Wisconsin Dells: 10 Non-Water Park Attractions Worth Doing

My husband and I went the Wisconsin Dells in June 2010 (first time for me, second time for him). We got a deal on a hotel without a water park through Priceline. We weren't planning to go to any water parks there and were confident about finding lots of other things to do. I was still surprised by how many different things we did in just 5 days. It is a great vacation spot for people of a wide variety of ages.

Right in the downtown strip in the Dells, this is an inexpensive, fun attraction. You can walk through the whole thing in 1-2 hours. Yes, some of the things there are pretty gross or just creepy so beware.

Miniature golfing at Pirate's Cove! What vacation wouldn't be complete without miniature golfing? Pirate's Cove has several different courses of varying degrees of difficulty. They give coupons each time you play so return games are cheaper.

Yes, you can go to Mt. Olympus just for the water park. We were mostly curious to see what the park is like since it has a national reputation. The amusement park is very old school. If you enjoy wooden rollercoasters and go carts, you'll have a good time there. We walked through the water park, too, which is huge. There's something for everyone.

Baraboo, WI (just 15 minutes south of the Dells) is the home of the Ringling Brothers and the site of their original circus. The museum exhibits are wonderful, and all of the circus acts are top notch. It's definitely worth the side trip.

If you make the trek down to Baraboo for Circle World, you should also visit Devil's Lake State Park.  If you want to make it a day trip, there are lots of hiking trails and picnic areas.  If you want to make a longer trip, you can camp there.

Even if you're not into all you can eat buffets, the breakfast at Paul Bunyan is worth it for the homemade donuts alone.  They also have very good lunch entrees.  What we did try from the buffet was very good.  The decor and gift shop also make this place worth the visit.

Once you've spent a couple days in the Dells, you've driven by this place enough times to be very curious about what it looks like inside.  We didn't have a great tour guide when we did go inside.  It would have been helpful to have someone who knew more about the actual White House.  But the inside is almost as cool as the outside.

I honestly don't remember which comedy club we went to in the Dells.  There are a few of them, which all have good reputations.  We saw an adult comedy/hypnosis show.  If you've never been to a hypnosis show before, it's worth doing at least once.  They have family and adult shows at most, if not all, of the clubs.

The deer in the park are very tame so you can get very close to them and feed them.  They have lots of different kinds of deer as well as goats, lemurs, and a few other animals.  We were able to see a couple fawns while we were there.

Of course, it wouldn't be a visit to the Dells without a duck boat ride.  If you've done a duck boat ride in another city before, you don't have to do it in the Dells again.  But if you've never been in one before, it's worth it.

We got free passes from Circus World for another Wisconsin historical site so we visited the H. H. Bennett Studio which is right in the downtown Dells strip.  If you get these free passes, it's worth the visit.

If you're traveling to the Dells from northeast Iowa or southwest Wisconsin and will go right by House on the Rock on WI-23, you should definitely go see it. Even if you only have a few hours, you can see one section of the house. If you have the time, it's well worth taking a day on the way to or from the Dells to tour the entire house.

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