Our Kalahari Experience
If you're planning a trip to Kalahari Resorts and want the real, honest rundown, you’re in the right place!
I’m breaking down everything we experienced during our stay: the good, the bad, and the overpriced cocktails.
From a chaotic check-in, to a massive, super clean waterpark, to an Easter brunch that made my harp-loving heart swoon, here's everything you need to know before you book your stay!
(If you’d rather not read this entire post, here is a quick review that’s straight to the point.)
Let’s get into it!
Kalarahi Trip Day 1:
Check-In and First Impressions:
When we pulled up to Kalahari, the kids were passed out in the backseat, and honestly, we weren’t too far behind them. We woke them up, and Peyton’s first reaction (eyes bigger than saucers) was, "This place is MASSIVE!" Teddy just stared silently, too stunned to speak.
I ran inside to check in, thinking it would be simple enough. They have a kiosk system that looks easy, but honestly, it didn't give us any real information. The website had said check-in was at 4 PM, and the kiosk gave us our keys but nothing said, "Hey, your room is ready now." So we figured we had to wait. We wandered around the shops and the resort for about an hour (with two cranky kids who were not into it), only to find out later that our room had been ready the whole time. The employee we finally asked said, "If you have a room number on your receipt, that means your room is ready." Would’ve been super helpful to know an hour earlier.
While we wandered, we stumbled into one of their snack shops, The Last Bite. It wasn’t just ice cream; they had fancy little snacks and this huge, beautiful wall of candy. Teddy's eyes about popped out of his head when he saw a big, sparkly, red balloon animal plush, until we found out it was $60.
Eventually, we found out our room was ready and finally got in to settle down.
The Room:
When we finally made it to the room, it was really nice. Spacious, clean, and super comfy beds. The pillows were perfect (the kind you want to smuggle home in your suitcase). Of course, the kids immediately went for the overpriced snack tray sitting conveniently next to the TV at eye level for kids. but luckily we stopped them before any expensive mistakes were made.
Only downside? The bathroom didn’t have a mirror inside. The mirror and sink were outside the bathroom, which meant I was trying to do my skincare and makeup in dim lighting while everyone was still asleep. (And if you’re a parent, you know those few peaceful morning minutes are pure gold.)
We threw on our bathing suits and headed straight for the waterpark.
Waterpark Fun:
The waterpark is the main event at Kalahari, and it stands by it’s claim that it’s the largest indoor waterpark in the US. It is HUGE. I’ve been to Great Wolf Lodge a few times, but Kalahari makes it look like a baby waterpark. (And we were only seeing the indoor part, the outdoor section wasn’t even open yet)
Right off the bat, it was clear that Kalahari was also way more strict than Great Wolf Lodge when it comes to safety. Lifeguards were posted everywhere, and Peyton had to wear a life jacket everywhere because she’s under 48 inches, even though she’s been in swim class for 3 years and actually knows how to swim. She didn’t mind much, but it would have been nice to know going in so I could’ve brought her own lifejacket.
We spent most of our day going around the lazy river (which Peyton could have done 100 times and still wanted more), and checking out the wave pool, which ran every 10 minutes with loud music videos playing on a giant screen. The vibe was super fun, even if it got loud. And when we weren’t hanging out in any of those, we were in one of the 3 kiddy pool areas.
Coral Cove
Tiko’s Watering Hole
Splashdown Safari:
I didn’t go down any of the larger slides (I am a helicopter parent, and honestly not a big fan of water slides), but Josh and Teddy went down some, and said that they lines were decent and went by quickly. They were never gone for too long (but seriously, when you have about 30 slides I would hope the lines would run smoothly).
Now, the important part: the drinks.
Josh grabbed me a frozen drink and came back laughing, because it was $31. THIRTY-ONE DOLLARS. I mean, it was good, but damn, not $31 good. I didn’t really want the cup, but felt guilty leaving it behind, so when we got home, I unpacked it and put it in the top of the dishwasher. When I was taking the dishes out, the bottom of the cup fell off. So, if you want to keep the cup, I suggest hand washing it.
Dinner Time & Cinco Niños:
After our long drive, and a day at the water park, it was time to get something to eat. Now, the website doesn’t give any pricing on the food, and at one point, I swear I had seen something about a dinner buffet, and that it was possibly free at some of the resorts, but couldn’t find any concrete information. So we went to ask the front desk.
The two people at the front desk informed us that there was no free dinner buffet. No big deal. The woman told us that Cinco Nino’s was really good, and that recommended we try that out. Then the man informed us that there was a free breakfast buffet downstairs, and that it was open from 7:00 - 12:00. Great, free breakfast. I love it.
Then Josh asked about the meal package we had paid for, and how that worked. That’s when they handed us a card and explained that we had $200 in dining credits, and we would need to use the card. Mind you, this was never mentioned at check-in. It wasn’t on the pamphlet, it wasn’t on the receipt, it wasn’t on the wristbands. Nothing. Which was a little frustrating, but honestly, I was just glad we asked when we did. Better to find out before dinner than get there and realize we’d be paying out of pocket after already paying for a package.
Then we headed down to the recommended Cinco Niños. The food was good, definitely a family-style restaurant vibe, with kids running around and having the time of their lives.
The only real issue we had was with my son’s order. He ordered a dish that was supposed to come with chicken... and the chicken was completely left off. When we brought it up to the waiter, he didn’t really offer any kind of solution. My son even suggested just getting the chicken on the side, but the waiter just... stood there. Like, full-on silent. Staring at everyone at the table. It was weird.
After an awkward moment of “what now,” I told him to just take the cost of the chicken off the bill, and that seemed to be the right answer, because he corrected it without any problem.
Other than that little hiccup, the food itself was good. Not amazing, not terrible. Good. Solid. Would I rush back just for the food? Probably not. But it did the job after a long drive and a lot of excitement.
Arcade Adventures: Tom Foolery’s
After the waterpark, we hit up the arcade. It’s big. It’s bright. It’s honestly pretty impressive. Just know, you’re gonna get scammed by the claw machines. (We expected it. It’s part of the experience at this point.)
Of course, Peyton only wanted to play the claw machines because they were full of fluffy stuffed animals (her life time obsession, trust me… All the storage in her room is full of them). Teddy on the other hand, was treating the place like a casino and he was about to score big. He wouldn’t be caught playing anything that wasn’t going to give the most tickets possible.
Peyton rode a small “rollercoaster,” and even though there was a large one, and then one that drops (and mind you, this is all INDOORS), none of us really partook in any of those. They were working, and the people riding were definitely having fun. On top of all that, there's a ropes course suspended way up near the ceiling, and a bouldering section for rock climbing.
Honestly, there was nothing this arcade didn’t have.
Peyton was obsessed with making us try the pull-up bar challenge, (you hold on to a bar for 1 minute and 45 seconds) and even though Josh and I both failed miserably (I only made it 50 seconds, Josh made it 1 minute 10 seconds), one of the sweet workers noticed how badly she wanted the giant wolf prize, and she ended up giving her a slightly damaged one. (Honestly, it made her whole trip.)
Day 1 Final Thoughts
Even with a rocky check-in and some pricey extras, Day 1 totally set the tone for a super fun trip.
The waterpark alone made it worth it, and the staff’s kindness in little moments (like helping Peyton get her wolf) really made a difference.
Check-in Process: 2/5 (Confusing and unhelpful)
Room: 4/5 (Clean & comfy, plus great water pressure)
Waterpark: 5/5 (Huge, warm, clean, fun)
Arcade: 4/5 (Fun, but know you’re 100% getting scammed lol)
Staff: 4/5 (Friendly overall)
Kalahari Trip Day 2:
The Breakfast Buffet Betrayal (and the Easter Egg Hunt Wild Goose Chase):
We woke up the next morning in no real rush, because, according to the front desk, the breakfast buffet was free and open until noon. I was actually so excited about it. Free breakfast buffets are one of my love languages. I was already dreaming about stacks of pancakes and endless coffee.
We took our sweet time, got ready, and headed downstairs... only to be greeted (once again) by the dreaded kiosks. People were lined up, paying. Spoiler alert: It was not free. It was absolutely, 100% not free.
In fact, the basic buffet, plus one coffee for Josh, cost us $119. Yes, you read that right. One hundred. And nineteen. Dollars.
The food itself? It was good. It was a buffet. Bacon, eggs, pastries, all the usual players. But honestly, it could’ve been plated by Gordon Ramsay himself and I still would've been salty. It wasn’t about the food at this point, it was the blatant misinformation that left a bad taste in my mouth (and no amount of biscuits and gravy could fix that).
And just when we thought we could salvage the morning, we decided to double-check with the hostess about the Easter Eggstravaganza event. You know... just to make sure we knew where to go and when.
The hostess blinked at me like I had just asked for directions to the moon. She had no idea what I was talking about. Which, weird, because the Easter buffet and Eggstravaganza were advertised all over their own website.
She went to ask her manager. Who didn’t know. Who then had to go find another manager. After a lot of whispering and head-shaking, the hostess came back with some vague half-info that didn’t even answer our question. So, back to the front desk we went, hoping someone could give us a straight answer.
Upstairs, the cycle repeated. More asking around. More confused looks. Finally, someone confirmed that we needed to go to a barn near the convention center side of the resort for the Easter event. Cool. Fine. Whatever. We finally had an answer, and we could move on with our day... but best believe my faith in the communication at Kalahari had already been seriously tested by that point.
But the thing is, I’m not even mad at the staff. They didn’t know the information because the information wasn’t given to them. You don’t know what you don’t know.
Lunch at Mac's:
For lunch on Day 2, we hit up Mac’s, which (shocker) is all about mac and cheese. Honestly? It was fine. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything that blew our minds either, it was just different types of mac and cheese.
(And yes, for the second meal in a row, they forgot the chicken that was supposed to be in my son's meal...)
Another Full Day at the Waterpark:
We spent basically all day at the waterpark again. This time, Peyton was way more into the wave pool than the lazy river, but we still did plenty of floating in circles too. I’m pretty sure I got my steps in every day simply because of walking around that lazy river with her.
Josh and Teddy hit up the waterslides (and the lines actually moved pretty fast, which makes sense because I swear there are like a hundred slides in that place).
I still didn’t get to go down any slides, because I stayed with Peyton, but honestly, I didn’t mind it.
It was just nice to see her having so much fun. (And to dream about one day renting one of those fancy cabanas, some of them even have their own hot tubs!)
Also, we definitely learned from Day 1’s $31 drink mistake and kept things simple this time.
Dinner at Sortino’s:
For dinner, we decided to go to Sortino’s . It ended up being my favorite meal of the entire trip. It’s a cozy Italian restaurant, and everything about it felt like a step up. The atmosphere, the food, the service.
Back to the Arcade:
After dinner, we went straight back to the arcade for one last party.
We knew what to expect this time (a.k.a. we knew the claw machines were a scam), but the kids were just excited to keep playing.
This time, the start off wasn’t as strong. We used our cash card to get our tickets, and the kiosk (because of course it was another damn kiosk) didn’t give us one of our tickets, AND didn’t give us our receipt. So then I had to wait in line while Josh and the kids stood at the kiosk so that I could get it taken care of. I barely had my sentence out when I was told (kindly) to go talk to the people at the prize section and that they would have it fixed. Within 2 minutes of waiting, a manager showed up, opened the machine, and figured out that the tickets had all gone on one card. So we followed him to the prize section, and waited for the situation to be fixed. They were very nice about the situation, but our kids wanted to go play, and were obviously impatient about the entire situation.
Peyton tried to talk us into playing the pull-up bar challenge again, I didn’t give in, but Josh couldn’t say no. Not only is it hard for him to say no to her, but he also doesn’t like losing.
We walked out with some below mediocre prizes, but the memories we made were worth it and the kids had a blast regardless.
Day 2 Final Thoughts
Day 2 was a full-on waterpark marathon, sprinkled with good food, sweet moments, and a whole lot of kiddo smiles. Honestly, even the little hiccups didn’t matter because it was just a genuinely fun day with my people.
Mac's Restaurant: 3/5 (Fine, but nothing special)
Waterpark: 5/5 (Still amazing — Peyton-approved!)
Sortino’s Restaurant: 5/5 (Favorite meal of the trip!)
Arcade: 4/5 (Still fun, still scamming us lol)
Staff: 3/5 (Friendly, but misinformation and lack of information)
(Okay look, I feel bad about giving the staff a 3, but the negative review is aimed more at the higher-ups that aren’t informing their staff of what is going on in their hotel.)
Kalahari Trip Day 3
Waking Up — Quiet Moments & a Great Shower
I woke up early before everyone else, which honestly felt like a little stolen slice of heaven. (If you're a parent, you know those rare quiet morning minutes are everything.) I took a long, hot shower, and let me tell you, the water pressure was chef’s kiss. It was so good I didn’t want to leave.
The bathroom didn’t have a mirror inside it. The sink and mirror were outside in the main room... where my whole family was still sleeping. So there I was, trying to do my skincare and makeup in the dim lighting without waking anyone up. I know a lot of hotel rooms are set up that way, but I really don’t like it.
Easter Eggstravaganza: Eggs-tra Disappointing
For our last day at the resort, we had signed up for the Easter Eggstravaganza, which included an egg hunt for the kids, and a buffet after.
The Egg Hunt (If you could call it that):
First of all, finding the egg hunt was a hunt in itself. The front desk from the day before had told us that it would be in a barn… It was not in the barn. It was raining outside, so I’m sure they had to make some last minute accommodations, and I can’t be too mad about it. We finally did find it, inside of the convention right around the corner from where the buffet was being held.
The hunt ended up being a few rooms right next to each other that were just littered with eggs. We sat and waited, and then it was time for the countdown, and when the “hunt” began, it was ruined by other parents who were literally blocking the doorways so that only their kids could get through first. The non-confrontational me ended up yelling at the adults to move because other children still needed to get inside. It was about 5 minutes of chaos total, and then it was over.
The prizes were… Meh. The kids didn’t even want to keep looking through them to see what else there was. We did keep some little bunny necklaces because Peyton wanted us to match, but that was it.
To be clear: We paid over $200 for this and the buffet.
Big yikes so far.
Waiting for the Easter Buffet
After the egg "hunt" disaster, we had to wait almost an hour for the buffet to start. At least they had a few things to keep the kids busy; a craft table, a giant inflatable ball game, and a fancy looking waiting area. The hall was decorated beautifully though, I’ll give them that.
The Easter Buffet — Total Redemption
Listen, after how bad that egg hunt was, my expectations were on the floor. Like, under the floorboards.
But when it finally came time to get through that line, and the host walked us in… Oh. My. Gosh. It was stunning.
There was a massive dessert buffet right when you walked in with Happy Easter balloons overhead. As a woman was literally playing the harp and singing above it. (Yes. A whole harpist.)
The host gave us a full tour:
A kids buffet at kid-level (!!!)
A kids dessert buffet too
Chocolate fountains.
(Not just regular chocolate. They had white chocolate, pink chocolate, and blue chocolate fountains.)A carving station.
An omelet station.
A pancake station.
A fancy juice bar with all those bougie, healthy juices.
Tables and tables of incredible food.
AND a live harpist singing songs like Pink Pony Club while playing. (I know I mentioned it once, already. It deserves two mentions.)
This. Was. The. Moment. And was clearly where that $200 price went. And honestly, it was absolutely worth it.
Saying Goodbye... Kind of
We left absolutely stuffed and happy (except the kids, who didn’t want to leave). Peyton literally sat herself on the ground outside the convention center and declared she was "never leaving" and that "this is my home now."
Honestly, mood.
Day 3 Final Thoughts
Day 3 started rocky (real rocky lol), but they completely redeemed themselves with that buffet. If you’re thinking of signing up for the Easter event, I’d honestly skip the egg hunt part and go straight for the food. I saw that they do buffets like that pretty regularly for holidays, and I can 100% recommend it.
It was the perfect send-off for an amazing trip.
Morning Quiet Time: 5/5 (Blessed and peaceful)
Shower Water Pressure: 5/5 (The dream)
Easter Egg "Hunt": 1/5 (Would not recommend at all)
Waiting Area: 4/5 (Pretty, kids activities were helpful)
Easter Buffet: 5/5 (Showstopper, honestly)
Staff: 5/5 (Very pleasant)
Final Thoughts on the Entire Trip:
Am I happy with how everything played out? Eh, not exactly. Am I frustrated by the misinformation and the staff’s lack of knowledge? Oh, 100%. But would I go back? Absolutely. Despite the hiccups and surprise charges, the kids had an absolute blast, and honestly, that’s what matters most. Plus, next time we’ll know what to expect, and I hope after reading this epic (and slightly sarcastic) review, you'll have a better idea of what you're in for.
If you've been to Kalahari, I’d love to hear your experience. Was it smoother than ours, or did you hit the same bumps? Got questions about the resort? Drop them in the comments and I’ll help out however I can! And if there’s another spot you want me to review, tell me where! I’m always down for another adventure.
