The Lobby is one of the things I, and everyone in my family, really liked about Kalahari! Although our room was not yet ready (official check-in is at 4:00), we received our bracelets to use the waterpark downstairs and we were advised that we could store our luggage in an adjacent locked storage area. We visited Kalahari in the Pocono Mountains for a last minute trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 9. The town is also beyond tacky. The other kids and I voted for Great Wolf Lodge. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. After learning about the aspects of both of these resort, which one will your family choose? Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Miles for Family with appropriate and specific directions to the original content. Virtual reality, tons of games, golf, bowling - this place though of everything. Great Wolf Lodge vs. Kalahari vs. CamelBack's Aquatopia! THE POCONOS We are a family of 6 with four kids ranging in ages from 5 12 years old. Many months later (due to COVID) we stayed at Camelbacks Aquatopia. Each wing of the resort is 8 floors high and it has 977 rooms in total. The place is ENORMOUS and although it's extremely busy and pretty crowded most of the time, there is plenty of seating in the waterpark. CLICK HERE TO VIEW VARIOUS CREDIT CARDS AND AVAILABLE SIGN-UP BONUSES, Review: Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hits and Misses from my Southern Caribbean Cruise on Voyager of the Seas, Quarantined on a Cruise Ship! For the price I would expect better service. You could definitely capture everything this place has to offer in 2-3 days. I went back into our pictures and corrected the post with the actual picture of the Great Wolf Lodge bathroom. Is the higher food price of Kalahari worth it? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Enjoy your family vacation at one of the great indoor water park resort choices in your area! Chip. We had no real negatives about Great Wolf but in all honesty, Kalahari Resort surpasses them on almost all levels, but to no fault of Great Wolf. Seriously, I'm not being dramatic. Ohio offers several indoor and outdoor water parks for summer fun There is also a fountain near the middle of the lobby with chairs and tables to sit and eat. The lobby was somewhat hectic with the number of people filing in and out, restaurants, shops, carts filled with souvenirs for sale, and a long line at the guest registration desk. Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine has one adults-only hot tub. As I mentioned above when we go to Kalahari (or Great Wolf Lodge, for that matter)- we are going for some water and swimming fun. Hello, Erika! When we go to one of the three water parks in the Poconos we are usually going for water park & swimming fun so other activities are not our primary focus. It was unpleasant to see and to step on. Recently, my family visited Kalahari Resort for the first time. (If we wanted to watch tv, we could go to our room.) The cabin was towards the front of the room and was semi-private for the kids. Great Wolf Lodge was nearly as inexpensive during the week as Aquatopia ($249 vs $238), and the cheapest on Saturday night. Kalahari has the most amenities that you would expect from a high-end resort. Kalahari vs. Great Wolf Lodge -- Sandusky - DISboards.com This was our 3rd visit to Kalahari, the 2 previous times we stayed was before March 2017 when the resort was only half way completed. We figured that we'd have a good dinner to make up for it.After another 90 minutes or so, we decided to check out the room. Note: There is no Flowrider / surfing simulator attraction at the Poconos location for Great Wolf Lodge. They did a fabulous job with the design of this place. Our 2-year-old who would have nothing to do with a life jacket was able to play in the toddler splash park and wave pool as long as Melani or I was right with her. Kalahari has a better reputation locally. It seems that there are parts of the water park that are only staffed at peak attendance. It was a nice touch to have the lodge theme and a couple of characters at the front of the wave pool which is one of our favorite attractions. It is hard to believe that Aquatopia/Camelback would actually be charging extra for the balcony /patios at this level! We like archaeology and the lost river archaeology theme was interesting and well done. It's small enough to feel cozy but large enough to feel like you are actually at a hotel. There was also a buffet which was closed but other little caf options for grab and go type food, a coffee bar, ice cream stand, bakery.they forgot nothing!We felt like we needed more than one night so we asked to extend our stay another night and we were given a great rate to stay in our upgraded room so we jumped on the deal. The Poconos Waterpark Showdown 2019. Great Wolf Lodge, including Pocono Mountains location. There is an indoor rock wall, laser tag, and indoor ropes course, etc. We stayed from Tuesday through Thursday during July. My son went to the prime rib carving station several times but the chef continued to serve him meat with chunks of fat on it - so he gave up. Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. Camelback is unique in that it has both an INDOOR water park (Aquatopia, which is open year-round) and a separate OUTDOOR water park (Camelbeach) that is only open for the summer season. Yes, there were some healthy options just not a very good variety. Kalahari has a lot of complaints on Google about 2+ hour check in times and no housekeeping. Aquatopia Snowtubing, mountain coaster (4,500 feet steel track coaster), Euro Bungee tethered bungee jump. My family has enjoyed a handful of stays at the water park hotel Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas (and one visit to the GWL in Southern California). The hot tub situation was disappointing. Let me start by saying that we have visited the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, MA on 2 separate occasions and had enjoyable visits each time. Camelbacks Aquatopia also had the highest resort fee and the prices quoted on the website do not include the $25/night parking fee. For our Wednesday November 24th, 2021 stay @ Aquatopia the cost of our room was $319.00 plus taxes & fees amounting in the amount of $71.10, bringing the total to $390.10. Thank you to the staff we mentioned for really making sure our stay was the best it possibly could be! Advice: you can't come to a place like this and complain about how much things cost. Kalahari Resort has a huge upcharge for the one type of themed room. Expect to spend money on food, games, etc. Seriously, this place is awesome! Sincerely, Chip. But having a wide variety of restaurants and foods was great! This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. There was a large selection, with an emphasis on Italian cuisine. Great Wolf Lodge Poconos Water Park Toddler Play Kalahari has the most toddler slides by far when comparing the three resorts. African photos, statues, pictures, all kinds of things that mentally transport you to another world. A night at either place costs a small fortune, and the food is over-priced and mediocre. We went for the Italian the second night and the food was again wonderful. The fact that Aquatopia ALSO has an outdoor water park (Camelbeach) and its night-time illumination make it unique. Thank you for reading & for your comment / question! We like all three. Can I ask how the service levels compared at the two as well as the food? Check your pack into a world of adventure. We are still having a debate on what it actually was. The indoor waterpark is open all year with various slides, play areas, a wave pool, and even a four-story interactive treehouse. One of the other simple theming aspects we enjoyed were the 2 Great Wolf Lodge video book stories playing on the resort TV channel. The IVORY COAST restaurant had a great selection of food and we thoroughly enjoyed doing takeout from there. I look forward to hearing back from you. Great Wolf Lodge offers resort lodges with indoor water parks near both large theme parks. Great Wolf Lodge vs Kalahari Resorts & Conventions - Indeed We stayed @ Great Wolf Lodge on a Tuesday night and then Kalahari on Wednesday night of the same week. Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, TX is like Great Wolf Lodge on steroids. If your brand of parenting involves stiff drinks, Kalahari is much more liquor focused, with bartenders and full drinks. Kalahari Resort has an African safari theme. I will be sure to pass your kind words along to Kassi, David, Robin, and Amanda! https://www.theparenthoodadventures.com/waterpark-comparison-chart-kalahari-aquatopia-great-wolf-lodge/. After reading this post - which Poconos waterpark do you THINK you are most likely to go to? Imagine what it takes to run this place?!? Thank you very much for your comment. Keep in mind theres a third indoor water park resort in the Poconos: Camelback Mountain Resort. Kassi was terrific! Also, the post was never updated to include information about Aquatopia. We have been to both resorts in the past but thought it would be fun to do a back-to-back comparison. This time we were on the third floor and had a balcony. Kalahari also has a wide variety of types of water slides drop slides, mat racer, raft slides, etc. The water facilities were great and there was a nice assortment of water slides. Embarrassing that I never realized it was the same picture! The first thing that struck me the most was how dirty and unsanitary the waterpark was compared to before. Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. The room was very clean and up-to-date. At times Kalahari actually felt a little too big for us (both the resort & the water park). Kalahari activities and attractions differ with each location. We just stayed at Camelback the night before Thanksgiving and are actively working on updated the post. This comparison guide will focus mainly on the Pocono resorts in Pennsylvania, but some of the information can be used to compare other locations of Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge. Copyright 2023 The Parenthood Adventures! The drive was almost exactly 100 miles for us and we arrived a few minutes after 1:00 pm. A 14-inch pie was 8 slices, 2 toppings $21. We didn't expect gourmet food at a waterpark, but the nachos were so tasteless that my 12-year old pushed them aside and asked for a chicken finger. Great Wolf Lodge has a woodland creature and forest theme, while Kalahari has an African theme. However, please be aware that Camelback / Aquatopia charges for general parking I think it is $12 if you are just coming to engage in one of the activities. There are a lot of food choices @ Kalahari of which we have only sampled a few. We did not have a car on the premises so driving was not an option, and walking was not very appealing since we tend to patronize the indoor water parks during the colder months and it was late November when we were at Aquatopia. Kalahari is awesome, but it is very large and also a bit noisier compared to the others. The day we went, prices were similar to GWL. You can reach me at PAConnect@KalahariResorts.com. However, Great Wolf Lodge has a higher percentage of themed rooms available at a more reasonable price. The king of indoor waterparks, . Kids jumping in and out, the areas are not guarded by staffsame problem as Great Wolf. Otherwise, it far exceeded our expectations and we will definitely be choosing Kalahari over Great Wolf for many years to come. Inspired parents sharing the joys & adventures of the parenthood journey! The water is warm, but not too hot. Life-size animal statues adorn the outside. Try getting on the email lists of both of these resorts to learn about the discounts they offer throughout the year. We recently visited Camelback Mountain Resorts waterpark Aquatopia (November 24th, 2021). Find not only one but TWO Great Wolf Lodge water parks in Ohio. To the left of the lobby is almost exclusively devoted to games and activities for kids really tweens & teens. Water park access was included. Great Wolf Lodge vs Kalahari Resort | What's the Best Choice in Great Wolf also has a neat Glockenspiel in the lobby that does a little show in the evening, and than a character comes out afterwards for a meet and greet. Kalahari Resort The inside is light and bright. On our previous visit a couple of years ago we felt the place was showing some wear and tear. Well manicured and landscaped lawns.We arrived in the main lobby on Sunday 7/2 a little after 1:00 p.m. If there are any older children in your party, around 10 years and older, then they may not appreciate the kiddie theming that runs through Great Wolf Lodge. Use Great Wolf Lodge for what it is really good at and skip the rest! Definitely two thumbs up for the adults area at Kalahari! Great Wolf seems to have more of a variety of theming for these bunk bed suites. Level Contributor 1,490 posts 39 reviews The side-lite mirror was a nice feature that we enjoyed. The larger of the two play areas also includes a splash table for babies. Kalahari vs. Great Wolf - WE HAVE A WINNER!! - Tripadvisor The splash park area of the water park devoted to smaller children (toddlers Penguin Play Bay) is very weak compared to Kalahari and somewhat awkwardly placed on a second tier of the waterpark close to some steps going down. Great Wolf Lodge is smaller than Kalahari. But be prepared to spend.it comes with the territory! For example when booking your accommodations you can select a themed suite, such as the KidCabin Suite which we did. Kalaharis waterpark is the largest at 220,000 square feet & Camelbacks Aquatopia indoor waterpark is right in the middle at 125,000 square feet. Our suite was located on the same level as the entrance to the water park which was below the main level. Poconos Waterpark Comparison Guide: Kalahari versus Aquatopia & Great I am pleased to hear that our staff was friendly and that our facilities were well maintained throughout your stay. Photo credit: Great Wolf Lodge Great Wolf Lodge. We liked the luggage rack near the door and the shelf over the microwave. 16 years ago Save I'm pricing a stay for a Christmas gift and Wilderness is about $100 less per night ($165). Both resorts have themed rooms that accommodate a wide-range of family sizes from two queen rooms to much, much bigger. We were on the bottom level and we had a small patio walk out area next to the ropes course. Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Water Park. Here is the full list of recognized Pennsylvania locations: 1.) The fact that Camelback ALSO has the Mountain Resort (skiing, tubing, etc), the outdoor water park (Camelbeach) and its nightime illumination make it unique. Likewise, there is a cost associated with the convenience of those activities being offered right there and that is cost. The Poconos and Williamsburg Virginia location both have a small indoor wave pool. Enjoy this list of fun and amazing Hoffer Park has the address of 235 Mill Street in Middletown, Pennsylvania. From the pricing you see above you can understand why we usually opt for the kids to miss a day of school when we head over to one of Poconos water parks! Only 2 of our bracelets worked, but we were able to get around that on more than one occasion. It is so fun for my children (12 & 4 years old) and for adults too!! Speaking of loud There is usually a dance party in the evening which we found to be extremely loud! For our Wednesday June 26th, 2019 stay @ Kalahari the cost of our room was $249.99 with taxes & fees amounting to $66.09, bringing the total to $316.08. Jamison is a small town in Warwick Township, Bucks Ringing Rocks County Park is located on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, along Ringing Rocks Road, in Upper Black Eddy, QuiNBy's Playground recently opened in 2022. If you want averykid-centricexperience from top to bottom we would recommendGreat Wolf Lodge. Activities could include yoga, character appearances, crafts, a nightly Forest Friends show, story time, and a dance party. Im pleased to hear that you enjoyed the various sections of the waterpark. THERE ISNOADDITIONAL COST TO YOU if you buy something from Amazon! The resort recently completed a huge expansion that added 130,000 sq feet of conference facilities to the 100,000 sq feet of existing facilities. We ended up eating most of the fries and onions rings, while discarding the rest. Apparently they were experiencing people taking the towels as souvenirs?? Advice: you can't come to a place like this and complain about how much things cost. Wireless Internet access is complimentary. Kalahari vs. Great Wolf Lodge - Review of Kalahari Resorts Your encounters with the lack of cleanliness in the room and waterpark was certainly not up to our standards, so I am interested in hearing more about it. In our opinion, the splash park at Aquatopia was the weakest of the three. We show middle class folks (like us) how they can leverage their good credit score to finally take that long-awaited trip. We stayed from Tuesday through Thursday during July.Let me start by saying that we have visited the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, MA on 2 separate occasions and had enjoyable visits each time. You enter Kalahari through a massive glass revolving carousel door and there is plenty of room for people to get where they are going whether it is to check-in, get food, get to the water park or any other number of destinations. First, Great Wolf Lodge is a decent size. Try getting on the email lists of both of these resorts to learn about the discounts they offer throughout the year. 4600 Milan Road Sandusky, OH 44870 (800) 641-9653. Water park access was included. Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Chip Williamson All Rights Reserved. From our experience after visiting Great Wolf Lodge, Kalahari & Camelbacks Aquatopia indoor water parks in the Poconos we felt that: Check out our comprehensive comparison chart of these three indoor water park resorts here: Waterpark Comparison Chart: Kalahari, Aquatopia & Great Wolf Lodge. Why do the adults with hearing damage always make the decisions with regards to volume level! It is in the middle in terms of the size of its indoor water park and in number of rooms at the resort. TripAdvisor review of Great Wolf Lodge Poconos, TripAdvisor review of Kalahari Resort Poconos, Booking.com review of Great Wolf Lodge Poconos, MommyNearest Great Wolf Lodge vs Kalahari vs Camelback. It is a wonderful family vacation spot that offers a lot of adventure & nature! Tiffany, Im so glad you found the post helpful. Great Wolf Resorts (formerly known as Great Wolf Lodge) is a chain of eighteen indoor water park resorts located in the United States and Canada. See you soon! There were a total of 3 TVs one in the Family Room where the pull out bed / couch was, one in the master suite and one in the second bedroom with the two queen sized beds. Lifeguard. Thats theming! Click here to go to the Great Wolf Lodge Poconos Water Park website. Compare salary information for Great Wolf Lodge and Kalahari Resorts & Conventions. Expect to spend money on food, games, etc. The splash park or toddler area of the water park was rather small. (assuming same accommodations we had for this past trip) and this is how they all answered. The theming is carried throughout multiple aspects of the total experience. With that being said it does appear that the ropes course and zip lines are something that we may try in the future. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu. $25 if more than 3 days prior to arrival. During our long walk to the room (the opposite end of the facility), he was VERY professional, engaging and helpful. Finding fun places to take your kids in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. CHECK IN/ROOM - We checked in with Kassi at We visited Kalahari in the Pocono Mountains for a last minute trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 9. Would have been nice to have them inside as well.The waterpark overall was phenomenal - huge and definitely accommodates young and old. The main dry activity, however, is the MagiQuest interactive wand game. It had a pretty good selection of desserts and chocolates. It may come down to a simple question: How old are the children in your party? We usually ordered and brought the food to our room. I would appreciate your input as we would like to plan a resort getaway for just the two of us for our anniversary. We have talked that when we are finally able to get a night or weekend to ourselves, Kalahari is one of the places that would be high on our list! Hence our balcony seemed to be under ground and we were looking at a high retaining wall for a view. At times Kalahari actually felt a littletoo bigfor us. We visited Kalahari in the Pocono Mountains for a last minute trip with our two girls, ages 8 and 9. ===> Aquatopia: Aquatopia / Camelback Resort is the BEST indoor water park & resort for families who are ready for a slightly larger water park than Great Wolf Lodge has to offer, want more kids activities and are be interested in more outdoor activities. Kalahari vs Great Wolf Lodge Poconos Comparison - YouTube Life-size animal statues adorn the outside. Since we are fans of Indiana Jones we like most archaeology theme including this one but I would not say the theme-ing is immersive other than the lazy river. Our balcony overlooked a very lightly used service road and then there was an unobstructed view of the forested mountain side. If youre looking for other vacation ideas check out our Family Travel Tips for Niagara Falls! Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this sites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Thanks to Amanda at the front desk for helping facilitate this! Aquatopia at Camelback Lodge in Pennsylvania is 125,000 square feet. Likewise the lobby is magnificent! Although I am admittedly not a big fan of buffets, we figured it would be easy for everyone to find something they liked. (Remember that Kalahari is actually a desert in southern Africa.) Note that it may be quite a walk from your room to the water park, or any other destination on the Kalahari Resort campus. Great Wolf Lodge recently renovated their suites to a more updated style and clean look. Have you been to both Great Wolf Lodge and Kalahari Resort? Great Wolf Lodge is known for their MagiQuest game. Some of the profit from any sale may merely make it intoourpocket instead of Jeff Bezos'! Copyright 2023 The Parenthood Adventures! The water park @ Kalahari is HUGE. The ladies bathroom and changing area looked tike a war zone! I'm going to breakdown each part of the resort that we visited and give you the key points:CHECK IN/ROOM - We checked in with Kassi at 12 noon and were happy to hear our room was ready. (Seems like I placed that order a looOong time ago)_. TheParenthoodAdventures.comis owned & operated byChip Williamsonwho is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that enables websites like this to earn advertising fees from Amazon.com. Which is better, Kalahari or Great Wolf Lodge? - Quora Most times I find that the pictures or decorations in a motel/hotel really dont add anything to the experience. If I had to ask in your personal opinion which resort do you think would be the best for an adult couple (26 year old newly weds) without children to go to? We liked the water park @ Great Wolf Lodge! Camelback Lodge vs. Great Wolf Lodge: Which Poconos Indoor Water Park Kalahari I feel would be better for the adults to have fun as well. Kalahari has the largest indoorwater park of the 3, and is the largestresortlocated in the Poconos. In the center right past the check-in area there is a large animatronic display where the nightly bedtime story (The Forest Friends Show) takes place. Sincerely, Kids hearing is much more sensitive! This past visit however was somewhat disappointing. The Poconos location has 401 rooms and each wing of the lodge has 4 floors. All three resorts are really good choices for water park fun with a family. The distance between Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos is a mere 7 miles. The overnight costs for both of these resorts can vary widely throughout the year. We usually just order a pizza and eat it in our room with maybe a salad. Here we constructed tables comparing the 3 indoor water park resorts located in the Poconos, Pennsylvania. Hi Lexi! When you leave make sure to return the towels and swipe the wrist band again or you will be charged for the towels. I'm displeased to hear of the strange odor in your room and that we were not able to correct this situation while you were staying with us. Both are great options for kids. However, there seemed to be a noticeable amount of debris at the bottom of the pool which seemed to a combination of plastic and dirt. Clean, safe & staff so friendly! That was almost inedible. really? But having a wide variety of restaurants and foods was great! Magic wands are needed for this game, and there is a fee to activate them for a certain period of time. The Kalahari wave pool is much bigger than the Great Wolf Lodge wave pool. Hi there, I appreciate you taking the time to write a review of your most recent stay. Let me start by saying that we have visited the Great Wolf Lodge location in Fitchburg, MA on 2 separate occasions and had enjoyable visits each time. We also liked some of the efficiency features of the room. This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Sitemap, The Ultimate Guide to Kalahari Resort Locations in the US, The Ultimate Guide to Great Wolf Lodge Locations in the US, The Ultimate Guide to Six Flags Locations in the US, US Cultural Hotspots: The top US cities for a vacation packed with culture, How Shipping Luggage With Ship Camps Makes Summer Camp Prep Easy, The Worlds Best Spring Break Destinations, Chicago Family Travel Guide: Everything You Need to Know Before Visiting with Kids.
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