Kalahari Indoor Water Park
Overview
Expert Summary
Detailed Insights
Kalahari Indoor Water Park offers a spacious and beautiful water park with numerous slides that are generally fun and appealing to children. The resort's hotel rooms are frequently praised for being clean and comfortable, suggesting a strong accommodation offering.
Key Highlights
- ✓Spacious indoor water park environment
- ✓Many waterslides are reported to be fun and enjoyable for children
- ✓Basic 2 queen hotel rooms are consistently described as very nice, super clean, and pleasant-smelling
Standout Features
- ⭐Extensive selection of fun waterslides catering to various age groups
- ⭐Spacious water park facility
- ⭐High quality, clean, and pleasant hotel rooms, particularly the basic 2 queen option
Perfect For
Ideal For
💡Pro Tips from Reviews
- →Purchase tickets online in advance to potentially save money.
- →Be prepared for significant overall expenses; budget for much more than just the ticket price.
- →Avoid peak times like Saturday nights, Mondays, and Wednesday evenings if you wish to mitigate extreme crowds.
- →Bring your own snacks and bottled water from an off-site store (e.g., Walgreens) to avoid outrageously high on-site prices ($12 popcorn, $7 bottled water).
- →Do not expect to accompany toddlers or very young children on water slides due to strict 100lb weight limits.
- →If you have promotional offers (e.g., food cards), confirm their activation/delivery immediately upon check-in to avoid issues.
- →Lower your expectations for customer service and staff attentiveness.
Things to Consider
- ⚠The water park experiences severe overcrowding, often described as 'cheek to cheek' busy, especially on weekends and specific weekdays (Saturday night, Monday, Wednesday after dinner).
- ⚠The overall cost is extremely high, encompassing tickets, on-site food/drinks (e.g., $12 popcorn, $7 water, $35 per drink), and other amenities.
- ⚠A 100lb weight limit on kid slides prevents parents from accompanying very young children (e.g., 19-month-olds), limiting their water park enjoyment.
- ⚠Indoor environment is frequently very loud.
- ⚠Customer service is a significant issue, with reports of unhelpful, short, and seemingly unhappy employees; staff ignoring guests for personal calls; and difficulty resolving booking issues.
- ⚠Arcade games and credits are overpriced and not considered worthwhile for children under 5 years old.
- ⚠Utilities and maintenance need improvement (e.g., slippery handicap parking, dirty water dripping from ramps onto VIP areas).
- ⚠Inconsistent enforcement of safety rules by lifeguards, such as the hot tub age limit (e.g., children 6 and under).
- ⚠Promotional offers like food cards may not be delivered timely.
- ⚠The Brew Pub receives negative feedback regarding food quality.
- ⚠Many guests report feeling overstimulated due to the intense environment.
Price & Value
The park is described as 'very expensive' and 'expensive overall,' with costs like almost $400 for a single day, $12 for popcorn, $7 for bottled water, and $35 per drink. Arcade wristbands are 'not worth it' for young kids due to overpriced games. VIP packages can be $200 for a couch, plus additional high costs for food and drinks, with poor value if the experience is flawed. Buying tickets online in advance is recommended to slightly reduce the expense, but expect a 'large expense' regardless. Overall, the value is often questioned due to the high cost combined with numerous negative experiences.
♿Accessibility & Special Needs
- •Handicap parking spots are available, but a reviewer reported slipping and falling, injuring themselves and breaking their phone screen, raising concerns about maintenance in these areas.
- •No other specific accessibility accommodations or staff training for special needs were mentioned in the reviews.
🍎Food & Drink Policy
- •Outside food (specifically snacks and bottled water) is strongly recommended by reviewers due to 'outrageously priced' on-site options (e.g., $12 popcorn, $7 water).
- •Promotional food cards are offered as part of packages, but timely delivery can be an issue.
- •On-site dining options exist, including a Brew Pub that received negative feedback for food quality.
- •VIP food and drink service is available, but the location for consumption (e.g., under a dirty ramp) can make it unappetizing.
🚗Parking Info
- •Handicap parking spots are available. One incident of slipping and injury in the handicap parking area was reported, indicating potential safety concerns or poor maintenance.
👥Crowd Levels
- •Extremely crowded ('cheek to cheek') in the water park, particularly on Saturday nights, Mondays, and Wednesday evenings (though slightly less busy on Wednesday after dinner).
- •Long lines are common, including for check-in.
🛡️Safety Features
- •Lifeguards are present at water slides and pool areas.
- •Kid slides have a specific maximum weight limit of 100lbs, which prevents adults from accompanying young children.
- •There is a rule against children 6 and under in hot tubs, but enforcement by lifeguards is inconsistent.
- •Concerns were raised about slippery surfaces in handicap parking and unsanitary conditions (dripping dirty water) in VIP areas, implying potential safety/health hazards.
⏰When to Avoid
- • If you are on a tight budget or sensitive to extremely high prices for food, drinks, and activities.
- • If you dislike severe crowds; avoid all weekends and specific weekday evenings.
- • If you have very young children (toddlers/preschoolers) who require adult accompaniment on water slides.
- • If you expect consistent, high-quality customer service and attentive staff interactions.
- • If planning to rely on the arcade for entertainment for children under 5 (it's overpriced and not worth it).
- • Booking VIP couch setups without confirming their exact location to avoid issues like dirty water dripping from overhead ramps.
- • If you have low tolerance for loud environments or feeling overstimulated.
Pricing/Package/Events
What People Say
What's Great
- Fun and entertaining activities (mentioned in 3 reviews)
- Spacious play areas (mentioned in 5 reviews)
Areas for Improvement
- Pricing can be high (mentioned in 6 reviews)
- Parking can be challenging (mentioned in 4 reviews)
Recent Reviews
Rich KR
4 months agoBeautiful and spacious Water Park. You could say that for children it is a dream paradise, after all everything that is here pleases these young tots. It is also nice for older people here, although very expensive (I recommend buying tickets in advance online) and you have to be prepared for a large expense when going here. However, you can really spend time here well. I could only point out that the utilities should be better maintained.
Kathleen P.
2 weeks agoThe only good thing is the resort. We got the ride slide and dine package and stayed for 1 night. The hotel room is the best thing, everything else was lackluster. We were cheek to cheek with wayy to many people in the Waterpark, like there needs to be an lower occupancy cap. I couldn't go down ANY slides with my 19mo, all kid slides are maxed at 100lbs. It was so loud indoors, and everything employee acted like they hated their life, so unhelpful and short with me. The arcade wristband is not worth it at all if you only have kids under 5 or so, the actual arcade games and credits are wayyy overpriced. Workers were jumping from ride to ride as well so we had to wait a bunch! They didnt give us our 100$ promotional food card until the morning after our stay, so glad they let me apply it towards my balance! That being said the room we got was the basic 2 queen room, it was actually very nice. Super clean and smelled nice! And to spite all this we had fun but we're very overstimulated. Also the Brew Pub was not very good at all.
Eric Christenson
2 months agoMy daughter wanted to write this review, so here's the perspective of a 9-year-old, so basically their target demographic. "The place was expensive overall. We got snacks at Walgreens, since the ones in the room were pretty outrageously priced. The popcorn is $12. A simple bottle of water is $7, and you can just get water free from the sky. Water is part of the Earth, so why does it cost so much, huh? "All the waterslides were fun except for one. There was this guy, and he was helping the kids with the two water slides in the kiddie area. The guy let her and another kid go on the water slides, but they were all in one line for the slides, so they didn't know which kids were going on which slides. And so when she was about to go on the snake slide (the yellow one), the other kid went on it! So she didn't know what to do. And then the guy yelled at her and said, "You have to go on green." She was so sad. "
Lucy
a month agoPaid almost 400$ for 1 day so you expect the best right? Wrong. Day 1! on arrival I park in the handicap spot just to step outside, slip and hurt myself and bust my phone screen. You would think it's over but no lol. For some reason my reservation was messed up and not showing the birthday that was added on over a month ago. I wait in a very long line to get checked in. I'm told at checkout to talk to another employee with a pink coat at another desk. Ok I stand in front of her and she completely ignores me lol gets a personal phone call and decided that was more important lol oh man and I'm standing there ready to spend 200$-300$ on a birthday package for my son. She then looks at me as she continues on with her personal -non urgent call I'm literally right in front of her waiting I can hear her whole conversation. Another employee who barely speaks good English passes by and she waves him down to me while she continues her call. He asked me how can he help me? I inform him I'm trying to get a birthday package for my son and was told to come here. He walks over to the check in desk , comes back to tell me yes she would help you but she's on a call and if not you can get in line for check in they can help you. At this point my leg is hurting from the fall and I'm extremely upset with what he just said lol that line I pointed 👉 I just came from there and now you want me to stand In that line again? after I was told to come to this lady who believes her personal call is more important... 😑 no Thank you. I appreciate your help but never mind. I do not need this birthday package that bad anymore. You would think it's over right lol wrong again my friends. I paid $200 for a "VIP" couch set up lol 😆 😅 😂 so I order mix drinks and food. Well what a fking place they decided to put this under. It's under the ramp for the slides. Swimmer are walking across in groups and now I have disgusting water from the moldy ramp falling in my drink and food. Drinks $70 they are $35 a piece. Food 85$ all waste now. This by far has been the most disappointing place I have ever been to and yet spend a lot of money. Who ever runs this place should be a shame this was disappointing!
Stephanie Hodge
4 months agoWe went to Waterpark on Saturday night- don't super recommend it was to busy. Monday again very very busy. And Wednesday after dinner still busy but not as busy! The slides were fun. The life guards weren't on the same page as to who was allowed where. (Example children 6 and under are not allowed in the hot tub. Some reinforced that rule while others did not)