Traditionally, we spend
Thanksgiving with my father’s side of the family. The cousin who usually hosts went out of town
this year to Myrtle Beach. We thought, why don’t we go out of town,
too? We spent Thanksgiving this year in
Wisconsin Dells.
Wisconsin Dells is like Vegas for
little kids. There’s even a main strip and old downtown area. Many childhood family trips were made to the
Dells, as it is only a four hour drive from Chicago.
My husband and I have brought the kids to the Dells several times.
This year’s Thanksgiving trip was
exciting for my brothers who had not been to the Dells since childhood. We had two first-timers – my sister-in-law,
who is from San Diego
and my six-month-old nephew.
On my last visit to the Dells in
April, we had a buffet dinner at Chula
Vista. It was
fabulous and the kids actually behaved! The
resort is off the beaten path – you keep driving and driving deeper into the
woods until you think you must be lost and then there it is. Actually, about a mile before you reach Chula Vista, there’s a sign by another facility that says,
“Chula Vista
one mile,” leading me to believe they must get a lot of travelers who believe
they are lost. My brother determined
they had a suite big enough for the whole family (9 of us), so we decided on Chula Vista.
Two experiences I want to report –
the mother of two (twin) classmates of my boys reported to me that when her
family stayed at Chula Vista
this past year, the pullout couch-bed smelled like urine. She was given attitude by the staff,
especially the housekeeping staff. Those
were her only complaints and the rest of the visit was positive. (We didn’t
have any dealings with the housekeeping staff, as we were staying in a condo,
which is only cleaned upon check-out.)
My husband’s aunt spent New Year’s Eve at Chula Vista a few years ago with a group of
friends and had a fantastic experience.
Our
road trip to
Chula Vista
was uneventful and our cell phone GPS was accurate for once.
The condo was beautiful.
Cathedral ceilings, nice kitchen, roomy
living and dining areas, three bedrooms, two with en suite bathrooms, one with
a balcony, one community bathroom off the dining area.
The living area had a fireplace – the flickering
flames were a hologram and a vent just above the flames blew out warm air.
There was a large flat-screen tv right above the
fireplace and tvs in each bedroom.
The balcony was in our room, but
the balcony door was camouflaged by heavy curtains. The kids thankfully didn’t discover it was
there until the last day. The only
criticism I had was the lack of child locks on the doors. The balcony door easily opened and the front
door had a bolt/bar lock, but it was down low enough that Todd was able to open
it. We had issues with him trying to
escape out the front door. When we
stayed at Disney World over the summer, the doors were much more secure with
child locks up high.
Chula Vista has an indoor water park. This was very kid friendly. When we stayed at Mt. Olympus
this past April, there was only a small kiddie area and the non-little kid
friendly areas were close to the little kid area and not cordoned off
well. At Mt. Olympus,
Sean kept taking off and trying to jump into one of the pool areas restricted
for older and more experienced swimmers.
The Chula Vista
park is entirely kid friendly. The kids
can run around and not easily run into any danger zones. It consists mostly of water slides. Sean went on every single one. There is one that is a water
slide-rollercoaster combo, one where you go head first down the slide on a mat –
he tried everything.
There is a spa on the lower level
of the resort. The spa primarily
specializes in massages. My
sister-in-law and I got pedicures. They
did a good job!
As usual, we really enjoyed the
food at Chula Vista. Thanksgiving dinner was done very well. The turkey was juicy and tasty – not easy to
do when cooking for so many people.
There were many other meat options – chicken, beef and pork. There were kid options like chicken nuggets
and mac & cheese. There were fish options, a ton of sides and a huge
dessert table. Everything tasted great
and was well-prepared. The only
criticism I would have would be that the reservations could have been staggered
better. We waited in line for quite a
while, even though we had a reservation.
This was tough, as waiting is so difficult for autism kids. About halfway through our meal, the
restaurant was empty. Then when we were
leaving, we saw an even bigger line for those with reservations, this one about
a block long.
We usually end a trip to the
Dells with a trip to the Tanger Outlet Mall.
Since this time we were visiting over Thanksgiving, I took a pass. Much as I love shopping, I hate crowds, so I
am definitely not a Black Friday shopper!
I prefer ordering gifts from my computer and having them delivered.
On the drive home, we made the
requisite stop for Wisconsin cheese. My kids love cheese curds. My husband won’t touch the stuff – I think
because the name sounds gross, but it’s really just globs of yellow cheese that
taste like mozzarella. My Todd could eat
the whole bag in one sitting – I have to cut him off.
Overall, we had a lovely visit to
Chula Vista. We enjoyed having a destination
Thanksgiving. This may become a new
tradition! J
