Fun and Educational Family Travel Tips

For me and my family, no vacation is complete without including some sort of nature aspect to it.  While the trip on the ducks and on the speedboats had a certain amount of nature to it, it is not quite the same as getting out there and hiking.  So, we decided to add a trip to Devil’s Lake State Park to our trip.

 Getting around the state park was a little bit confusing, as there are a couple of different entrances to the park and they are a bit spread apart from one another.  Not only that, I hadn’t really planned this leg of the trip too thoroughly because there wasn’t too much info on the Net.

At any rate, we decided to just drive around the park and see what would strike our fancy.  There were quite a few visitors to the park and you have to pay for parking ($5), so be sure to bring some cash.  There are two lines for entering the park.  One line was supposed to be for people that already have passes, but we noticed that quite a few people were purchasing their passes from that line too (which was moving much faster than our line, I might add). 

The lake is absolutely beautiful.  The water is quite blue and the lake is surrounded by large, grassy hills.  There are also several trails at the park.  We took the trail to Devil’s Door, which is a huge rock formation.  The entire trip was up a hill with stone steps naturally placed throughout the hill.  Finding the right rocks could be a little confusing at times and the walk up the hill is pretty physical, but everyone managed it (including the 5 year old twins).

After seeing the rock formation and some other sites along the way, we had to walk back down the hill through another path.  This one was also straight down and quite similar to the trail we took on the way  up.  Some of the rocks were a bit slippery, too, so if you take this path, be sure to watch out for the rocks and use a bit of caution.

Visiting Devil’s Lake State Park was definitely worth adding to our agenda.  It only took about 15 minutes to get there from Wisconsin Dells, too, so it was pretty convenient as well.

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This is  robot located outside of the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory.  Look out for it, as the kiosk with the great package deals is located right next to it.

Here is one of the exhibits inside the Exploratory.  This is an example of an exhibit that plays tricks on the mind - with the help of some carefully placed mirrors, my husband looks like he as no body!

When you visit the Tommy Bartlett Show, you will walk up a path to where the seating area is located.  There are a couple of photo opps along the way, including this one…

 And this one…

Believe it or not, a nine year old boy is inside this giant contraption (on the left).  As the boy and the man on the right side walk through the loops, the entire contraption rotates.  Later, the man performs some pretty amazing feats on this one!

This lady did some pretty amazing things up there!  This is just one example.

This lady was quite amazing too!

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The Tommy Bartlett Show is one of the first attractions to be offered at Wisconsin Dells.  Located right next to the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory, you can spend time at the Exploratory before the show and then go right next door to the performance when its almost time for the show to begin.

The theme of the Tommy Bartlett Show during our visit was “pirates,” and they were obviously trying to piggy-back off of the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies by choosing this theme.  My husband and I both thought that they really stretched the theme during their waterski show that comprised the first half of the show.  While the stunts were certainly impressive, the attempt to make it a pirate show really came off a bit lame.  Even the kids were a bit disappointed.

 My boys didn’t seem to be very thrilled by the first half of the show, which was all waterskiing stunts.  The second half, however, seemed to get them going a bit more.  There were definitely some heart-stopping moments as the performers performed amazing acrobatic feats, including dangling by their heads from several feet in the air and running like hamsters in rotating devices towering in the sky.

The Tommy Bartlett Show is worth a visit to on your family vacation, but prepared for the little ones to possibly be a bit bored by the first half of the show.

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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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Here are some photos of what you can expect to see at Storybook Gardens and Timbavati Wildlife Park in Wisconsin Dells.

Here, you can see some of the ducks.  There are plenty of ducks all over the park - and they love to be fed!

 Here’s a nice water fountain that made for a nice photo backdrop.

 This is one of the feeding platforms where you can feed the giraffes.  This was a male.  To the right of were this pictur is taken, there is another feeding platform that had a female and a young giraffe.

Here are the other two giraffes posing for a picture with my son.

Here is the “Old Woman who lived in the shoe” statue I mentioned in the previous post.  You can see here that the quality of the statues really isn’t the best.

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The Story Book Gardens and Timbavati Wildlife Park at Wisconsin Dells was probably the attraction that we were the least thrilled about of the places we visited while at the Dells. 

The reason for the name “Story Book Gardens” is because there are various spots throughout the park where a large wooden book is open to a certain page containing an exerpt from a fairy tale or other children’s story.  Then, there is a small scene located next to the book.  For example, there was one place with a giant shoe and children around it for the Old Lady that lived in a shoe.  My family teases me and calls me “Shoe” because of that rhyme and because I have four kids, so I had to take a picture of that one.

All in all, however, the story book statues looked a bit ratty and were unimpressive.  Also, the landscaping was quite bare when we were there.  There was a lady outside planting some annuals.  So, I don’t know if we were just too early in the season to see it in its full glory or what.  If that was the case, we should have received a discount because this was also one of the most expensive attractions we visited.

We were looking forward to the wildlife park part of this attraction, but the cages were very tiny and  they were not created to look like the animal’s natural habitat.  We have been to so many wonderful zoos, that this was really quite sad by comparison.  On the bright side, there were plenty of opportunities for feeding the animals, including feeding giraffes.  You can purchase food in the store that you have to pass through in order to enter the park.  We bought two cups and probably could have used more.

 I will say this, the park did make for some cute photo opps, so I guess it was worth it for that reason.  I will be sharing photos in my next post.  But, as far as wildlife parks are concerned, our visit to the Virigina Safari Park was a far cooler experience - I will share more on that at another time!

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I didn’t get a whole lot of photos of the Duck and Speedboat tours, since I didn’t want to risk getting my camera wet, but here are a few.

In this one, you can kind of see what the Duck looks like in the background.  You will see these Ducks in town, too, as they will actually pick tourists up and take them to board a Duck ride if they are interested.

Here we are out on the water.  I guess my son is a tad bit cold!

Here is one of the rock formations.  When you get closer, you will see all of the nest that the birds have made inside and around the cave.

Here, you can see how soaked the kids got and you can also see one of the speedboats in the background.

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If you can’t get enough of the water, you might also want to take one of the speedboat tours at Wisconsin Dells.  We decided to go with the Dells Boat Tours option, mostly because that was the one that was available in the package deal I talked about earlier (when you pre-purchase tickets at the Kiosk). 

This trip was a whole lot of fun, though my family wasn’t too thrilled with the ride because you get very WET.  Since this was early June in Wisconsin, the water temperature was still pretty cold and the day wasn’t particularly hot either.  So, getting wet also meant getting cold.

Nonetheless, I had a great time on this trip and so did the rest of the family.  You do a number of 360 degree turns and the captain does a number of digs to make water fly up over you numerous times throughout the trip.

You can see some of the same formations you will see when you go on the Original Wisconsin Ducks tour.  What I liked about this was that the Ducks tour told silly stories about the formations, while this tour gave you the real information.  So, it was kind of neat hearing the tall tales as well as the real deal.

Before you head onto the boat, you will get a group photo taken.  When you get off the ride, you will have the option of purchasing a package that includes a keychain photo, a couple of 5×7’s, and a couple of wallet photos as well as a book for $20.  We were suckers and bought the thing.  The photos really were quite nice.

We also got to see several leatherback turtles lounging in the sun, birds building their mud nests, and a fisherman even caught a huge one right in front of us!  So, it was certainly a trip to remember.

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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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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!).

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