The following is a copy of my comments on a survey they sent me after my stay. I was there April 21-23, 2012. The Waterpark was the main reason I chose to stay at your Resort. I have a 5 yr-old and 17 month old that I thought would enjoy the Waterpark during our weekend getaway. We have stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge previously in Mason, Ohio so we were interested to see the difference between both Resorts. I have to say that both my husband and I were very impressed with the Waterpark. We thought your waterpark was very clean and accommodated all ages well. When we were searching for an indoor Waterpark to stay at we were captivated by your Waterparks large square footage and that's what ultimately made our decision to stay with Kalahari. We have been to three indoor Waterparks in the last 9 months and the previous two were much smaller and felt too crowded. So overall the Waterpark was great and more than what we expected. The overall service of your employees was good. I know during check-out time and when rooms are being cleaned that the halls can be busy but both my husband and I were frustrated with some of the carts that were left in the halls and guests had to zigzag around them. There were cleaning carts, a dirty linen cart and a trash cart that blocked the hall and the employees were standing there talking. They didn't move the carts to make it easier for guests to walk through. As a professional and as someone who serves the public I strive for the highest satisfaction of those I serve. I assume that Kalahari wants their customers to be satisfied as well so that was especially one incident that stuck in my mind when I thought about the service at your resort. But overall everyone was friendly and helpful. The most disappointing and frustrating experience we had was the food. We had the breakfast buffet one morning and we were very disappointed with the taste of the food considering the price of the buffet. I don't mind paying a large amount for good food but the buffet was horrible. The only thing my husband and I were able to stomach was the french toast and even that wasn't very tasteful. I grew up in a large family and know that when you are feeding an army that you have to stretch some of the resources but paying $26 per adult for that buffet was ridiculous and started our day out on a bad note. Both of my kids didn't want to eat anything we brought them. My 5 yr old ate one of the cereals offered and my 17 month old had a few pieces of fruit. My husband and I were both frustrated with our experience that morning. The night before this, which was the afternoon we arrived to the resort, we ordered room service for dinner. It was about 7:45 at night when we ordered. We got our food about 50 minutes later which we were told it would take that long and we were okay with that. We ordered $68 dollars worth of food which two of the four meals were kids meals. The food was prepared well and the taste was okay but after they had dropped everything off we noticed they forgot the two drinks we asked for that came with the kids meals. We called down to room service and got a recording, it was about 8:45 or so, and my husband left a message that they forgot the drinks and that we still need them. Knowing that they served until 11pm I thought we would eventually hear back from someone down there but that never happened. We never got the drinks and we never got a call about the drinks. My husband and I were annoyed because the vending machine drinks were pricey and we only got two from the vending machine knowing the kids meals came with a drink. So the kids had what we had to drink and again it's frustrating to not only never receive the drinks but even more frustrating that we didn't hear back from room service when we left them a message. Again, I'm not asking for people to go above and beyond when doing their job but I do expect as a paying customer to receive average service or at least the items that I paid for. The rest of our time at your Resort we ate our meals off the Resort site. Leaving and eating our meals off the Resort was frustrating especially with two small children but knowing we were satisfied with the food made it worth the frustration. I will say that the candy hut was a hit with our family. The specialty candies were great and well worth the price! We brought some home to family and we have already talked about ordering online from the candy hut. I hope this is helpful in improving your Resort and the experience your customers have. For our family I think we would visit the Waterpark again but we would pay for a day pass and wouldn't pay to stay at the Resort considering our previous experience. read more

we are at the Kalahari now and we are not happy. check in was a disaster. It took 45 minutes. after check in there were no luggage carts so i had to haul our stuff to the room. i returned to the van to find a traffic jam at the entrance and it took me 20 minutes to move to a parking spot. we finally got to the pool area to find 3 areas closed which made space in the open pools very crowded. i tried multiple times to find towels and was told there were none clean. over a hour later clean towels were made available. today we tried to talk to the morning desk manager and she seemed very put out and didn't want to discuss any issue. we just tried to have a over priced lunch at a eatery by the arcade and the hostess(Brittany) was very rude. the bottom line is we wont be back. read more

Kalahari just asked for my thoughts on our stay this weekend. I share it here as well. I will reject any passive, corporate-scripted response looking to save face, and telling me the WONDERFUL things I may have missed. Bull. Respond sincerely or not at all. Here's what I wrote them (between bouts of vomiting, because KALAHARI MADE US SICK, but I'll get to that)...Our stay was DOOMED from the beginning. When our reservation was made, it was clearly explained that the room charges were supposed to be taken from our gift cards and not our bank/credit card. They were not and it caused a huge problem with our bank account. After finally speaking to a manager, on the third phone call, she corrected the problem. When we arrived, everything seemed to go well until bedtime came and our hallway was filled with running, yelling, swearing ADULTS and children. My own children were continuously woken up until my husband, who had had enough of their behavior, went down to the front desk at 3AM and complained. Only then was security even seen on our floor (Are they not supposed to patrol the entire resort, or just the main floors?) Why didn't my husband simply call the front desk? Because our phone did not work. (This was corrected later as stated above.) In addition, I was nauseous all night, but couldn't figure out why...until the next morning. I had purchased one of your pastries from the Java Manjaro. When I went to purchase a coffee the next morning, two men were servicing the cooler which my pastry had come from and I overheard the employee standing with them mention that "it's been broken since yesterday" and noted how warm everything was, even to the point of the frosting and such melting off of other things. Mystery solved. I was given an improperly stored food item. Other than an entire grumpy family, from not having slept the night before, things went fairly well our second day. Two notes I'll make here that were observed the entire weekend, the waterpark was much, much colder than anticipated. Our children were always shivering when out of the water, the towels in the rooms were inadequate in both size and texture and all of the "dry" activities were shoddy and overpriced. (t-shirt making, pottery, mini golf, zombie ride etc). We attempted to play in the wave pool to end our second day and were forced back out again within minutes for an undisclosed reason (rumor was that someone defecated in the pool). My husband, who was curious, asked several people how/when the water would be cleaned, and NO ONE he spoke to could answer him! We tried to end the evening on a high note and had some ice cream and played a board game in the lobby. We noticed your fireplace and asked that it be turned on, to which we were answered by the front desk, "no one knows how to turn it on". Which brings me to our last day. Our breakfast buffet was somehow more expensive than the day before (how does that happen?) the locker rental for the waterpark...TWENTY DOLLARS are you kidding me??? and someone (employee or guest, we didn't see which) removed out luggage cart from outside our room before we could load it, which became more hassle than it was worth. I will state here that no follow-up by any manager was ever made, for any of these problems. The housekeeping manager who helped us with our phone, cared more than anyone about our stay, throughout as we saw her multiple times. I end now, with the biggest problem of all. Finally at home, I have FOUR family members who are violently ill. Only my oldest child is okay as of writing this. Began on the ride home. Had to pull over to vomit on the side of the highway. We went nowhere else the entire weekend, so either from bad food, or bad water conditions...KALAHARI MADE US SICK. We would NEVER return here, unless standards are drastically changed, reviews reflect this and someone PAID us to do so. Would be skeptical even then. read more

No gym for minors!? How can I keep my muscle children alive while I'm here? Other than that though, its pretty fun. The girls that are here could be more "good" though read more

The staff here, especially the front desk, is very friendly. If it wasn't for our dance competition being here, I would have rather stayed somewhere else. Everything is expensive here and you pretty much have to pay for everything (even to just go look at their mini zoo). We haven't eaten here either because of the high prices (and I recommend Danny Boy's Italian restaurant about a mile down the road) so we have been eating out and went shopping for stuff for the room. The water park is ok but need to watch out for perverts. My sister-in-law was talking with other dance mom's and was warned to keep an eye out for the locals who come in because there have been reports of guys starring at the young girls and touching them. A half hour after she was told this, My niece, her daughter, told her that some guy was touching her butt and when she moved, he followed her. My sister-in-law didn't even have a chance to talk to her about it before this happened. Of course when I went to the front desk, the manager said she never heard of anything like this before which is a shock since we were warned. read more

Stayed here for nexstar dance nationals with our entire dance school. The customer service of this place is some of the worst I've ever had. We had to switch rooms because they didn't have any of the size we had available for our last night and were downgraded to a smaller room and then had to rent another room and weren't offered any compensation. Meanwhile we find out that one of our group were upgraded to a presidential sweet; when they didn't have any larger rooms available. The new room wasn't cleaned well, the sink and tub didn't drain at all and we received bed bug bites. We called the front desk and maintenance and were told someone would be up; we waited up until 1 am and no call and no service member. We called back and they had gotten busy with something else and said they would send someone up first thing in the morning. We still never saw anyone. When we went to complain all we got was a good/drink voucher and the apologies of some nameless manager. A sign on their wall says that they promise to deliver customer service and satisfaction, I guess they aren't a company of their word. If we have to come back for nationals in the future, we will be staying off site where they know what customer service actually means. Ps this has one star because it won't let me post it with 0. read more

I booked a stay at the Sandusky location for 11/11/15 with checkout on 11/13/15 for myself and a friend. I confirmed the reservation with the 1-800 number. When I got there, I was informed that my reservation didn't begin until 11/12/15!!! I live 4 hours away, one way! Luckily, the desk person, Aalya I believe her name was, was able to change everything and get me the room I booked. However, the TV didn't work, and the guys they sent to fix it looked high as kites and didn't actually fix the TV; I had to have another service call for the next day. (Strike 2 so far). Then, Thursday night, my guest and I tried to order room service from Pizza Pub, but they wouldn't even answer the phone (3 min wait with no answer). Strike 3. I went to the front desk, where I met Manager Megan. Megan offered to order my food and have it sent up, but came back to inform me that what I ordered was not available, even though it was on the menu. She advised me to go talk with my friend and call her directly with our revised order. By then, we decided to go off the resort to find food, so I tried to call Megan to inform her of our decision, but this time, SHE didn't answer the phone. She was waiting for my call, and still couldn't be bothered to answer at 10:30pm (a very slow period at any hotel's front desk). So I stopped at the desk on my way out, and Megan decided to become short with me and and proceed to tell me, "We were going to pay for your food, but if you can't wait 6 seconds for us to answer the phone, that's on you. 5 rings is 6 seconds, and you couldn't even wait that long. If you leave and go somewhere else then that is on you. I won't do anything else for you." And here we have Strike 4. Everything else about my stay was excellent; the water park (where staff were kind enough to strike up conversations while we waited in line), the game room (where the staff was knowledgeable and helpful at all times), the spa (where everyone was kind and courteous), the Ivory Coast Restaurant (where two different wait staff were kind enough to bring my friend crackers and a free ginger ale when she started to feel nauseous while our order was being prepared). But the Hotel experience was pretty bad, with the only redeeming action taken by Guest service manager Su, who offered to upgrade my next booked visit. read more

The Kalahari Resort in Sandusky has been top notch. Starting with their fabulous booking agents. They were extremely helpful in granting my request to be near another family who was joining us for the weekend. They not only delivered on their promise to do so, but upgraded both of our families to a two room suite. FABULOUS! We love our rooms and the park. Most importantly, I am traveling with my 4 year old son with Autism. He is unable to follow the "rules" of the park. He is unable to communicate or understand directions. EVERY lifeguard we have encountered (it has been a lot) has been wonderful once I informed them of his challenges. Top notch staff. Thank you for all you do :) read more

This place is not worth the money for the experience. The waterpark itself is fun, but the hospitality/staff/cleanliness is sub-par. If you try Maui Sands or The Great Wolf Lodge that is nearby, you will definitely be happier with your experience. Our room had long black hair on the beds, and bathroom floor. Considering I am a red-head and my children are blonde and light-brown, it did not come from us. My daughter found a orange peel under the side of one bed, and a peanut under the side of the second bed. Considering my son has a peanut allergy, it was a great thing that he was not the one who found it and I went and got a vacuum from housekeeping and vacuumed the floor myself. I informed the housekeeping manager that I wanted clean sheets and pointed this all out to her, she seemed to be "on it" - that is until I ended up following her down the hallway to ask for the vacuum to sweep up the mess myself, and I heard her telling a housekeeper in a very snotty tone to "make sure to change the sheets in front of her because she works at a hotel" - and she just had that tone of voice where you KNOW someone is mocking. Our air conditioner wasn't working right, we had set the temperature to 64 degrees in hopes to try to cool the room off. The room would not get below 70, so on our second day there, we informed maintenance, who said the air was blowing cold so it was fine. Well we ended up sweating in our sleep both nights because the air conditioner was not sufficient enough to keep a small room that was closed up and unoccupied 90% of the day below 70 degrees. The safe malfunctioned, locking all of our valuables in it, and we had to wait about an hour for maintenance to come use a master code to open the safe for us to get our wallets, to go eat, the time that took had us chomping at the bit to get out of there to grab food. Then, come to find out they employ incompetent people at the desk, do NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION. There incidentals are high, $50 per adult, per night. So our incidentals would cost us $200 for our stay. In addition to the nearly $600 that was to be paid for the room and taxes. So, I clearly told the front desk to use Card 1 (in my name) for the rest of the room/tax (half was deposited at the time of reservation) and to use Card 2 (in my other half's name) for INCIDENTALS only. Well, after checking out, my card was never fully charged for the room, I thought to myself "they comp'd the room due to issues" - which is what most places would do when there is that kind of problem, especially the peanut with my child's allergy. So I thought nothing of it when my card was not charged. Come to find out when the statements come, my other half tells me his card was charged the full rate of the room/tax/etc.. SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED. So I call to figure it out and the guy I spoke to (Chad) says that they can only have one card on file. NO ONE INFORMED US OF THIS AT CHECK-IN. So he then says he can charge my card and then refund the money to my other half's card. NO. Not going to allow this company to tie up the money from both of us. So I tell Chad that I want to talk to someone above him. I had to demand a phone number from him more than 12 times, it was not only until I informed him that I was recording the conversation that I got an extension for someone higher up than him. He also said if I had seen the bill (which is left OUTSIDE in the HALLWAY where anyone can get your info) then I would have seen the charges were being routed to the wrong card. I replied with it SHOULD NOT be the GUEST'S duty to make sure their job was done correctly. Horrible experience, please save yourselves the headaches and hassle and stay somewhere else. This was the worst-ever resort experience I have ever received. We travel a LOT for not only business, but pleasure. We had stayed at Maui Sands, The Great Wolf Lodge, Cedar Point and Kennywood (and kalahari) during the span of June-September and all of those places had not a single problem with using two cards or cleanliness. GUEST BEWARE! read more

Wow for paying over $400 for two nights very disappointed. Was put on the 4th floor of the Sands Building and was so far away from the water park. We went to it once and several of the large water slides were shut down! And to pay $3,00 for 4 aspirins in the gift shop in unacceptable. Cannot recommend this place. read more

I went recently this weekend ( Fri-Sun ) with my 6 year old son , sister & mother . I had not seen Kalahari in some years and was very impressed with the recent additions that have been made to the resort . The Wave Pool was very fun unlike the one at Geauga Lake's infamous one that could land you a black eye or two . The outdoor water park & attractions were very fun . The Zipline Adventure was fun , although a bit slow of a line due to not enough help in the towers . The Adventure Zoo was a blast especially for my son . $25 and you can buy a pail of Large carrots ( Giraffe ) , shredded carrots ( Kangaroos , Lemurs , Goats , Llama ) , peanuts & grapes ( Lemurs , Kangaroos ) and feed the animals . They also had a water table setup for kids to pan for precious stones , arrow heads , etc...which was only $7 and worth it to see my son's face all excited when he found a few arrow heads . Our room was the perfect size for a family of 4 , and the balcony was ample to sit and relax on . We did have a Cabana inside the water park , on the 2nd floor which I recommend asking for if you're thinking about renting one . No one bothered us on the 2nd floor and it seemed everyone on the ground level had gawkers and people leering into seeing what was going on . The food was excellent and fair priced . The buffets for Lunch & breakfast had some of the best food I've eaten in a while , which surprised me . The Putt-Putt course has been removed in favor of a bigger arcade/game room which was a lot of fun and decently priced . All in all we had a great time , the staff was excellent and very responsive . I'm looking forward to make this a yearly family outing for us . ;) read more

I paid $400 per night for this hotel the service was crap the rooms air conditioner would not work and we called for a repair man at 3pm and didn't get him until 11:30 pm. We had to call guest services 4 times just to get a supervisor on the phone. We waisted a whole day at the water park which we paid for waiting for the repair man when we called the 5th time we where told the repair man was getting tools he finally showed up then he needed a different tool. Long story short we waited 8 hours for the repair man and it was 1:30am when he left the room was still 82 degrees. You could get better service at a Quality inn for $40 a night. If you hear it is the biggest indoor water park in the world also it also has the longest wait times in the world the lines for the slides are 45 minutes long and the price was $65 per person and the locker was $20. I will never stay there again and you should not either. If I could give it less than 1 star I would. read more

We have been to Kalahari more times than I can count. Until now, every trip has gone smoothly and everything was wonderful. However, this trip has changed our minds about coming back. Check in went fine and the room was really nice, we had the king room with the jacuzzi and balcony. The only bad part of the room so far was the fact that it was the first room next to the elevators/stairs/vending area, but we sucked it up and took one for the team. After going to the park that night, we came up to the room to get ready for dinner and found out we had no hot water. It took maintenance a half hour to come up just to tell us we were at the end of the hall and just had to let the water run for 10-15 mins before it could heat up. Not only did it take 20 mins to reach a somewhat hot temp, but the pressure was laughable. Oh well, let's go play some games and get dinner... over an hour later. The games kept running out of tickets and jamming, we ended up giving our tickets away to a random little girl. Dinner was ok but nothing special. My favorite part of the trip, and the only thing I had left to look forward to, was the birthday cake in our room from the birthday package we had ordered. This too, sucked. The cake was beautiful, but dry and the icing was way to sweet. It was actually kind of soggy by time we ate it. To top it all off, our room was right next to the hot tubs outside which blare music 24 hours a day. Believe me, we called to double check... the music NEVER shuts off... which made sleep very difficult. The water park itself is fun, but a few of the slides were closed during one day we were there. I would definitely recommend a day pass, but not the resort overall. I am sad to say, we will probably not be returning after this weekend. read more

I've been coming here since I was a kid. The workers there are always friendly and attentive. They always have our room ready on time and when we request for a room closer to the water park they give it to us with no issue. Our room is always clean and the maids make sure to keep it nice and are always friendly. The rooms have an excellent design that really fit into the safari vibe. The beds and sheets are very comfortable and the fireplace in the room adds a nice touch. The restaurants there are very good. I LOVE the breakfast and dinner buffet. I highly recommend them. These buffets are clean and the food is worth the price. The atmosphere is clean as well and the dining area fits in beautifully with the safari theme as well. The servers there are friendly and attentive. The water park area is fun for younger and older kids. There is lots to do for parents as well like a secluded bar in the water. The hot tubs light up at night making it even more relaxing. One of the few issues I've ever had was getting an upset stomach from the pizza in the water park- It was good but too greasy. The arcade is also very fun and large. But I'd suggest going there during the day because it is always crowded at night. Kalahari is really a great place for kids and parents alike. I'm actually coming here Sunday! read more

I made a last minute reservation for my family when Hurricane Irma ruined our Disney plans. Since this was my young family's first trip to Kalahari, I phoned the resort to make my reservation rather than doing so online so that I could have some questions answered. After explaining to the front desk that my children are 4 & 6 and having her tell me how amazing the kids area is, I went ahead and booked the trip. Imagine my surprise when we showed up and the main kids area was CLOSED for entire trip due to schedule maintenance. When we spoke to the management, they could care less and kept telling us that it was posted on their website. I didn't visit their website, I phoned them to make the reservation, so I was completely blindsided. They refused to do anything in terms of compensation and had such a terrible dismissive and rude attitude towards us. Needless to say, we canceled our second night and will be leaving asap with absolutely zero plans to ever return. I've heard fantastic things about the staff and facility at Great Wolf Lodge, so we will be visiting their parks in the future. To have someone drive 3 hours to your park with excited young children and not care that you ruined their first experience at your park is unfathomable. Shame on you Kalahari! read more

Moved from California to Michigan so I treated kalahari like my California get away I used to go here 8+ times per year. All was Great 5 stars until my recent visit about a month or so ago. So I'm trying to check in and some guy with a red shirt opens up and I walk over to him. Guy is brand new or something & checks me into a room that was technically cheaper than the room I paid for & obviously I said screw that I didn't drive 2 hours for this &every question I ask him he has to walk to the back to get answers & after 1 hour to -45 minutes of trying to get checked in all while my fiancé is in the car at this point getting upset and a general manager comes out and says "I heard your just asking for stuff that we don't provide & stares me down like he wanted to fight me" all I asked for was some type of compensation for waiting 30-45 minutes to check in which used to take 3-5 minutes. Come to find out there under "new management" so as I'm sitting in bed today thinking about what I want to do for my birthday instead of driving 2 hours to kalahari like I would usually do "SCREW KALAHARI" honestly. I used to go for convenience because I miss California now they are so rude I haven't went back. read more

I'm not one to write yelp reviews, especially positive ones, but I had the most amazing experience here today. Last night I was playing in the arcade with a couple of my friends and we spent two hours trying to win a couple of cards out of the D.C. coin machine. We were extremely close when the arcade closed and we came back the moment it opened to keep playing. We spent $15 this morning and got zero cards. We were heartbroken and disappointed when I suggested we ask an employee if there was anyway they could give us a card or two in exchange for some of the tickets we won. I went up to the counter and asked if this was possible and the girl working went and got the manager. The manager was able to help us out and gave us not one, not two, but four cards! Three of which were our top picks. She was so nice to work with and she explained that the machine we were using had a tendency to get stopped up and apologized. I can't stress enough how much her kindness affected our vacation. Thank you so much to the Kalahari and to the arcade employee and manager! read more

mothers day brunch was okay,food was typical heat & serve, no flavor.place was nice & clean,staff was on it.the price was a little high,but again this is kalahari resort. read more

We came home today from an overnight stay and I would sum it up as miserable! So disappointing...we took our kids 14, 13, 9, and 6 for our youngest child's upcoming birthday. The place is monstrous, huge!! The setting is nice, the room was clean and checkin was easy. Those are the Pros! We came to find out that our youngest 2 could only ride a few rides. Most things are 48 inches and up. 2 areas designated for younger kids were closed. They fail to mention this on their website whereas Great Wolf Lodge is more geared for families, disappointment #1. Our 14 year old wanted to zip line so we waited until before leaving to so. We waited in line, paid the $15 plus $10 for crocs rental because they do not allow open toed or no shoes(gee it's a water park in summer!) and walked over to get him harnessed up. They asked if he was 100% dry and we said, no about 65%. Their response was a flat you cannot ride unless you are completely dry! Well, no one mentioned this when we paid! So off to find the rest of our group to let them know we would be a while, the husband, 9 & 6 year old are nowhere to be found. In a panic, we walk around searching to no avail. I ask a girl who is "managing" the hot tub if its possible for me to page someone? Her response was "just a minute, I'm busy". Well gee ma'am, my 2 youngest children are missing and you ask me on hang on?! Ridiculous!!! Finally I found a polite employee who pointed me in the right direction and I was reunited with my family. So we return to the zip line, still not 100% dry but maybe 95% and they still would not let him ride...we had an almost 4 hour drive home and couldn't want to wait so we ask for a refund. After all, it had only been an hour since he paid. Nope, no refunds, only rudeness and a "manager". Ugh, frustrated again!!! This was only the main part of our day. If you like waiting 20-40 minutes for 30 second rides, if you like getting pushed around in the wave pool, in the lazy river, while playing basketball the this place is for you. The valet men are very rude, waving cars through when people are in the crosswalk. The employees look absolutely miserable, constantly looking at their watches and not responding to questions. They often run out of life jackets which are required for kids under 48". We got a Prepaid card for bowling and putt putt but the kids decided they only wanted to bowl. So we ask if we can use the card for bowling instead...nope! You have to pay extra even though it was prepaid and they cost the same. These are only a few points from the time we spent...it wasn't good. It's like once they have your money, you do not matter. I saw a 4 or 5 year old slip and smack his head in the kids area and the lifeguard literally just looked at him. Never asked if he was okay!!! Who does that??? Please everyone if you can, take your money elsewhere...kalahari is not a place we will return to. Great Wolf Lodge will be getting our money in the future. Yes kalahari has lots to do but good luck getting to do it with all the people they pack in there. Remember that they allow people who aren't staying to buy day passes so its even busier than the 800+ rooms the serve. Oh and one final thing, pay per view movies are $17.99 and drinks at the bar range from $10-$30! Food is outrageous too...a large cheese pizza will run you $22- please consider all of this and all the other reviews before going, it's not worth it...social media will like to hear about it too. If I can save 1 family from losing hundreds of dollars then its worth it read more

Just spent time here and had a BLAST! Kids went off to the slides and husband and I had adult drinks in the adults only hot tub and swim up hot tub bar! Breakfast buffet was $15 each and worth every cent! Room had sofa, fridge and micro. Beds were a little lumpy but fine for a night. Rented a cabana by the wave pool and LOVED it! Great weekend to be inside in the warm air while freezing and snow outside. Tip: Two sets of hot tubs. One each side of the building. One for "families" and one for "adults w/pool bar. If the wind is high, go to the opposite side and it will be fine. First day perfect weather. Second day snow and wind on adult side so we hung out on the family side and had snow falling on our heads while warm in the water was great and the kids loved being outside in a pool while it was snowing over head! Great winter break! We have been there before in the summer and they have a great outdoor area with zip lines and a huge poolside bar and restaurant. read more

We stayed in June 2011. The Kalahari Indoor park was far too crowded to enjoy. The day pass sales make the overcrowding even worse. By 10:00 all chairs were gone and lines for slides were far beyond a reasonable wait. Unlike Great Wolf which limits access to people who stay at the resort, Kalahari seems let greed get in the way of any care towards guest comfort. We gave up and tried to come back at 6:00 pm hoping the crowd would thin out for dinner. We were wrong. Hard as it was for us to imagine, the crowds were even worse. In an attempt to enjoy at least one attraction, we entered the wavepool. After searching around for tubes we got in and were quickly pushed against the walls by a horde of daypass kids kicking and running their way through the crowd. The lifeguards werre oblivious. The final straw came when on Saturday evening, someone defficated in the wave pool making it off limits to anyone who cares about health. Nothing puts you in the vacation mood like seeing a lifeguard wade around with a net fishing for turds. We saw no sign of them shocking or testing the pool for bacteria. Lastly, we did not appreciate being accosted by the overzealous valet parking and bell staff when trying to load and unload our car. They harrass you when you pull up front and if you choose not to pay for valet, they insist that you unload your car not form near the door but at the bottom of the hill. We have been to numerous outdoor and inddor waterparks and fortunately, most are a lot more enjoyable and represent a much better value than Kalahari. Very disappointing stay. It's not cheap and for the price, guests should expect and receive a lot more. read more

I attended Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky, Ohio in December for a company banquet. The room I stayed in was the Desert style room, which was a nice size for two. The cleanliness was not the greatest due to hair being left on the tub. My colleagues and I chose to dine at The Reserve Restaurant and Bar. The staff was friendly, professional and patient as the bar became busy. I ordered a cheese burger with pepper-jack cheese, mushrooms, bacon and a side of fries. My order came with some extra condiments that I did not ask for, like cheese on the fries but I wasn't complaining. When I went to eat one of the fries, one of my colleagues noticed something else I did not ask for, crawling on the bar top which came from under my plate and once it crawled up on my glass/beverage I noticed it was a medium size COCK ROACH! It was a horrendous sight and experience. The manager came out to me and ask if I would like anything else to eat but I was definitely at a lost of appetite for the remainder of the two days we stayed there. I would recommend eating from an outside source if you do decide to visit the resort. read more

Seems as if it's going downhill here. This was one of the best water parks I enjoy going to. However the last couple stays service has been lacking. We came to check in and after waiting in line for 45 minutes I handed the lady at the desk my drivers license and credit card. She looked at them both then asked me how to spell my last name so she can look up my reservation. So I did and she asked me 4 times how to spell my last name she said she could not find the reservation. I gave her the reservation number and she still could not find it. She has been typing it all wrong. We were told that we would be sent a text message when the room is ready. Or room was ready but we never received a text message. When we got to the room, we got in I called for the front desk to request a different room, I called 4 times and no answer finally someone answered and they told me they were going to send up housekeeping they never did. I stopped someone and they called their supervisor and they correct the issue and gave my kids a couple cards for the arcade. The water park itself it nice the service is what is lacking also looks like some maintenance needs to be done. There was a hole in the floor at the jungle gym area inside where kids are running around I told the life guard that it's a sharp hole that someone is going to cut their feet on it, I came back and still the hole was there no one covered it up or blocked it off. The restaurants are another area that needs a major overhaul. We went to the reserve this stay for dinner because the last time we went to the ivory cost and the portions were extremely small and the food had no taste. The reservation was nice and clean kept up. The service was bad, we ordered drinks and asked for cups with kids for the kids the server wrote everything down. He came back with the drink order and he got it wrong. Now for dinner orders we ordered pasta with no sauce or no butter for the kids and the server gave us the dirtiest look as if he was disgusted by the order. Finally 3 tables came after us by the same server and all got our food before us we waited pretty long for our food. Again he wrote down the order but again got it wrong. My wife ordered ravioli with marinara sauce. What came was ravioli with marinara sauce and shrimp and mushrooms and some other stuff. The next day we went to cafe mirage just to order pizza. I stood in line and waited, and waited, and waited and waited some more. The lady at the register was too busy yelling at the cook about payment for an order for someone then began arguing. Then the next order came and she was yelling again about A different problem. As she was taking my order she was talking to 2 other people so she forgot to enter in the coupon that I handed her so she had to get someone to give me the difference. If you want to come here come when there is a deal going on never pay full price it's not worth the full price. Also don't waste your time or money at the restaurants for lunch or dinner. Either order pizza and have it delivered or go out to eat. read more

I just got back from our visit to Kalahari. If you decide to go, be prepared to walk around with your wallet open. The only things that the resort doesn't charge for is the air you breathe and parking. Now that I've mentioned it, don't expect the parking to be free much longer. Prices for everything are exorbitant. Dinner for four adults and two small children cost $100. That was without any alcoholic beverages. There are no discounts or coupons online anywhere to be found. If you are available for a spontaneous trip, they sometimes have a "beat the clock" offer, but it is only for a specific type room & specific date. We had problems with the toilet flushing. The two room suite was nice and gave us plenty of room. It also had a microwave & fridge. If you are staying a few days, you will want to take food to make yourself, otherwise you will go broke just trying to feed the family. If you are wanting to relax after your visit to the park, expect to experience extremely loud music coming from the outside pool area. It finally stopped just after 10 p.m. so if you are an early-to-bed person, you will need to stay up a bit longer. Several in our group were unhappy with the hardness of the mattresses. My mattress was so-so. Nothing to write home about, but then I was so tired after the water park, I could have slept anywhere. Our waitress at the restaurant was very friendly and we loved her attitude. Most of the staff stopped to answer questions, but did not go out of their way to help us. I called the desk to ask where the safari was and I was told that it was "outside near the pool". The lady sounded like I was bothering her. There were some nice "free" areas for the kiddies. The tree-top climbing area was enjoyed for quite awhile for the little ones, however, something on the inside near the "ball" room was scaring them. The littlest one came screaming out and the older one (age 5) would not go near the ballroom. Apparently, there is some kind of groaning noise in there. There is also a free craft/event at the pottery place. We didn't get a chance to do that but it sounded like fun. there is a huge game room that was nice for all ages. Machines are set up around where you can load your card for playing and check your balance. It would be nice if some of the games were for the youngest set, but we still found things to do. The resort is a nice place to visit at least once, but if you are older and just want to relax, you'll want to find the "adults-only" areas and escape the little ones. There is a safari area that has animals for the kids to see which is nice. But unless you pay for a photo-op with the giraffs, you can't get near enough to pet them. The one no-miss photo op that we did purchase was the bengal tiger with the kids. It cost $40 for a 5x7, 3X5 & two wallets, but the tiger was adorable and the people who do the photo shoot are not actually part of Kalahari. They probably pay a fee, but I figure some of the money goes to support the animals. There was one really nice young man on the big raft slide (for the young ones) when we went on that slide, the young man let my granddaughter pick which side of the raft had to go down backwards. There are also alot of lifeguards walking around to ensure that everyone is safe and doing what they are supposed to do. Before you leave, you have to try one of their candy apples. the regular ones are $6.50. But there are special ones with caramel, chocolate, pecans and drizzled with white chocolate. That was $7.50. read more

If you are looking for rude treatment, poor service, long lines at check-in, overcrowded pools and facilities, and in general rude treatment for the high price you pay, then this is definitely the place for you. We arrived at 1:30 PM, stood in a half-hour line at check-in to be told that our room would not be available until 4PM. I checked at five minutes before 4 (after waiting in a 5 minute line) to find that the room was still not available but to check back in 10 to 15 minutes. I returned at 4:05 to stand in a 20 minute line to get my room. Then there were no bell carts available to bring our belongings up to the room. After about another half hour of trying to corral a cart we finally got into the room at 5PM. After getting my grandkids changed we made our way to the water park to find overcrowed pools and long lines (i.e. half hour wait to go down a slide). It is very evident that the main qualification to be a lifeguard at Kalahari is to be mean spirited, obnoxious, condescending and harbor a disdan for the guests. Check out is going through the check in process in reverse. Carts are not easily available, only two elevators servicing 5 floors. All in all an expensive and miserable experience. read more

I went to the Kalahari Resort for the Kalahari Cup Soccer Tournament. I traveled with two girls myself and the girls did have a good time at the water park (until they emptied the wave pool due to contamination from a patron). My problems started each night after 10 pm which, according to their written policy, is supposed to be quiet time. The fifteen soccer players staying in the suite next to my room screamed, yelled, ran, banged on walls and made such a racket that I had to call the front desk...who called them and asked them to quiet down. I know this because I could hear everything that was said in the other room. Half an hour later, at about 11:45 I knocked on their door myself and asked them to be quiet as my girls had an early game the next day and they finally complied. Saturday night was party night. After two visits from the security guard and evidently a visit from the Hotel manager who evidently told the group of TWO TEAMS that they could continue to disrupt until 12:00 A. M. I called at 12:20 only to find out that the manager had made this agreement. It appeared to me that My measly 440.00 meant nothing to them. Regardless, they continued to party on until 12:30 when the other team finally left and I guess they were tired. The next morning I was offered a complimentary breakfast as compensation for no sleep in two nights. Because we were there for the tournament we could not take advantage of the kind and generous offer. The manager told me that they wanted the kids to have fun. My kids had fun and were respectful of others. My daughter's soccer team has already decided to return to the tournament next year but I will stay at Great Wolf. read more

I have been a customer at the Kalahari resort in Sandusky for the past 5 years. We always go there and spend the night before and New Years. Historically we have enjoyed the entire experience. When we arrived there was always a small wait as everyone was checking in but we would get through and have our room within 30 minutes. This year was a HORRIBLE experience. We arrived for check in at 4pm and the line was all the way down the hall. The lobby was chaos and everyone was frustrated. After over an hour in the line because nobody was managing the lobby and people were cutting in I got to the check in and was told my room was not ready. To make matters worse they had no estimate for when it would be ready. After camping out on the floor with our luggage and 2 kids for another hour I went to find a manager. I had asked for a manager 3 times and been told they were not available. The guest services phone was not being answered because so many people were angry. I had also asked several times if they could get someone to manage the lobby so people were not cutting in line and was told security was not available. I finally tracked down a manager, Brendan Taylor was his name. He told me that I needed to just be quiet and wait and was very rude to me. I asked what the problem was and if they were short staffed and he told me everything was going fine and this was just how it was every year. He also informed me that my room was not guaranteed for any time and that I would get a room before Midnight. Now I had been there for the 4 previous years and knew that this was not how it was. I found out that Brendan Taylor was just hired in November and he had no idea if this was normal or not. He was clearly in over his head and at one point I thought he was going to cry. I told Brendan that this was not acceptable and that this was not how it had been for previous years and asked what he was going to do about it. He told me he was going to do nothing for me. I said that was a "Damn" joke. He immediately called security and told me I was being kicked out for swearing. Roger the security guard showed up in less then a minute which was amazing since I had asked for security 3 times. I turned to walk away and Roger said "You better walk away" I turned around and said "If you make another smart remark to my back I have your name" Brendan then said "we are calling the police because you threatened us". At this point a gentleman walked up to Brendan and Roger the security guard and very politely told them he had seen the whole thing and heard everything and that he felt I was being treated very badly and they had no grounds to kick me out. Brendan then told this nice person it was none of their business and they should walk away. I walked back to where my family was and sent my wife to get the kids out of the game room while I watched the luggage. Brendan who had been to busy to help anyone or solve any of the problems followed me with Roger the security guard. While standing with the luggage Another gentleman walked up and said he had witnessed the entire thing and he thought Brendan was out of line and that I had done nothing wrong. Brendon then proceeded to tell this nice man that it was none of his business and he should walk away before he got kicked out too. When my wife and kids showed up I grabbed the luggage and we left the building headed to our car. I had 4 total strangers follow me out of the building and give me their names and contact info as witnesses if I was going to pursue anything. One of them said he was an attorney and that I definitely had a case. Now mind you when I asked Brendan if my reservation would be canceled and my money refunded he told me with a smile that I would be charged. My family and I drove 2 miles up the road and got a nice room at the Great Wolf Lodge and had a wonderful time. I reached out to my attorney today and gave him the info and the contact numbers and names for the witnesses. As long as Brendan Taylor is the manager at the Kalahari I would recommend nobody visit this establishment. read more

My family and I love Kalahari. We have been coming here at least once or twice a year for 5 years now, and have had an exceptional time each time we come. The waterpark is huge and amazing with choices to make everyone happy. We started coming here when my youngest was one, so she has grown up and transitioned from their baby/toddler area, to the lazy river and wave pool, to now the water slides. The staff on hand from booking our reservations, to arrival, all through our stay and check out are helpful, cheerful and courteous. Kalahari is consistently offering amazing deals on the website and through Facebook. We recently came back from a trip last week where we shared a 3 bedroom suite with a full kitchen that accomodates our party of twelve for $199 which included waterpark passes for all of us. You can not find a better deal anywhere else. The rooms have always been clean, same with every other part of this resort. We always dine at the restaurants at the resorts. I have Celiac disease and usually when you go to a restaurant and request the gluten free menu , you will either receive a menu with a small assortment of options or receive nothing at all. Here at Kalahari the chef comes to your table with the menu. He explains dishes to you, there way of cooking the items so things are not cross contaminated with any gluten. He even went as far as.to offer to make me anything I wanted yet make the gluten free version of it, even if it wasn't on the menu. This is not the first time I have received this exceptional customer service by the chefs at Kalahari either. I wish all restaurants were this caring and competent. My family and I live 2 hours from Sandusky, but if we lived closer I would come to eat at Kalahari even when I was not staying there, it is that good and affordable. Another great place you need to stop before you leave is their Candy Hut. There are different ice creams to choose from, and they offer a wide arrangement of homemade chocolates and various items that are made on site and throughout the day, right in front of you. Overall Kalahari is a wonderful resort that has delighted myself, my husband and our three girls for five years, and every family we have ever incited with us has became a loyal customer along with us. Thank you Kalahari for running such a clean, affordable, family friendly business, we will be returning as always in a few months. read more

HORRIBLE STAY! This June my family held its Reunion at Kalahari. I set up this event nearly 2 YEARS in advance through the Sales Department. Upon learning that my rooms didn't have full kitchens, I upgraded to a much larger suite at check in (at an added cost of $150 per room) so we would have the space to accommodate family gatherings & prepare family meals. We checked in at roughly 8pm. By 10:30pm that same evening (a FRIDAY no less), we received a "noise complaint" followed immediately by another roughly 10-15 mins later. This 2nd complaint came with the threat that if we received a 3rd complaint, we would be "evicted" without refund. All the while, the children of the complainer (next door) were running through the hallways right outside our door playing "ding, dong, ditch"! MY family was talking inside, behind closed doors; the complainer's family was running in the hallway actually disturbing people - the biggest difference I could discern was the color of our skin. We had frequented Kalahari MANY times with our kids, our friends & our family members through the years - but this was our last! I specifically booked rooms and upgraded my personal rooms to REUNITE with my family, and I was effectively prevented from doing that. In the future, we will be spending our hard earned dollars where ALL people are valued and treated fairly. read more