Wilderness 'n' Waterparks

As I mentioned back on my other blog, my family recently took a little trip to a small midwestern town that likes to call itself The Waterpark Capital of the WORLD! (I like to add the caps and the slam for just a bit more emphasis). It's Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and yes--if you visit, you're probably going to get wet.

Today, I'm going to focus on the resort where we stayed, and tomorrow I'll tell you more about the rest of our visit. The Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bureau arranged for us to stay at Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort. We seriously could have spent every minute of our two-and-a-half-day stay (and then some) without leaving the grounds of this sprawling resort, which has a variety of different lodging options (rooms, villas, condos, cabins that sleep up to 20!), places to eat (and convenience stores), its own free shuttle busses (since the place is spread over 600 acres!), and five different waterparks (three indoors, two out), an arcade, and more. We stayed in the Glacier Canyon section, in a two-bedroom, 1.5-bath condo complete with a full kitchen, Murphy bed, and balcony.

(As an aside--when traveling with kids I always, always, always prefer to have a separate bedroom and living space if at all possible, and a kitchen is almost as big of a bonus. So we really appreciated having the space to spread out.)

Our condo was decorated to look like a log cabin, which thrilled the kids (as shown in photo; "Mommy! Is this a real log cabin??"). I rather liked that it looked like a hotel room, and not like the decorative crapshoot you may get when you rent an individually owned condo (ever rent a beach house and find it filled with supremely cheesy wicker furniture or seashell art?). One nice little feature: If you use the Murphy bed in the main living area, you can draw a heavy curtain to separate the sleeping space from the kitchen/dining space.

We tried out two waterparks (one inside, one out) and found them both to be safe, fun, and appealing to kids in a wide range of ages--ours are 3 and 6, but there was plenty for babies and for older kids and teens too. My daughter was happy that the outdoor pool had a place where she could practice "real swimming," which isn't always easy to find in a waterpark. In the summer months, the parks are open only to guests of the resort--I'll bet this cuts down on crowding.

Rates start at $125 a night but range up to $400+ in the high season (weekends in July and August). See the Wilderness site for tons more information, photos, and info on specials and packages.