Looking for a quick family vacation? With a busy summer schedule, we needed a trip that could be done in less than five days yet still be full of memories.
Wisconsin Dells was the perfect match!
It’s a seven-hour drive from Fargo, so we were able to make the trip in a little more than half a day.
Wisconsin Dells: Tips for Planning
Procrastinators welcome!
If you procrastinated a bit, don’t worry! We booked our hotel and water park just two weeks in advance and there were still plenty of rooms and attractions able to accommodate us at a reasonable price.
However, if you want accommodations that are very specific, book early.
Free activity passes are abundant!
Many hotels offer free passes to waterparks or other attractions as a perk for staying with them.
You can often find these noticeably advertised on hotel and waterpark websites. If you have a specific water park in mind, check their website for a “ticket + hotels” link that will feature if they have a special partnership with specific hotels that offer a discount or free passes to their park
Wisdells.com also has lots of specialty discounts and packages.
If you’re flexible on what activities you want to see or do, don’t book too many adventures ahead of time. When we arrived, discount coupons were everywhere — our hotel front desk, kiosks around town, and more. And oftentimes these deals weren’t listed on the reservation websites!
However if there’s something you absolutely don’t want to miss, book ahead, especially if it’s a Friday or Saturday.
5 Pro-Tips for Waterparks
1. Choose a weekday to visit.
As you can probably guess, weekends get busy in the summer. Plan your visit on a weekday to avoid long lines. Then spend your weekends doing activities with less crowds: small excursions, a walk downtown, or hiking trips just outside town.
2. Stay late.
Stay until the park closes. An hour before closing, crowds leave and many rides have little to no line!
3. Plan to split up.
For families of more than four, be prepared to be split up. Most rides are for two to four people, so if you have five people in your family (like us), sometimes you’ll need to ride with other people. But at these family-oriented parks, everyone was kind when we did have to partner with another group.
Note: Kids need to be 48” tall to ride most of the slides. Our seven-year-old made it by just a few inches!
4. Bring lunch to save money.
Most parks don’t allow outside food or beverage inside the park. And as you’d expect, the food vendors available inside the park can be a little spendy. Parks do, however, allow re-entry. So, pack a lunch and find an outside picnic table in the parking lot or pop the back door of your minivan for a picnic.
5. Pick a spot.
Arrive when the doors open and pick a spot. Lounge chairs are scattered throughout the parks. We felt comfortable leaving towels and water bottles on our chairs when we were gone. For valuables (phone, wallet, etc.), you can rent lockers for the day.
My Family’s Favorites:
Noah’s Ark Waterpark
This is America’s largest outdoor waterpark and was our kids’ favorite. Waterslides for all levels of thrill seekers exist at Noah’s Ark, so we were all entertained for the whole day.
Mount Olympus
A theme park and water park, the Mount Olympus attraction provides non-stop fun. And where most water parks close at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., Mount Olympus keeps its theme park open late for more hours of fun.
This park boasts Medusa’s Wheel, the country’s first mechanically moving water slide!
It also has a hotel onsite which makes for less travel, although the town is pretty small and easily navigable and we rarely ran into a parking issue.
Land of Natura
If you love spending time at the lake, Land of Natura takes that to the next level. Land of Natura is a manmade natural lake filled with inflatables for the entire family!
We loved the fresh water and no waiting in lines. It was a day of constant balancing, jumping, and splashing in this inflatable water park. It also has a sand beach with a bar wrapped around the lake for rest, sand castles, and sunbathing.
Attached to this water park is access to the resort’s outdoor recreation area. This includes a secluded beach along the beautiful river and a canopy boardwalk through the tree tops!
Many hotels also have small water parks or pools as well, if you want a second day of swimming without the commitment of a large water park.
Outside the Water Park
Witches Gulch
The only way to access this scenic trail through carved rock canyons is by boat. Many river cruises offer a trip to see this feature. Our favorite was the Jet Boat Tours. Our kids loved the wild ride. Be prepared to get wet — really wet!
Timbavati
We can’t resist a good zoo and this one was so relaxing as it featured animals is more natural settings. We walked the zoo in just a couple of hours and even got to feed the giraffes!
Downtown
There are lots of little shops for souvenirs and treats as well as unique short experiences like Ripleys Believe It or Not and others. We even enjoyed live music in their outdoor pavilion.
Where to Stay
The Dells has options galore.
Budget friendly options exist in droves and many hotels have themes and unique aspects (like tree house rooms!) that make your stay a little extra fun.
But if you are looking for a VRBO or home rental option, for us those were harder to find and were a bit more costly.
Bonus Tip
My final advice that made planning our trip much easier… Ask chat GPT!
I typed in: “Plan an itinerary to Wisconsin Dells for a family of 5 for 3 days with a mix of indoor fun, water activities, and outdoor adventures.”
The itinerary the AI platform came up with was near perfect and really eased my burden of having to put together an itinerary from scratch!
Our family still talks about this short and simple getaway as one of our favorite vacations. Wisconsin Dells offers something that will please everyone!
Looking to make a splash closer to home? Check out our post on 5 Outdoor Water Parks Near Fargo.
