Wisconsin Dells

My husband and I made a deal this year. He wanted to take the family to Oshkosh, I have always wanted to go to the Wisconsin Dells, so he said if we went with him to Oshkosh, we could spend a couple of days at the Dells. We love water parks, even before we had kids we liked to go to water parks together. Our kids both love the water and we swim with them often in our pond and in local pools.

Kalahari from the air

Getting there was a breeze from Oshkosh. The flight was maybe 25 minutes and very smooth the day we left. I thought there would be lots of people from Oshkosh at the Dells, it just seems like a logical vacation extension to me if you are going all the way up there with the family to stop at a water park on the way home. However, the airport was relatively deserted when we arrived. We flew into the Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells Municipal Airport (KDLL), they have very nice facilities and friendly staff. We were able to get a free shuttle to our hotel from there, actually several hotels will send a shuttle out to the airport to pick you up free of charge, which is always a big plus for my husband because he is cheap and never wants to rent a car/pay for transportation. We have walked very far distances to avoid paying for transportation, so I was a little relieved that the shuttle was available because after all "the water parks look so close to the airport" and I was afraid we would be doing some walking.

I spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which water park to stay at. We could have stayed at another hotel and just visited a water park or two, but with an 18 month old (who definitely still needs a daytime nap) and no car, I figured we were better off staying somewhere with a water park attached. I narrowed it down to Kalahari, Great Wolf Lodge, and Wilderness Resort. They were all almost exactly the same price for the days we were staying and the accommodations we needed. I ultimately chose the Kalahari by a process of elimination. We would only be staying for two days and the Wilderness Resort is HUGE with multiple water parks and amusement parks, I did not want to be overwhelmed. We live fairly close to Cincinnati where there is another Great Wolf Lodge resort so I decided to give the Kalahari a try. We were not disappointed at all. We loved the African theme (I am a big sucker for a good theme), the rooms were very comfortable, the staff was friendly, there were restaurants within walking distance, and the water parks were great.

So Big!

Our room was nice, nothing fancy, but nice. We had two beds and a fold out sofa. There was plenty of room for our kids and all of our things. I love when a hotel has a mini fridge, which this one did, it just makes things so much easier. The breakfast buffet was really great and the price was not terrible. We ate there every morning. The Kalahari water parks were so fun, with lots to do for both of our little ones.  If you have a child under three head straight to the back of the indoor water park as soon as you arrive, this was by far the best play area for little ones, with slides just Ella's size, animals that spouted water, and even a mini lazy river that she LOVED (both of my kids loved the mini lazy river and actually played together, which is very rare!) We did not spend a great deal of time outside, Nolan preferred the indoor slides and play areas, but there was plenty to do out there as well. Nolan was tall enough to ride almost every slide, there were only one or two that had a pretty high height requirement. Kalahari also has an indoor "amusement park" with go carts, high ropes course, merry go round, ferris wheel and arcade games. Ella was allowed on the rides for free because she was little and rode the merry go round so many times. Nolan loved the go carts and arcade games!


Our second evening there we decided to go the Buffalo Phil's for dinner which was "just across the street" according to my husband. Well, this "street" was really a four lane highway with no crosswalk, so we did some car dodging with the stroller and made it there safely. Not a very far walk, but I would not recommend to everyone to attempt to cross large highways with little kids all of the time. Buffalo Phil's big claim to fame is the train area where toy trains deliver food directly to your table. Since this was the main reason we had come, we decided to wait an hour for the train section. Really, it was worth the wait, the kids loved the trains and it is a really cool set up, what a great idea for a restaurant! The food was decent too, our family got a whole roasted chicken that came with four sides which was plenty for us! Afterwards we went to the adjacent arcade and play area. The kids had a great time and loved all of the bouncy attractions outside, just remember to bring your socks for the indoor climbing area!


Playing bumper boats

So after three days of fun, we left Kalahari we said bye bye to the water parks and the baby tigers in the lobby (yes real live baby tigers, so cute!) and headed on our way. Our end of the summer trip was almost over, we just had one last stop in Champaign, IL for my husband to do some recurrent training in a twin engine aircraft he flies on the side for another company.