Day 2 - Wisconsin Dells

Arriving so early on Saturday morning has thrown us off on time and sleep. We should have been here Friday late afternoon, but instead, we arrived Saturday around 1:30 AM and didn't get out and about until noon. The girls and Tom finally got to two of the waterparks last evening while I relaxed in the unit. We ended the evening with pizza delivery and a movie on television.

Today started around 9:00 AM with a visit from a Wyndham representative for a "welcome" to the resort. Usually, my experience with these "welcomes" has been less than favorable. They are trying to sell you more points and promising you a gift in return. Despite the fact that I'm not interested in purchasing points, the desk clerks have a responsibility to pencil you in for a time, and so they hound you until you're on the dotted line. Then they call and call and call to remind you of your appointment which is always early in the morning and has you hiking all over the resort to get to their meeting area.

At Glacier Canyon the set-up is different. Because we checked in so early there were no desk clerks trying to get us signed up. Instead, we received a note on our door with our morning paper that invited us to come to member services to receive a "welcome package". We were wandering around anyway yesterday so I stopped in and had a nice conversation with Patrick in Member Services. He explained that they do it differently here and he signed me up for a "welcome" for this morning with the rep coming to our unit.

JP arrived at 9:30 AM, calling first to make sure we were cool with the idea. Tom and I were up and having coffee so we told him to come on up. He was wonderful. We sat down at the dining table, had drinks, and he proceeded to go over the map of the area, giving us points of interest and history of the dells. He was very informative and came across as very sincere in wanting us to have a great time here in his town. He never tried to sell me points. He brought a coupon book and a pound of Wisconsin fudge. He asked me a few questions regarding my experiences with Wyndham resorts, and after finding out I was a novice in this vacation plan he offered up helpful advice on using our points to better advantage. He was here for about an hour and it was quite pleasant. He left us with a good taste in our mouths.

The girls headed down that afternoon to the Xtreme Arcade nearest our unit so they could blow some of their birthday cash. At around 1:30 PM Tom's sister and husband and three children arrived from Chicago to spend a couple of nights with us. We changed into suits and headed to one of the three outdoor waterparks in our resort.

We grabbed floats and sailed down the lazy river complete with rapids, waterfalls, a moving hill, and a tunnel slide. Nancy and I weren't too keen on the hill or slide as our butts were too low in the tubes and scraped the bottom of the moving escalator hill going up and slid bumpity bump on the slide going down. Tom, unaware, that parts of the river got more shallow, stubbed his toe, tore off his nail, and scraped his knee. We left the river and while I took photos everyone else climbed up the tower and raced on mats down the triple waterslide.

The cloudy skies finally darkened and threatened rain forcing us into the indoor water park. This place was a madhouse with all sorts of crazy slides, play areas, and another lazy river. The smell of chlorine was absolutely horrible and so I kept taking timeouts from sliding and swimming to stand outside in the rain for some fresh air.

Eventually, it stopped and we moved to another outdoor waterpark which required another one of our many hikes through the complex to find. Literally, this place is like a maze and people walk from building to building through hallways, past rooms, winding and twisting around corners and lobbies. There are signs but they don't necessarily help. Especially when you haven't any idea what park is which or whether or not it will be to your liking.

This park was great with a swimming area that circled the entire area, several slides, a play area with climbing equipment and a monkey rope climbing area. My favorite part was the island in the middle that had chairs that sat directly in the water so you could sunbath yet still get wet.....sort of like being on a raft.

The sun came out and we stayed there until the park closed at 7:00 PM. We then hiked back to the unit, showered, and headed out of the resort where we dined at the Moosejaw Restaurant down the street.

By the time we returned it was after ten. The kids collapsed into bed and the adults soon followed.

I could get used to this...