Wisconsin Dells - Knuckleheads

Next was Knucklesheads. It is an indoor family entertainment and gaming center. It had a few carnival style rides and a lot of video games. They also have bowling, food and a play structure for the younger kids. Again, pricey (2 or 3 dollars for each ride) but fun. If you go, plan to spend quite a bit of time (we spent 2 hours before we had to head for home but we could have spent a fair amount more time) and even more money. It was a good activity for a rainy yucky day where the kids could run and play. I give it 4 stars

Wisconsin Dells - Top Secret

First up is Top Secret it is an upside down white house that also houses many government secrets, including Nessy, Big Foot and some Roswell aliens (and some other things that I can't talk about here LOL) It was pretty cheesy but we had a good time. There were some neat effects and The Boy had a good time. There were a few spots where he was a little scared but overall, he thought it was fun. This is not a place for young children. There are many places that have dim lighting, mazes and loud noise. Ms Thang would have HATED it and the other kids on our tour weren't too impressed with it either. Our tour guide moved us through a little faster than I would have like but some of the kids were getting antsy so he did a good job of reading the general mood of the group and tailoring his speil to that. Over priced but then what isn't. Enjoyable to older kids and young tweens (and adults that act/think like kids :) ) and gets 3.5 stars from me.

Wisconsin Dells - Tommy Bartlett Exploratory

Next was the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. It was basically a small children's museum/science center. The kids really enjoyed it and we spent over 2 hours working our way through the whole place. It was small and was a little pricey (nearly the same price as the Indy Children's Museum which is the pinnacle of children's museums), but we had a coupon that saved some money, plus I think it was worth it to have something that the kids really liked. There were small exhibits but there was enough stuff that Ms Thang could do and TB was entertained as well. It is truely a rare event when we find something that keeps both kids entertained for any length of time.

If you go to the Dells with young children, take some time and visit the Exploratory (especially if the weather is yucky and you need to do something indoors for a few hours).

This attraction ranks 4 stars

Wisconsin Dells - Dell 4D FX Theater

The Dells 4D special FX Theater runs a 15 minute double feature of a Funhouse ride and Marvin the Martian cartoon or a dinosaur attack and runaway log ride. I thought that it was 4 seperate movies so we picked Marvin the Martian because he is AWESOME! Ms Thang and I went in and she freaked out at the fun house ride. She didn't like the 4D effects and the stuff was too much "in your face" even without the glasses. Unfortunately, the 3D was poorly done as well and instead of feeling like things were coming at us, it felt like things were fuzzy and just ended up giving me a headache. The Boy thought the dinosaur attack was really awesome and highly recommends it. It isn't something I would do again but it wasn't the most terrible thing I've ever done.

I'm giving this attraction 2 stars

Wisconin Dells - Wizard Quest

The next morning we went to Wizard Quest. This one gets another negative review, sadly :( The Boy and I did it together and neither one of us enjoyed it. We chose to do the easier level since he can't read and it would have been too hard to try and do all the challenges in the alloted time. As it turned out, we still couldn't solve all the puzzles and TB got bored after an hour and we left only partly done. The premise is that 4 wizards, one from each realm, has been captured and you have to solve some puzzles to get enough magic to free them. The easier level starts you with enough magic points, all you have to do is find the wizards. In reality, you spend a lot of time crawling around on your hands and knees, in the dark or semi dark, looking for symbols on things and doing a TON of reading. You start in the air realm, although they don't tell you that until you have gone through the other 3 and then have to go back to that realm. We wondered through the Earth, Fire and Water Realms, finding little or nothing. In the Earth Realm, we were able to dance with the fairies (which did nothing but deduct magic from us). Other than that, we couldn't find the wizard or complete any of the challenges in the level. We moved on to Fire, where it was nearly dark and there was nothing to do or see. There was a ball pit to cralw through but I couldn't fit and TB was scared because it was pitch black inside. Moving on to the Water realm, we crawled through some seaweed and found black light posters. We also crawled through some tunnels and found a puzzle to solve that was actually broken so it didn't count for anything. Still no wizard. At that point, TB was done and we headed upstairs to leave. Once upstairs, I figured out that that was the Air realm so we looked around in it for a minute. We found another puzzle that was broken and didn't count for anything, again. We did manage to find and free the wizard of that realm. After we found it, we went back to the other 3 trying to find them one more time and busted again. TB asked to leave so we did.

This would be an ok attraction for adults or possibly even much older children but for TB and I, it was boring and difficult and confusing and just generally not much fun. If you go as an adult, make sure you are small, limber and in good health. Also, make sure you take all your smart friends that are good at puzzles.

Winconsin Dells - Crabby's

First up, Crabby's. This is an all you can eat seafood buffet with a pirate theme. As some of you know, we are very into pirates and also as some of you know, I'm very into "all I can eat" so this sounded like a win win. Sadly, it was not a win win but instead pretty much a lose lose :( First of all, the price was pretty high (you will find this is a common themes in all my Dell's reviews). It is $29.95 a person for adults and only slightly less for children. We had a free coupon for The Boy so it made it slightly more bearable. We got seated and ordered drinks and when they arrived, all of them were supposed to be in souvenir glasses, yet none of them came that way. We told our (non-English speaking) waitress who told us they were out of the adult glasses but that she would take some off the bill for the cost of the glasses. We went to the buffet and found that although it was all you can eat, it was basically "do all the work yourself" as well. The shrimp was peel and eat, the salmon was a nasty looking fish that you had to dig pieces out of etc. As it turned out, not only was it labor intensive, none of it was very good. The mashed potatoes were bland, the mac and cheese was running, the Mahi-Mahi was dry and over cooked, etc. Another issue we found was that 2 people in the entire resturant spoke English. This made asking questions such as "Is the sushi cooked or raw" quite difficult. I finally managed to hunt down the manager, who was able to answer my question. The best part was the all you can eat crab legs, which takes forever to crack and eat and you probably can't eat enough to make up the cost of the meal. The drinks were also not good. Heavy on the ice, low on the alcohol and quite expensive. In the gift shop, the problems continued. I found a shirt that I wanted for Radioactive Freak, only to be told that they didn't think they had it in the right size. They eventually did but I had to wait for quite a while while they looked for one. The "animated pirate show" was also completely lame. It was a crusty, dusty animatronic pirate and parrot that talked very softly to each other. I was able to make out about every 3rd or 4th word because it was so quite and garbled. Tough to get the joke when you can't hear it :( I wondered if they were on the verge of going out of business since everything seemed pretty run down and they were out of a lot of stuff. I wish now that I had looked it up online before we went because they rated about 2 stars and those reviews are not wrong.

Wisconsin Dells - Kalahari Resort

Our first night here, we stayed at Kalahari Resorts. It gets a serious 5 stars. It is kind of expensive (twice what we paid at the Comfort Inn) but well worth the price if you or your kids like water parks. They say they are "America's Largest Indoor Waterpark" and they aren't kidding. They have a wave pool, 2 activity pools with basketball and "jungle crossings". They also have a lazy river, several body slides, 2 raft/family slides, a kiddie play area with sprayers and the very best thing is the Flow-rider. Besides having all of that to do, there is an entire outdoor water park to enjoy. We didn't spend much time there because it was cool and over cast pretty much the entire time we were there. In addition to the water, they have 2 different resturants plus several snack bars and a "Damon's Resturant" on the property. They have several gift shops, including a sweet shop. My recommendation is to save your money at the candy shop and head into the down town Wisconsin Dells where there is a candy store every block or so and the candy there is cheaper :) They have a kids areas as well, where, for a fee, you can decorate cookies, color take home souveniers and participate in scavenger hunts (we did and won a free large pizza and drinks for our efforts).

Besides, the all inclusive nature of the resort (they also have a day spa, but we did not indulge because it was really pricey), the staff is fantastic! Every person I dealt with was friendly and VERY helpful. Special consideration goes to Jeremy G and Tyler, lifeguards in the waterpark. They certainly worked hard for their money the night we saw them. They were both working the Flow-rider and were stellar with the kids (and some nervous adults). Tyler was the first to mention that Ms Thang could ride with a guard and he took her on her ride. When we motioned that she was ready to get off, he promptly pulled her off and then apologized that he couldn't see her face so he didn't know. He also chatted with the people waiting, keeping them entertained. Jeremy G was at the bottom of the ride and he was showing people how to do the various tricks that could be done on the ride. He would lay on his board and demonstrate, repeatedly, getting to his knees, then how to barrel roll, etc. All the while watching the person's form and yelling (the surf is really loud, you couldn't hear without screaming) instructions and motioning for them to do things.