Great Wolf or Kalahari Resorts?

[wlwilliams9]

We are thinking about a mini vacation next weekend to the Great Wolf Lodge or Kalahari Resort. We have never been to either one so I was hoping my fellow DISers could help me out. Which resort do you prefer and why? We have a very adventurous 4 year old and a 6 month old water baby!

TIA

Oh, and do any of you have a discount code?

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

At what location?

The Kalahari at the Dells is different than Sandusky and the Great Wolf in Sandusky is by far differnt than some of the others.

 

[ashleyasiegel]

They are both 2 very different resorts...I have a 2 year old that we have taken to both and she enjoyed both a lot

Great Wolf in Traverse City is a smaller waterpark with really one kiddie area as we had to take her up into the Fort. It only has 3 bigger slides but tons of fun regardless.

Kalahari Sandusky is HUGE!!! Awesome kiddie area and has an outdoor waterpark that my 2 year old LOVED even the bigger slides that are not normally in kiddie areas. There are quite a few bigger/thrilling slides but they do have height restrictions so I would make sure that your 4 year old is tall enough for them. I think that a few of them were 48 inches as my 5 year old niece couldn't ride a few of them.

Now once you do Kalahari it is very hard going back to Great Wolf because of how small it is. I know there are some bigger GWL but not near us as both the Traverse City and Sandusky are the same size. So I am not 100% positive on that but Kalahari Sandusky is America's Largest INDOOR Waterpark so I think it will probably hold true.

Now if you talking about the Kalahari/GWL in Wisconsin - I can't help you there as I haven't been to those ones.

I would go with whatever one is cheaper as your kids will have fun at either If its the adults looking for some thrills then yes to Kalahari.

 

[nexttrip4us]

For us, Kalahari. We (DH, me, our 4 kids and my niece) went to the one in WI this past April and we all LOVED it. It had been 4-5 years since we were there and it was great...a "bit" like being at Animal Kingdom lodge...OK...not really, but in WI it's the best you can do...lol. We've been to Great Wolf in WI too but just didn't like it as much.

 

[wlwilliams9]

Thanks for the input! We are looking at going to the Sandusky, OH resorts because we live in the Metro Detroit area!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Be very careful with Kalahari. Most of the slides are 42" so make sure your 4 yo is tall enough. Some are 48" but not many. The outside area in Kalahari is fun also. Plus they also just added an animal park complete with zip line and climbing wall. Of course seperate admission is required for the animal park. My kids love Kalahari.

The GWL in Sandusky is very small. I seriously wouldn't waste my time that is unless your 4yo isn't 42". We visit Kalahari every year if you need anymore info feel free to PM me.

 

[totsnblocks]

We have only been to the Kalahari in Wisconsin which was six years or so ago but what we factored in was that our kids love the slides and Great Wolf doesn't have very many from pictures I've seen. I agree with the other poster who said it's like AKV which is our DVC home resort which was decided on by how much we loved the decor of Kalahari. Either way it will be a very enjoyable experience so have fun.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

We've been to both and BY FAR........Kalahari!!! It's sooo much better, bigger, more fun!! We won't ever be going back to GWL and are excited to get back to Kalahari this winter!

 

[littlbugmom]

We do a 3 day getaway at Kalahari in Sandusky every year and love it!

We've been to GWL several times and while it's nice, it's just too small. The kiddie area at Kalahari is really nice and MUCH better than GWL.

We also find the specials offered at Kalahari can't be beat.

 

[Sunbeamblue2002]

With the age of your children I would really go with Great Wolf Lodge. Its small and alot more manageable. The rooms were nice and big. It dosn't have alot of the extra's as the other one though so that could be a concern. Also you might want to look into the waterpark hotel at Ceader Point. I have heard that its inbetween both of the parks and I think the Ceader Point one has a wave pool but no lazy river. The lazy river at GWL wasn't very deep or long but it was nice just to ride around. Have fun with whatever you choose.

 

[Welch0319]

I've been to Kalahari twice and LOVED IT EVERYTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cassandrap83]

We go to Kalahari Sandusky two or three times per year. (We live in Pittsburgh)

We have been going since our kids were 1 & 2. Now, they're 3 1/2 & 4 1/2. They love it! Only on our last visit did our oldest try some of the bigger slides, as she was finally tall enough, but the hole in the innertube is too big for her to sit in herself, so we stuck to the water rollercoaster & the family raft ride which has a solid middle.

The kiddie areas, the wave pool, & the hot tubs are plenty of entertainment for all of us.

We rented a cabana one year, and found it to be totally worth it. It was great to be able to have the kids (or my husband) nap without going back to the room. Also, you just pick up the phone & you can have someone deliver food & drinks right to you. There is a refrigerator stocked with water, fresh towels, and a big screen TV. It was great.

We will continue to go back.

 

[sdoll]

We have done both. Our kids are 3 and 5. While I loved Kalahari for Adults. We really wish could have had a chance to do some of it alone. We just went to Great Wolf and had the time of our lives. Our boys were able to do everything and we were able to wait at the bottom of the slides for our little ones. They loved it. I honestly felt safer at Great wolf it wasn't so big. I thought the life guards were awesome they would wistle from the top of the slede to the bottom when our youngest was going down just to give the bottom guard a heads up. Its not that we didn't feel safe at Kalahari. It was just better at Great wolf. Plus while I love the size of Kalahari for us the thought of my kids being out of my sight for a minute at Kalahari freaks me out there are so many hiding spots. The size of great wolf is perfect for younger kids. I can't wait for my kids to grow up so we can really enjoy Kalahari. Oh these were the Sandusky locations.

Have fun!

 

[Pookasaurus]

We’ve been to both and there are things we love about both resorts (dells). However, if we go back while my newest is still an infant (last time we were there I was pregnant with him) I think we’ll be going to GWL. I’m not sure if it was just a fluke when we stayed at Kalahari but the water was cold - really cold. GWL keeps their indoor park nice and warm as well as the water and its easy to go in and out of the water without catching even the slightest hint of a chill. Some of the pools at Kalahari we couldn’t even swim in.

If it wasn’t for that issue and our kids were older I’d probably lean more toward Kalahari overall - there was more to do for my 2 year old “big” slide wise (he is tall for his age) - he could go down slides with DH whereas there were only 2 bigger slides he could go down at GWL and Kalahari also had the indoor amusement park. Kalahari also has these really cute little coconut infant swings that were just adorable. But - with ones so little I’d rather stick with the park that I know the water is going to be the perfect temp at. We couldn’t even really do the splash/spray areas at Kalahari because we ended up freezing. GWL also seemed more little kid friendly to me with several play areas for little ones. I just wish they didn't get rid of wiley's woods (indoor dry play area).

There are codes you can search for online for GWL (usually 20% off) and if you call Kalahari and ask you might be able to get a better rate. When we went they had all sorts of packages for surfing and all sorts of crazy things a 32 week pregnant lady should not be doing so I called and asked if could get a better rate on the room since no basic specials that didn’t involve crazy things were listed. We were able to get a pretty nice rate and were upgraded to a really large family suite upon check in (mid week October, the resort was empty! We were also upgraded at GWL, again resort was pretty empty) - much larger than we needed for just the 3 of us and we didn’t even use half of it.. But it was still nice!