Fun and Educational Family Travel Tips

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!

Share This

Here are some photos from my stay at the Kalahari while at Wisconsin Dells.

This is a view of the outdoor water park from the balcony of our room.  This one shows the pools and gives you an idea of what the resort looks like.

Here, you can get a better idea of what the slides look like at the outdoor park.

 An elephant is the symbol of the Kalahari resort.  Just outside of the outdoor waterpark is a statue of one that makes for a nice photo opp.

 My digital doesn’t take the best of photos when indoors, but here is a shot of the indoor play area that the twins spent most of there time at.  One of them is playing peek-a-boo in this one!

One neat feature of the waterpark is the boogie-board simulator.  Check out the look on my son’s face!  (He was the only one brave enough to give it a try!).

Share This

Although my recommendation would be to stay somewhere other than the Kalahari in order to save some cash and get the most bang for your buck, the resort is very nice.  The room we stayed in was quite spacious and safety procedures are quite impressive.  We had to use a card in order to access our hall, to use the elevator in or wing, and to access our room. 

If you do stay at the Kalahari when you visit Wisconsin Dells, one tip:  you might need to put your key in a reader right inside of your door in order to activate the lights throughout the room.  We really felt like fools not knowing how to turn our lights on!  Also, if you have young ones that cannot swim, life jackets are available for rent at the resort.  To me, they should be given for free because I consider it to be a safety issue.

The staff at the Kalahari was very friendly and helpful.  If you will be using the waterpark, however, you will need to stop at the kiosk to get a bracelet if you are resort guest.  This kiosk is located a bit away from the entrance, so don’t get drawn in by the entrance and think you will be able to get in that way, as you will just be sent back to the kiosk. 

One thing that slightly bothered me was that, after being done with the waterpark from the time being, I had asked the employee if we could remove the bracelets and get new ones later if we decided to return and she said they preferred we kept them on and that “everyone in Wisconsin Dells has bracelets on anyway.”  I would have preferred being told I could remove the bracelets if we liked.  With as much as the place costs, I am sure they could withstand the cost and inconvenience of supplying my family with new bracelets if we needed them later.  My kids, particularly the twins, were not too thrilled about wearing them in the first place.

So, if you have money to spend and if you will make good use of the waterpark, you might want to stay at the Kalahari.  You could truly spend your entire vacation there because of the restaurants and activities available.  If you are going to check out the other sites the Dells has to offer, however, you might want to just go somewhere else.

Share This

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. 

Share This