Our trip to the Wisconsin Dells in July 2001 was all about taking our 7 year old nephew Allen to a water park.  The best place in the United States to find a water park is probably the Wisconsin Dells.  There are several indoor and outdoor parks in the area.  We just went for a long weekend, leaving on a Thursday night and finishing on Sunday.

We also decided to spend a little time around the Mississippi River, going to Effigy Mounds National Monument and Pikes Peak State Park, both near Marquette, Iowa. 

We planned on going to Noah's Ark Water Park, where Stacie and I had gone previously.  Noah's Ark is the largest water park in the United States, but unfortunately the weather didn't totally cooperate.  The temperature was in the low to mid 70s with overcast skies.  Not the best weather for being wet all day.  We decided to try to find a place with an indoor water park and wound up at the Alakai Hotel, which had a couple of water slides for kids under 12. Since we didn't go to the big water park, we took time to ride the Original Wisconsin Ducks.  All of us enjoyed that ride!   

Recommendations on Wisconsin Dells

• Do plenty of research ahead of time on the different things you want to see and where you might want to stay.  See Area Hotel Tips for more information on hotels there.  See Area Information for a good overview of the many attractions there and links to many Dells sites.
• It's really touristy, but it's worth the experience.  Similar to Branson, Missouri and Gatlinburg, TN, but the main focus here is water parks. 
• The duck boats are awesome!
• Go out for breakfast early.  By getting there early, you beat the crowds.  The restaurants are fighting for the tourist dollar so you can expect good meals out of the non-chain restaurants as well.  We had breakfast at a pancake place and got huge helpings for very reasonable prices.