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Continuation of a previous post

Note: Most pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Arrival

After running the gauntlet of tollbooths that stood between us and Wisconsin Dells, we were ready to be done driving. It was a little over 7 hours of driving; with stops it took a little over 9 hours total. We arrived in the late afternoon or early evening. It’s hard to tell which was which because of the time change.

Our destination was The Wilderness. Orwell would be proud of this place (officially called Wilderness Resort), because there was not much in the way of wilderness at this self-proclaimed “America’s largest waterpark resort”.

If you look up “wilderness” in the dictionary (which I did not do), you should not see that it means waterparks, arcades, golf courses, laser tag, and a spa. But they tried to have some rustic decor.

Check-In

The person at the front desk did all the check-in stuff and we thought we were all set. Then he said “But wait, there’s one more thing. You need a parking pass.” Makes sense, so give us the parking pass then. But no, we needed to see the concierge for that.

The concierge did give us our parking pass, but not before she told about the local outlet mall, a couple local restaurants, and the condos available for sale. And to entice us to hear more about the condos for sale, she told us how we could get a few hundred dollars worth of gift cards and coupons. The real estate office is right next to the children’s activity area, so they can be occupied while the adults have the opportunity to listen to a sales pitch.

That’s right, the sales pitch for the sales pitch meeting is part of the check-in process at the hotel. Note: if your hotel/resort has a “real estate” section of its website, be wary.

Waterpark

After a quick tour of our area (there were 3 areas in our hotel and about 3 hotels in the resort), we had time to play in the pool (for which the kids were quite eager).

We were closest to the Wild West Waterpark, but Alpha’s favorite was Klondike Kavern. That was because Klondike Kavern has the Hurricane.

What is the Hurricane?

Let’s start with the view out our window:

And then let’s zoom in:

Do you see that 4-story green and white funnel? That’s the Hurricane. You walk up 4 flights of stairs, get in a raft, and then slide down 4 flights of adrenaline.

And then you repeat, because Alpha wants to go again. He hasn’t been on a roller coaster yet, but the Hurricane provides the exact same pit-of-your-stomach sensation, so I’m sure he’s ready.

Here’s the inside of the Hurricane. See that small yellow thing? That’s a 4-person raft.

Cost

Our room was nice. It had two queen beds plus a pull-out couch, plus various other amenities. We got the room for under $100 each night. You may wonder how the resort can do that.
The answer has a few parts:

• the “resort fee” is not included in that price. What is the resort fee? It is about $10 a day and helps cover expenses and keeps the listed room rates low (kind of like shipping and handling charges on eBay),
• the outdoor pools and waterparks were not open, because the outdoor season does not start until Memorial Day. That meant we could use only half of America’s largest waterpark resort, which was good enough for the 3 nights we were there, and
• the Wild Waterdome was closed for cleaning/sealing. That didn’t have much, other than America’s largest indoor wave pool and indoor tanning. But the kids don’t like wave pools, so we wouldn’t have been in there a lot anyway.

Then we went to bed – a bit of a struggle with the kids all excited and everyone in the same room – and got ready for day 2.

To be continued…