Water Parks?

[SBK]

Yesterday's Washington Post had a wonderful article about the water parks at Wisconsin Dells.

(I can't make a link work.)

We have never been to that area on a vacation and it looked like such a fun winter trip.

Question -- what, if any timeshares are affiliated with a water park? Are there any discounts if they are not affiliated? We are two empty nesters of a certain age who ride every coaster we can find -- and think that the rides are getting tame. This sounds like a blast -- especially those tornado type rides.

thanks,

 

[teachingmyown]

Well, Massanutten and Orange Lake both come to mind.

Massanutten (Va) has their indoor park completed and are projecting completion on their outdoor park by the end of this summer.

OLCC (Fl) had only broken ground when we were there in '04, but by now it's probably completed.

Of course, neither of these are located in the "Central" region of the country, so you might get better answers in either the travel or the lounge areas.

 

[lizard]

I believe World mark Grand geneva in WI. (you might want to chemy spelling).

 

[marion10]

It's Marcus Vacation Club in Grand Geneva has a waterpark, but you have to pay extra. I would just book into one of the big waterparks (in the Dells) Mon-Thursday while school is in session- you can get very good deals that way.

 

[grupp]

New Mall of America Water Park

There is a new water park opening next to the Mall of America later this year. However no timeshare close by, but you can do both the Camp Snoopy (althought it has a new name) and the waterpark.

http://www.kare11.com/news/local/mornings/today_article.aspx?storyid=117795

Gary

 

[adkinsjr]

Club Optima

Check out Club Optima at Treasure Island in Wisconsin Dells. So Far this is the only Wisconsin Dells timeshare I have found that includes the waterpark admission as part of your stay. We stayed there last November, and everyone loved it. This is a points resort, so I'm not sure how difficult it is to get an exchange thru RCI weeks, but I've been able to book a number of long weekends thru RCI points. One downside is they only have room for 4 people per unit, and this seems to be the same whether you get a 1bdrm unit or a 2 bdrm unit. In the summer you also have access to an amusement park as well.

Marcus Vacation Club at Grand Geneva has a water park on property, but access to the park is extra. We haven't stayed there since last spring, but it is about $15 to $20 a day for each person. You can call the resort directly to find out the exact price.

The Grand Geneva is a larger resort, with hotel, health club, spa, 3 restaurants, etc, whereas Club Optima is much smaller.

The water park at Club Optima is bigger as well.

Jill

 

[SBK]

Thank you all for the information

 

[jjking42]

http://www.schlitterbahn.com/default.htm

schlitterman is the greatest water park in the world according to the travel channel. go to the one in New Braunfels Tx and stay in a time share in San Antonio.

Check out the MASTER BLASTER

Selected as the best water ride in the nation again and again, Master Blaster combines the up and down thrills of a roller coaster with the unique experience of being propelled by jets of water. Riders ascend to the top of the Blastenhoff Tower where they find two-passenger inflatable boats waiting for them. Once in position on the launch platform, they are sent down a three-story plunge, then back up three stories and into a twisting tunnel.

 

[Leturno]

Word has it that Fairfield will be building at the Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells but that may still be a way off and I have not heard any details so I can't say if the waterparks at The Wilderness would be available/included with the timeshare exchange.
I been to Treasure Island and we found it to be quite adequate and we did enjoy it, as a family with three little kids. They do not have the extreme tornado type rides you describe. You will have to go to either Great Wolf or Kalihari for those (and I am not sure which) and they may be summer outdoor rides.
I concur with booking midweek at one of the major Wisconsin Dells indoor waterpark hotels to save money and avoid the weekend rush. Since you have to pay either way you can stay at one midweek on a deal and go visit the others on the other days you are in town. If you go in the warm/summer months you can take in the major outdoor water parks in the Wisconsin dells to but it looks like you want an indoor winter escape.
When we stayed at Bluegreen's Christmas Mountain (shameless plug warning) and we rented from Bruce on Tugs last minute rentals we went through the sales tour and they gave us tickets to Treasure Island. That was just prior to them finishing Christmas Mountains new indoor pool facility and outdoor hot tub (read the reviews). Christmas Mountain or Tamarack would both put you about 10 to 15 minutes from the major indoor waterpark hotels, most of which are on the more southern end of the Greater Wisconsin Dells tourist area. Both Tamarak and Christmas Mountain are about 5 minutes away from the Wisconsin Dells tourist clutter in quiet peaceful surroundings.

We traded into Marcus Vacation Club at the Grand Geneva. Lovely resort but bring your wallet fat! The water park is not included with the timeshare and is actually at a special waterpark hotel they built near the enterence on the other extreme end of the resort from the timeshare condos. The hotel is called Timber Ridge and the water park is fun. The slides are fairly extreme and the place is pretty knew. They have an indoor outdoor hot tub which is fun to go out in. Some pre-teen and early teen boys started to compete with eachother to see who could get out of the tub and stand in the cold the longest. One of the boys made the mistake of excepting a challenge from my then 7 year old daughter. She was so thrilled to be competing against an older boy that she completely forgot about the cold. I wish I was there but reports were that the kid really was suffering as she stood there beaming with a grin. He finally declared it a tie and climbed his blue body back into the hottub. Rumor pegged him at 13 to 15 years old. I can imagine he did not want to loose to a 7 year old girl.

Just to plug my neck of the woods! Illinois has it's first indoor water park hotel and resort. Grand Bear Lodge just opened up down the street from Starved Rock State Park (and the Bald Eagles are nesting there this time of year). Grand Bear has whole ownership town homes for rent and the hotel. It is pretty new and I have not been to the waterpark, it sounded smaller then many of the Wisconsin Dells parks but it would be much newer. Silverleaf at Fox River would be about 40 minutes to an hour from Grand Bear and I do not believe Grand Bear allows non-guests to use the waterpark, so you will want to check with the resort before you make plans. Starved Rock is Illinois oldest state park and they have a lovely old big timber lodge of the style you might find out west. There are miles and miles of hiking trails and the famous chimney rock known as Starved rock to visit.

That completes my indoor waterpark brain dump.

Scott

 

[Leturno]

...
Massanutten (Va) has their indoor park completed and are projecting completion on their outdoor park by the end of this summer.

...Of course, neither of these are located in the "Central" region of the country, so you might get better answers in either the travel or the lounge areas.

Hey! I didn't know Massanutten had an indoor waterpark, does the waterpark come included with the exchange?? Is it a waterpark or a pool with water features?

Scott

 

[rapmarks]

It was just in the Wisconsin Dells newspaper that the Kalahari purchased Trappers Turn, a beautiful 27 hole gof course as an extra amenity for the resort.

 

[DebBrown]

We stayed at Kalahari for two nights right after New Years. It has a timeshare but we stayed in the basic hotel rooms for $129/night. This included free admission to the water park. I thought it was a bargain. My granddaughter is 7 and she had a great time. Really, more than two or three days would get old.

Deb

 

[rapmarks]

I didn't know Kalahari had a time share? What is it called and who does it exchange with?

 

[Corinne]

We stayed one night at the Wilderness resort in Wisconsin Dells last November during a whirl-wind tour of Wisconsin. If I may digress a little...My daughter had a "state fair" project at school where the kids all researched and presented info on their state of choice. We're New Englanders and had no first-hand knowledge of WI, but DD is a huge fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder who was born in Wisconsin, so Wisconsin it was. On a lark we went out for a long weekend and drove all over. What fun! The history and culture were certainly interesting, but the thing we all liked the best was the indoor waterpark at the Wilderness. I can only imagine the fun in the summer, when the outdoor parks are up and running. When we were there, Fairfield was in full sales swing for their upcoming resort there but I didn't do the tour so I don't have any details. There were some posts a while back on this new development, but they may not be around any more. FWIW, we paid $109 for a standard room with 2 beds, sleeps 4, and that included tickets to the park for the day we checked in and all the next day (even after you check out). That's a great way to go off-season.

Ciao,
Corinne

 

[rapmarks]

It seems all the hotels with waterparks or amusement parks allow two days use of the parks with a one night stay. This is a pretty good deal. We stopped for dinner on the way back to Wisconsin Dells in Janesville, and our waitress was going to stay at Treasure Island, a group of 8, and for 200 they were staying one night in two rooms and had two full days at Mount Olympus. The little hotels can't compete and have gone into a partnership offering tickets to the park too.

 

[imjoyce]

We own at Wisconsin Dells - Peppertree at Tamarack and I know they've sold passes in the past to Kalahari's indoor waterpark. Peppertree has an indoor pool and a separate outdoor pool. We are also empty nesters (as one of the posters of this topic) and love Peppertree. We own summer weeks, the best season, but don't go there so often, choosing to travel to other places. (Going to Texas this month.) We do go to the annual homeowners' meetings every October. If you've questions, feel free to ask.

edit addition
Fairfield is building near the Great Wolf resort. Soon another timeshare will be added to the Dells. Just an fyi.

 

[rapmarks]

edit addition
Fairfield is building near the Great Wolf resort. Soon another timeshare will be added to the Dells. Just an fyi.[/QUOTE]
Isn't Fairfield building by the Wilderness? the Tanger Outlet mall is going in by the Great wolf resort.