well. In Massachusetts, we’re next to a Wachusett Mountain ski resort. In Williamsburg (Va.), we’re near Busch Gardens (a theme park), and we’re near casinos in Grand Mound, Wash., and Scottsdale (Ariz.). We do have experience operating next to large attractions.”

Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket’s standard room rates start at $199.99 per night.

The resort’s celebrating its revised opening date by offering a discount of 25% off standard rates for a single night stay and 30% off multiple night stays. To get the discount, book before Nov. 30. The discount is valid for stay dates through Dec. 31, 2025. Guests can book by visiting greatwolf.com or by calling 1-888-983-WOLF (9653) and using the promo code, SLIDES.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com