Escape winter’s chill with a trip to the “Waterpark Capital of the World.” The small Wisconsin town of Lake Delton is home to five huge indoor water parks! It’s located in The Dells, a glacially formed river gorge region. Drive time is less than two hours from Milwaukee and just over three hours from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While outdoor water parks are fantastic during the summer — the world’s biggest outdoor water park, Noah’s Ark WaterPark, is in Wisconsin Dells — they close once temperatures cool and the area freezes up for winter. However, in The Dells, when the weather outside turns frightful, the weather inside is tropical. Climate-controlled fun with balmy poolside cabanas and slippery water slides make Wisconsin Dells a year-round playground.
Our water park-loving family has tested nearly all of the water park fun in the Wisconsin Dells area. Here’s what you need to know.
1. Great Wolf Lodge
This is the flagship property of Great Wolf Lodge, the now wickedly popular water park hotel chain. Relax on the lazy river, enjoy the wave pool and find water activities to suit everyone in your group. With 76,000 square feet of water park attractions and 437 hotel room suites, we think this place reigns supreme for a family water park vacation.
Part of the allure here is the wide range of activities available on-site. Great Wolf Lodge is known for excellent family-friendly programming. In addition to the indoor water park, expect to find kids crafts, cookie decorating and complimentary wolf ears for your entire pack. There’s also an outdoor water park open during the warmer summer months. Plus, this resort offers a full weekend’s worth of dining with five different restaurant options on-site. We never leave the property once we arrive.
More than the Indoor Water Park at Great Wolf Lodge
MagiQuest is my family’s favorite non-water park feature of Great Wolf Lodge (it is also open to the public and has a separate entrance.) It kept our whole family racing up and down stairs, slides and even cargo net crossings, with wands in hand. We had hours of fun trying to collect clues and defeat dragons and ogres!
SheBuysTravel Tip: Keep your wand for trips back to the area! They work (years later) with a simple battery swap and can be tested by a master Magi at the counter.
The three-story gamescape is akin to a treehouse with interactive screens and intriguing fantastical decorations to keep everyone’s imagination in high gear. The Great Wolf Lodge at Wisconsin Dells also offers ShadowQuest, Northern Lights Arcade and Build-a-Bear Workshop. Character appearances, kids’ yoga sessions and the famed Great Clock Tower Show are all dry land experiences that add fun to a Great Wolf Lodge stay.
Read More: Winter Fun in Wisconsin Dells
Best Wisconsin Dells Great Wolf Lodge Features
Part of the reason this property is at the top of our favorites list for best water park during the winter is the climate-controlled 84 degrees!
The smaller kid activities are also entertaining for the “big” little kids in the group. Whooping Hollow, with its Northwoods motif, is safe for smaller ones, but still thrilling enough for bigger kids. Fun additions like water swings and playground equipment situated in watery surf pools are a win. Fort Mackenzie is a treehouse water park activity play area with many levels for kids and parents splash in together.
The Howlin’ Tornado is the exterior feature kids see when you drive up to Great Wolf Lodge. The yellow and red megaphone is the infrastructure of the four-person raft ride. It screams around the funnel to shoot out of a tunnel to a fun family splashdown at the end. The indoor water park has many separate water park areas, all connected to the hotel. There’s even a hot springs-themed tub or a family warming pool, which I always appreciate after a long day of swimming with the kids.
Even with the outdoor portion closed for winter, you’ll spend your entire stay in the water park resort just trying to do it all! The hotel room is well-appointed, but I don’t think it really matters. We rarely were in the room except to sleep.
Read More: The Ultimate First-Timers Guide to Great Wolf Lodge
2. Chula Vista Resort
This Wisconsin Dells water park resort is tucked away on the banks of the Wisconsin River, apart from the chaos of the main strip in the Wisconsin Dells. The location is beautiful and peaceful, with a quiet vibe. It is definitely the most aesthetically pleasing property for water park fun.
If you’re planning a longer stay, want to dine in-room and make your own meals, or have a particularly large group, this is a perfect setting. It offers large villas and suites with enough room to spread out during a water park vacation.
VRBO has several cabin rentals available at the Wisconsin Dells Water Parks at Chula Vista Resort.
The indoor tunnel is easy for stroller families and is a unique feature to the water park resort–no chilly outdoor walk necessary. Besides, my kids think this walkway is adventurous as we meander to the indoor water park.
The standout here, which is unfortunately unavailable to kids who do not meet weight/height requirements (at least 50 inches tall and 115 pounds): the Fly’n Mayan water roller coaster. If you have younger kids who are too small to ride, make sure to take turns allowing adults and teens to experience this rip-roaring water coaster. It’s a highlight even during the summer months at this water park. The line for the ride is super short when it’s warm outside!
Mount Montezuma’s Mayan Temple features some really fast, bigger slides for the younger kids. But they were able to keep the attention of our preteen too.
Non-Water Park Activities at Chula Vista
While the indoor water park at Chula Vista is not gigantic, there are some fun features, including the lazy river. But mostly we love this property as an overall resort experience, which offers balance and relaxation for your vacation.
Because the hotel rooms at Chula Vista Resort water parks are so welcoming, this is the resort for you if you want to split your time between water activities and enjoying your lodging accommodations. We recommend booking a suite to maximize your experience and truly unwind.
Chula Vista Resort also offers a myriad of dry land experiences, like mini golf, an arcade and a kids’ activity center. There are up to eight options on property for dining, depending on the season, if you choose to eat out.
The Spa del Sol is a luxurious option to elevate your Zen experience on-site. From here you can also access an 18-hole golf course in the summer months. As a fun bonus for the avid traveler, Chula Vista is part of Wyndham’s Trademark Collection. Rare for these type of family resorts, you can collect your travel rewards points when you book!
3. Kalahari Resort
This Wisconsin Dells water park resort and conference center is massive, like all Kalahari water parks, including the newest one in Texas. It offers a getaway as adventurous as the African safari theme that greets you as you pull up — giant elephant statues and jungle music at the cul de sac. This property reminds me of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge — perhaps a smaller, more quaint cousin.
The Kalahari boasts 125,000 square feet of warm water activities and water slide fun. This indoor water park is sprawling and exciting!
The Screamin’ Hyena was this adventure mom’s favorite slide on-site. It let me prove to my preteen that mom still “has moxie.” I entered the trap door slide fearlessly and took the plunge! It is a high-adrenaline slide, featuring a piped-in heartbeat pulsing into your ears before the countdown to the trap door opening, just in case your own rushing blood and anxious white-knuckle wait wasn’t enough!
Laser tag was open to kids much smaller than other courses and allowed our preschooler to run around and zap the competition alongside the bigger kids and grown ups. This was a popular spot for our family to eventually end up each day.
The Great Karoo Marketplace Buffet is a good value dining option with remarkable course offerings for a buffet-style restaurant (again, making me think of a Disney-esque dining experience.)
4. Wilderness Resort
The new Wild West Waterpark is open (making the indoor and outdoor water park count at Wilderness Resort a whopping FOUR each for true year-round fun!) The Wilderness Resort has a gigantic WaterDome wave pool which is the perfect place to work on your tan even in the winter (Seriously, bring sunblock. The skylights soak the enormous room in natural sunlight all day.) The water park space of the resort totals more than 500,000 square feet (that’s around 12 football fields) for families to enjoy. Other indoor water parks (and you have to hit them all, just for bragging rights) include: Klondike Kavern (which features The Hurricane thrill slide) and Cubby’s Cove (located at Wilderness at the Lake.)
This property is gargantuan. Lodging options include the Wilderness Hotel, Glacier Canyon Lodge and Wilderness on the Lake. Luxurious cabins that can sleep up to 18 are nestled in pine trees and feature expansive decks and vaulted ceilings. The newly remodeled rooms in the Wilderness Hotel are perfect for a family base camp — we recommend booking a double suite wet bar for a family of four. This gives the space to spread out and a little separation from the convenient wet bar and living area of the suite.
Food and Fun in a New Frontier
The Wilderness Resort features a Fun Pass which provides access to mini-golf, go-karts, mega arcades, Lost Cabin laser tag, climbing wall experiences, a zip line and escape rooms (off site with a free shuttle service.) Some experiences are included by simply being a guest of the resort, but for the ultimate experience for a long weekend getaway, upgrade to the Unlimited Fun Pass to have access to the most dry land and watery fun.
Each indoor water park has its own eateries, from quick service snacks and sandwiches to bar and grill sit down dining. Swimm’n Chick’n is the new chicken eatery and bar located just on the other side of the glass from Wild West Waterpark. Camp Social is a new family dining hall that aims to recreate the spirit of summer camp and family road trips and offers a ton of options for even the hungriest of campers! No matter where you are in the resort or which water park you choose, you will not be hungry or thirsty!
Regrettably, Wisconsin winters do not allow for outdoor water park play, so while there are four outdoor waterparks sure to be amazing, we did not experience those during our December stay!
5. Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Resort
A heavy-hitter in the Wisconsin Dells waterparks realm is the Mt. Olympus Resort. This property is sprawling across most of the “main strip” of town.
The “Mt. Olympus Hotel Rome” is on-site. It’s the most expensive option but doesn’t require you to walk outside to get to the indoor water park. Any other rooms are “resort rooms” and generally are advertised as 2-5 minutes from the park, which could mean a few miles down the Wisconsin Dells strip. The growing resort has purchased real estate and renovated and rebranded most of the roadside hotels and motels in the surrounding area.
In two nights, we were able to easily do and see all the indoor water park slides and pools (the indoor park is smaller) and also enjoy the indoor amusement park. This winter visit is best for the 4-10 years crowd for activities available.
The indoor water park has a pretty rad “beached pirate ship” for youngsters. The indoor theme park includes rides for smaller kids, bumper cars, a climbing wall and an arcade. The rides are included with your stay and the kids spent more time doing the rides than the slides.
Hotel Rome
Our room in Hotel Rome was spacious and included bunk beds for the kids. In the warmer months, a “camping” option for traditional tents or a cabin equipped with all the traditional hotel amenities round out lodging options.
The deals are pretty palatable. We did the “pay now” option to save upfront. We received complimentary tickets to: Top Secret the White House Mystery, The Lost Temple (hands-down the family favorite) and Ghost Outpost (this one was pretty dark and gross, so best for the 10-15 years crowd.) All the attractions took less than 10 minutes each to visit.
It was cheesy and not something we’d plan into a vacation in the summer, but in the winter it was a unique way to spend a little bit of time after lunch.
Wisconsin Dells in the Summer Months
Outdoor water parks like Noah’s Ark and Mt. Olympus are great too. You really need to visit Wisconsin Dells more than once to see all this year-round water park paradise has to offer.
Many places offer go-kart driving experiences. If you are going to go for that adventure, we recommend Tom Foolery’s on the Kalahari property over the infamous Big Chief Go-Karts on the downtown strip for safety reasons. We had a scary experience and subpar customer service, leaving with an ice pack and a vow to not return.
Our experience on the go kart track at Tom Foolery’s was excellent and safe.
The Original Wisconsin Ducks and The Wild Thing Jetboat adventure are classic family experiences available in the summertime.
If you want to simply enjoy a no-fuss slide and a really nice sandy shore, Baker’s Sunset Beach Resort is the ultimate in simple and rustic, but relaxing and affordable accommodations to simply chill in the beautiful northwoods. This more vintage vacation spot is the opposite of what you’ll find along “the strip.”
For a delicious meal and a good time on dry land, check out Buffalo Phil’s Pizza and Grille for some great food, delivered by a train to your table! The restaurant is a great family option with good food and is connected to Knucklehead’s, a fun amusement area with rides, games and a trampoline park.
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