Home >  Plan a trip >  Family & Friends >  Travel with kids >  Making waves

Other stories in "Travel with kids"

• Duluth rocks!
  With a pizza train, a bike path and beaches lined with boulders, this is a kid’s kind of town.
• Scenes from the fur trade
  At re-created forts, meet the adventurers who shaped the Upper Midwest.
• Water, water, everywhere
  The Dells were first, but now indoor water parks are popping up everywhere.
• Playtime in Milwaukee
  For children, this easygoing city is just the right size.
• Renting a vacation house
  If you have pets, small children or teens to feed, try making someone else's home your castle.
• The last Little House
  Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in rural Missouri was the final stop on a famously winding path.
• Wisconsin for kids
  From farm to city to beach, the state is one big playground.
• A week at the lake
  Other destinations beckon, but few can beat the classic summer vacation.
• Escape to Eagle Bluff
  A center near Lanesboro welcomes families for weekends filled with nature and good food.
• Packer country
  Like Oz, Green Bay glows green and gold.
• Gooseberries on ice
  In winter, the North Shore waterfalls turn into a big, frozen playground.
• Snow asylum
  In northeast Wisconsin, Afterglow Resort stays on top of the heap.
• Going abroad in Bemidji
  At Concordia Language Villages' family weekends, parents get to join the fun.
• Madison for all ages
  Famous for collegians, Wisconsin's capital also fascinates children.
• Chicago with kids
  For curious children, this inviting city overflows with treasures.
• Baraboo's gilt complex
  In Ringlingville, the golden age of the circus never ended.
• The first American Girl
  Before Laura, before Kit, there was Caddie Woodlawn on the Wisconsin frontier.
• Break on the lake
  A week at a full-service, family-run resort is a Minnesota tradition.
• Laura land
  "Little House" fans trace Pa's meandering path, looking for echoes from the past.
• Little pageants on the prairie
  A scrappy pioneer family is brought to life each year in two towns that played a prominent role in the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• Fun with Dick and Jane
  Want to have a good time with your children? Then go back to basics.
• Autumn on horseback
  For a treat, enjoy the fall scenery on a guided trail ride.
• Grand sand
  Along Lake Michigan, the Sleeping Bear Dunes are a giant playground for all ages.
• In Caddie and Laura's back yard
  In western Wisconsin, a loop tour explores the homeland of two real-life heroines.
• Farmers for a weekend
  At peaceful inns, guests relish the simple pleasures of country living.
• Fast times in Nisswa
  Swift turtles mix with power shoppers in a Minnesota lake-country oasis.
• Agate stampede
  Every year, Moose Lake introduces budding rockhounds to the thrill of the hunt.

Making waves

Now that they've inspired a deluge of imitators, Wisconsin Dells' popular indoor water parks are paddling hard to stay on top.

First, we loved the water slides, geysers and whimsical fiberglass figures at the Polynesian’s Water Factory.

Then, we loved the bigger slides, chutes, lily-pad walk and tubing river at Great Wolf’s Spirit Mountain. When the Wilderness opened Klondike Kavern, its second park, we loved its indoor-outdoor hot tub and the long tube slides there and at Treasure Island.

An arms race was only beginning, as Wisconsin Dells hotels expanded on a good idea — fill rooms year-round by offering indoor water parks.

Great Wolf added a second park, with a gigantic bucket that dumps 700 gallons of water over a maze of chutes and ladders. The Kalahari opened with everything the other parks had, plus a wave pool, funnel slide and family raft ride.

After the Wilderness built a third park, with a wave pool, family raft ride and giant bucket, the Kalahari added the Master Blaster roller coaster and the FlowRider, for surfing and body-boarding. The Great Wolf put in the Howlin’ Tornado, a six-story raft ride that features a steep drop into a funnel.

Then the Wilderness added the Wild WaterDome, which lets in sunlight for year-round tanning, the Hurricane and Cannonbowl rides and dueling racing-raft rides. Great Wolf added Bear Track Landing, with eight new rides and a wave pool. The Kalahari added a 100,000-square-foot giant indoor theme park with a six-story Ferris wheel, elevated go carts and a ropes course.

The Wilderness came back with a 3-D pirate-themed miniature golf course and an ocean-themed, 3-D, black-light course with six aquariums containing nurse sharks, moral eels and reef fish.

Today’s water parks are vast caverns that supply more thrills than anyone needs — but not more than anyone wants.

I made my last trip to check out the indoor water parks with my friend Adele, who’d never been to the Dells at all. Before we checked in to Great Wolf Lodge, I drove Adele along the Wisconsin River, where sandstone cliffs and oddly shaped formations, named from the French dalles, have been drawing sightseers since the 1850s. Once, they were the big deal.

Then we drove down the Vegas-like strip, past the gigantic Trojan horse and roller coasters of Mount Olympus and the full-scale, upside-down model of the White House at Top Secret. By the time we got to Great Wolf’s lobby, where an entire moose perches on the side of a three-story fieldstone fireplace, Adele had caught on to the spirit of the Dells.

“Everything has to be big, doesn’t it?’’ she said.

We started at the first of Great Wolf's three indoor water parks, Spirit Island, which the largest in the nation when it opened in 1997. Adele was impressed, but I thought, “Is this all there was?’’

It seemed so ordinary, though once I’d been thrilled with the 20,000-square-foot park. I felt like the grasping woman in the Grimms’ tale “The Fisherman and His Wife’’ — no matter how much I get, I want more.

At Spirit Island, we started on the Lookout Mountain slide, a smooth, open raft ride that’s still a winner. Adele bumped her head in one of the closed, narrow body chutes, so we took a break in a hot tub, with a waterfall that poured out of faux cliffs. Then we walked over to the newer park, where we lugged a four-person raft up 89 steps to the top of the Howlin’ Tornado.

For Adele, going over a sheer drop backward was too much, too soon. But she rallied and did it twice more before finding a torrent of water to stand under, letting it massage her tense shoulders.

After dinner on the strip at Moosejaw Pizza & Brewing Co., we drove to the Kalahari and bought evening passes to the water park. Adele, who lived in Hawaii and loves to surf, was looking forward to the FlowRider, inaugurated by surfer Bethany Hamilton. But the FlowRider turned out to be a miniscule slope with ferocious torrents of whitewater — shooting backward.

“Is that it? I can’t surf on that,’’ she said, disappointed.

Nearly everyone tried to body-board instead, though they wiped out nearly as soon as people who tried to surf — in about two seconds. Once they flipped into the water, the jets hurled them to the top of the slope and slammed them against the foam backboard.

“We had the Great Lakes Surfing Association here, and they couldn’t do it,’’ one of the instructors told us. “It doesn’t really translate.’’

We suffered the same fate body-boarding, though Adele stayed on for a few seconds on her second try. So we retreated to the wave pool, where we bobbed on swells that Adele thought had potential.

“You could probably surf on this, though you’d wipe out a few children on the way,’’ she said.

From there, we tried the Rippling Rhino, a smooth raft ride that Adele loved, and the Master Blaster, a water roller coaster that dipped, dropped and pulled us up, down and around a long series of curves — an absolute hoot.

The beauty of these water parks is they bring out the kid in everyone, no matter what age. At the Kalahari, we met Mary VandeHei of Eden Prairie, who had brought her family in from around the nation to celebrate her birthday as well as her son’s recent return from Baghdad.

“You know what? I’m 60, and I love those slides,’’ she said. “I adore them; I’m nuts about them.’’

In the morning, back at Great Wolf, we lay in the sun on chaise longues and watched children pull on fire hoses and swing on ropes. Then we went over to the Wilderness and its Wild West water park, which has a wave pool lined with water guns on both sides and a play area called Ransack Ridge, from which a giant mining cart dumps water every seven minutes.

Adele thought it had the liveliest tubing river of the three, and we both loved the indoor-outdoor hot tubs.

Sitting outdoors in the winter sun, steam curling around our ears, we asked Denise Gillespie, of Lakemoor, Ill., why there were so many school-aged kids around on a weekday, including her daughter, Rochelle, 8, and Derek, 13. She said the parks are too crowded and expensive on weekends, so they bring homework and come on weekdays.

“This is their Valentine’s Day present,’’ she said. “I look at their grades, I look at the deals, and then we go.’’

Sometimes, she and her husband, John Hearst, bring his two daughters, 7 and 14.

“It’s a good thing for families; there’s something for everyone,’’ she said.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a Wisconsin Dells hotel and water park. Gillespie had booked at Great Wolf but switched to the Wilderness when it sent her an “awesome’’ deal;  she says the Kalahari is too expensive.

The Kalahari has many bells and whistles, and its African-safari decor, in the water park and throughout the hotel, is very attractive. But it attracts many conventioneers, and it was crowded even on a Wednesday night.

On the other hand, that Master Blaster is a great ride, and there are all kinds of activities for families. Still, a room at the Kalahari may not be worth the extra money.

Great Wolf is across the highway from the Kalahari, alongside I-94. It’s also very attractive, with north-woods decor, and its atmosphere is less frantic than the Kalahari’s. For a Wednesday night, we reserved a double-queen room for $114, and when we checked in, we got a $10 coupon as a reward for reserving on-line; we used it to buy a nice breakfast the next morning in the Loose Moose Bar and Grill.

Of the three, the Wilderness consistently offers the best specials. It, too, is very attractive, and its lodging complex has the most attractive setting by far, alongside a ravine filled with white pines and near the Wisconsin River. Its water parks — one is for smaller children — are not contiguous, however, and it’s a long hike from the Wild West park to Klondike Kavern.

All three hotels have day spas, and the Wilderness and Great Wolf have big indoor play areas in addition to the water parks. And then there’s Mount Olympus, a cavernous water park with lots of slides, and a dozen other hotels with smaller water parks, any one of which would delight children who hadn’t already gotten a look at the flashier places.

On the way home, we stopped by the Copa Cabana, which has added a small water park to its pool. It was darling, with a pirate-ship play area surrounded by colonial-era sailing murals and a hot tub next to a mural of an English village. Despite low room prices, no one was there.

And now, the Dells have competition. Water parks are popping up everywhere.

The rule of thumb is, all water parks are fun. But if you want to see how the pros do it, go to the Dells.

Trip Tips: Wisconsin Dells indoor water parks

Getting there: It's 45 minutes north of Madison.

General hotel information: Weekend and holiday rates are highest. The lowest rates disappear during spring break, mid-March through mid-April. Try to go on weekdays, when rates are much cheaper and lines are shorter.

Sometimes, hotels send deals to past guests and those on its e-mail lists; the best deals usually can be found in November and December. Sign up for e-newsletters and check web sites for coupons and specials.

All rooms have mini-fridges and microwaves. Usually, guests can swim all day after checking out. There may be an extra charge for a Saturday night-only stay.

Day passes: The Kalahari, Chula Vista and Hotel Rome sell them.

Kalahari: This classy resort includes shops and is next to a 10-screen cinema. Best features: roller-coaster ride, wave pool, long tubing river.

Drawbacks: convention/party atmosphere, high rates, highway setting. Day passes are $40, $25 for evenings only. All-day admission to the new indoor theme park is $20 for guests, $30 for non-guests. 877-253-5466.

Wilderness: It’s an attractive resort with a north-woods theme, in a wooded setting. Best features: indoor-outdoor hot tubs, wave pool, water park just for small children, frequent deals.

Drawback: long walk between the two parks for older children. It has a Lazer Tag arena and Dodge ’Em City play area, which includes a bowling game and climbing maze, the Timberland Play Fort and two 3-D miniature golf courses. 800-867-9453.

Great Wolf Lodge: It’s a handsome resort with a north-woods theme and well-designed, 100,000-square-foot water park. Best features: raft funnel ride, adjoining water parks.

Drawbacks: 89-step climb to raft funnel ride, highway setting. Its separate indoor play area, Wiley’s Woods, is dark and lackluster, but younger kids seem to like it. 800-559-9653.

Chula Vista: This is the only resort off the strip, in a wooded setting on the bluffs of the Wisconsin River. It has added water features and now has a 80,000-square-foot indoor water park. Day passes are $29.95, but check the web site for specials. 800-388-4782.

Hotel Rome at Mount Olympus Park: The former Treasure Island is an older resort with 65,000 square feet of indoor water park; it merged with the next-door Familyland and Mount Olympus outdoor theme parks. Best features: long slides, loft area for lounging, wave pool, deals.

Drawbacks: cavernous atmosphere, less attractive decor. Day passes sell for $20. 800-800-4997.

Polynesian: It’s an older hotel with 38,000 square feet of water parks, Temple of the Black Pearl for older children and the Water Factory for the younger ones. 800-272-5642.

Raintree: Its jungle-theme water park is only 22,000 square feet but is attractive and well-designed. 888-253-4386.

Copa Cabana: This older but well-located hotel has a charming 10,000-square-foot water park for smaller children. 800-364-2672.

Other parks: Among the many hotels with small water parks are the Atlantis, 800-800-6179; Holiday Inn Express, 888-946-3000; Grand Marquis, 800-447-2636; Howard Johnson/Antiqua Bay, 800-543-3557; New Concord Inn, 800-348-2019; and Wintergreen, 800-648-4765.

Dining: Moosejaw Pizza & Brewing Co. has a north-woods lodge look and brews good beer. The menu is pretty standard, but we liked our barbecued-pork sandwich and beer cheese soup. 608-254-1122.

Sarento’s, at the Wilderness, provides Italian fine dining, 608-253-3300.

The Cheese Factory, next to the Wilderness, is very popular. Houlihan's, next to the Copa Cabana, is an attractive, child-friendly restaurant that has good food. There are two Culver’s and a Famous Dave's.

Information: Wisconsin Dells tourism, 800-223-3557.

Wisconsin Dells in summer: See The quiet side of the Dells.

Other Upper Midwest indoor water parks: See Water, water, everywhere.

Last updated on January 10, 2010