Wisconsin Dells

[pnutmnm]

This year we are limited (both time and $$$) for a vacation. We are going to spend the 4th of July weekend up at our family house and we thought that we would stay 2 nights in the Dells on the way home (which would be July 7-9).

I am looking at 3 different hotels/resorts and was wondering if anyone had any input on these:

Rome Hotel at Mount Olympus (Includes all attached parks)
Wilderness
Chula Vista

I found a good deal for Chula Vista ($159) Ultimate Family Fun

Package Includes:
Guest Room
$25 Dining Voucher (Valid at ANY Chula Vista Resort Restaurant)
$20 Gift Store Credit (Valid on ANY Chula Vista branded merchandise)
100 Arcade Tokens
1 Large Pizza from Luigi’s Pizza
2 Games of Bowling at Chalet Lanes, Downtown Dells. (Shoe rental required)
Unlimited Mini-Golf at Chula Vista’s Superstitions Springs
2 Kid Tickets to either the Original Wisconsin Dells Ducks OR the Wisconsin Dells Jet Boats
Kids eat free at Market Fresh Buffet (with paid adult)


Just don't know which would be more fun for two boys ages 12 and 15.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

My only experience with any of those has been the Wilderness. It's great if the pricetag doesn't bother you. My kids LOVE the waterpark.



Rome will be packed because of the Mt Olympus deal, and Mt Olympus will be REALLY packed because so many other hotels offer free tickets for the length of stay.



Chula sounds the best to me, especially with all the discounts.

 

[jldunbar]

Have stayed at Mt Olympus and the condo/townhomes at Wilderness.

With kids your age I would recommend Mt Olympus due to the theme parks. They also have free mini-golf. The parks are so spread out you do not even notice the number of guests.

 

[opharbour]

Only guests at Fort Wilderness can use the Fort Wilderness facilities while Mt. Olympus is open to the public.

This being said, Mt. Olympus in my opinion does offer more variety. Mt. Olympus is essentially comprised of what used to be known as Family Land along with the go-cart tracks (and now roller coasters).

4th of July will be very crowded at Wisconsin Dells, though, so staying at a resort that is only open to resort guests might hold some appeal.

For me, I would probably look for a cheaper place to stay and then go to Noah's Ark, Riverview Park, and many of the other attractions that the Wisconsin Dells has to offer.

 

[X and G's mom]

I'm seconding how busy it will be! I used to work in WI Dells during the summer. I worked at Noah's Ark.

Chula Vista is a little out of the way from the Dells on the North side of town, on the outskirts. It was updated with the waterpark not too many years ago. I would either go with Chula, or find another hotel to stay at and go to Noah's Ark (Still my favorite). My kids (13 and almost 12) LOVE LOVE LOVE Noah's Ark. If you go the Noah's route there is Pizza Pub right across the street and they have pretty good food.

The Chula pkg does sound pretty good too.

 

[unicorngirl]

We love the Chula Vista. It is a little north of town, so it is a bit quieter and away from all of the Honky Tonk, without being too out of the way. They have a nice indoor and outdoor waterpark. They are right on the river, so you have a beautiful view and you can see the boats go by depending on where your room is. I would recommend it if you would like a place that is a tad removed with nice scenery. If you want to be right on the strip in the midst of it all, then try somewhere else. It is just personal preference.

 

[KLAIT]

I have stayed at all 3 and all are good in their own way. It all depends on what you are looking for. Olympus has the advantage of having the huge waterpark on site with lots of options, however in July it will be really crowded because as a previous poster said, LOTS of hotels partner up with Olympus and there are people everywhere. The hotel itself is really not that close to the outdoor waterpark but it does have roller coasters and go carts.

We prefer the Wilderness as it has so many different options from thrill seekers to more relaxing activities. Again, as a previous poster mentioned, it is only open to hotel guests and has so many indoor and outdoor waterparks that people seem spreadout. We like this hotel over the Chula Vista as the outdoor waterparks are tons better than the Chula Vista

Chula Vista is OK, but there is very limited in their outdoor waterpark. It has a small regular pool that is REALLY crowded and a few top thrill rides outside and that is about it. No outdoor lazy river, etc. Inside is pretty nice if you prefer to spend your time inside. There is a water-coaster and about 5 or 6 waterslides as well as a lazy River.

Another option would be the Flamingo..it is NOT a great hotel by any means, but there are newer buildings in the back that are not bad. These rooms also come with 2 admission tickets to Noahs Ark and is really close...this is one of the only hotels that partner with Noahs Ark.

 

[mrspaha]

Although it's been a while since we've been up there, we always LOVED the Wilderness over the others. If you're kids like waterparks, the Wilderness is the place to go. They also used to have cheaper rates midweek, which might work out with your timetable. Once there, we seldom went anywhere else -- there's plenty to do there, and if the weather is bad, they have fantastic indoor facilities too. All the rooms have microwaves and refrigerators, so you can save a lot by having some meals in your room. Also, you used to be able to use the waterparks the entire day, even after you checked out, so you get a little more bang for your buck there too.

 

[Zoemakes5]

With boys your kids' age.....the only place I'd recommend are Wilderness or Kalahari, unless you want to pay for Noah's Ark instead of staying at the hotel. Edited to add: Just remembered, Noah's Ark closes at dusk every night, while the hotels with the indoor pools will often stay open until 9pm or later. With older kids, we appreciated having some place to go after the sun went down, even though we really liked Noah's Ark.

The water is warmer, the bottom of the wave pool is smooth instead of concrete rough, and there's a HUGE indoor area if the weather takes a bad turn. There's also enough fun rides and slides.

 

[nilseks]

We have been to all of them. They all have their own merits and bad things about them too, I guess.

As far as the actual hotel goes, Chula is my favorite. In my opinion the rooms are the nicest. The suites w/ full kitchens are great and if you bring some food with you, you can really save money that way (although I generally don't b/c I like to eat out on vacation). I agree with the other poster, the indoor waterpark probably won't satisfy your older boys. There are definitely some thrill slides on the outside though.

We used to love the Wilderness but after our last experience there over the winter, I will not go back. We went over Christmas break and it was so filthy--really gross. Bandaids floating everywhere in the water, hair everywhere, filthy water on all the stairs in the INDOOR waterparks. Granted it was over a very busy time...but consider the fact that it will be equally busy when you are there. I have no interest in returning there.

My kids love the theme park stuff at Mt. Olympus. They love all of the different go-kart rides. Their new 'value hotel' on property just opened up and I got a great deal there for mid-June. You can go onto their web site and do Priceline-style bidding for rooms. I went on and bid $95/night for the 4 of us (that includes waterpark and theme park admission) and they accepted it. The hotel is brand new so I can't speak to that yet, but for a 2 night vacation in the Dells for under $200, so far I am pleased!!!

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Well, if I had to choose based on the ones you gave me, I would say the HOTEL ROME. Because your kids are older, they have plenty of thrill rides such as roller coasters, go karts, big water slides, etc.

My LEAST fave out of the 3 is definitely Chula Vista. It is much farther out of town.....just not the best place imo.

 

[tazdeb]

If you dont stay at Mt Olympus, dont drive past it. Once your boys see the 7 rollercoasters, 12 go cart tracks, posiden wave pool (like Typhoon Lagoon) etc....there going to be mad your not going there. Go to their web site and you will see that they have deals with many lower priced hotels if that is an issue. That said, thier inside water park cannot compare with the Wilderness. I'd suggest staying at the Wilderness and at least spending 1 nice day in Mt. Olympus. Be sure to ride the ducks!!!!!!

 

[BrightI's]

We prefer Chula Vista because it's a couple miles out of town and away from all the action of downtown. It's much quieter than any of the other places.

You can still go to Mt. Olympus without staying at Hotel Rome.

 

[bjscheel]

We will be at Wilderness that weekend! It's so hard to choose, but we liked the condo in Glacier Canyon Lodge- it had the perfect setup for our family and SIL's. We plan to try the new zip line. We will have kids age 4, 7, 8, 11.

They all have great and horrible reviews, hopefully we will have fun!

 

[elizke]

Well? How was it?

Searching for Dells info and found this. I'm trying to decide for Labor Day weekend. We like going then, as things start to really slow down.

Last time we stayed at Atlantis (great for their ages at the time, but now need alittle more) and went to Noah's Ark (which we really enjoyed - not overbig), but I'd like more mature hotel water rides this time. Not sure we can afford Wilderness, and definitely not Kalahari. So I was thinking of Rome or Chula Vista (best deal).

My kids are 11 and 14, but I wouldn't say they are big thrill-seekers. Not sure if we really need a mega waterpark...

Any more reviews?

 

[bjscheel]

Not the OP, but one of the posters here...we had a great time at Wilderness. The condo in Glacier Canyon Lodge was fantastic and much better than putting our two families in two regular hotel rooms. It was July 4th weekend, but the crowds were fine. We did the zip line which was great, and the Original Wisconsin Ducks were one of my favorite activities. Wilderness itself was quite clean and lots of fun for age 11 and 7 sort-of-thrillseekers, and age 8 and 4 tame-seekers We hit almost every waterpark and the dry playpark, and the laser tag. It was all good!

 

[pnutmnm]

We had a fabulous time at the Wilderness!! The first day was slightly overcast in the morning. We hiked over to the wave pool and spent most of the day over there. We did venture to do other slides while there, but not til later when the sun came out. Then we explored to the Jurassic (?) area for a while and then headed back to our pool - which was right outside our door!!!

We had a double queen with a sofa. It was perfect. We were at the Wild West section.

We would definitely go back!

 

[elizke]

Thanks so much both of you! Guess I'll have to keep looking for Wilderness deals....

 

[mnrose]

Well? How was it?

Searching for Dells info and found this. I'm trying to decide for Labor Day weekend. We like going then, as things start to really slow down.

Last time we stayed at Atlantis (great for their ages at the time, but now need alittle more) and went to Noah's Ark (which we really enjoyed - not overbig), but I'd like more mature hotel water rides this time. Not sure we can afford Wilderness, and definitely not Kalahari. So I was thinking of Rome or Chula Vista (best deal).

My kids are 11 and 14, but I wouldn't say they are big thrill-seekers. Not sure if we really need a mega waterpark...

Any more reviews?

Take a look at ebay under "Glacier Canyon Wisconsin Dells." There are some pretty good deals on Presidential units (which are REALLY nice...super deluxe), and include water park passes. I saw one for two nights labor day weekend (Sat and Sun night) for $625. Considering that includes up to 6 water park passes for three days (Sat, Sun and Mon), and it's a presidential unit, that is a very good price.

If you could possibly go the following week (which I know is hard with schools), you get deals that are ridiculously low...as in $500 for a 4 BR presidential for 4 nights. We did that last Feb with a group of 4 families...each family had one room...worked out great) and it was less than $125 for each family for M-F. Doesn't get cheaper than that!

HTH.

 

[elizke]

Take a look at ebay under "Glacier Canyon Wisconsin Dells." There are some pretty good deals on Presidential units (which are REALLY nice...super deluxe), and include water park passes. I saw one for two nights labor day weekend (Sat and Sun night) for $625. Considering that includes up to 6 water park passes for three days (Sat, Sun and Mon), and it's a presidential unit, that is a very good price.

If you could possibly go the following week (which I know is hard with schools), you get deals that are ridiculously low...as in $500 for a 4 BR presidential for 4 nights. We did that last Feb with a group of 4 families...each family had one room...worked out great) and it was less than $125 for each family for M-F. Doesn't get cheaper than that!

HTH.

I'll check that out; thanks for the info. You got a great deal!

We definitely have to go Labor Day weekend unfortunately, but still I'll keep looking for some deals!