Winter Wilderness Resort Vacation

We have been given Wild Passes free of charge, but it didn’t reflect our opinion

I love seeing the pictures friends post online of their kids in the beginning and the end of a school year. It is so exciting to see how much kids grow through the school year. I feel that I have this kind of thing going on with my kids at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin. We just went for our 6th vacation there. My son was only 4 months old and my daughter just turned two when we first came for a Wilderness vacation. My choice was simple – this resort has 2-3 indoor waterparks open at the same time with plenty of other activities – from the Timberland Ball Park and a Play house to nature walks. Usually we stay indoors and have a lot of fun, while the resort is not at its busiest. For me, the mom of two little kids, this was amazingly relaxing time and a perfect vacation spot only 3 hours away from Chicago area where we live. 

My husband calls our annual trips a lazy vacation and I have to agree – it is pretty laid back, but this time I had so many flashbacks. The first time my son spent most of the time sleeping in his stroller, next year he took full advantage of the toddler areas, the year after he had a blast at the water playground. He is 5 now and I couldn’t keep him away from the slides. I feel like both of my kids grow through every accessible stage of this place.

At some point of time I felt that we have seen it all here – thepools, the play parks, the golf. I couldn’t help myself, but compare each year to the previous – what evolved and what changed for the worst. Well, this year the resort has changed in the major way. Last December we noticed a lot of constructions with some areas being closed down and we knew this time we were coming back to see a number of changes and try every single one of them, since the kids were old enough for some exciting courses. The resort offers a Wild pass, that allows you to try a whole bunch of activities for$24.95 a person, which is way better than paying $6-9 per attractions.

The Rope Course

Located right above one of the arcades, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but a creative use of the space. However, once I had my family up high and moving from place to place, I was terrified. The kids did very well, moving from place to place, while the adults were more cautious. I swear this obstacle course gave me jitters like a haunted house.

Laser Maze and Laser Arena

The resort used to have a laser zone located right outside of the Klondike Water Park and we always found this positioning rather awkward: how often do you feel like shooting your fellow family members on the way from the pool while wearing a bathing suit? Now both, the Laser Maze and the Laser Arena and located in the arcade area, which seems to be a lot more appropriate. The Laser Maze is highly addictive if you have ever imagined yourself to be an international spy. And it is equally entertaining for the adults and the kids. One person goes into the maze after picking the difficulty level and tries to to hit the required sensors while avoiding the laser. Total success over here!

The laser Arena might of being a little bit too much for the kids. While the father of the family was very skillful in hiding, sneaking from around the corner, shooting and disappearing in the dark, my son preferred to follow his aunt continuously shooting her in the back. It was still plenty of fun, since they got to run around and shoot a lot.

The Race Course

There is a whole mini race course is built for those who want to push the pedal to the metal. While no bumping is allowed, there are ways you can pass the competition on the turns. The little kids have to take the second seat as they are not allowed to drive. However, that means you can save the money or take the same course twice since you don’t have to pay for the non-drivers.

Indoor racing at @wildernessresort #vacation #indoorwaterfun

A video posted by Lena Burkut (@way2goodlife) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:48am PST

Arcades

You just cannot get away from the arcades. You might just feel that you are visiting the kiddy Las Vegas. Many new machine and everything is flashing, sparkling, spinning. The kids loved it and the grownups in my family “love helping” with the fancy machines. However, watch up for the machines that would cost you 9 credits if you don’t want to spend your credits too quickly. Whenever you are done playing, you can recycle your card, but if you plan to come back, save the card – after spending a certain amount of money, you earn a VIP status get a discount on  every game you play – our cards are at least 4-5 years old and they work just fine.

Klondike Pizza Kitchen

Not really an attraction, but might as well be, since it has a yogurt station and the pizza is unexpectedly shockingly good. And I mean gooood! You can actually order delivery to any place in the Wilderness Resort – the hotel room or the poolside.

4 days here and I feel like we didn’t have enough time to see and try everything. Till next year Wilderness Resort!