Kalahari Resort in Sandusky Review

Kora & Logan love water parks. Splashing around in wave pools, sliding down twisting slides, and just simply swimming are all the top of their list on a hot summer day.

Accommodations and tickets provided.

That’s why we were excited about taking a trip to Kalahari Resort in Sandusky and to experience their Summer Splash Celebration, to play in their Outdoor Adventure Park, and to splash around in their waterparks. It was a fantastic overnight stay filled with fun and Kora & Logan enjoyed themselves so much they’ve been talking about it every day since.

When we first arrived at the resort we checked in and were excited to see our room was ready early. We were given our room keys and wrist bands  and when we arrived at our room we were impressed with its size and amenities. Some of our favorite features included:

• Two comfortable double beds
• A decent size refrigerator and microwave
• A table for two
• A couch that converted into a bed
• A fireplace and flatscreen tv
• A nice size balcony with a fantastic view

From the balcony of our room we had a gorgeous view of the outdoor pool. Seeing everyone swimming and having so much fun on such a beautiful day made us feel like we had truly escaped. Even though Kalahari Resort in Sandusky is only an hour from our house, this view had us feeling like we had embarked on a tropical vacation.

See the line running across the top of the photo above and the person riding it across? Yep, that’s a zip line. It runs around the outdoor waterpark and the outdoor safari park. It connects at four points giving you a great view of the property. We enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the zip liners float by for a few minutes before the kids were asking if they could give it a try.

So we were off. It was a popular attraction and we had a bit of a wait but it was worth it. We all had a fantastic time and enjoyed ourselves so much we did it again the next day.

Here’s a look at Kora zipping along:

Along with the zip line the Outdoor Safari Adventure Park also offers a climbing wall and an enormous ropes course that Kora and Logan couldn’t wait to try.

There is also a Safari Adventures Animal Park where you could feed the animals. There is a cost for this. You can purchase large buckets of carrots, corn cobs, and more, or you can use the old-fashioned candy dispensers to get a handful of feed at a time. We saw a variety of animals including:

• Kangaroos
• A giraffe
• Lemurs
• Baby goats
• A baby camel
• An ostrich
• Tortoises
• A Kookaburra
• …and more.

There was also a Stingray Encounter opportunity where you could pet or even swim with stingrays. There were pony rides and camel rides. There’s even the opportunity to be a Junior Zookeeper where you can learn fun facts about the animals, help saddle a pony, help groom a camel, help feed the porcupines, shine the tortoise’s shell, and help bottle feed the baby camel. Doesn’t that sound fun? The activities and duties of the Junior Zookeeper can change daily or seasonally but the position is available all year round.

After spending mid-day at the Outdoor Adventure Park in the hot sun, we were happy to see how large the outdoor pool was and that the activity pools looked like lots of fun.

We were impressed by the outside pools but the kids couldn’t wait to get into the wavepool and on the waterslides in the Indoor Waterpark.

I was impressed to learn that Kalahari Resort in Sandusky is America’s largest indoor waterpark at 173,000 square feet. I can believe it too. The wave pool is enormous, there are bright, colorful, twisting waterslides everywhere, there’s a lazy river, Flow Rider which is a boogie boarding attraction, a Zip Coaster, a Leopard’s Lair activity area with net crawls, water guns, and more, Crocodile Cove with a water walk, water basketball, and even water cannons, and a Kids Safari area for the little ones.

We spent a lot of time in the wave pool which is Kora & Logan’s favorite. It was a hit with others too. Every time the bell rang right before the waves began we’d hear a loud collective yelp of excitement from all the children who had been counting down the minutes until the waves started again. There were tubes to bob on. Life jackets to use if you wanted or were under 48 inches. Or you could just float or jump over the waves as you wished.

We had a fantastic time in the Indoor Waterpark and visited multiple times during our stay. We were happy to learn that even though our checkout time was at 11 am the day we had to leave we still had access to both the indoor and outdoor waterparks and outdoor adventure park until they closed. There were lockers where we could rent a lock to store our belongings and nice size locker rooms with showers where we could change and shower before heading home.

We took a break from all the swimming by visiting the amazing arcade. It’s actually the largest game arcade in the midwest. Kora & Logan were thrilled everytime we passed through and when they had a chance to play some of the games they could barely contain their excitement. There was giant Connect 4, skeeball, claw machines, and more. Logan gave an enormous wheel a spin and we were all shocked when the arrow landed on 1000 tickets!

The kids were excited to turn in all of their tickets and were able to get a some cute souveniers from the trip and even bough a few things for their cousins as well.

One of my personal favorite things at Kalahari both the last time we visited and this time as well were incredible displays of treats at the Candy Shop and at Java Manjero just off the lobby registration area. Here’s a look at just a few of the goodies they offered while we were there.

Don’t they look amazing?

If you have a sweet tooth, these side-by-side shops are the place for you. They offer a wide variety of chocolate, candies, cookies, fudge, caramel apples, giant cupcakes and more. I loved walking by these displays as often as I could to watch the smiles on people’s faces whenever they purchased something. It was like being in Candy Land!

We were excited to see that we had made it just in time to participate in the Summer Splash Celebration. For this event Kalahari connected to their rich African roots and featured a number of activities to offer something for everyone. Here’s  a look at some of the activities and events that took place throughout the summer.

• Elephant Encounters
• Animal Safari Sand Art
• Scavenger Hunt
• Story Time
• Dance Contests
• African Mask Making
• Sidewalk Chalking
• Coloring Contest
• Bracelet Making
• Tie Dye Shirts
• Cookie Decoratiing
• Kite Flying
• …and more!

We had a wonderful time at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky and I recommend it to anyone looking for a great family getaway. There’s so much to do all year round and it’s a wonderful escape especially once the whether turns colder.

To learn more:

• Visit the Kalahari Sandusky website
• Like Kalahari on Facebook
• Follow Kalahari on Twitter