Wisconsin Dells: Wilderness Resort

A couple of weeks ago we headed North to Wisconsin Dells for Spring Break.  

Have you ever been there?  It's the water park capital of the world and it's about 5.5 hours from our house.  We'd planned to go there last Spring and had to cancel.  Kevin did all the planning, figured out all the details and surprised us with many of the amenities.  

Backstory - We LOVE Wisconsin.  We made our first trip there in 2019 to the Madison area.  We tagged along for a work trip with Kevin.  You can read all about that trip here - 8 Wisconsin Favorites.  We've been anxious to go back ever since.  The dairy farms are so pretty, the cheese options are so yummy and we love the cooler weather, outdoor eating options, cheese, beer and scenery Wisconsin has to offer.  And all the cities we have visited so far are an easy drive for us from Indiana.

The Wilderness Resort.

You can read all about it here: https://www.wildernessresort.com/

It's like no hotel I've ever stayed at.  There were SO MANY things to do with your kids.  We stayed 4 days and 3 nights and came home exhausted.  We were on the go the entire time.  Kevin was a rock star.  He went non stop going on all the slides, wave pools and adventures with the big kids.  I played lifeguard to Leo, made sure he got his naps and kept track of his schedule and played.

 

Here's what we did without ever leaving the property:

3 giant indoor water parks - wear your wristband and it gets you into all of them.

Ropes Course

Indoor Mini Golf

2 Arcades

Paint Your Own Pottery Studio

Go Karts

Movies

Candy Shops

Gift Shops

Coffee Shops

Restaurants - Pizza, Burgers, Buffets, Ice Cream and snacks

Plus: Zip lines, bumper boats, gondolas you can rent, outdoor water parks, horse drawn wagon rides and more outdoor options for Summer.

There are lots of yummy restaurants just a couple minutes from the resort.  As well as specialty cheese stores, coffee shops and outlet malls.  It's about 30 minutes North of Madison so you could also pop down there for quick day trip.  We could have easily stayed longer and the kids are already telling us to work on planning our next trip there.

Wilderness Resort Tips from Kevin //

1. Call the resort and book through them.  They can explain how everything works.

2.  Ask for a coupon book when you arrive.  It saves you money at most shops, activities and restaurants.  We used coupons at the breakfast buffet, gift shops, mini golf, candy shops and more.

3. If you have young kids DO NOT BUY the Fun Pass activities pass.  There won't be enough time or energy to do the activities more than once when you're also busy playing at the water parks.  Just pay as you go for the activities your kids want to do. 

4. Stay on the 2nd floor.  That will give you the easiest access to everything.

5. Schedule a late check out on your last day - 1pm instead of 11am.  That way you can do one last morning at the water park or another excursion. 

6. Get breakfast at Camp Social every morning.  The big breakfast will be the best meal of the day.  Plus it's fun to try out all the yummy food.

7. You can charge things to your room so you don't have to carry your wallet to the pool.

 

The whole resort is decorated in an outdoor/wilderness theme.  The kids loved it.  We checked into our hotel after dinner time.  I put Leo straight to bed and Kevin took the kids to their first water park.  He said he will never forget their reaction to seeing a GIANT water park.  They played hard for an hour or so.  The parks close down at 10:00pm and then hurried back to the room to tell me all about it - lazy rivers, giant slides, buckets that dump water and much more.  I packed 2 swimsuits for everyone so that we could do an am and pm water park run.

Our family's favorite water park ended up being the one closest to our room - The Klondike Kavern.  It ha a lazy river, tons of things for the big kids to do, swings for babies, hot tubs, restaurants and more.  We went here every day.

The water parks are all geared towards bigger kids (not babies), but there are a few things for babies to do at each park.  All of the kid things are probably best for kids that are walking confidently and can climb water covered stairs.  Leo had a pretty great time, but the surface of the pools is a little rough for knees if you have a crawler.  It's totally doable to take a baby if you've got big kids, but if your oldest is just 2 or 3, I would probably wait until they're a little older to go.

Working + getting the baby to nap :)  While I was on the lazy river with the big kids breaking our record for how many times we could go around in a row.  Six was the record.

Towels - You get one towel card per person.  You turn in your card for one towel.  You can exchange them as many times as you want to make sure you have a dry towel.  Then when you are done, you turn in your last towel and ask for your towel card back.  It was so handy!  I loved not having to worry about losing towels and making sure we had dry towels.

We were wiped out most nights.  You do a ton of walking every day to get to all these fun spots.  Everything is connected indoors so you don't have to worry about the weather or coats.  We also tried the Wild West Waterpark one day, but it wasn't their favorite spot to play.  For some reason the water was really cold even though everything was indoors.

 

We painted our own pottery - cats for the kids and a Christmas ornament for me.  Everything was fired and ready for pick up by the time we had to check out.

Fletcher was tall enough to do the ropes course.  Kevin was brave enough to go and help both kids.  They had a blast.  Only a few tears were shed mid climbing and the course is up above the arcade.  You can watch from many different spots and even get close enough to give high fives.

Leo was a trooper.  He took a couple stroller naps, a couple pool naps while we were on the go.  If you are going to Wilderness Resort with a child who still naps - definitely bring a stroller for them to nap in on the go.

The kids loved the camping, outdoor, adventure theme throughout the resort.

Pretty views all around you!

We opted for the medium size room - 2 beds, sofa bed alcove and late night run for adults treats :)

CAMP SOCIAL - the best food of our trip!  You paid for the breakfast buffet and got to load up on delicious food to start your day.  If you arrive around 8:00am there are no lines.  Seriously all the breakfast food you could dream of and all of it was delicious.  The whole family loved it.  If you need a high chair for any of your kids, make sure to find one of the lower table to sit at.  

The other restaurants are just so so - pizza, burgers and it's hard to find many fruits and veggies.  We did enjoy the pool side restaurant that served soft pretzels, chicken fingers, burgers, etc.  You aren't allowed to bring in outside food to the pools so if that's your game plan you'll need to eat in your room or have a picnic outside.  

One last morning at the Wild Waterdome park - it has a giant wave pool, kiddie pool area, a swim up bar for an adults only pool and lots of slides.  It's got a glass roof so they remind you to apply sunscreen.  The kids loved the wave pool.

Would your family love the Wilderness Resort??

Let me know if you have any questions for me.