Just returned from a 2 night stay at the wilderness with our kids ages 5 and 2. Read a few of the pretty scathing reviews and thought I'd share my perspective.

First off, we stayed Thurs and Fri over spring break week, so I fully expected the place to be packed. I can also appreciate that during peak season the rates are going to be much higher than if we had picked some random week. I,e just because the room was $289 a night (including waterpark entry), I didn't expect a 4 or 5 star hotel. Additionally, in chosing a place dubbed as "the largest indoor waterpark in north america" I didn't expect to roll out of bed and into a pool. I also didn't really expect utter peace and quiet throughout the evening, full well knowing the place would be loaded with kids. Lastly, we're talking "The Dells". Yeah, we'd all rather be on a beach for Spring Break but we only had 2 nights and weren't going to fly anywhere for a few days.

With those expectations as my barometer, I was pleasantly surprised.

First off, you can stay at the wilderness hotel or glacier canyon. We stayed at Glacier Canyon, which I recommmend. I'm putting this review under The Wilderness, because Glacier Canyon is a Wilderness Resort property and most people search Wilderness even on the web when booking a room in Glacier Canyon. We stayed in a studio two double beds, pull out sofa, microwave and econo refridge, flat screen and dvd player. The room was newer, decorated in the typical "outdoor" knotty pine theme. Room was clean, as was the bath. Only complaint was that the room didn't cool down in teh evening. It was still 30 degrees outside in the evening and the room wouldn't go below 72. We were on the 5th floor, so I ended up cracking the slider 1/2 an inch one night because it got so hot. (at least to me, my kids slept like rocks) Overall room was clean and "updated" for a budget/modest hotel so I was happy.

When I checked in at Glacier, there was a line about 8 deep, however they did have at least 6 people working check in and it took 10 minutes max. The guy that checked us in was very pleasant and efficient. I didn't experience issues as other note, but again, this was at Glacier Canyon part of the Wilderness.

Waterparks. Ok, they are a hike. There are 4 main parks and the closest is probably a 8 minute walk with the furthest being 15 minute walk. I expected this and don't mind getting the exercise so to us this wasn't a big deal. If there's any complaints, when you get into the Widlerness part of the hotel corridor, its pretty narrow and can be a pain passing others in the halls. Optionally, you can drive to the parks or take a hotel shuttle. We took a shuttle back the one evening and waited just 5 minutes for it.

The parks were very crowded but actually not as bad as I expected for spring break week. The furnish towels (like locker room quality), but they had plenty of them and getting fesh ones were never an issue. We did have to wait, but never longer than 10-15 minutes to find chairs to put our stuff. Was easy to take breaks from playing with the kids to sit and watch them do their thing.

They have 2 different wave pools and a ton of water slides for kids/adults of all ages. There were plenty of life guards on duty and they seemed to be attentive. One actually dove in the water at one of the wave pools to help a boy that was having difficulty and they stopped the waves immediately. They have a decent mix of attractions for younger and older. Our 2 and 5 year old would play in the kids area for awhile, then join us down the larger tube slides and had a blast the entire time. They even allowed kids in the hot tub, which they loved as well.

Food was as expected. Overall pretty lousy, but we only ate lunch there. Fast food (deep fried) typical fare with expected inflated prices. We ordered pizza delivery one night from Sarento's and it was decent enough.

I would not particularily recommend this place (or others in the dells for that matter) to couples or people without kids. If you have kids and are looking for a few night getaway with non stop action for the kids, then I'd give the wilderness (glacier canyon) a shot.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom deluxe. The property was new so it was very nice. Master bedroom - 1 king & whirlpool tub. 2nd bedroom had 2 double beds. Room was clean. Bedding very nice. My kids played in the hot tub every night. There is a very small apartment washer / dryer which was very useful. I saw some people complain about housekeeping. True - no one changed our towels but we had a washer dryer so it wasn't a problem - get over it people. Here are the tips I learned in our 3 day stay.
Tip#1 - Park your car and take the shuttle everywhere. The waterparks are over 2 blocks away. You have to make sure you take the shuttle labled "glacier canyon lodge" and you can only take the Wilderness shuttles to the different waterparks on the main property. Glacier canyon shuttles are to take you to the wilderness and back again. Every lobby has a phone and all you do is call and tell them how many in your party and what door you are standing in and your destination. The longest wait was 15 mins once. Most of the time they come in 5 mins cuz they have a bunch of vans.
Tip #2- If you visit in the winter - definately try the sledding hill. It is on the glacier canyon property and worth the $10 each for 2 hours IF the line is not long. Very gentle long hill with a rope that tows you up. I think the sign said 4 yrs & 40 pound minimum.
Tip #3 - If you drink, bring own alcohol - very spendy in the bar ($8 per drink)
Tip #4 - You can cook your own food if you stay in the condo. When dining out, we really liked Monks on the wilderness property 1 block from Glacier. The shuttle takes you there & back (10 min wait for the way back). Big portions of tasty bar food. We all had burger & fries type meals & all liked our food and price.
Tip #5 - Visit all the Wilderness waterparks & bring juice boxes, water, etc. Go to the park early to save a table cuz they fill up fast. Overall, I would stay again if the price is right.

I stayed here with my family of 2 adults and 4 kids. When we arrived for our 4:00 check in, I had to wait 30 minutes in line just to get to the check in desk. When I finally got to the front of the line for my turn, I was told my family's room was not ready yet. I was not early. The hotel's website and literature state that check in is at 4:00 p.m.. By the time I got to the front of the line it was 4:35 p.m.. The man at the desk was very unfriendly and not helpful. He suggested that we go wait in the bar downstairs and call the front desk on the house phone in a little while to see if the room was ready yet. Then he said if the room was ready when I called that instead of being able to come directly up to the desk that I should wait in the same line that I had just been in for 30 minutes.

I was very angry. I was not going to drag 4 children down to a bar to wait. I was not going to wait 30 minutes in line again. I stood to the side of the check in desk for 10 minutes and then asked another lady behind the desk if my room was ready. She said it was and we got checked in. When I originally made my reservation by phone I had asked the reservation agent if the price she quoted included all taxes and fees. She said yes. I discovered upon check in that the price was $15.00 per night more for taxes than what I had been quoted on the phone. I felt very taken advantage of.

On the positive side our room was beautiful and very clean. We had a 2 bedroom unit with a full kitchen and 1 and 1/2 bathrooms. The beds were very comfortable. My teenage son really like the murphy bed in the living room area. It was much better than the uncomfortable sofa beds hotels usually have. There also was a curtain you could pull to separate the front room sleeping area from the rest of the unit, so he felt like he had his own room.

The resort is huge. It was a long walk to the indoor water parks. We chose not to take the shuttles because the weather was below zero when we stayed and we did not want to have to walk out to a shuttle bus in the cold. It was nice to have a choice of 3 different water parks. There was plenty to keep the kids occupied. They really had fun. The water parks were clean and there were always plenty of towels. The lifeguards were very good and were always paying attention.

We probably would stay here again. Even with the extra amount I was charged, the rate was very reasonable. I would just hope that next time the front desk personnel would have some better customer service training and rooms would be ready at 4:00 p.m. as stated in the hotel literature.

Postitive:
1. We have a 2 and 4 year old girls. This resort is a plus for families with Kids.

2. Can have up to 8 guest/room with all access to 6 huge waterparks. ( you would otherwise pay up to $35 as a non-guest for a waterpark this huge like Kalahari)

3. The staffs there are friendly and attentive.

4. We booked through our timeshare which saves us $$$ of money.
5. Rooms are spacious, clean, and modern. We stayed at both 2 and 3 bedroom suites.

Comments on pass Reviews

Of course you wouldn't want to stay at this resort if you're on a honeymoon, girls trip, couples only, etc. This is a resort geared towards families with children.

Why would anyone leave valuables in a hotel room? True, that hotel staffs have code of ethics, but really?