Kalahari in Round Rock, Texas

If you’re the type of mom that wants to share experiences with your family versus buy another toy… this blog post is for you! 

“Get in the car we are driving to Africa!” are the words I shouted at my kids as I threw their already packed rolling suitcases in the back of my car. Y’all, we live in Texas and Africa is definitely not a car ride away, but I’ve officially reached the point in motherhood where experiences are much more meaningful for everyone in the family! 

My kiddos are now seven, four, and two years old, and a trip to the zoo is so much more meaningful than a new race car track these days. Now, don’t get me wrong we love a new toy/game/doll but spending time together and experiencing something new means creating new memories! My kids would rather have my time and attention than anything else. So, when spring break approached I knew we needed to go somewhere…. bring on a road trip to Africa! 

A friend of mine recently visited the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock Texas and highly recommended we check it out. Let me also say this is not a sponsored blog post, we visited and booked just like everyone else! I booked the trip two-ish weeks before for a three day/two night stay in a double-bed room. When I booked the reservation there was an overwhelming amount of “add ons” offered, like waterpark packages and arcade packages. I passed on all of them. Why? Because, to be 100% honest, I was super overwhelmed and didn’t know if it would be worth it in the end. 

When it was time to go, we loaded up and headed south on I-35, and after a couple of hours we pulled into Kalahari Resort where we were greeted by giant elephant and giraffe statues. The exterior of the resort has an incredible safari theme and design that helped the kids instantly understand why I said we were driving to Africa. Inside the resort the animal statues continued in addition to a fountain and other safari themed decor. 

You can search their website and find an enormous amount of information, but here are some things I wish I had known in advance, and some things I learned during our stay. (Full disclosure: these things might be on their website and I just missed them!)

Waterpark:

My kids LOVED the waterpark! There was something for all of them to enjoy! We rode slides, surfed, and floated the lazy river…we did it all! Even Tulip (2 year old) had plenty of slides and activities for her age! The lifeguards that helped the boys “surf” were amazing and so patient. Big kudos to them as this was the boys favorite!

Waterpark things to know:

• All kids under 48 inches are required to wear some form of floatation device. My middle kiddo is under this height but can swim, so if I had known he would need to wear a lifejacket the entire time in the water park I would have either packed his old life jacket or packed a rash guard for him to wear. My kids don’t typically wear rash guards so this truly wasn’t even a thought to pack in his bag. But y’all his poor armpits were raw by the end of day 2! And bless his heart he never complained!
• Heads Up! The only way into the indoor water park is to WALK THROUGH the arcade. So if your kids are like mine… this was a hard walk! My kids were so distracted by the claw machines and arcade games. We needed blinders y’all! 

Food and Restaurants:

There are so many options on the resort property to choose from. For dinner we ate at the Hamburger place by the arcade and the Italian restaurant. Both were decent,  but I will say service was insanely slow (for whatever reason), so if you promise your kids the arcade after dinner, prepare accordingly. For breakfast we had breakfast tacos from the safari car in the main lobby and cereal from their market. We looked at the breakfast buffet but at $25/adult and $14/kiddo we passed. While in the waterpark we got the kids the refillable coconut slurpees for $10 each, snacked on food I brought from home, and ordered from the restaurant inside the waterpark (yes, there’s a restaurant IN the waterpark!). 

Arcade: 

My kids are huge fans of arcades. Kalahari’s arcade has escape rooms, rides, rock climbing, games and games and games. Again, there is something for all ages! We purchased arcade cards for the kids and spent about an hour each night playing claw games and winning tickets.

After dinner and an hour in the arcade we made our way back towards the main lobby for Beth Marie’s ice cream and sweet treats.

The Rooms:

Our room was a simple hotel room, two queen size beds, and a couch. There was plenty of room for the pack-in-play we brought for Tulip to sleep in as well! I do wish the sink was in the bathroom instead of by the door, because once they kids are in asleep moving around the room in the dark can become a small challenge.

Overall, this was a great getaway opportunity for the kids. We stayed two nights and did just about everything we could fit in. The kids had a great time and I’m sure the Kalahri will join their “Can we go to ____” phrases that they ask daily.

Check out their website here! www.kalahariresorts.com