Thinking the Ohio location is the closest to me. Anyone been there lately? Worth taking a family with little kids that love water slides? Anything I need to know?

https://www.kalahariresorts.com/

A surprising number of lowlifes there. I hate those places. They are like a Chuckie Cheese with a pool.


Edit;

Let me qualify that by saying this: I've taken my family there a couple of times. We stayed in the hotel. I figured the cost would keep out the rabble. I was wrong. I didn't know that you didn't have to stay in the hotel to use the water park. I got the vibe that a lot of Hood Rats stay at the budget hotels and buy day passes to the water park.

Don't know about the Ohio location, but I used to live in Wisconsin Dells. I've only been to the Kalahari a few times, but it's worth the trip imo. The place is fucking massive and you won't have trouble keeping you and the wife/kids busy.

And lol @ Chuckie Cheese with a pool.... shit is expensive and they don't sell tickets to outsiders. There certainly are dumbasses (FIBs) like anywhere else however.

And they are dirtier then you would think.

Best bet if you do go is to eat in town and sneak in snacks and drinks with you, the buffets are filled with people that would make golden corral look like a members only club.
Plus remember, everyone pees in the pool or uses the pool as a shower instead of taking a real shower.

I went when I was invited for my friends kids birthday party and a few of the kids ended up sick as did my friends wife who was swimming with the kids and got some water in her mouth.

Lots of people I know love them, hell my company has had big parties there and always talked to up and would rent large blocks of rooms and then would get pissed when very few people would rsvp and show up.

Everyone gave the same reason as the above and it is no longer held there.

Why is a "water park" named for a desert?.

Wow I thought for sure the price would keep the garbage out. One night is $350 dollars. I guess if you can buy a day pass and not stay in the hotel though...

There was surprisingly little garbage when I went a year ago at the end of april/beginning of may.  I think I went during the week, like Sunday-Wednesday, so it wasn't horribly crowded, and that may be why there wasn't much riff-raff..  We had a really good time.  Both the pool area and the room were very nice and clean.  The food is mediocre, we ate one each breakfast, lunch, and dinner there, and the food was not great, but not terrible, and priced on the high side.  We packed in some snacks for the kids and sandwich stuff for a couple meals, and ate at places in town for the others.

There is definitely no shortage of things to do for kids of all ages.  Everything from laser tag to mini golf(weak mini golf course, but it's something to do) to story time for the small kids, crafts, ice cream shop, mini zoo setup, etc...

I would definitely recommend it.

FWIW I got a much better deal than their standard rates through livingsocial, and ended up with a 2 room suite, and like $100 worth of resort credit for less than what they wanted for a smaller room with no credits through their website.

I had also tried the great wolf lodge that is down the road prior to going to kalahari, and it was like comparing a new cadillac to a dirty 1993 oldsmobile.  I won't go back to great wolf, but look forward to taking the family to Kalahari again.


ETA:I just checked livingsocial, and I got a better deal than I remembered.  I got this deal for $159 per night, after using a livingsocial coupon for $20 off per voucher.  Had extra passes available with that deal that we didnt even use or need, as it was just my family of 4 that went. I don't think that you will find that good of a deal again though, as I've periodically checked groupon and livingsocial since then and have seen nothing even close.

Yes been there several times. Great place. No hood rats when we have been there. In fact we are returning on my daughters 9th birthday on a month or so.

 I know people that like it and have had better experiences. I didn't.

Never heard of it before 

Fair warning don't go the first week of June for at least the next 3 years.  

Ohio tactical officers association holds their annual training conference there during that time.

This would be a great spoof opportunity for the scared-of-mexico crowd. There's a nutjob running around CLE killing random folks...never leave the basement!

Tons of fat, dirty inkies with misbehaved kids. Everything costs X20 what it would in the normal world, and it's dirty.

We went once. I will never go back. The time we were there was the middle of winter. The chlorine smell was so strong kids were choking from it. We were sitting next to the pool drinking taking bets on which kid would choke so much he would puke in the pool. After a kid puked they would close the pool and one of the staff would have to wade out with goggles and a net to scoop out as many chunks as they could. Once the pool was closed for about 15 min the pool was "deemed" clean and everyone would rush back in. This happened five or six times while we were there.

I think the water for the whole park runs through a big filter system. You think about all the piss, puke, shit and anything else it's just not something I want my kid's or me to be swimming in.

Drive by that place every work day.

Its a fun place, pretty big.. can be overwhelming if you have really young kids.  You may look at great wolf (2 miles up the road) if you have kids under 10.

The food is really expensive and not all that great (other than the breakfast buffet which is awesome), but you have a ton of local options.

Shoot me an IM or email if you end up going and I can key you in on fun stuff in the area.

My first thought as well

I had some conferences there for work.  Place is awful.

Sounds like hit or miss on everyone's experiences there. Maybe we'll try it out just once and hope for the best.

It's ok to go, as long as you keep in mind with what others have stated.
The kids will love it, and the food in the restaurant was surprisingly good.
When my daughter is old enough to say the folks that frequent the place are trash, we will stop going.