GlacierCanyon@Wisc. Dells:What to expect?

[ICanDanSaulKnight]

After all the stress and heart ache with my Dad's wife's health [just diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer last month] and her surgery, having to put Dad in a nursing home, etc. it is finally time to get away a little bit with my hubby and kids. We got the "3 bedroom Deluxe" condo at Glacier Canyon at the Wilderness resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

I just wondered if anyone has been there/done that, and if so, if you could please share with me what the experience was like?

Is it super expensive to eat at the restaurants on-site? Is there any 1 restaurant that might be better than others for any reason? How far is it to walk to the indoor waterpark from the room? How much do you pay to rent that "private cabana" that they mention on their website but do not mention any price whatsoever? Is it worth it to have private space??

If someone out there can help me with any of this, it would be sincerely appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[cybilx10]

I have never stayed at that resort, but there are a few restaurants on campus but not in a resort that are pretty reasonable and the kids will have a blast. I think I even had fun. LOL

Check out tripadvisor for details on that resort and peoples responses and what to do and not to do.

[stitch1769]

I stayed there last year in october, it was me and 4 kids and i'm sad to say it was sooo not worth the drive from pa. we didnt stay in a condo but a reg 6 person room, it was smaller than expected which was no biggie, but I had a big problem w/ the fact that housekeeping was non existant in the week we were there, we finally had to go looking for them only to discover most dont speak english!! we stripped the 1 bed due to an accident and put everything in a pile 8 hrs later they were still on the floor but clean linen was set on the sleeper sofa, we even had to take out our own trash! we went to do laundry which they do have a laundry room but beware bring lots of quarters as you wont find any at the resort let alone help in finding any, now as of the waterparks, being it is off peak season they dont open the largest. most fun water area until after 3pm on friday and it closes early on sunday and of course that is where the bumper boats and the largest play areas are. i personally found the wave pool to be too wild for my liking but my son and his friend loved it, we also had a problem w/ that I traveled w/ my special needs daughter and her 1 friend they were 13 and 15 going on 6/7 and they are both under 5 feet tall(done growing) these girls carry and play w/ lifelike dolls and my dd only likes kiddie rides etc so they were enjoying the smaller slides, lazy river and play area untill the lifeguards told them only 12 and under, they were not too big nor were they harming anything/any1, and again other waterareas were closed so you only have fast slides or small kid areas, I spoke w/ head manager who agreed they could play and ride that they never inforce age limits but that theygenerally cater to families w/ small kids and generally dont have families visit w/ special needs kids... well I told him that the times were changing and more ppl are bringing 'these kids' out of their closets and some even travel w/ them that I didnt drive 990 miles to have her cry when I could have gone to disney world again. needless to say we wont be visiting the wilderness resort again, I might add that we stopped at the kalahari resort in ohio on the way to wi and had a blast over 3 days and they were great w/ my dd btw there is a kalahari in wi, note they also said they usually only get ppl from surrounding tri states visiting the dells, also there are a ton of places to eat at resonable prices close to the resort but do keep in mind alot are closed due to off season there is also a walmart a short distance away. any other questions plz pm me.

[threeengels]

We have stayed at Glacier Canyon twice and LOVED it. The condos are completely different than the regular hotel rooms and are very spacious. You have a full kitchen, so you can always cook there (there is a WalMart in town if you need groceries). The fast-food type restaurants that are connected to the water parks are ridiculously expensive and honestly any food that is close is not cheap, but there are restaurants not too far away that are a little more reasonable. Our family enjoyed the Moosejaw restaurant and that is pizza, so can be more affordable since it is shared.

As far as the waterparks, there are 2 main ones plus there is also a large indoor play area for kids (like the areas at McDonalds, but huge). The one waterpark is much bigger than the other, and we found it to be much bigger. As far as walking distance - it is a ways. It depends on where your room is located, but one year it took us a good 15-20 minutes to walk to the closest park and the other year it was more like 10-15. There are shuttles that will pick you up and bring you to the entrances of the waterparks as well - this is really nice for the further park. We actually took our car to the farther waterpark because we were there in the winter and it was really cold! Also - we never got a cabana, but I believe it is something like $150. We never really had a hard time finding an area to set up camp at the waterparks, so we never really considered one. If you have someone with who is just going to be relaxing and not enjoying the park itself, it might be nice to have the cabana if you are willing to pay the price.

You can mail me if you have any other questions - we loved it there and would be going back this winter, except we are going to Orlando!

[stitch1769]

I wanted to add that if you have small kids, this resort is great, especially since 1 of the indoor "waterparks" is very small and specifically 10 and under, the 1 main waterpark w/ the lazy river has the smaller water play area but several waterslides for the kids/adults that enjoy them, the waterpark w/ the wavepool also has a small child area, and a couple slides , finally the largest area that they close during off peak days is the best w/ a large water play areaw/slides, the bumber boats and several slides, there are other activities in the resort that may or may not be open due to off peak season, we loved the indoor play area,and the arcade was very nice, we also did the lazer tag and both mini golfs, some of my kids did the mirroer maze etc but there were things like the bumper cars that were closed due again to off season... we went in the start of oct and it was unseasonally warm, and the only reason I drove to wisconsin to begin w/ was we seen it on the travel chanel and thought it looked like fun! and i guess if i was the type of person that was into the "spa" packages or golf packages it would have been worth the trip, but I went specifically for the waterparks and the resort's kid activities, I was just very disapointed in the fact that unless you were under 6 yrs old or you just loved waterslides you were screwed, there was no inbetween and the saddest part is that the resort openingly admits their main clients are families w/ non schoolage children, and then there is the problem that and I quote 'we dont get families staying here w/ special needs kids" and in my personal opinion it isnt high priority for them to get either. soo ultimately I will never stay at another wilderness resort again, I guess if you live close by its fine but not when I traveled almost 1000 miles to go there, only to be very disappointed. we also ate at the moosejaw and buffalo bills even my teenage son enjoyed his meal being delieved by a train that travels around the dining hall, just driving around the town we found many little places of interest and there is also a denny's that we enjoyed, that has staues like elvis and marilyn monroe out front, definetly got some great photo ops.