The Wisconsin Dells and Christmas Mountain Village with Little Ones

This journal will keep in mind that we were traveling with two little ones. The ratings will be based on how well the eldest child (age 2) liked the entertainment.

Though the Dells is known for it's large assortment of waterparks and mini golf courses, there are enough things to keep even the youngest entertained. My husband was pleasantly surprised that we found enough to do and appreciated that we had some down-time everyday as well.

The major places we hit include the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, Wisconsin Army Ducks, the Lost Canyon Tour, took in the RiverWalk, Riverview Waterworld, StoryBook Gardens and Timbavati Wildlife Park, Wisconsin Deer Farm and Ho-Chunk Casino. (The casino does have childcare, but the grandparents watched the kids while we went to the casino.)

We stayed in one of the cabins at Christmas Mountain Village. Though a bit small, there was all the essentials and the privacy of not sharing a wall with any neighbors was appreciated by us, and probably the other families. Let's face it, no one wants to hear my kids waking up at 5:30 AM either! The resort had quite a few activities for young children and those who love artsy craftsy stuff. Not much targeted towards the men but I think they expect them to hit the golf course for a round or attend the free golf clinic run every Wednesday morning.

Quick Tips:

Having never done a long vacation with the kids, we over-estimated the number of times we would get to eat out. After the first few days, the naps ended up closer to lunchtime, which was earlier than usual. To compensate, I ended up buying too many groceries from Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart is only 5 miles from Christmas Mountain Village--I'd suggest only buying some breakfast foods and enough for maybe two meals. If you are like us, you'll find yourself running out everyday or two there anyway to buy something you didn't think to bring. Who thought we'd need sweatshirts in June!

Best Way To Get Around:

You definitely need a car, as the resort is several miles from one end of the main attractions. You can park in the downtown area and walk to quite a bit of shopping, but you really need the car to get near your destination.

Best Things Nearby:
The best places nearby for toddlers would be the Mid-Continent Railway museum, Storybook Gardens and Timbavati Wildlife Park, and the Wisconsin Deer Farm.

Best Things About the Resort:
The resort has lots of activities planned to interest young children and anyone who likes to do small crafts. Everyday there is also an ice cream social where you can build quite a large ice cream sundae or banana split for $3 or less. We didn't take advantage of it, but there was a mini golf course and place to get paddleboats on-site as well. As for the accommodations, the cabins are small, but the privacy is nice. The children's indoor pool (zero entry) has a slide, seesaw, infant bouncers, and two animals that squirt water. Of course our daughter just enjoyed the small water fountains.

Resort Experience:
The campus is very spread out so unless you are fortunate to be near the registration where the indoor pool is located, or near the clubhouse that houses the activities, you'll need the car even at the resort. There are a variety of housing options. We had a cabin with two bedrooms which was only 650 square feet, but I preferred that over the townhouse style where you can hear the neighbors. My grandmother had a one bedroom and could hear the infant crying next door at 4am!

The staff is very friendly. The few suggestions we made to the resort on our comment card are as follows:

1) Put knives in higher drawer within kitchen.
2) Provide area map at check-in; shouldn't have to request one.
3) Do not have someone running an activity at the clubhouse and exchanging towels at the same time--kids became restless with candy bar bingo.

Overall we would consider going back to this resort, but would probably see if a different resort had an opening first to see which is better.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom


• Activities: Good


• Amenities: Very Good


• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good


• Family Friendliness: Very Good


• Service: Good

Why visit a basic pizza place when you can go see the restaurant that has a moose on their delivery car? Besides the allure of the gimmicky moose car and paper antlers you can get upon request, this is a good place to satisfy your appetite.

There are some items on the menu for under $10 such as the personal pizzas and some sandwiches, but after a drink and such you are more likely to spend about $15 per person. I'd suggest splurging and ordering the mozzarella sticks as well. Unlike the traditional breading, these are coated with something more like a thin tortilla.

Here are some of the items our family ordered: My husband ordered the calzone and found it to be okay. (Keep in mind we are originally from the Chicagoland area so our expectations of pizza are pretty high.) I had the taco pizza which was pretty tasty but also quite messy to eat as the chips (probably Doritos) were placed on top after cooking so they just fall off. My mom ordered a pulled pork sandwich and was surprised by how huge it was. Stephanie, well, who can go wrong with Mac & Cheese and alphabet tater tots?

I will say the night we were there the service was a bit on the slow side as they were pretty busy. We were seated quickly but the kids definitely grew impatient waiting. Make sure to pack some things to keep the kids busy such as coloring books otherwise you might find yourself buying something in their gift store because you were trying to keep them from being bored!

Tip: Check out the Dells coupon book to get one person free. Better yet, the Milwaukee Entertainment guide has 50% adult coupons for up to four adults.

This stop was unplanned and we did not expect very much from it as a few years ago the place looked so rundown. We were pleased to hear that a little over 2 years ago that it was purchased by Timbavati, and some animals were added along with some areas refreshed.

We started by riding the train around the grounds which leaves every hour on the hour. The ride isn't very long, but what 2 year old could resist riding on any train? It does take you by a large portion of the park.

Originally the park was just cut-outs, statues, and animated statues associated with different fairy tales. These items are still here and though run-down, our 2 year old still liked to look at them. The kids also enjoyed riding the carousel (included with admission), feeding the fish, and looking at the animals. The favorite portion of the park was feeding the giraffe and spoon-feeding a number of other animals.

As a whole, we were pleasantly surprised that the adults enjoyed the park as well as the children. I do think the park would be much less fun if you don't have the pleasure of watching your youngsters having such a good time. (Ratings for all our activities are based on how the kids liked them.) This park will probably take you less than 2 hours, which is the perfect amount of time for very young children.

Warning: the gift shop has some really great stuff. We managed to stay light on the souvenirs until this store. We ended up spending about $75 for three T-shirts, a sweatshirt, and a little golden book.

Never having been to another casino I can't really make a good comparison but I can point out what we liked and disliked. We appreciated the very high ceilings, as it really helped with the smoke. I have a mild case of asthma so I appreciated that as long as you were a little distant from someone smoking you really weren't affected too much.

As far as gaming options, well, there were several rooms filled with slots anywhere from $.01 per line to $1 per line. I'd say about a third of them still cash out in coins and the others give out receipts. The machines in which you still get to pull the arm is a minimum of $.25 a play.

They also have a high stakes room but we didn't check to see the amounts in there—too rich for our blood (we have two kids in daycare).

They also have a huge bingo hall seating around 500 people. It was relatively full when we visited on a Wednesday night. They did have a poker area but it was roped off so we're guessing it wasn't busy enough to have it open. The blackjack tables in the main area have minimum bids of $5 or $10 and I'd guess there were about two dozen in total. We enjoyed playing at the $5 table; the two different dealers we had were quite friendly.

Much to my husband's disappointment they no longer have craps. We were told by a certain cashier that they used to have it but the casino didn't want to pay the extra taxes on the tables.

Overall we enjoyed the casino, but that could be based on me winning around $30 on the slots and my husband winning about $70 in blackjack. I'm guessing it wouldn't measure up to those who've been to Vegas, but then again this place is impressive because it has the space to be sprawled out versus going just up.

Make sure that on the way in or out you checkout the hotel lobby area. There is a very pretty waterfall with some wildlife statues and eagle soaring up above in a blue painted sky. Our camera wouldn't have caught the beauty since it's pretty dark surrounding the water element.

We decided to take a ride on the Ducks even though the adult ticket price is now $20.25--yikes! My husband and I had done the Original Wisconsin Duck tour and we weren't thinking we'd get our money worth but decided Stephanie, our 2 year old loves boat rides, so why not.

We were pleasantly surprised as our tour guide Eric was terrific and kept us entertained throughout the tour. We also learned a lot about the rock formations and the duck itself. Some of the interesting facts included the history of the two different duck companies in the Dells, the speeds at which the duck can move on land (about 40 mph) and water (about 6 mph), and how the level of the river has changed.

The other surprising part of the tour was our daughter was more impressed by the wind in her face during the on land portion than the boating portion of the trip. I guess cruising at the lightning speed of 6 mph on the water didn't do much for her!

Be warned, you will be convinced to buy quackers at the end of the tour for a minimum of $3. If you give extra, it's a tip for your driver. The quacker is currently too difficult for the two year old to get a noise out of it, but the parents enjoy these too.

My husband and I had high hopes for a day with our toddler here. The whole day was pretty much miserable and a waste of money.

Our first mistake was to enter by the tickets gate. You are better off entering by the carousel or through the candy shop and check the place out first. Anyway, we decided to buy a rides pass for our toddler ($14.95) and a coupon book for us ($12.80). The coupon book has 27 tickets.

Stephanie wouldn't go on the animal train by herself, so there went 3 coupons for mom to ride as well. Meanwhile dad found out that Wisconsin residents could get admission for $3! NOWHERE was this stated nor mentioned to us at the gate but there are plenty of signs stating NO REFUNDS. I don't know if this is an every Tuesday deal, or just this particular one. Anyhow, figuring we'd do a bunch we bought two more wristbands for $6. We shouldn't have.

If your child is under 44", don't bother coming here. They are too short for most rides and actually too scared of some they can ride. We were silly enough to agree to take her on the tilt-a-whirl. That was a HUGE mistake, since those are greased very well and they just kept spinning--granted this is usually great.

The carousel got an okay result and the ferris wheel was alright for her. Keep in mind none of these had her smiling, she just wasn't crying. In between these we thought she'd like riding the go-karts with daddy since she loved the wind in her face on the driving portion of the Dells Army Ducks. No such luck - she looked ready to cry the first few laps and was bawling on the last one.

We did manage to have a few smiles while playing the duckie game and rolling the balls to make the cars move. (Yes, we had to buy game tickets) Our last attempt was the airplane ride, but Steph would have nothing to do with a ride that mom couldn't go on as well. On that note we left.

I thought maybe our daughter just had a bad day, but we met another couple at the resort who had a similar experience with their toddler at the park. Plus, our daughter had fun at every other thing we did in the Dells so I really think this made her crabby.

If you have children this young, do not waste your money on the amusement rides. I'd suggest not even coming to look at them unless they are at least 44" in height, as there are more things to ride. If you do attempt the park, make sure to bring coupons from the Dells book, specifically ask if any deals are running, and make sure there are enough things to do for the money.

I was dead set on this being one of our destinations after reading another member's journal on this museum, and I am happy to report it was quite enjoyable.

The adults in the party will enjoy looking at the reconstructed engines, caboose, rotary cars (clear tracks of snow), and a number of other travel cars. They have some of the train cars in a shed, and those have write-ups on when and where they were used. Even if you aren't that much into trains, you will enjoy seeing these.

The kids of course will love the train ride. The very first part of the ride make sure to watch for all the train cars in the reconstruction progress just past the shed. There are easily several dozen more cars in progress and it's amazing to see how run-down some really are. Once past the train yard, there really isn't much to look at but the farm fields of Wisconsin, so it's nice that the parents can listen to the history of the tracks, the company now running the museum, and about the two whole towns you pass.

The highlight of the ride is when they let you watch them move the engine from what was the front of the train to the back of the train. During this they explain different components of the engine and the responsibilities of the workers now versus back in the day. Keep in mind to get a second look at the trains under construction upon your return.

Tips:
1. There are several ways in which to get a discount here. The Dells coupon book has two separate "buy one get one free" coupons for adults. You can also save a little using your AAA card. Current admission for adults is $12--our kids were free.

2. The train leaves around every 90 minutes, so call ahead of time for those times. Looking at the cars only took us about 40 minutes, and we took a lot of outside pictures. It could take a little longer if you kids are patient enough for you to read more of the exhibits.

3. There are picnic tables in the shade, but only vending machines for beverages so bring some food for the wait times.

We hit the park right when it opened as to not interfere with the kids' naps in the afternoon. Well, okay, my husband went golfing instead as he didn't think he'd be missing much. The admission was $8.50 per adult and $6.50 for children over 2 years old.

I'd recommend buying several packs of food when you buy the tickets. If you are going early in the day, buy at least 4. This sounds like a lot, but trust me, these are your safety net. I'll explain soon.

As you first enter the park, there are a number of other caged animals in which you can feed such as pigs, goats, birds, etc. If you want to feed these do it first as we ran out of food after the deers. Once you are ready to enter the deer area, be prepared as the deer know when the park is opening and they are waiting! I'd STRONGLY recommend carrying your young children at least for a little while. Our infant in the stroller did not appreciate having several deer sniff her in curiosity.

The game plan I suggest would be to have one brave volunteer have a pack of food and distract the deer from the rest of your party. Don't worry, there are still plenty of deers throughout this area and the kids won't feel so overwhelmed if there is a smaller number of them around at one time. Once Stephanie felt a little more at ease having escaped the commotion, she fed a lot of deer and was even having them lick it out of her hand. (Yes, keep the sanitizer handy if your kids have a tendency to put their hands in their mouths a lot.)

We started breaking up the food into smaller pieces to share the wealth and to make sure we had a pack still left to make our escape. More than likely you will still find a lot of deer at the front gate on your retreat.

Most of the deer will come up to you if they are hungry except the younger ones which haven't figured out that it's safe. We were lucky enough to see a fawn that was under a week old. With the number of deer on the property, I would suspect that you should always be able to find some young ones walking around. Also be on the lookout for the deer which have really soft antlers. It was pretty cool to touch them while someone else feeds them.

Overall our two year old Stephanie enjoyed herself and other than the initial sniffing incident, our 9 month old Rebecca seemed inquisitive the whole time. Since my ratings are based on Steph's enthusiasm, this one gets a high recommendation.

The tour of the canyon is done from inside a horse-drawn wagon. The seats are actually padded and have backs to them, which was really appreciated. When you arrive you have a chance to touch and take pictures with the horses before the tour. Once there is about 15 people, everyone climbs aboard.

For most of the trail you are in the shade and it's quite lovely. There are some spots where it's a tight fit for the wagon to fit through and taller people are warned to duck a little.

During the tour the guide told us about the person that owns the tour, the horses, how they control flooding, and himself. Many of the workers have been there over 10 years and they retire the horses after 18 years of age but continue to keep them until they die. The treatment of the animals seemed impeccable.

About halfway through the tour the horses stop and get fed some treats. Meanwhile the tour guide does try to see you postcards, pens, magnets, and playing cards. My mom bought some package of items offered as she always sends postcards to one of her cousins, but I didn't feel inclined to do so. The stop in the action is when our toddler started getting agitated.

Overall, though Stephanie like seeing the horses and liked the ride in the beginning, but she seemed bored at times. I thought the shortness of the ride would make it a great stop, but I think a short pony ride somewhere would have achieved the same thing. (There is a pony ride at the Storybook Gardens and Timbavati Wildlife Park for $5. Read my review on the park to find out about all the great stuff there.)

There are a few picnic tables across the street from the tour for a nice lunch spot looking at Lake Delton. This is one of the lakes in which the Army Duck tour goes through.

At one end of the Dells is a large shopping district and hidden away in the Bavarian Village is Del Sol. This shop sells items that change colors in ultra-violet lights. I know what some of you are thinking--wasn't that done in the 90's? No, those were heat-sensitive and not flattering at all for those who perspire!

Within the store, there are several places you can place the T-shirt (or whatever) over an ultraviolet light in order to see what it will look like in the sun. I chose to buy my husband a shirt with a dragon, since it looked nice with and without the color. I liked several of the wolf ones as well, but he has lots of wolf shirts.

I was disappointed that the children's clothing was also white. Whoever came up with that bright idea obviously doesn't have kids! Even a light grey shirt would work out 10 times better and I'd have bought it.

One important note: you are not supposed to use bleach when washing the clothing. We have already accidentally done this once, but the shirt seems fine so far. I almost opted to not buy the shirt when the salesclerk told me this fact, but it seemed much cooler of a Father's Day gift than a bad tie or golf-club cover.

Even if you aren't a big shopper (I'm not), stop in if you are in the area. Anyone in your party that would rather be looking to satisfy their sweet tooth can walk right across the courtyard to the popcorn shop.

Most evenings we didn't do much in the way of entertainment as the kids usually were tired around their regular bedtimes. We did make sure to take part in the campfire event at Christmas Mountain Village on Sunday night. (The event schedule can be picked up at the ClubHouse over near the camping and cottages.)

At first we were a little skeptical on whether we'd enjoy the fact that someone was playing the guitar, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Our two year old was dancing up a storm. It didn't matter what was being played - it was anything from Old MacDonald and B-I-N-G-O to Hotel California and Boot Scootin' Boogie. Thankfully not too much country music as I'm not a big fan of it. He was taking requests as well so if you do like country music, you could have it played as well.

Stephanie also loved the smores we made. The resort provided marshmallows for everyone and you were to bring anything else you might want. This was a fun thing to do for an hour in the evening. We did a little socializing but mostly enjoyed watching Steph dance around like there was no tomorrow!