Kalahari Waterpark Resort Convention Center — Attraction in Tobyhanna Township

Second time being here and it will be our last, the only reason we gave it another shot was because we were given a gift certificate last time because it was a terrible experience. Cons: I’d still say the lifeguards are rude and think they’re gods because they have a whistle. I get being safe but most of it was over the top. I’d still say the cleanliness is MAJORLY lacking. When my husband has to ask for sheets that aren’t stained, a bottle of cleaner so I can clean out and disinfect the tubs because we found multiple hairs PER TUB, it’s pretty bad. I could have asked to be moved rooms but if you missed multiple hairs in each tub I’m sure the cleanliness is lacking in any room and I’d have just cleaned things myself due to lack of trust at this point. I still think everything inside the resort is insanely overpriced which I get is normal BUT it shouldn’t be. You charge enough for the rooms, charging insane amounts for food but not allowing people to bring their own food inside is crappy. You know what you’re doing. Don’t you make enough money? Cleanliness of the pools were lacking as well. Band aids? Ew. I think they’re lacking staff but not an excuse when it comes to people’s health. Cabanas. I still think these are pointless for how expensive they are. There’s no top to them -water splashed in on us multiple times because they put them under slides with no roof. There is no door or even a curtain to actually maintain any level of privacy or to prevent theft. -if someone doesn’t know what you have or if you’re inside they’d be less likely to come take something of you left your cabana. Also due to no top or closing door the TV inside is absolutely pointless, I turned it to 100 and couldn’t hear anything at all. In fact our kids and my husband and I practically were yelling at each other to be able to hear one another. Pros: Everyone besides the lifeguards were super nice, customer service improved greatly! Everyone was nice from Asia (the girl who waited on us at the cabana-she has great customer service) to the front desk people. They were doing tons of stuff for the kids to win prizes and the prizes were actually nice. So all in all I wouldn’t be back. I gave the place a second chance and it’s just not worth it. We come to the Poconos every year for our daughter’s birthday gift. So we’ve hit all of them and the best is camelback, for sure. 100%...

We have stayed here a couple of times and it was amazing. This time a lot has changed and it’s definitely not worth the money anymore. They have gotten too busy and customer service hasn’t kept up.

They added kiosk check-in, which is awesome because check-in went much faster. Our room was ready early- also awesome. The water park itself was great.

But…..when our room was ready I pulled the car up to the front entrance to unload it. It had been pouring the entire day and I was told by an employee that the covered area was now valet only and I would have to pull forward and unload my car in the rain. So because I didn’t spend $40/night on valet I have to unload my car in the rain and there’s no covered space I can use. We get to our room and there’s not enough pillows and blankets. I text the number they use for those things, they text back it’ll be up shortly. They never came. I later texted about that and the front entrance issue, they ask if they can call me; never do. The next day I ask again, they ask what time and phone number they can call me at and never do. They advertise the resort as completely cashless but you need quarters for the washer and dryer. Didn’t find that out until after schlepping wet laundry up the elevator and all the way down the hall. Good luck finding anyone to change out your 20s for smaller bills. Housekeeping replaced our towels while we were out and didn’t give us any more toilet paper 🤦🏻‍♀️. 1 roll for 6 people for 3 days. It was late when we got back to the room and noticed. My husband went down to try to get some, no one at the front desk. He had to roll a bunch up from one of the lobby bathrooms. Still never got the pillows or blankets I requested, and didn’t get to talk to anyone about the issue out front. Also, the buffet is only breakfast now, they used to have the buffet open for lunch and dinner. Maybe that’s for best though, since they’re rationing...

I originally visited Kalahari in 2021 with my daughter and a large work group- 5 stars then it was amazing.

With that being said I returned with family in early September 2022, and what a negative change! Upon arriving the first day more than half of the indoor water park was roped off and closed. This included areas such as Coral Cove, an entire lazy river, Grotto bar, Cheetah races, Screaming Hyena and Sahara Sidewinder. Furthermore, I was told when walking around the “Splash down Safari” that my daughter was too small (2 years old) to be in that section (mind you we weren’t even getting on the slides or stairs just walking around observing what was there. So here I am hundreds of dollars paid to stay overnight for this water park, concerned that my daughter literally has next to nothing to do at this visit compared to our last visit so I bring up my concerns about everything being closed and the fact I wasn’t informed at check in, or on their website that so much was going to be closed and I would have cancelled or rescheduled to when everything is available, and was told that the park often close “duplicate things down” and that the one kiddie pool is still open. I didn’t drive five hours with my family and a toddler for half of the attractions to not be offered!!

We enjoyed dinner that night at Blux, our waitress was fantastic, the food was delicious. However, I did note that there was no dinner buffet option during our stay like there was at my last visit.

I won’t be returning, for those reading this perhaps during peak months it would be worth a trip with young children when everything should be available to them but HIGHLY RECOMMEND avoiding “slow months” due to how negative this experience was. It left a sour taste in my mouth for what should have been a fun filled...