Kalahari Resorts & Conventions - Wisconsin Dells — Restaurant in Lake Delton

Our family consists of myself, my husband, and our 6 year-old son. We were traveling with my husband's parents (both in their 70s) and his brother's family (7 people total with children ranging in age from 3 to 14). We booked the VIP package and received a phone call, as advertised, a week before we checked in. We spoke with Joanie who was so welcoming and eager to please! She offered to put some goodies in the room for us, confirmed early check-in by 1 PM, and took our request of a room on the first floor by the outdoor waterpark. My husband's parents, who did not book the VIP package, called in advance to secure the location of their room as my mother-in-law has trouble walking. They had to upgrade their room slightly, but were placed on the first floor right by the most of the restaurants and the waterparks. ||We arrived a little before noon and checked in at the VIP area. The manager came out to greet us and provided us with a card to contact concierge at any time. We were asked for a time preference for nightly turn down service at that time as well. Our room was not ready but we were told that we would receive a text message when it was ready. We explored the resort and sat down for lunch at the Wisconsin Brew Pub. Before we finished lunch, we received the text message that our room was ready and it was still before the guaranteed 1 PM check-in time. We went to our room on the first floor (as promised) and it was overlooking the waterpark (as promised); however, we realized that it was not the room that we had booked. We had booked a 2 bedroom living room suite and the room that we were given was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite. I went to my brother in-law's room as he had booked a 2 bedroom living room suite and after exploring their room, I decided that I liked the layout of the room that we were assigned better than the room that I had booked so I did not request a room change. I believe the room that I was assigned was actually cheaper per night than the room I had booked, but the difference was only $50 or so (by my calculations anyway) so again, I decided not to say anything. Our room had so much space for our family of 3 and so much privacy for my husband and I. I could not recommend it enough for families with children as it would sleep up to 6 kids in the second bedroom (2 kids to a bed) and the kids would have their own bathroom separate from the adults. There was also plenty of space for storage and to move around. As promised, we had some goodies in the room for being VIP guests including chocolates and cheddar/caramel popcorn from The Last Bite, a bag of potato chips, and 3 vouchers for 1 scoop of ice cream. After dinner and an evening at Tom Foolery's, we came back to the room to slippers, 4 bottles of water, and some more chocolate. It was a great start to our vacation!||We decided to book a premium seating table at the indoor pool for all of the days that we were there. In all honesty, it was unnecessary. There were so many tables available at the indoor waterpark and tables and chairs at the outdoor waterpark. We booked the table under the impression that there would be a server walking around and that was not the case. There was a card on the table where we could call or text a server if we needed anything, but it was much easier for us to walk 10 feet away from our table to go to the swim up bar and quicker for us to just order lunch on our own then to contact a server, wait, place our order, wait, etc. On our last day (Thursday), there was an actual server walking around so we took advantage of placing a drink order, but not much else. I wouldn't recommend spending the extra money for premium seating.||The food was very good and I must compliment the resort (especially the Wisconsin Brew Pub) on several delicious gluten friendly options. I ate much more than just salad (although the salad in Cafe Mirage was delicious) and was quite impressed with the gluten friendly pizza offered. The food in Cinco Ninos was our favorite and everything was very reasonably priced. Service at the Ivy Coast was awful and we learned that we could get breakfast cheaper and faster via room service (although room service mixed up our order delivery with another room, but it was sorted out very quickly - within 5 to 10 minutes of my contacting room service to let them know of the mix-up). The breakfast buffet had so many wonderful options and we were kind of glad that we only ate there on the last day because we probably would have overeaten on too many mornings otherwise.||We prebooked the Food and Fuel package to Tom Foolery's and it was well worth it. My husband and son rode the rides over and over each day, as well as the go karts, and we all enjoyed the rope course as a family. Included in the package was an hour of bowling with shoes and a $100 dining credit that could be used at any restaurant at the resort. We would have no hesitations booking the VIP or Food and Fuel packages again.||The only minor complaint I have is with the turn down service. I was under the impression from the manager that we were to receive it every night with our VIP package. We received it the first two nights, but then the last two nights we did not receive it. Again, I did not say anything as it was not the highlight of the VIP package for us and we received everything that we were looking for in the package, but the inconsistency in service was seen throughout the resort. The service at the Wisconsin Brew Pub and in Cinco Ninos was excellent but the service in Ivy Coast and Cafe Mirage was very, very slow. The same thing went for the waterpark. Some days, it was staffed by people who hustled and we could practically get off of a slide and get right back in line to do it again. Other days, it was staffed by people who worked really, really slow and the lines were 15 to 25 minutes long at minimum. While there was an influx of people during the latter part of our vacation due to a dance competition on site, we noticed the inconsistency in service throughout our stay.||All in all, Kalahari was the perfect resort for a family, especially with children of just about any age as there was so much to do for everyone! We would have no hesitations spending our family vacation at this...

Hello. I'd seriously hate to say but I feel like this place has quickly begun to go down hill the past 4 or so years.

I'll give some context. I have been going to this particular waterpark resort with my family since I was a toddler. In my memory this place is like Disney World to me.

Well that said I would like to point a couple things out that I think are wrong with the Kalahari today.

I will update this review later to explain in more detail.

First big issue the WIFI does not work properly. It is slow as hell, as a student this is awful.

They're doing a bunch of renovation to the main lobby which is very disappointing because I didn't think there was anything wrong with the original main lobby to begin with. The main lobby was such a nice gathering place and I never got a chance to use it because I was still a little kid and my parents wouldn't let me. Now that I just so happen to be old enough to use the lobby space it's gone. How disappointing is that?

Now I think another problem is where they're putting their money. The Kalahari is building a hotel expansion to accommodate more people however when I go into the water park it is already at practically full capacity. If Kalahari really cares about its customers why is it building more space in the hotels instead of building more water park space? This water park has remained almost exactly the same since I was a little kid minus the drop slides. I may not be an economist but I believe that the solution to an overcrowded facility is definitely not to add more people to the problem. The indoor water park is the main reason why people come to the Kalahari, especially in cold weather.

I think the service has gotten worse as well. Let me give you a little anecdote with context. So the Kalahari is now charging people $10 for taking pool towels out of the water park. Now I took a towel and then I returned it but what I didn't know was that in order to return it you have to scan the new cashless wristband. I found out that I had a charge on a family account because I didn't check the towel so I want to the water park to try and talk to the guy working the towel desk. I explained to the guy the situation but then he just started getting really pissed at me asking "where's your towel" in a manner as from the "funny how?" scene from Goodfellas. In another instance I had an encounter with a lifeguard who stalled me for 2 minutes when I got to the slide because he was asking if I knew how to slide and try to give me directions. I'm not sure if he was told to ask very specifically if people knew how to slide but we didn't have to do this the last time we were there. This is implying either it's the lifeguards first day or the Kalahari is actually making people go to this process before sliding.

Also the staff didn't allow me to bodyboard. Oh well it's not like I wanted to surf despite spending like $60 and three 2-hour round trips driving the the closest flow rider in the summer to learn.

Oh and the adult hot tub section wasn't hot enough and it had no jets. And there was poop on the side of the general outdoor hot tub (yes that did happen, I don't have the pic, just trust me on this).

Yikes! I know that was a lot to say but I really needed to get those points out there. I definitely feel like this entire facility is corporate housing. I don't personally feel like it was always like this. When I went to the Kalahari as a little kid I always felt like there was a special sense of magic over here. At that time the resort was still focusing on making sure everything was well decorated and African fashion and all that good stuff. If we're in an African hotel why do we need a brand new Italian and Mexican restaurant? In my opinion if anything we should open an African restaurant that allows people to immerse in the cultures of Africa. Sometimes I like to joke that Fufu and Egusi soup are not served at the Kalahari despite being an African hotel.

In conclusion I think that this hotel needs to invest more in promoting African culture and in expanding...

Lots of updates since I was last here circa April of 2022. Some of my personal interactions with the new updates are included below. Many of the shops and restaurants have been updated. See pictures. I tried to include hours and menus where available. There is a whole new part of the resort which is basically a seperate hotel in itself called Hillside. It's connected to the Sands building via Skywalk. With this building sitting so far from the main building, I was interested to see how long it takes to walk from this building to the main resort building so I paced and timed it. I used the Skywalks and stayed inside the building (not using a shortcut outside) since this is Wisconsin and that's not always an option with the weather. Now I'm also 6'5" so my stride is longer than some so this is an approximate time just to give any readers a frame of reference. These times also don't account for longer waits for the elevator, heavier foot traffic etc. -Hillside Lobby to main resort lobby, 11 min,0.33 of a mile and 857 steps. -Sands lobby to main lobby just take off about 3 or 4 min. since this route takes you through the sands building with two elevator rides. -Main lobby to Tom Foolery was 3 min 15 sec, .14 mile, 318 steps. -Main lobby to the entrance of the AMC theater 6 min 30 sec, .28 mile, 612 steps. -Main lobby to Waterpark entrance, just over a minute, .03 mile, 105 steps. -When it comes to parking, I found that the parking spots are short. Almost all pickup trucks and large SUV's were overhanging into aisle. -New Waterpark towel policy. Gone are the days of the bin of clean towels and the bin of used towels. Now you have to check out towels with your wristband. When you're done, you have to return the towels. If you don't return the same amount of towels, they charge $25/towel. So, having kids, my concern was my kids misplacing a towel. Then we owe $25? In that same thought process, what if someone takes one of our towels to avoid a $25 towel fee? A solution? Outside towels are allowed so I just brought old beach towels that I didn't care about misplacing or losing.

While most of the changes to the resort are good, the one I hate is that check in is done via self service kiosk. So now I'm paying hundreds of dollars a night to stay here, plus I have to do their job of checking myself in? Are there any other jobs I'm supposed to do while I stay? Maybe some housekeeping? Pool maintenance? While checking in, I also discovered that the entire resort has gone "cashless". So I couldn't use the cash I've been saving to pay for the balance due for my stay which was frustrating. (It's also cashless except for they have tip jars at every store where you can tip with cash. So that cash is OK, just not cash to pay for goods and services which is ridiculous.) When I asked two employees by the kiosks if there was someone that could check me in since I'm not an employee and I'm not doing their job for them, the two employees looked at each other and audibly laughed at me. They just pointed at an adjacent service desk. After some hassle I got one of the previous employees to help me. He was unenthusiastic about doing so. He gave me the typical map, promo cards and wrist bands and told me my room number. In the past 6 times I've stayed here, the employee always takes the resort map and shows where the room is, the nearest stairs and/or elevator, best entrance to use and best place to park. Not this guy. I had to ask those questions. When we got to our room I found several strands of hair on the bathroom floor and in the bath tub. I don't know if these were from previous guests or from housekeeping. Other than that and my frustration with the whole "cashless" situation, we enjoyed our stay and the variety of activities. Last things to note are that we brought our own snacks, drinks and food for breakfast and lunch. For Dinners we ate outside the resort. This was due to the high cost of the food and drink items in the resort. The only exception was stopping for some ice cream at "The Last Bite" in...