Making the Wisconsin Dells Magic Show Educational

August 13, 2007

The magic show at Wisconsin Dells also offers a number of educational opportunities.  Discussing the “magic” of slight of eye is particularly fun as you discuss the concept of persistence of vision.

In short, persistence of vision is about the fact that our eyes maintain images for a brief moment even after they are no longer there.  Remember those flip books you used to enjoy as a child?  You know, the ones that contained nothing but pictures and appeared to be in action when you flipped through the pages quickly  These books utilize the concept of persistence of vision.

 Before you go to the magic show at Wisconsion Dells on your family vacation, discuss this concept with your child.  Then, help your child make his or her own flip book.  It can be a great deal of fun for the entire family!

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Making the Ducks at Wisconsin Dells Educational

August 12, 2007

Before you take your family vacation to Wisconsin Dells and ride the Ducks, learn a little bit more about these interesting machines and discuss it with your child.  These military vehicles are more formally known as the DUKW and is a six wheel drive truck capable of riding on land and on water.  This characteristic is known as being amphibious.  You can introduce this word to your child and talk about animals that are amphibious as well, such as frogs and toads. 

These vehicles were originally created by GM to use during World War II and were used to carry troops and goods over water and land. Today, they are mostly used to give tours in various places around the country, including at Wisconsin Dells.  You can learn more about these vehicles by visiting Wikipedia.

Ask your child to create his or her own new vehicle that is unlike any you have every seen before – just like the inventors of the Ducks did so long ago!

You are also going to see several rock formations along the way during your tour.  This opens up a wonderful opportunity to talk about rock formations and how they are created.

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Wisconsin Dells Magic Show

August 3, 2007

The site that my family seemed to enjoy the most on our trip to Wisconsin Dells was the Rick Wilcox Magic show. 

Now, I will warn you, this was the single most expensive attraction that we visited while at Wisconsin Dells.  Part of the reason for the added expense, however, was that we purchased center row tickets for all six of us.  The theater is pretty small, so I would imagine that sitting in a sit seat would offer just as good of a view and it wouldn’t be necessary to sit in the center of the theater.

We weren’t sure what to expect with this show.  Seeing as we were in Wisconsin Dells, we were a little afraid of it being CHEESIE (bad pun intended).  But, the show was actually quite entertaining and all of the children absolutely loved.  It was definitely an expense that was well worth it.

Depending on the time of year that you visit the Dells, you will only have one or two chances each day to see the show.  Also, I would recommend purchasing your tickets ahead of time.  The theater was nearly full when we visited and we went in early June before the Dells are really in full swing.

In my opinion, this show is a must see!

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Wisconsin Dells Wizard’s Quest

August 2, 2007

Another site that you will have the opportunity to visit when you take a family vacation to Wisconsin Dells is Wizards Quest.  Wizards Quest offers a different form of family travel opportunity to the norm, as it is basically a huge scavenger hunt that the entire family participates in.

 When you enter Wizards Quest, you will be asked to come up with a name for your traveling party.  If you are stuck, they have a list of suggestions that you can choose from.  You then enter a little room where you are introduced to the elemental wizards you will be trying to free.  In order to free them, you will have to find answers to questions you are given in order to collect enough points to release the wizards.  To find the answers, you will have to walk through the various realms and look for clues.

 While finding the answers to the questions was a little beyond the twin’s grasp (since they are only 5 years old), they still enjoyed going through the various realms because they included slides and other things to climb and have fun on.

 Beware of the last realm, however, as there are a whole bunch of mirrors that you will have to walk through and determining which images are the real person and which are just reflections can be tough.  The twins ran into mirrors on more than one occassion as they ran to what they thought was me in order to give me a hug!

I won’t give away any secrets to how you find the answers to the questions because I don’t want to ruin the fun of your family vacation.  But, if you are afraid that finding the answers to the clues will be too difficult and you won’t be able to free the wizards within your provided time limit, you can choose to take the easier challenge.  We didn’t gather quite enough points to free all of our wizards, but we did have a good time trying!

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Wisconsin Dells – The Tommy Bartlett Exploratory

July 27, 2007

The Tommy Bartlett Expository offers a number of fun attractions that will test your mind.  Making your family vacation an eductional experience is not difficult at all at this attraction, as you will explore a variety of different scientific concepts with the hands on activities the Exploratory provides.

When you visit the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory on  your family vacation, you will find that there is a kiosk outside.  I highly recommend stopping off at this kiosk before you visit any of the attractions in Wisconsin Dells.  Here, you can buy packages that will save you quite a bit on your Wisconsin Dells trip.  Even better, you can select the tickets you want and how many different attractions you want to add to your package.  Therefore, you are not tied down to attractions you may not really be interested in.

Many of the attractions at the Tommy Bartlette Exploratory actually seem like magic tricks as they trick your eye and your mind.  Others challenge you to perform certain tasks, such as remaining balanced on a tricky rolly-polly device or trying to put puzzles together and solve mysteries.

When you visit the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory, be sure to spend time with your kids at each exhibit so they will get the most fun and educational value the exhibit has to offer.

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Wisconsin Dells – The Ducks

July 22, 2007

One of the most popular attractions at the Dells is the Ducks.  There are actually a few different companies that provide Duck tours.  Before going to the Dells, I had visited their websites and decided that I wanted to go on a trip with the Original Wisconsin Ducks.  I didn’t have any real good reason for that decision, I just liked what they seemed to have to offer. 

As it turns out, there are Kiosks in various areas at the Dells that will help you get package deals that will save you cash.  The first place we went after leaving the Kalahari was to the Tommy Barltlett Exploratory, which I will tell you more about later.  It so happens that one of these kiosks is located outside of the Exploratory so we were able to take advantage of the deals.  We already had a good idea of what we wanted to see, but I didn’t know about the kiosks with the package deals.  Look for it when you visit, as it can save you literally hundreds of dollars.

The Original Wisconsin Ducks happens to be the Duck provider that is a part of the package deal, so that worked out nicely for us.

The Ducks are definitely worth a ride.  We went early in the morning in early June, so it was a bit chilly.  The drivers are great – they are very friendly and the sidekick tour guide has a prepared dialogue that is quite amusing.  Be prepared to get wet, though, as they do take one big splash as they enter the water.

If you are unfamiliar with Ducks, these vehicles are capable of driving on water and on land.  For the first portion of the ride, you will go through a wooded area on land.  You will then go into the water, where the tour guide will tell you outlandish stories about the various rock formations.  You will return to land, and then back to water, and then back to land to finish the trip. 

All of the kids really enjoyed this one and so did we!

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Wisconsin Dells – The Kalahari Resort

July 19, 2007

The most recent family vacation that my family and I went on was a trip to Wisconsin Dells.  After having already gone to Disney World earlier this year, we decided to go on a sort of mini-trip to a location that was nearby (unfortunately, my husband doesn’t get much vacation time and I am always using it up with vacations!).  So, since we reside in Indiana, a trip to Wisconsin Dells was only about 5 or 6 hours away.

I had never been to the Dells before and I really didn’t expect much from it.  In fact, I kind of thought that it would be pretty lame – especially after having gone to Disney.  But, we really did enjoy our time there.

Wisconsin Dells is known for its many waterparks.  After having watched a travel channel special and finding that two of its water parks were listed as the top ten in the nation, Noahs Ark and the Kalahari resort, I decided to book a stay at the Kalahari.  The Kahlahari has both an indoor and outdoor water park.  Since we went in early June, it was actually a bit cold to enjoy the outdoor water park.  The indoor water park was a whole lot of fun, though, and there were some great play areas that my five-year-old twins could enjoy without concern for their safety.

Althouogh the rooms at the Kalahari were really nice and the water park was great, my family and I likely won’t stay there again.  The luxury of staying at a resort with a waterpark is quite costly and turned out not to be worth it for us because we only spent time there on two days of our trip – and, the second day was really more because we wanted to feel like we were getting our money’s worth.  If you are planning a trip to the Dells, it might be better to simply plan a stay at a less expensive hotel and save your money for visiting the many sites the Dells has to offer. 

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