O/T--Where to stay in the WI Dells??

[ekatiel]

So, I've got DH convinced that we can spend two days in the Dells after we visit his family this summer. We have two preschool boys and woule like to stay at a Waterpark resort. The best deal I've found from a "major" resort is $299 total for the two nights at Kalahari, including admission to their waterpark and all day passes to their indoor theme park. The other biggies like Wilderness and Great Wolf are running at least $350 for the two nights, if not more. There are other smaller hotels, that basically look like a hotel with a fancy pool to me from what I can tell on the pics. These are cheaper, and we could probably get away with $250 total, or even less, and these offer free passes to Mt Olympus-- the names I've seen with this offer are the Atlantis (seems like the higer end of the smaller "waterparks") all the way down to the Carousel Inn (which just looks like it has a fancy pool). Anyhow, which of our options is best for preschool boys? TIA!--Katie

 

[jen2207]

If you are going in June - I'd make sure you stay someplace with an indoor waterpark, because June can still be chilly and waterpark water isn't heated. So little ones could be colder easily.

Kalahari is really nice, you cant go wrong really. I personally prefer the Wilderness because they have so many choices of places to stay and parks to go to. We opt for the villas or townhomes often because it has a kitchen and the money we save on food cost easily covers the increased room cost. Also a tip for wilderness, check their rates ongoing..... the closer to the date you want to go the better - they will slash prices for rates that a week away - trying to fill the room. I know I have gotten 2 br condos for less than $250/nt in June and July dates.

If you want a cheaper hotel stay, then you can stay at one of the discount hotels too - I think there is a super 8 etc. then just buy a day pass for the water park - I think they are maybe $10/day??? I cant remember. My sister took her brownie troop there and they did it that way because it was so much cheaper for them to go.

Have fun!!

 

[aladams2]

We live 1 1/2 hours from the Dells and we love the Kalahari. The Wilderness is nice but it is VERY spead out. We did not care for that. We also liked the Great Wolf. If you wanted to stay at a "cheaper hotel and go to an outdoor water park, you definately have to go to Noah's Ark. It's the best!!

 

[tinkmom2]

If you stay at the Kalahari just make sure you don't get a "Sand" room. It is sooo far away from the water park. We have stayed at the Polynesian too. It is a older hotel but we had a great time. The food isn't that great there though. They usually have deals online so I would try to get on their mailing lists. The HOJO is also nice if you have smaller kids but the bigger kids may get bored. It has an adult pool, a kiddie pool with a water slide and an outside pool with slides.

 

[KNJWDW]

We live a couple hours from the Dells and go there a few times a year. The Kalahari is my favorite waterpark hotel. It definitley has more of a resort feel to it. The Great Wolf is pretty nice. They have themed rooms to choose from. My kids like the bunk bed rooms. The Wilderness is okay, but as a pp mentioned, it is very spread out. I would stay away from the Carousel and Atlantis hotels - not much to do there. A few years ago, we stayed at the Polynesian. The room was dirty - found someone else's dirty socks in the room! The deal you got for the Kalahari sounds like a keeper to me.

Amy

 

[El&Asmom]

We love the Wilderness hotel. Yes it's spread out, but you can get to most places easily by cutting through the hotel or parking lot.
I agree with continuing to check rates. They change the rates on a daily basis. We just keep calling until we get a rate that works for us.
We go every summer, but realized just how expensive the Dells are last year. We did two nights camping in a little cabin on a campground, and two nights at the Wilderness. For what we paid, we could have gone to WDW and used out DVC points. Airfare would have been cheaper and we have APs.
The kids like it though, and it's a quick getaway from Chicago.

 

[susykt4]

Kalahari rocks! Tons of stuff for every age group!

 

[eduk8r26]

We went to Wisconsin Dells about 5 years ago and stayed offsite. We bought a daypass for Kalahari and at athat time it was something like $40 per person. If you don't get there early, you run the risk of day passes being sold out. That happened to us the first day.

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

DH and I stayed at the Polynesian for a few days in December. I wouldn't recommend it. The pictures online are very deceptive and it makes it look like the indoor waterparks are huge. Well, they aren't! The rooms are old and the halls are noisey with people running back and forth to the pools. They also had a weird wristband policy for the pool. If you lose your wristband in the pool or it falls off, it's $20 for a new one. I don't think so!

I would say a bigger resort may give you more options especially because the weather can be tricky in early summer. We always check out Tripadvisor.com for reviews, especially for the Dells! There are usually a few funny stories or interesting mishaps by other travelers. Have fun!

 

[Colleen27]

We love Kalahari. We've stayed at the one in the Dells once and were absolutely thrilled when they built one in Sandusky (OH) which is *much* closer for us. Now we go once or twice a year for mini-vacations. We've stayed at about a dozen indoor waterpark resorts in various places, and Kalahari is without a doubt the best overall. It has much more of a relaxing resort feel than a lot of kid-oriented hotels, very well themed and not as loud.

 

[Madzac]

Our family LOVES the Kalahari!!! IT is our favorite resort at the Dells. Lots of fun things to do including for kids. The rooms are very nice and food good. They have a really neat craft room with many kids activities daily that are free as well my kids liked.

The Wilderness is nice, but very spread out... too much so for us with young kids. My brother and his wife prefer the Chula Vista resort there for young children. They think it is more kid friendly. We havent tried it yet as we always end up back at Kalahari!!!

 

[Dakylin]

We stayed at the Polynesian in 2005 and liked it...
My kids were 4 yrs old and 20 months old at the time. I thought the indoor waterparks were the perfect size for little kids. (Probably not teens though) We didn't get to use the outdoor stuff, (we went in May) but it looked good...

 

[jackal]

I would recommend the Wilderness or Kalahari. The Great Wolf is great as well, but the outdoor pool is very small with not many things to do outside. The indoor pools are great, however. I would not and I mean NOT recommend the Mt. Olympus hotel. If I were you, I would stay away from that area all together. There are a lot of very rude, mean, sassy, disrepectful teens that go there with no supervision. We went 3 years in a row about a few years ago and my DD11 was traumatized on the go carts with these teen boys cutting her off and hitting into her. There were so many other incidents and we will never go back there.

If you want a family friendly hotel with great water pools, I would go with Wilderness or Kalahari. I would stay away from the "cheaper" hotels there. They are not very clean and are just your basic swimming pools.

Stay away from Mt Olympus!!!! You could go to a cheaper hotel that has tickets to NOah's Ark. Noah's Ark is fun.

We go every year, sometimes twice or more. Chula Vista is also very nice and cheaper than Kalahari and Wilderness. It's on the outskirts of the Dells but it has very nice water parks both indoor and outdoor.

 

[jackal]

Also, the Wilderness and Kalahari and Great wolf have great indoor play areas for the kids when they are tired of the water. Wilderness has techno golf and lazer tag and a huge play area with an arcade. They even have go karts now indoors as well. Kalahari and Great Wolf have some really nice indoor/dry activities as well.

 

[mom2two]

We have stayed at both the Kalahari and the Wilderness and actually prefer the Wilderness. With sooo much to do at the Wilderness and the various indoor waterparks it tends to spread the guests out a bit more than the Kalahari. At the Wilderness there is an indoor jungle gym/ball pit area that is wonderful for in the evenings when the kids are tired and you just don't want to get wet again after dinner. This is one feature I sorely miss when we are at the Kalahari. The Wilderness has also added a indoor mini golf course and this summer is adding an outdoor mini golf course and go carts. Sign up on the wilderness website to receive email discounts and postcards. As the other people have said it is spread out but we would bring a umbrella stroller for the walks back to our room. My vote is for the Wilderness but the Kalahari is wonderful too!

 

[dmanwi]

48 hour sale at the Wilderness in Wi dells. Wed 20-21st.
extra 20-30% off best available rates. valid now-Sept 3rd.
1-night 20% off
2-nights 20% off
3-nights 30% off

promo code is r48hour

not sure if you need a pin code or anything else to get this rate.

 

[binab]

Use code 'SPLASHERS' for $25 off each night at any Great Wolf Lodge. I think you have to present a receipt for Pampers Splashers, but that would still be worth the savings (and with preschool boys, you might be buying those anyway!) greatwolf.com/splashers

Have fun planning!

 

[El&Asmom]

The other thing I forgot to mention as to why we like the Wilderness is that it is set back along the woods area. The other two are set up right next to the highway. It just seems more peaceful there then at the other two.

 

[ekatiel]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. We decided to go with the deal at Kalahari. I'm excited! I can't believe I've been married to Wisconsin-Boy DH for almost 7 years, and he's never told me about the Dells ! He proabably figured he'd be out too much money everytime we went up to visit his folks . He was probably right ! --Katie

 

[jackal]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. We decided to go with the deal at Kalahari. I'm excited! I can't believe I've been married to Wisconsin-Boy DH for almost 7 years, and he's never told me about the Dells ! He proabably figured he'd be out too much money everytime we went up to visit his folks . He was probably right ! --Katie

Katie, I can tell you, we went to the Dells 10 years straight and then I figured out I could go to Disney for longer and cheaper. We haven't been to the Dells in three years now but continue to go to Disney once or twice a year now. The Dells is VERY expensive. From food to lodging. Very