Mall of America,Wisconsin Dells, Chicago trip

[nikkistevej]

My family's goal is to see all 50 states, these places are the places we will visit for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Any advice on places to stay, waterparks or restaurants we should do. It will be DH and I and DD10. We will probably be flying to Minnesota first, heading to Wisconsin and then to Chicago, then flying home, or we may do the opposite. Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[aladams2]

In Minnesota: Mall of America, Como Zoo (free), Minneapolis Zoo, Valleyfair

In Wisconsin: Dells: Noah's Ark is THE BEST outdoor waterpark; Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge are indoor/outdoor waterpark/hotel; Circus Museum; Pirates Cove Mini golf; Duck tours

In Chicago: Get the City Pass to by pass lines and it gets you into the main museums. We loved the Science Museum the best.

Hope that helps a little . . .

 

[robinb]

When are you planning to go?

 

[Maleficent53]

In MN pick a hotel near MOA - there are dozens, including one with a waterpark if you want it, but since you are going to the Dells, might not be necessary. The light rail train goes from MOA directly to downtown Minneapolis. You can ride it for a couple of bucks, see a little of the surroundings on the way, and spend a night downtown. Go to a Twins game at the new outdoor ballpark (fabulous!). Drive to Minnehaha Falls, the Minnesota Zoo (which has an animated dinosaur exhibit this summer), Valleyfair Amusement park and waterpark, Science Museum in St. Paul. There are lakes and parks everywhere. Both cities are very beautiful and have lots to see and do. But don't tell too many people......we try to keep it a secret!

 

[Maleficent53]

In Wisconsin Dells, there is a Disney outlet store!

 

[connorlevismom]

Mall of America has a hotel "Waterpark of America" next to it that has an indoor waterpark. It is pretty cool. Como Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, if your into outdoors...we have TONS of biking paths all over the city that are great.

 

[nikkistevej]

We are going next summer- don't know which month.

 

[monkeybug]

In the Wisconsin Dells you should check out the Blackhawk Motel. It is NOT fancy, but clean, clean clean! Like unbelievably clean. An outdoor pool, indoor pool (both with small slides, and the perfect temp.), little park, and arcade. You park right in front of the door (which is nice for loading and unloading) and there are two little lawn chairs in front of your room. It's like stepping back in time, but it's perfectly maintained and CHEAP! Read the reviews on tripadvisor! I am a hotel snob and have stayed at very nice places but our whole family LOVEs the Blackhawk! We stayed at Kalahari on one visit and I wish we hadn't.

We liked the drive in movie theater, Paul Bunyan cook shanty (for breakfast), the cheese factory for dinner (yummy! not to be confused with Cheesecake factory), Lost Canyon tours, and of course the Ducks! (though that was a bit pricey I thought)
Rick Wilcox magic show is good! And my kids liked Wizard Quest.
Have fun!

 

[nikkistevej]

Thanks for the information all!!! I am enjoying the planning. Our plans will probably go like this- we will only have a week(we like to do and see alot on our vacation- used to WDW):
Sat- fly into Chicago in the morning, tour the city
Sun- tour Chicago
Mon- leave for Wisconsin Dells in the morning, hang at resorts waterpark (any suggestions for hotel would be great- we were looking at Great Wolf and Kalahari- as suggested)
Tue- outdoor waterpark(DH wants Noah's Ark- glad to know it's the best)
Wed- tour area, resort waterpark, mini golf, etc
Thurs- in the morning drive to MOA
Fri- MOA
Sat- fly home
Any thoughts or suggestions will be helpful.

 

[SaraJayne]

In the Wisconsin Dells you should check out the Blackhawk Motel. It is NOT fancy, but clean, clean clean! Like unbelievably clean. An outdoor pool, indoor pool (both with small slides, and the perfect temp.), little park, and arcade. You park right in front of the door (which is nice for loading and unloading) and there are two little lawn chairs in front of your room. It's like stepping back in time, but it's perfectly maintained and CHEAP! Read the reviews on tripadvisor! I am a hotel snob and have stayed at very nice places but our whole family LOVEs the Blackhawk! We stayed at Kalahari on one visit and I wish we hadn't.

We liked the drive in movie theater, Paul Bunyan cook shanty (for breakfast), the cheese factory for dinner (yummy! not to be confused with Cheesecake factory), Lost Canyon tours, and of course the Ducks! (though that was a bit pricey I thought)
Rick Wilcox magic show is good! And my kids liked Wizard Quest.
Have fun!

The Blackhawk is also within walking distance of downtown.

 

[monkeybug]

If you really want to stay at a waterpark resort I would recommend doing one night there (or how ever many days you plan on using their waterpark) and then switching to somewhere more affordable. The Kalahari was nice, but the room was NOT worth the price! The food wasn't that great either.
We did get a great deal on a cabana! We were there on a day that wasn't so busy and they were discounting them. I asked if I could have the cabana with the private hot tub for $85 and they said yes! It had two flat screen tv's, a HUGE hot tub, tables and chairs, and they delivered food and drinks to us. I put the baby in the pack and play to nap, relaxed in the hot tub while watching tv, and my husband did the water slides with the older kids.

 

[daughtersrus]

If you're flying into Chicago, I assume that you're going to rent a car to drive to WI. Traffic from Chicago on a Monday will be busy. Especially near O'Hare. Will you be going up to Milwaukee or across IL to Rockford? Either way, you'll be on toll roads. Be prepared to pay more and use the manual lanes if you don't have an IPASS. If you go up through Rockford, Exit#1 usually has the best price on gas.

If you're looking for a zoo, Brookfield is much better than Lincoln Park. If you get a chance, try some popcorn from Garrett. We like to mix the cheese with the caramel.

There are 2 radio stations in the Chicago area that sell certificates for attractions, food and lodging the the WI Dells. You can order most of them online and have them mailed to you if you find anything that you like. Google "radio shopping" schaumburg and "radio shopping" aurora for the links or I can send them to you in a PM.

If you don't stay at a hotel with a big water park, my kids like Noah's Ark or Mt Olympus. The Disney outlet is very small but if you go to the mall, be sure to pick up one of the Dells books that can be found for free everywhere (at the rest areas). Tear out the page wit the ad from the outlet mall and bring it to guest service there. They will give you a coupon book at no charge.

If you like to gamble, check out HoChunk. There are some things to do in Baraboo as well. The radio shows usually have discounts for those as well.

Moosejaw is a good restaurant but the pizza isn't as good as we have here in Chicago. Culvers is always good for a quick meal or dessert.

Have a great time.

 

[monkeybug]

Moosejaw is a good restaurant but the pizza isn't as good as we have here in Chicago. Culvers is always good for a quick meal or dessert.

Have a great time.

I can't believe I forgot to mention Mossejaw! Love their homemade root beer and their cheese soup! It's a fun atmosphere too!

 

[nikkistevej]

We are renting a car at O'Hare, and driving to Wisconsin and then Minnesota. We will be using whatever route my GPS takes me- LOL, so not sure what route it will take. I figured there may be some traffic, but being from Baltimore, and driving around there and DC, hopefully no problems. haha We are used to that. Not sure what we are gonna do in Chicago, probably "touristy" type stuff- Navy Pier, John Hancock building, Children's Museum, etc. We definitely want to try some of the local pizza.

 

[nikkistevej]

I can't believe I forgot to mention Mossejaw! Love their homemade root beer and their cheese soup! It's a fun atmosphere too!

Cheese soup sounds good!!

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Consider waiting until you're done with Chicago to rent a car. Parking downtown is expensive at the hotels, and you won't want to use the car to get around the downtown attractions anyway.

Don't try to leave downtown Chicago early on a Monday. It's an exercise in futility. Think about leaving after 10-11 am. If you stay out by the airport, you could leave earlier, but you'll still sit in some traffic.

One of the first things you should do on Saturday is take an architecture cruise. It will give you an overview of the city and is a nice start to your day. Visit a museum or two. Since you're from Baltimore, you could probably skip the aquarium, but you should take a look at the Art Institute. We've got lots of famous paintings here. For seeing the city from a really tall building, have lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of Hancock. It will let you skip the observation deck. Navy Pier usually has fireworks every Saturday night.

For the Dells, look at Wilderness Resort. It has several indoor and outdoor waterparks and decent rooms. As far as I know, they don't sell day passes, so it's less crowded than Kalahari.

 

[nikkistevej]

Consider waiting until you're done with Chicago to rent a car. Parking downtown is expensive at the hotels, and you won't want to use the car to get around the downtown attractions anyway.

Don't try to leave downtown Chicago early on a Monday. It's an exercise in futility. Think about leaving after 10-11 am. If you stay out by the airport, you could leave earlier, but you'll still sit in some traffic.

One of the first things you should do on Saturday is take an architecture cruise. It will give you an overview of the city and is a nice start to your day. Visit a museum or two. Since you're from Baltimore, you could probably skip the aquarium, but you should take a look at the Art Institute. We've got lots of famous paintings here. For seeing the city from a really tall building, have lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of Hancock. It will let you skip the observation deck. Navy Pier usually has fireworks every Saturday night.

For the Dells, look at Wilderness Resort. It has several indoor and outdoor waterparks and decent rooms. As far as I know, they don't sell day passes, so it's less crowded than Kalahari.

Thanks!! Yeah- we weren't gonna try the aquarium, but will def look into the other places!!

 

[tlseege]

My suggestions for Wisconsin Dells
Mon- Stay at the Wilderness. It's awesome. Get a condo and really enjoy the space. TONS of indoor and outdoor water parks. Eat at buffalophilsgrille.com/ for dinner. There is a train that delivers your food to your table. Super cool for kids and we thought the food was pretty darn good.
Tue- Personally, I like Mt Olympus better than Noah's Ark. It's less crowded and has rollar coasters and bumper cars which is a nice way to break up the day. But it also doesn't have as many water slides and such. I would go to Paul Bunyan's for dinner: paulbunyans.com/
Wed- Downtown is awesome for walking around, eating fudge and ice cream. Definitely do mini golf at the pirate's cove. And then for dinner I'd recommend the sunset dinner cruise. It's a great way to see the real Dells and have a wonderful meal: wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attractions/dells-boat-sunset-dinner-cruise/

 

[nikkistevej]

My suggestions for Wisconsin Dells
Mon- Stay at the Wilderness. It's awesome. Get a condo and really enjoy the space. TONS of indoor and outdoor water parks. Eat at buffalophilsgrille.com/ for dinner. There is a train that delivers your food to your table. Super cool for kids and we thought the food was pretty darn good.
Tue- Personally, I like Mt Olympus better than Noah's Ark. It's less crowded and has rollar coasters and bumper cars which is a nice way to break up the day. But it also doesn't have as many water slides and such. I would go to Paul Bunyan's for dinner: paulbunyans.com/
Wed- Downtown is awesome for walking around, eating fudge and ice cream. Definitely do mini golf at the pirate's cove. And then for dinner I'd recommend the sunset dinner cruise. It's a great way to see the real Dells and have a wonderful meal: wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attractions/dells-boat-sunset-dinner-cruise/

All that sounds great, the restaurants look awesome too!!

 

[KateKat23]

Wisconsin Dells is so much fun but I have to agree with others Kalahari is nice but definately not worth the money and we are talking alot of money!! It is insanely busy. We waited an hour for one ride on the indoor water coaster. Next year when we go back to Wisconsin Dells we are for sure looking at either Mt Olympus or Wilderness. All our friends stay there and absolutely love it. They have like 6 waterparks indoor and outdoors.
In downtown Chicago, there is a very fun resturant called Ed Debevics. I don't want to say anymore to ruin it but it is so much fun. The boat tour was great and the John Hancock building was amazing to see. I also enjoyed the FAO Schwartz toy store. We spent hours there.
Minnesota my home state, MOA is pretty cool to see. Nick Universe has some great rides or Valleyfair is a thrilling amusement park...love Renegade. Also Valleyfair has a fun waterpark and IMAX. If you do a drive go to Duluth is a beautiful city. It is about 2 hours from the Cities and so worth a day trip. There are a ton of hotels around the MOA. We are big fan of the Embassy Suites in Bloomington. Great breakfast and a wonderful managers reception in the evening.
You are going to have a great vacation with Chicago, Wisconsin Dells and Minnesota. I think though you have to take a vacation after that just to rest up. Have fun!!