About Kalahari Indoor Water Park
Kalahari Indoor Water Park offers a spacious and beautiful water park with numerous slides that are generally fun and appealing to children. The resort's hotel rooms are frequently praised for being clean and comfortable, suggesting a strong accommodation offering.
What parents should know
Summarized from real visitor reviews.
Best for: Families whose primary focus is access to a large variety of indoor water slides.Families seeking a combined water park and resort stay, particularly appreciating a clean hotel room.Families with school-aged children and teens who can independently enjoy water slides and are less affected by parent accompaniment rules.**Toddlers (under 2 years/19 months):** Highly limited water slide access due to 100lb weight restrictions preventing parent accompaniment. Arcade is not suitable.**Preschoolers (2-5 years):** May find water slide use challenging without adult accompaniment due to weight limits. Arcade is not considered cost-effective.
Why families love it
- Spacious indoor water park environment
- Many waterslides are reported to be fun and enjoyable for children
- Basic 2 queen hotel rooms are consistently described as very nice, super clean, and pleasant-smelling
- Extensive selection of fun waterslides catering to various age groups
- Spacious water park facility
- High quality, clean, and pleasant hotel rooms, particularly the basic 2 queen option
Insider tips
- Purchase tickets online in advance to potentially save money.
- Be prepared for significant overall expenses; budget for much more than just the ticket price.
- Avoid peak times like Saturday nights, Mondays, and Wednesday evenings if you wish to mitigate extreme crowds.
- Bring your own snacks and bottled water from an off-site store (e.g., Walgreens) to avoid outrageously high on-site prices ($12 popcorn, $7 bottled water).
- Do not expect to accompany toddlers or very young children on water slides due to strict 100lb weight limits.
- If you have promotional offers (e.g., food cards), confirm their activation/delivery immediately upon check-in to avoid issues.
Good to know before you go
- If you are on a tight budget or sensitive to extremely high prices for food, drinks, and activities.
- If you dislike severe crowds; avoid all weekends and specific weekday evenings.
- If you have very young children (toddlers/preschoolers) who require adult accompaniment on water slides.
- If you expect consistent, high-quality customer service and attentive staff interactions.
- If planning to rely on the arcade for entertainment for children under 5 (it's overpriced and not worth it).
- Crowds
- Extremely crowded ('cheek to cheek') in the water park, particularly on Saturday nights, Mondays, and Wednesday evenings (though slightly less busy on Wednesday after dinner).
- Value
- The park is described as 'very expensive' and 'expensive overall,' with costs like almost $400 for a single day, $12 for popcorn, $7 for bottled water, and $35 per drink. Arcade wristbands are 'not worth it' for young kids due to overpriced games. VIP packages can be $200 for a couch, plus additional high costs for food and drinks, with poor value if the experience is flawed. Buying tickets online in advance is recommended to slightly reduce the expense, but expect a 'large expense' regardless. Overall, the value is often questioned due to the high cost combined with numerous negative experiences.
- Food
- Outside food (specifically snacks and bottled water) is strongly recommended by reviewers due to 'outrageously priced' on-site options (e.g., $12 popcorn, $7 water).
- Accessibility
- Handicap parking spots are available, but a reviewer reported slipping and falling, injuring themselves and breaking their phone screen, raising concerns about maintenance in these areas.
- Safety
- Lifeguards are present at water slides and pool areas.
What parents say
"Beautiful and spacious Water Park. You could say that for children it is a dream paradise, after all everything that is here pleases these young tots. It is also nice for older people here, although very expensive (I recommend buying tickets in advance online) and you have to be prepared for a large expense when going here. However, you can really spend time here well. I could only point out that the utilities should be better maintained."
4 months ago
"The only good thing is the resort. We got the ride slide and dine package and stayed for 1 night. The hotel room is the best thing, everything else was lackluster. We were cheek to cheek with wayy to many people in the Waterpark, like there needs to be an lower occupancy cap. I couldn't go down ANY slides with my 19mo, all kid slides are maxed at 100lbs. It was so loud indoors, and everything employee acted like they hated their life, so unhelpful and short with me. The arcade wristband is not worth it at all if you only have kids under 5 or so, the actual arcade games and credits are wayyy o"
2 weeks ago
"My daughter wanted to write this review, so here's the perspective of a 9-year-old, so basically their target demographic. "The place was expensive overall. We got snacks at Walgreens, since the ones in the room were pretty outrageously priced. The popcorn is $12. A simple bottle of water is $7, and you can just get water free from the sky. Water is part of the Earth, so why does it cost so much, huh? "All the waterslides were fun except for one. There was this guy, and he was helping the kids with the two water slides in the kiddie area. The guy let her and another kid go on the water slide"
2 months ago
Reviews sourced from public Google data.
More amusement parks in Madison
Amusement Parks Bay Beach Amusement Park
4.7(6,374)4.7 out of 5 stars, 6374 reviews1313 Bay Beach Rd, Green Bay
Amusement Parks Knuckleheads Trampoline Park Rides Bowling
4.2(3,173)4.2 out of 5 stars, 3173 reviews150 N Gasser Rd, Wisconsin Dells
Amusement Parks Winnequah Park
4.7(686)4.7 out of 5 stars, 686 reviewsGazebo Nichols Rd & near Winnequah Road, Monona
Amusement Parks Tom Foolerys Adventure Park
4.2(1,133)4.2 out of 5 stars, 1133 reviews1305 Kalahari Dr, Wisconsin Dells