The Kalahari in the Wisconsin Dells is the original and best water park in the chain.
This resort features the usual indoor water park, but it also features an outdoor water
park.
This review will cover both indoor and outdoor water parks for the Wisconsin Dells Kalahari,
explaining everything you need to know about the attractions and logistics of visiting.
Kalahari opened their first resort in 2000 in the Wisconsin Dells.
This would be an elaborate, African-themed resort with plenty of references to the continent’s
famous animals.
The upscale resort would feature amenities such as restaurants, conference rooms, and
most importantly, a water park.
The latter is the staple of all the Kalahari resorts.
And the success of the Wisconsin Dells location led the company to building three resorts,
one in Sandusky, Ohio in 2005, one in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania in 2015,
and one in Round Rock, Texas in 2020.
Resort guests get water park access for the entire duration of their stay.
With taxes and fees, the cheapest rooms start around $300 per night.
So if you want to visit multiple days or have enough people, this will be your best deal.
Prices are cheaper if you book well in advance.
Non-resort guests can purchase day passes.
These can be very pricey for non-resort guests.
The number of day passes is limited, so they’re dynamically priced to try and prevent them
from selling out.
Busier days will cost around $80 for a day pass while quieter days will cost around $50
for a day pass.
You also have the option to buy an evening pass for a $10 discount, which is valid for
after 5 pm.
For reference, the indoor water park is usually open until 9 or 10 pm most days.
You also have the option to buy a combo ticket for the attached Tom Foolerys Adventure Park
indoor family entertainment center.
It will typically cost you an additional $35 on top of the day admission.
If you plan to do a lot at Tom Foolerys it’s worth considering, but remember you can pay-per-ride
there instead.
Lastly, you can purchase a spectator pass for the water parks for $20 if you’re not
interested in riding anything.
Once you have your ticket, you make your way through the lobby.
You then have the option to enter the indoor or outdoor water park.
They’re separated from each other by just a 1-2 minute walk through the lobby, so you
can easily switch between the two.
The water parks have the usual changing room and locker facilities.
The latter are an extra cost like most parks.
I believe they cost $15-20 for a small from memory.
They are the smart lockers where you need to remember your locker number and created
4-digit code.
The indoor water park has a similar appearance to the other Kalahari ones.
It’s a semi-dark warehouse.
But the colorful slides and scattered animal or Africa theming gives it life.
There isn’t much theming beyond that unless you count the slides having African-inspired
names.
The outdoor water park is boxed in by hotel rooms on 3 sides, which is a nice backdrop.
Then the 4th side is a busy highway.
The slides are just as colorful as the indoor ones, but their vibrance seems to pop more
out in the natural daylight.
Let’s talk about operations.
The indoor water park is usually open 10-12 hours per day, which is a very long time for
a water park.
That’s plenty of time to experience all those attractions.
The outdoor water park is open in the warmer summer months and it tends to have shorter
hours than the indoor water park, so just keep that in mind.
If you do the twilight ticket, you will not have much time to do the outdoor attractions.
Ride availability can sometimes be an issue, especially if you go during off-peak periods.
Kalahari doesn’t post their ride closures online, so you don’t know until you arrive
which rides are closed.
And they could be down for refurbishment, maintenance, or staffing.
The rides that seem to routinely have reduced hours at all the Kalaharis I’ve visited
are the drop pod slides.
Even on a summer weekend, Sahara Sidewinders and Screaming Hyena were scheduled to be open
for just 4 hours on my recent visit in two separate 2 hour blocks.
And that’s a shame since they’re easily the park’s best and most thrilling slides.
Wait times on days when the Wisconsin Dells are quiet will be non-existent.
On busier days, you’ll see more crowds but Kalahari manages their attendance to prevent
crazy waits.
The longest line I encountered on a summer weekend was 30 minutes for Master Blaster.
The aforementioned drop pod slides were 20 minutes due to limited hours and slow throughput.
The other slides were no more than 5-10 minute waits.
The indoor park has heated water which feels great while the outdoor park has the usually
chilly water.
While the latter is fine on a hot day, it can be quite the shock on cooler summer days
when the sun sets.
Moving onto the slide lineup, the most unique slide here is Master Blaster.
This water coaster is among the weaker ones.
Only one drop midway through the ride gave a tiny pop of airtime.
The rest of the ride was on the slower side.
This one uses water jets to launch the rafts uphill.
While it’s slower, it’s wetter if you want to cool off.
This is one of the few water coasters that allows single riders, which helped explain
the long line and may have explained my slower ride.
This park had a great collection of body slides.
The most extreme are the drop pod slides.
These are the tallest slides in the indoor park, as the tower extends into a special
section of the roof that’s built higher.
Screaming Hyena has one super steep drop the whole way down while Sahara Sidewinders has
a similarly steep drop followed by forceful turn.
I prefer the latter for the more varied ride, but both have thrilling initial plunges where
you get a light freefall sensation.
Tanzanian Twister is an always fun body bowl slide.
After a speedy initial plunge, the bowl section is suspenseful as you never know how you’ll
be flushed into the splashdown pool below.
Make sure you’re a strong swimmer for this one.
Then Zimbabwe Zipper is a fast enclosed body slide.
Located outdoors, this green slide has some wild turns and reaches speeds of 40 mph or
64 kph on the way down.
For tube slides, you have a mix of family and individual experiences.
Victoria Falls is the best indoor one as this family raft slide has a series of enclosed
and open turns.
The other indoor ones are just ok.
The outdoor ones are stronger.
Swahili Swirl is the tube version of Tanzanian Twister.
Anaconda has a shockingly long drop followed by a wild turn.
Smoke That Thunders has a good initial plunge and a wall with weightlessness.
Then Wild Wildebeest is pretty pedestrian and just filler in my opinion.
One cool thing is that most tube slides with solo tubes will allow you to go down the slide
backwards.
This is a similar policy to the Round Rock resort and it adds a lot of reride value to
the tube slides.
For mat slides, you don’t have the traditional racing slide.
Instead, you have Extreme Rush, which are two twisting mat slides side by side with
a few small dips and sharp turns along the way.
For action fans, you have a flowrider.
For kids, you have a variety of play areas both indoors and outdoors.
You have small little kiddie pools plus larger water play structures with a series of accessible
body slides and soaking sprayers.
And then there are pools and lazy rivers for all ages both indoors and outdoors.
These are your best places to relax if you want a break from the slides.
So do I recommend the Kalahari Wisconsin Dells?
I wouldn’t say this is a destination water park.
If you want a water park while in the Wisconsin Dells, I think Noah’s Ark is easily the
town’s best water park, but Kalahari offers a different experience given that it’s indoors,
offers later hours, and is usually less busy.
If you’re on an amusement park trip, I wouldn’t say Kalahari is a must, but it’s a place
you could easily pair with Mt. Olympus if you love water parks.
This resort is my favorite of the Kalaharis because of the deep slide lineup.
The speed slides are the strength in my opinion and the lineup is complimented by an ok water
coaster, plenty of tube slides, and a handful of other attractions.
It also has a decent atmosphere.
Really the biggest con is the high price point, but I understand why Kalahari does that to
keep lines down for hotel guests.
I would recommend making sure you visit when the outdoor park is open as well so you get
the full experience if possible though.
So those are my thoughts on the Wisconsin Dells Kalahari.
What are your thoughts on this hybrid indoor and outdoor water park?
How do you think it compares to the other Kalahari resorts?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered
subscribing since there will be a lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here
at Canobie Coaster.
Thanks for watching!