Doing the Dells, with a family & a budget.
based on 5 votes
A vacation that's relaxing, but still fun for the teens (16, 14 & 12 years).
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Explore locations featured in this goList:
Wisconsin Dells, Spring Green
- Category: Perfect week or more
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Traveler type:
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Appeals to: Families with teenagers, Budget travelers
- Seasons:
- Tags: Dells, Wisconsin, Teens, budget
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Great get away from the crowds. Friendly staff, well maintained grounds, clean showers/restrooms, nice pool. Almost all of the campsites were shady - the campground is in the middle of a large stand of pine trees. Would definitely camp here again.
The biggest plus was being able to just drive out of all the hustle & bustle of the main drag. It felt like we were in another world from the hectic Dells downtown, although it was only about 10-15 minutes away.
Camping was about $40 a night, but we went for the camping cabin at $60, since we were only there for 5 days, we didn't want to spend a lot of time setting up and tearing down a tent. But it was extremely hot, so we were really grateful for the AC too! |
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What a great find! We stopped into the one on the main downtown street (not the one w/the Wilderness hotel) for a quick beer while the kids were at Ripleys. We had walked in and RIGHT OUT of a couple of other places where the music was so loud you couldn't have a conversation w/o yelling. Monk's has the atmosphere of a neighborhood bar, even though it's in the main tourist area. The Brewer's were on TV, and the smell of onion rings was mouth-watering! Plus they had GOOD beer on tap. I'd recommend the Blue Moon (served w/a slice of orange), but the Monk's 47 is good too, if you like an amber beer.
We decided to come back the next day for supper and we weren't disappointed. The burgers (an awesome deal at just over $4.00) were wonderful. I haven't tasted that good of beef for a long time. They also had a couple of veggie burger options - my daughter said hers was good.
Sides are extra - but the onion rings were AWESOME. Real beer-battered rings, using thick slices of onion. MMMMMmmmmmm. For a family of five, we each ordered a burger and split an order of onion rings, and an order of cheese fries. The cheese fries were good, but nothing out of the ordinary. Next time we're doing 2 order of rings (maybe 3)! Not a place to watch your cholesterol, but what the hey - we were on vacation! |
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3. Cheese Factory Restaurant
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I read a lot of good reviews of this restaurant, and they were right. After my 2 boys (12 & 16) got over the fact that it was all vegetarian, they even enjoyed their meals. And my daughter (14) who is vegetarian, loved the fact that she could order anything on the menu. My husband (who is definitely NOT a vegetarian) said it was the best restaurant meal he's had in a long time. He had the black bean burrito, and the guacamole & salsa were outstanding. Likewise with the Chimichanga my daughter ordered. I got the El Paso something or other - grilled cornbread w/corn salsa & sauted peppers, cactus, & some other stuff. It was good, but I'd stick with the burrito & chimi if you're in the mood for Mexican - those were supurb.
Most of the lunch items were $10 to $12. Dinners were a little higher, about $15 or so. My 12 year old was able to order off the children's menu, so his meal was a little less. If you're watching your budget, try stopping in for just dessert. We were too stuffed for it, but they all looked awesome, and a family sitting next to us said they'd been in 3 times in the last 4 days - just for the desserts! |
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4. Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
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Probably the biggest disappointment of our trip. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful, but I'd read some good reviews, and the park didn't really deliver. If your kids are between 4 & 12, it's probably great. Otherwise, it was pretty ho-hum. Even though it was a steamy hot day when we went, the kids only stayed at the water park for about 2 hours (about 1 hour is my limit on water parks anyway). But I thought we'd make up for it on the roller coasters. Nope. One coaster was down, I think another one was still under construction, and one (the "Dive to Atlantis", where the car splashes into the water) was only putting thru about 1 car (3 people) every 5 minutes. We waited about 20 minutes, w/o any shade, and decided to try something else.
Two of the other coasters - Pegasus & Cyclops - were more bone jarring than thrilling. The only highlight of the day was the Hades coaster. That was really a fun ride. Too bad the rest weren't as good. As for the indoor theme park - I guess in the middle of January it might be adequate, but the only decent ride was Mad Mouse (I think they called it OPA, but the cars still had mouse faces on them). The rest were really tame.
The go-karts were a let-down too. The first one I rode I got a dud car - it just about stopped as soon as it hit a hill. I learned then not to hop into one of the last cars in the line. After that I got better cars, but since I've been driving for almost 30 years, putt-putting around a track at 15 mph is hardly a thrill. Again, probably fun for younger kids.
One nice thing is that you can get an "observer" ticket for only $8 or so. Next time I'll do that. And I'm pretty sure you can buy a single ticket for the Hades. Much cheaper than the $34 I paid for an unlimited pass. |
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Wow! This is probably one of the most unusual places I've ever been - one part house, and 4 parts museum. It's about an hour's drive from the Dells, but it's worth it.
The house is built on (or kind of "around") a large pillar of rock, and the home reflects the nature theme throughout, and has several large fireplaces and some really nice works of art. The kids had fun too - claiming this room or that as "their bedroom". Some of the decor was a little "worn around the edges", but that really didn't detract from the tour.
The collections (in buildings connected to the house, but not part of it) were even more unusual. The museum is vast - we spent about 45 minutes in the house, and about 4 hours in the museums.
The displays ranged from the fabulous to the mundane - from opulent to just plain tacky - and even a little eerie. We all enjoyed the mechanical musical instruments. They must have had half a dozen rooms with an entire band or orchestra, plus several more smaller displays. (Most could have used a good tuning though!) Some of the rooms were like caverns, others like a haunted house, although I'm not entirely sure that's the impression they were going for. :-)
The carousel is amazing. It's huge, with dozens of wonderful creatures (real & imaginary). There are more carousel animals in the huge room, and the walls are lined with them. But then, they have these department store manequins with painted wood wings all over the ceiling - as though they're angels. Like I said - from the fabulous to the tacky!
We all also loved the organ room. It was like being inside a huge work of modern art, as there were huge pipe organs, odd relics, and huge industrial drums arranged from floor to ceiling.
The doll carousel was just disturbing. Maybe I've watched too many "evil dolls come to life" movies, but there had to be hundreds of dolls on the carousel and throughout the displays. We kept whispering to my youngest "cooome and plaaay with us..." "cooome be our frieeeend..." "you waaant to ride the carousel with ussss....", well you get the picture. Fortunately he's over having bad dreams. :-)
We lucked out, the people ahead of us had 5 coupon books they got from a local radio station - they didn't need them, so they gave us the coupons for the house. We all got in free. There are 3 tours, or you can get all three for about the same price as any 2 (called the "ultimate" tour). Good thing is that junior admissions are for up to age 17. Tour 1 is the house, Tour 2 includes the carousel & the musical instruments, and tour 3 includes the organ room. There is soooo much more there too, but those were my favorites. |
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6. The Tommy Bartlett Show
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You have to see the Tommy Bartlett show if you go to the Dells. It's just un-American not to! (lol). Of course they had all the ski & boat tricks, and the iconic water-skiing pyramid. The second part of the show had some acrobats, and a comedian-juggler, who was really good (best part of the show in my opinion). Oh, and a laser light show.
Next time we'll probably go to a comedy or magic show, or the "broadway" dinner theater instead, but I'm really glad we got to see this slice of Americana.
Tickets are about $22, but you can get bleacher seats for $15. The show's about an hour and a half, but the first 10 minutes is music while they set the boats up, and there's an intermission, so the bleachers shouldn't be too hard on your back or butt. |
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I'm going on my kid's word for this one - I sat this one out. You walk around the building, which is set up like an enchanted forest (I guess - difficult to get more detailed descriptions from teenagers) and find the answers to a bunch of questions. The questions give you "glimmers", which are like points, which you use to free the wizards. You can choose Apprentice Level (have to free 2 wizards), or Wizard Level (have to free all 4). If you choose Wizard level, you earn a discount in the gift shop (my kids only freed 3, so they got 15% off. Would have been 25% off if they'd gotten all 4).
A bit pricey - we got a combo ticket for this, Ripleys, and the 4D theater for about $25 each for the kids. Just Wizard's Quest was about $13. If we decide to go back, we'll skip Ripleys & 4D. |
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8. Ripleys Believe It or Not Museum
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| Again - just my kid's opinion on this. It was OK, but small, and not as good as the one at Niagara Falls. Wouldn't recommend it for the price (about $13). |
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9. 4D Theatre
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| Pretty much worthless - per my kids. It was on the Ripleys/Wizard Quest/4D combo ticket, and I'm not susre how much it cost by itself. But it's a 10 minute 3D movie where stuff also comes out and touches you (e.g., water splashing, a poke in the back). Don't pay extra for this! |
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Compliment sleepymom500
sleepymom500
The Dells w/o rip-offs.
