Wisconsin Dells (May 19-22)

We took our first vacation as a family of five to the Wisconsin Dells the third weekend in May, and it actually went pretty good! If you're looking for more of a comprehensive overview of the trip, you can find that on my family blog here. Here I'm going to do more of a recap of what we did, and not so much the trip itself.

Overall, we really had a great time, and we would highly recommend the Dells to anyone within driving distance. I wouldn't go out of my way to fly across the country only for the Dells by any means, but it's a great mid-western getaway for a family with kids. Coming from SW Minnesota, I think we'll probably stick to Minneapolis in the future, and go to the Water Park of America or Valley Fair, simply because I don't think it was THAT much more incredible than any other average water park, and 5 hours in the car is just a little more than we care to drive with 3 little kids.

I'm going to break this down into three sections:

Lodging: Meadowbrook Resort

Dining

• Buffalo Phil's
• Moosejaw
• Kicker's
• McDonald's

Activities

• Knuckleheads Indoor Amusement Park
• Timbavati Wild Animal Park
• Army Duck Boat Tour
• Mining for Gems
• Lock & Dam No. 7

Lodging

 

Meadowbrook Resort

Meadowbrook Resort was a fantastic choice for us with 3 little boys, especially with one of them being an infant. The big water parks would have been a blast as well, but not when we don't have someone to watch the littlest one. The water parks just aren't manageable with two little boys who don't always want to listen when we say things like "stop!!" or "come here!!". Plus, with so many people, it'd be easy to lose them in the crowds. With both of them not swimming just yet, it'd just be a lot of stress.

It's close to restaurants and what not, but far enough away from things that you don't feel like you're in the thick of town where it's busy. We thought the location was really pretty perfect, and the ambiance was great! They offered free coffee in the lodge in the mornings (although not breakfast), and the lodge was really very cozy.

Their indoor kid's pool was PERFECT for us. Mark could easily manage taking both boys there by himself without worrying about them getting hurt or drowning.

I wouldn't, however, recommend the resort to adults who are traveling without kids in the off-season if a pool is important to you. We were there as they were prepping to open the outdoor pools, but for indoor pools, it's just this one, which goes all of about 2 feet deep. I can't tell you how many adults peeked in and were very disappointed that there wasn't an indoor pool for adults or a hot tub.

They really cater to families at Meadowbrook, with fire pits and marshmallow supplies readily available (although we didn't take advantage of them), and each evening they offer a movie for the kiddos beginning whenever the vast majority of kids are there between 7-8pm. If you want to pick out the movie that night, you can pick from their selection before 4pm each day. They also offer popcorn.

The rooms overall weren't really anything to write home about, but they were comfortable and fairly spacious. The beds were comfortable enough, and they included a mini fridge, microwave and coffee table. There was a table nice enough to seat 4 comfortably, and the room we had came with 2 queen beds and a spare little twin bed off to the side, which was perfect for our family of 5.

The grounds were really fun to explore: Mark and the boys went for lots of walks over the bridge and down to the little stream running through the property. We also saw lots of cool birds perching on the cattails, and the giant moose sculpture was really cool too!

The rooms we stayed in have a long connected balcony in the back off a sliding glass door that has picnic tables and chairs out there. There aren't any stairs going down to the grounds from there, so that was nice to have for the kids in the late afternoons after naps before we headed anywhere for supper.

They also have a little gazebo on the property, which is PERFECT for family picnics; and when you're on vacations with 3 kids under the age of 5, family picnics are SO much more preferable than eating out in a restaurant!

Overall, I'd give this place 4/5 stars for families with YOUNG kids, but probably only about 2/5 stars for adults not traveling with kids or families with older kids.

Dining

 
I feel like for a 4 day trip, we really didn't eat out too extravagantly. The places we tried were Buffalo Phil's, Moosejaw Pizza, McDonald's and Kicker's. See the recaps below!

Buffalo Phil's

 
We put Buffalo Phil's on our "must do" list at the recommendation of a friend from church, and it was really fun for the boys! The food was just okay - nothing to really write home about - but the boys had so much fun watching the train go around, and thought it was so fun to have their food delivered on it.

Moosejaw Pizza

 
After a busy day at Timbavati Wild Animal Park, we decided to keep our evening low-key. The boys wanted to swim and swim and swim, so while they were swimming with Mark, I decided to just order a pizza from Moosejaw and have it delivered to the resort for a little picnic out at the gazebo.

The pizza was just alright. The crust was HUGE. It sorta reminded me of a DiGiorno's pizza with a crust on steroids. I would've rather had Papa John's, truthfully. BUT...their delivery was really fast, about 30 minutes faster than they told me it would be on the phone, so that was a huge plus.

Kicker's

 
This place was seriously so great! It could be that our kids actually weren't total hellions that made the difference (I'm sure that was a big part of it, really), or that it was the perfect night to be out on the deck. It could be that the other patrons said that seeing our little family made them miss their own. I mean, when you take 3 kids under the age of 5 out to eat and you get complements, it makes you feel like maybe you aren't drowning as much as you thought you were haha :) The wait staff was really great as well, and they were attentive.

It was just such a really awesome night, and we had such a great dining experience. The boys ate their food without too much argument, and our food was delicious. It all came really quickly, and it was delicious!

Plus, being out on the deck, we had the entertainment of just people watching outside.

Of all the places we ate during our stay, I'd recommend this one the highest. We would definitely go back here on a future trip.

McDonald's

We didn't plan very well for breakfasts, truthfully. I ended up running out each morning to pick up some hot cake meals from McDonald's. We brought cereal but forgot bowls or spoons, and had otherwise planned to eat out. However, when you wake up with 3 kids in the morning and realize that before you go anywhere you're going to have to get everyone dressed and in the car, it just seems like less of a priority to take them to a restaurant and order food, so fast food FTW!

We also had lunch here after the Wild Animal Park. The place is monstrous as far as McDonald's go, lots of space for everyone, and they process large groups really quickly. (I suppose they have lots of practice, being a vacation destination and all).

Activities

We spent a lot of time (I mean a LOT of time) at the pool at Meadowbrook, so as far as activities, we didn't really do a TON while we were there. The biggest ones were Timbavati Wild Animal Park and the Army Duck Boat Tour, but here is a short recap of all the activities we did.

Knuckleheads Arcade and Indoor Amusement Park

This place was attached to Buffalo Phil's, so after we ate, we went to check it out. It's a fun little arcade/indoor amusement park/trampoline park geared at kids probably between ages 3-9. There's no admission fee, so each of the attractions were priced about like a county fair. I think we paid $4 for each ride.

They have a little roller coaster, a huge trampoline and a HUGE arcade. Our boys were a little young for it, but we did go on one of the rides, and they sat on some of the other toys. Give us a couple years and I have a feeling this would be an entire evening activity, and we'll probably easily spend a couple hundred bucks in the course of 2 hours.

Timbavati Wild Animal Park

 
This was the perfect size for us for a day! I was pleasantly surprised at how many animals they had and the variety considering it isn't really a "Zoo" per se. We had such a blast here! Our favorite parts of the park were feeding the giraffes and llamas (although it's $4 a cup for carrot sticks, which is a huge rip off), the train ride and the pig races. We'd highly recommend it!

The train ride was really fun with the kiddos. I *think* we got to ride it for free, seeing as how we were there the weekend before it really officially opened for the season. Otherwise, it was kinda spendy. I'm not really sure I would pay for that part, but it was fun.

They take you through this gated area you can't get to without being on the train, but really, it just has a few of these different animals. The conductor gets off and coaxes the animals up close to the train so you can feed them.

The train's final stop (which is really only about a 15-20 minute ride) is the giraffe and camel feeding area platform, and that's it. Like I said - fun since it was included with the price of our admission, but I don't think it was worth paying separately for it.

Army Duck Boat Tour

 
We did the duck boat tour our second day in the Dells, and it was a really fun time! I'm not really sure why we ended up doing the Army Ducks versus any of the other options, but I think they're all about the same, really.

We enjoyed our ride, but probably wouldn't pay to do it again on a return visit.

The highlight of the Ducks was that they let the boys drive the boat on the lake. VERY fun for the little ones!

They start out on land, then they have two different entries into water with another landing in between.

Mining for Gems

 
I missed out on this one, as I had to feed the baby and pull the van up closer, but the boys appeared to have fun with it. They have different size buckets you can purchase, and then you get all the gems that are in there. Granted, the gems aren't worth much at all if you don't have them cut and polished, so that's where they make all their money. We came home with a little gem bag full of gems, all worth not more than the $12 we spent on the bucket. But we did have some sapphires and emeralds in there, so I guess if you wanted to spend the $10-400 to have them cut and polished, then go for it! We opted not to.

It was alright, but we won't be repeating the experience again.

Lock & Dam No. 7

 
Mark and I stopped here on our way to Niagara Falls on our honeymoon in October 2006, and we thought the boys might enjoy this little stop. On our way home, we stopped to pick up Wendy's for lunch and watched the barges come and go from Lock & Dam No. 7. This is located right on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, so if you happen to be coming from Minnesota, it's a great stopping point.