Kassie R, Social Media Coordinator at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions - Poconos, responded to this review. For exact amenities lists, its best to view the Great Wolf Lodge or Kalahari website of the locations you are comparing. Their massive indoor water parks vary by location. Finding fun places to take your kids in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. We love knowing that our attractions were fun for both the children and adults in your family! Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. There are currently 4 locations for the chain with the Poconos location being its largest facility. Much more concise! Advice: you can't come to a place like this and complain about how much things cost. (We missed the burritos & soups from Kalahari!). We recently made a trip to the Poconos in Pennsylvania to visit a water park resort but didnt know which resort we should go to so we went to all 3 of them! Imagine what it takes to run this place?!? Lock in the lowest price from these sites. We say this because Aquatopia has the most activities (rock wall, laser tag, escape room, etc) at its resort that will likely appeal to pre-teens and early teens. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this review. Then to get to the lower level you have to take the stairs. The total cost for the night would have been $415.10. Thank you for your feedback. We did the empirical research so you dont have to! 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. 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. Great Wolf Lodge Pocono Mountains packs in all the family fun under one roof. We also enjoyed the balcony. The suite had an interesting layout, but who could enjoy it when you were struggling not to vomit. Great Wolf Lodge, Kalahari & Camelbacks Aquatopia resort are all located in the Poconos and are VERY close to each other! While the hallways of rooms may still be a bit long, its not as vast as Kalahari. There is also a cafe (Cafe & Bar) and a restaurant (Horizons) located right off the main lobby. Note: There is no Flowrider / surfing simulator attraction at the Poconos location for Great Wolf Lodge. There are other places with better miniature golf courses and a regular bowling alley does a better job for bowling so we tend not to spend our dollars on those activities when we are at Great Wolf Lodge. Adventure Update # 018: My Tricycle is Very Very Fast! Imagine what it takes to run this place?!? From the accommodation standpoint it was a much more memorable stay! The kids really enjoyed the cabin themed suite which was adorned with a lot of cute character images. Thank you! We are happy to report that there were two night stands with our queen bed! We inquired about an potential upgrade and they granted us a special price to upgrade to an African Queen Suite which had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms - perfect to provide privacy with 2 girls! On our previous visit a couple of years ago we felt the place was showing some wear and tear. 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. What are you waiting for? The 3 "kids" (ages 12-20) and I were impressed with the front of the resort. Tom Foolery's Adventure Park provides hours of playtime, with 80,000 square feet of interactive rides and attractions. The Poconos and Williamsburg Virginia location both have a small indoor wave pool. We simply love everything about it! The new Italian restaurant had a nice design and the food was good. Copyright 2022 by KSAT - All rights reserved. There are a number of other activities available at the lodge. Great Wolf Lodge is known for their MagiQuest game. If you are looking for more of a balance between kid activities and adult luxuries Kalahari has a wider range of offerings that will appeal to both adults and children. My family recently visited Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. It felt like you were rubbing shoulders with other people all the time. There was a large selection, with an emphasis on Italian cuisine. There are 2 lazy river type rides, the wave pool is immense, there are 2 hot tubs that are partly inside the building AND partly outside of the building with a narrow channel to traverse back and forth. It seems that there are parts of the water park that are only staffed at peak attendance. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Your goal is our goal. Coming Soon: Great Wolf Lodge in Webster! They did a fabulous job with the design of this place. My six year olds love the slides, and they are allowed to ride on everything at Great Wolf, but my teens get bored very quickly. Great Wolf Lodge has 18 locations, all of which offer indoor water parks with multi-story forts, 1,000-gallon soaker buckets, wave pools, lazy rivers, waterslides of varying heights and speeds, raft rides, whirlpools, kiddie pools and more. Winner: Kalahari Resort (especially for older kids and teens). Offers more free activities in the main lobby. It felt more intimate and clean, less crowded and sufficiently staffed. During our long walk to the room (the opposite end of the facility), he was VERY professional, engaging and helpful. Aquatopia offers a great selection of activities for tweens & younger teens, both inside & outside! Water park access was included. Kalahari features a number of signature sit-down restaurants (Sortinos Italian Kitchen (Italian food), B-Lux Grill & Bar (Burgers & Shakes), Double Cut (Steakhouse). To alert those in the wave pool of the wave rotation starting it has a wolf howl. Round Rock Source: Round the Rock With so much fun and excitement in one place, Kalahari remains a top destination for families throughout Texas. We ordered a pizza and had it delivered to the room from the in-house Pizza Pubit was quite good and we felt reasonably priced! Keep reading our Poconos water park guide & comparison to find out! We like archaeology and the lost river archaeology theme was interesting and well done. Why Kids Love It Kalahari also has a wide variety of types of water slides drop slides, mat racer, raft slides, etc. At Kalahari, there are two separate, toddler play areas. I am on the mailing list and recently got a promotional offer that indicated the rooms had recently been renovated. Get those lifeguards a little more focused and offer more options at the bars! Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. Great Wolf Lodge also has activities that vary with the timing of your stay. It is really the other aspects of the resorts and accommodations that will determine which resort is the better choice for your family! Fortunately we only live about 2 hours away. We review each of the Poconos water parks on several criteria including: If you want to cut right to the chase you can jump to the conclusion by clicking here: Conclusion, Great Wolf Lodge does a good job of branding and theming (theme ing) the lodge. That sounds good. There is also a fountain near the middle of the lobby with chairs and tables to sit and eat. We appreciate it! Answer 1 of 6: We want to take my son ( just turned 4) to either Kalahari or Great wolf lodge. There is a very small / non-standard sized bowling alley, a miniature golf course, an arcade, MagiQuest, etc We have done some of the other activities in the past but only if they were included with our stay or one of the bundled package passes (Paw Pass, Pup Pass and Wolf Pass). You could definitely capture everything this place has to offer in 2-3 days. When I called, the charge was removed & the service rep was polite enough but, apparently Aquatopia/Camelback fully expects there to be a parking fee added to every invoice! 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. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Including a story time, dance time, crafts and more. Is the higher food price of Kalahari worth it? Great Wolf Lodges water park continues their wildlife theme. So I guess you just dont need it that much. There are quite a few activities to engage in @ Kalahari. To read more aboutHOW TO GET THE BEST DEAL& aPRICE COMPARISONof ALL THREE POCONOS WATERPARK RESORTS check out my NEW post:Poconos Waterparks: How to Get the Best Deals at Great Wolf Lodge, Kalahari & Aquatopia! Which Poconos waterpark do you like best? It can be more expensive but it's a better place to relax and see your kids enjoying without having to worry too much. The theming is carried throughout multiple aspects of the total experience. It's the easiest way to hit the slopes! Here's our overall review.Right away we were looking for and expecting a wonderful customer service experience, and Kalahari did not disappoint. Come splash around! Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney. Saturday, August 10, 2013 Great Wolf Lodge vs. Gaylord Texan By the time August rolls around our family is in desperate need of a get-away. We usually just order a pizza and eat it in our room with maybe a salad. Unfortunately, the kids loaded up on an assortment of dessert and we went back to the room to change back into our swimwear for a last hurrah in the water.Off the lobby there are also a sweets shop, bakery, and ice cream shop, with what appears to be a nice selection of goodies.The next morning, the kids wanted to get in a few hours at the waterpark before our 11:00 checkout. We stayed in the Desert room which was sufficient in size for 2 adults and 2 small kids. The smell permeated EVERYTHING to the point of needing to open the door to air it out. Whereas, the roofline @ Great Wolf Lodge is blocky. We liked the artwork in the room. Kids under the age of 6 were coming in and out with no parental supervision. 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. Keep in mind theres a third indoor water park resort in the Poconos: Camelback Mountain Resort. Kalahari has the most toddler slides by far when comparing the three resorts. For size reference, Great Wolf Lodges water park is the smallest at about 79,000 square feet. For the price I would expect better service. One is about 13 minutes long and is about Brinley Bears fun day and the other is about 8 minutes long and is about the origin of Great Wolf Lodge. So these mini-vacations are a perfect and necessary thing for our family. It features the Howlin' Tornado raft ride, Coyote Cannon water tubes (with a 40-foot drop), and a tree house fort that has a 1,000-gallon tipping bucket! The wave pool alternates between wave / no wave cycles. Kalahari I feel would be better for the adults to have fun as well. Family Fun at its best. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! We stayed from Tuesday through Thursday during July. The room was spotless. Great Wolf Lodge Poconos Water Park Toddler Play. Kalahari has a better reputation locally. We did really like the lazy river at Aquatopia. The resort's mammoth 80,000-square-foot indoor waterpark has nine waterslides, six pools, and a four-story treehouse waterfort and utilizes nearly 380,000 gallons of water.Beyond the massive indoor waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge offers families daily activities and amenities on the dry side. Both Great Wolf and Kalahari have very luxurious condos that can accommodate a whole family easily. THERE ISNOADDITIONAL COST TO YOU if you buy something from Amazon! The distance from the lobby to our room was an extremely long haul for her. At times Kalahari actually felt a littletoo bigfor us. Please see our partners for more details. That was almost inedible. The advent of Great Wolf Lodge represents one of the most monumental The advent of Great Wolf Lodge represents one of the most monumental accomplishments in the Citys history, Webster city officials said. The water park @ Kalahari is HUGE. Hence our balcony seemed to be under ground and we were looking at a high retaining wall for a view. Webster city officials released a statement on Facebook about the new Great Wolf Lodge development in December, stating that the water park and resort will bring more than 500 jobs to the area. If you can't afford it, don't bother making the trip. He was open to questions about the place and even offered a few suggestions. Heres a comparison guide for all three of these resorts. With Kalahari Careers, you become part of our dedicated team at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions. I will note as a previous reviewer did that Great Wolf Lodge had SPECTACULAR lifeguards. For our Tuesday June 25th, 2019 stay @ Great Wolf Lodge the cost of our room was $209.99 with taxes & fees amounting to $51.59, bringing the total to $261.58. It's located in the Rockvale Outlets Fox Meadows Creamery has two locations, one in Ephrata, Pennsylvania and one in Leola, Pennsylvania. Blessed father of 4 wonderful children & trophy husband to 1 lovely wife. You can also see the water park from the windows on this side and from the Cafe & Bar. The front desk staff was extremely professional, friendly and helpful. 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. Thank you for your support! Each play area includes slides and swings. Both waterparks are easily accessible from the lobby, and the dining and shops are also centered around there. We feature kid-friendly activities, a range of dining options, interactive games, an adult-friendly wine down service, and more all under one roof. Most times I find that the pictures or decorations in a motel/hotel really dont add anything to the experience. We also enjoyed the Lazy River and the wave pool. It was unpleasant to see and to step on. We have never patronized the restaurant as it does seem expensive. Kassi was terrific! Thats theming! Kalahari is amaizing! 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. All six Pocono ski resorts have snowtubing hills. Kalaharis water park does the same, except with a jungle theme. Klahari is themed and decorated as an African resort. EXPECT IT and you will have a great time. This was terrific we will likely do all three spaced out over a few years, but this absolutely helped us figure out what order to go in. You can use the water park at 1pm on the day of check in until close on the day you leave. Age and height requirements vary by location. We were really looking forward into the expansion since we really loved how great Kalahari was the first two times we visited. (GWL = Great Wolf Lodge & K = Kalahari). Great Wolf Lodge has a woodland creature and forest theme, while Kalahari has an African theme. Great Wolf Lodge also has a small bowling ally, gem mining, outdoor ropes course, arcade, and glow golf. Thank you, again. They were methodical and intense, and I just didn't get that feeling with many of the lifeguard staff here. I hope you and your family have a wonderful stay! The Poconos Great Wolf Lodge location has more kiddie water slides than the Williamsburg location. This is another thing that I think Kalahari does well and it makes it a little easier to satisfy everyone and their differing tastes with so many food choices. Kids jumping in and out, the areas are not guarded by staffsame problem as Great Wolf. Kids are going to want to explore all areas of this place and we find it frustrating reading reviews about those complaining about how expensive everything is. Both seemed to make a small room work a little better and not feel as small as it actually was. After reading this post - which Poconos waterpark do you THINK you are most likely to go to? The Poconos location has 401 rooms and each wing of the lodge has 4 floors. Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine is a great way to go for a weekend getaway. On the lower level by the entrance for the water park, there is a pizza place with some tables in the lower lobby area. We changed in the bathroom/changing areas, located a storage locker (for a fee), and found a table. But, my kids are little fish who love swimming, and they cant get enough of this type of resort. It was HORRIBLE! 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. She has reported on several high-profile stories during her career at KSAT and specializes in trending news and things to do around Texas and San Antonio. Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews. We stayed @ Great Wolf Lodge on a Tuesday night and then Kalahari on Wednesday night of the same week. I asked everyone in the family if we are going back down to the Poconos and staying at one of the resorts tomorrow night where would you want to stay? Great Wolf Lodge Poconos is a staple in the region. The closet was pretty small, and the bathroom was almost as small (with the sink located next to the fridge); however, those were relatively minor inconveniences.We went to Great Karoo Buffet around 5-5:30 and was relieved to see that it wasn't that crowded. Great Wolf seems to have more of a variety of theming for these bunk bed suites. Imagine what it takes to run this place?!? 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. We just stayed at Camelback the night before Thanksgiving and are actively working on updated the post. This post will focus on the Leola New York City and upstate New York are close to many amazing indoor water parks. Take care! 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.