the incredible birthday adventure - day 6

Mt. Olympus was a huge rip-off! Suffice it to say - we were all disappointed. The least of our troubles were the mini doughnuts that cost $4.50 for a bag of FIVE. There was also the 16 year-old DJ manning the kiddie rides area, who insisted on playing "I Like Big Butts" three times in the 20 minutes we were there. And the 9 foot high tidal wave pool, that drew us to the park in the first place - the pool that is advertised with giant posters as far east as Appleton . . . it's not even built yet! The rides were way too far apart (and slightly dangerous), the attendants were rude, and the waterpark was sort of pathetic. We left early and made another plan.

Plan B was perfect. We headed to Khalahari resort to hang out at the waterpark. But we barely got past the front desk. There were real baby lions in the lobby, and a crazy lemur jumping around a cage! All four of us had to stop. Of course for a mere $28 you could get your picture taken with one. . . much to Punk's chagrin, we saved our $28 for dinner.
Needless to say we all loved the waterpark. It's better than Grand Lodge, and second only to Noah's Ark. After four hours of wave pools, lazy rivers, water slides and tube rides, we reluctantly left. We were all hungry, and Punk had been promised a visit to Wizard Quest.

After dinner at Pizzaria Uno, we headed to downtown dells. We had a free coupon for this place called Wizard Quest, and Punk had been dying to check it out. We didn't know what was in there, and nobody in town seemed to know either - we'd asked at our hotel, at the restaurants - nobody had a clue. So, it was with some trepidation that we went at all. Personally, I assumed it would be dork city . . .thankfully I was wrong.

Wizard Quest turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises on our entire trip. The kids gasped as the door opened to a fairy/mermaid/Harry Potter like world for them to explore. We were sent on a scavenger hunt to rescue four wizards. We had to make our way through mazes, tunnels, puzzles and even an underground lava pit, that only Punk was brave enough to face.

Aside from the waterparks it was one of the highlights of the Dells - an adventure game that we could all play together. It was filled with fairies, mermaids and magic for Kooka, dwarfs, dragons and exploring for Punk, and just enough challenge for Aaron and I to make it fun.