Our Wilderness Trip to the Wisconsin Dells

A few days ago, our family returned from our first ever Spring Break vacation. Because we are unable to fly right now (it’s a huge goal for Cooper but he’s not there ‘yet) we decided to visit the Wisconsin Dells. A destination about 3 hours away from us that has the best waterparks.

All three of our boy’s love swimming and it’s an activity that we can all do together. And our absolutely hands down favorite place to stay and swim in the Dell is The Wilderness Resort.

For many years, we weren’t able to do vacations. It’s not that we didn’t want too, we did! But our oldest son is autistic and that can make things a bit more complicated at times. Long car rides would make him really anxious, and he wasn’t able to sleep in hotel rooms and would be awake most of the night to name a few. But he is 11 years old now and loves attempting new activities…like a waterpark.

In fact, he started the countdown 60 days before we left. His excitement was incredible.

So, we did everything we could to set him and our family up for success. That’s our number one goal.

We made the decision to rent a cabin this time instead of staying in the hotel. While the rooms are great, the walks to and from the waterparks can get long. And that is challenging for Cooper. He also does not like small spaces, like a hotel room. He will spend much of his time super focused on getting out of the room. I have a few traumatic memories of moving chairs or a table in front of the door to keep Cooper safe and in the room overnight.

But not this time! We rented a cabin about a mile from the resort that was absolutely gorgeous. It was big enough four our whole family plus relatives and Cooper and the other kids had room to roam around. We prepared all of our own food which is a must for us. Restaurants aren’t an option for Cooper ‘yet.’ And we drove to and from the waterpark. There was a shuttle, but we worried about wait times or crowds and opted to drive instead. Which turned out to be perfect. We came and went as we pleased.

But the best decision we made was renting a cabana and giving our son Cooper a place to take a break from the lights and sounds and decompress. On numerous occasions he would step away from the chaos that only a waterpark can bring and take a rest. Watching him be able to advocate for his own break was an amazing thing to see. And when he wasn’t in there, he was in the wave pool nonstop! I’m quite certain he is part fish.

The resort had so many other things to do too! Sawyer and his friend rode go-carts, spent way too much money in the arcade, did a ropes course, played laser tag and mini golf, and more. Our whole family did bumper boats and the wave pool and even a waterslide! Cooper did three and I was amazed at his bravery.

And I can’t say enough about the amazing staff. So often families like ours can feel singled out or even like staff doesn’t understand autism or even care too. But not at The Wilderness. Everyone was so nice to us! There were quite a few occasions where I would explain that Cooper is autistic and they understood that was an explanation, not an excuse. I was so thankful.

We had the best time and will definitely be back next year!  If you are looking for a family “autism” friendly resort in the Midwest, The Wilderness is Swenson Family Approved!

To learn more about The Wilderness Resort, click HERE.