Wisconsin Dells Family Vacation
May 12-May 16 2024
6 months of planning
Only 3 hours in the car
13 People
We stayed in the 5 Bedroom Retreat Cabin at The Wilderness Lodge. We had 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, family room and a full kitchen. It had an amazing deck and we were only close to one other cabin. We watched Deer and Turkey in the woods and the birds chirped all morning. The kitchen had everything we needed.
The Wi-Fi was super slow and it took almost 2 full days for the air conditioner to kick on. The entire cabin is in need of an update BUT it was perfect for everyone. We had a shuttle on demand to any of the onsite waterparks
They have 3 indoor waterparks. The two main parks are open every other day.
Klondike Kavern Waterpark
Bonanza Brook: a 400 foot lazy river
Thoughts: This is the laziest river ever. Most will have a great flow that will send you around. This one was terrible and you had to make your own flow
Bonanza Bluff, 50 play & spray features, a 750-gallon tipping bucket, a 20 foot body slide and a 4 foot side-by-side children's slide
Thoughts: We didn't really go into this one, however it's in the middle of the park. It looks really fun for younger kids
The Hurricane, extreme thrill slide, a 4-person family raft ride
Thoughts; First you will claim so many stairs to get to this one, by the time you get up your legs are burning! Second, this was super scary at least for me! That didn't stop me from going back up several times
Mine Shaft Drop, two twisting 300-foot body slides
Thoughts: Only one of these was open, the line design is terrible as you go up the same as another tube slide, but there are separate lines. It was super fun and the only body slide at this park
Claim Jumper Challenge, two 400-foot tube slides
Thoughts: Only one of these was open and this was the tube slide that shared a line with the Mine Shaft Drop. This was a super gentle slide but fun
Sulfur Springs, Indoor/Outdoor hot spa (No children under the age of six.)
Thoughts: This was nice and the indoor/outdoor was really nice, however the kids will swim in this, it's a bit irritating and I only went in once.
Ore Shoot, Indoor/Outdoor basketball activity pool
Thoughts: My kids, both big and small spent some time in this one. They had a blast! This area has an attendant that will blow the whistle
INSIDER
TIP: Shortcut From Klondike Kavern to Wild WaterDome:
Look
for the enclosed skywalk at the back of the Klondike Kavern
(near the Hurricane stairs) that connects this park with the back of
the Wild WaterDome. Avoid the hotel hallways and get there quicker
for more fun!
Wild Water Dome
The Great Wave: The nation's largest indoor wave pool.
Thoughts: I didn't go into this, the kids that did said it really wasn't anything special
The Dueling Mammoths family raft rides
Thoughts: I walked all the way over from the other park and up the stairs to go on this one. It was really fun
Wild West Waterpark
Ransack Ridge, children’s play & spray feature
Thoughts: This looked the same as the other park with a different theme
The Black Hole is an adrenaline-pumping thrill slide with a big descent, followed by plenty of spins before you are dropped into the unknown
Thoughts: This was a single rider and a few people in our group were over the weight limit. This was the type of slide that shoots you into a bowl
High Plains Hot Springs, indoor/outdoor hot spa (No children under the age of six.)
Thoughts: Like the other one, people let their kids swim in this!
Fantastic Voyage, a 4-person raging raft ride
Thoughts: This was fun, it wasn't a thrill type slide
Twisted Trails, dueling tube slides
Thoughts: This was fun, you raced the person next to you.
Warped Wagons, dueling mat racers
Thoughts: This was a belly slide that you went down on a mat, it was fun if you don't mind all the water in your face.
We spent the most amount of time in Klondike Kavern just based on when we had waterpark time. We definitely purchased overly priced resort cup drinks and refilled them (They are really delicious)
We of course ate food. We went to traditional places like Hooters and the The Cracker Barrel, both which are always delicious. We did eat out at new to us places.
Buffalo Phils Grille
Train Delivered Food at Buffalo Phil's Restaurant in Wisconsin Dells (buffalophilsgrille.com)
This place is connected to Knuckleheads and it's an easy walk through to each place. We only ate here.
A member of our group found this place via tick-tock videos as the atmosphere is very neat. There are lego's everywhere and they literally have a train that brings most drinks and food.
You will pay tourist area prices for this place and get mediocre service and food. I wish we would have gone in for just drinks as the drinks and lego's were amazing.
Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty
Home - Paul Bunyans - Wisconsin Dells (dellspaulbunyans.com)
We ate here on our way out of the Dells. I had low expectations and I don't normally eat breakfast. Since you have to pay before you can sit and it's all you can eat I dove right in.
I was not disappointed at all! This place is delicious and it's not pricey. You eat at picnic tables and all the food is served family style so you pass bowls aren't.
They have an amazing gift shop that I got the best squirrel from!
Downtown Dells Activities
Olde Abe's Old Time Portraits
Old Time Photos Wisconsin Dells | Old Abe’s Old Time Portraits WI (oldabes.com)
With many old time photo studio's to choose from we came here. We had the most amazing time and the staff was super friendly. This place is pricey as I'm sure they all are but 100% worth it
Top Secret Attraction
This is part of Mount Olympus Park. The sign claims “$5” and there is a reason why it's only $5 as you will get through this in 5 minutes. The coolest thing is the transformers in the parking lot. Don't waste your time, it's dirty, the floors are uneven and half the lights don't work.
Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf
Pirates Cove (piratescovewisdells.com)
We went mini golfing with a group of 13 and choose the hardest course.
This is a very reasonably priced place with about 4 or 5 different courses to choose from. We had a great time and it wasn't busy at all.
Alligator Alley Adventures
I wanted to start by saying this place was super suspect. The lady working was very friendly and knowledgeable. It's very small and they have about 16 alligators in the smallest tank ever. In fact, almost all the animals are in too small of tanks.
You can pay extra to feed the alligators and some snakes. They have a two headed snake which was interesting.
It's a very short attraction that doesn't cost too much to go through however I'm on the fence as to weather we should have supported this place with admission.
We went out to Go Cart. We understood that we were here during off season and everything wasn't open yet, however one place in particular stated they were open, verified by owner 7 days prior, we drive over and they were in fact not open. I'm talking to you Yeti Yard!
Adare Go Carts
They advertise as the “Fastest carts in the area”, they were indeed pretty fast and super fun! It was about $6 and we paid for double. They let us ride for over our 10 minute limit!
The carts are good sized for both tall and shorter people, they are comfortable and ride very nice. The course is also super cool
Big Chief Go Karts
These were open and also very reasonably priced. The track wasn't as big as the Adare.
These carts were a bit harder to drive for both short and tall people.
The day we left the Dell's, we drove to The House on the Rock. I will have a separate entry for this as I feel it deserves it!
Ending Vacation Thoughts:
We planned this as a group with some of our kids friends. This was all fine however there was some turmoil before hand that carried over a bit during. All in all it wasn't too bad and everyone was able to get along for the week.
We chose the Wilderness because they have cabins. It doesn't appear that any other resort has this option. They have several different options. The one we chose was only next to one other cabin of the same type. It was secluded otherwise and the woods were our backyard. It was super cool to watch deer just walk through.
We had access to a shuttle to all the things available in the resort. We called, told them how many people and where we wanted to go and they picked us up and dropped us off. It was really nice, although dispatch was something else! They always sounded like we were bothering them when we called for the shuttle, the drivers were always super cool.
We drank the overpriced drinks and enjoyed every second of it!
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