Bryon Gaskin Review of Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin...
SCAM: Be warned of the TIMESHARE pitch after you ...
SCAM: Be warned of the TIMESHARE pitch after you exit the Registration Desk. You know something is up when they run and I mean run you down from across the lobby to offer you some "coupons". Don't listen to the pitch, just say "No thanks!" Registration starts at 12:PM, be prepared for that to take 30 minutes because there is usually a line. If you're a first timer to the resort plan from the time you park till the time you get your toes wet for the first time to take an hour. The complex is huge, so be prepared to walk (for us the waking part was not a concern, for others this will probably discourage them).
Seating: Seating at the outdoor waters parks is an issue, on day 1 we went to 2 of the three outdoor parks and never once found a place to sit and make a spot for ourselves. When we ordered food at one of the parks we had to eat it sitting on the ground because there were no seats (and there were only three of us).
Pros: they do have a large variety of water attractions, the kids kind gravitate to one type or another, at first I was a little concerned, because I got of "this is boring" when trying to introduce my son to different park attractions but eventually he found a few things and then he was all about it.
They did have plenty of rafts for the lazy river, we never had to wait on any of these.
The arcades are a nice touch for the evening after a day of fighting the water, walking between the complexes, and climbing the stairs for the slides. I'm typically not a big fan of eating in the restaurants on site (for any hotel) but we did we did eat at the Lost World outdoor park. We got 2 chicken wraps and a chicken sandwich for $23 but nothing to drink. For park food the portion sizes were good and the taste was pretty good. $6 buys you a small container of dipping dots. Parking is a breeze, we parked about 50 feet from our sliding glass door.
Room: Decent size, TV, Fridge, Microwave are included. There are wall plugs with USB inputs (but they are low power so don't plan on quick charging your IPAD, IPHONE or any USB 2.0 devices.
Cons:
Clearly the TIMESHARE SCAM is a big downer, I will not recommend the Wilderness for that reason alone (not sure if that is common or not for these resorts).
The parks are spread out (it is not so much the walking, but the time it takes to walk that was the problem)
Seating at the outdoor parks is slim to none
Locker Rentals are steep $8 per day
Video Cameras: If you are planning on using your GO PRO or similar waterproof camera on the slides, forget it, they will bust you for that. The only signs bigger than those are the ones that tell you that security will confiscate any outside food or drinks (that includes plastic water bottles)
WIFI: Don't expect wifi to be anything useful. So if you're planning on uploading your vacation photos at night on the hotel's wifi, you can forget that as well, you'd be better off going down to Starbucks about 1/2 mile down the street to do that. (Not related to resort but at least with AT&T there is internet service but don't expect LTE to be reliable or fast).
Room Noise: Granted this place is for families, so don't expect that atmosphere you'd get in a high rise hotel in a major city that has valet parking, but the noise above and between the rooms is pretty bad.
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