Just as Fort Dells was gobbled up by Walgreens, McDonald’s and Starbucks years ago, Storybook Gardens is now just a memory.  This news is sad to me, as I have fond memories of visiting Storybook Gardens.  My first visits were with my brothers and parents when I was a child.  After outgrowing Storybook Gardens long ago, I returned there a few summers back for the first time with my own family. 

True, Storybook Gardens was old, tired, and outdated.  Many of the displays from my childhood 30 years ago were still there.  Despite the drawbacks, there was something special about visiting.  The train ride and carousel were simple, but still fun.  Visiting Storybook Gardens was like taking a step back to my own youth.  

In recent years, the operators of Storybook Gardens added a wildlife element and included exotic animals throughout the grounds.  Timbavati Wildlife Park breathed much needed new life into this artifact.  Unfortunately the animals weren’t enough to keep Storybook Gardens afloat. 

In the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, the kiss from a prince breaks the spell to bring the princess out of her slumber.  What is next for the property?  What will be Storybook Gardens’ prince?  Only time will tell…

R.I.P Storybook Gardens

When visiting for the past 3 years, we have always used the “Buy One Get One Free” admission coupon from the Entertainment Book.  The admission prices are pretty steep, but the coupon in the book made it a little more palatable.  During our visit this summer, they would not accept the coupon.  Apparently they have asked the Entertainment folks not to include them in the book the past couple of years, but they have printed the coupon anyways.  I was a disappointed that they wouldn’t take the coupon, and if it hadn’t been for my 2 children I would have left.  (Actually, if it hadn’t been for my 2 children I wouldn’t have been there in the first place!)  Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for kids.  Luckily my youngest was under 2, so we only had to pay 1 kid admission.  They even gave us $2 off because they wouldn’t take our Entertainment coupon.

The place can make for a nice couple of hours away from your hotel and water park.  They have a nice selection of animals (my favorite being the giraffes that you can feed).  They have a little train that runs around the property once an hour, and a wildlife show a couple of times a day.  There is a playground and a merry-go-round that the kids like. 

We’ll probably go back to Storybook Gardens again at some point in the future, but I don’t think it will be a once-a-summer visit anymore.  I can’t see spending nearly $50 for a family of 4 to get in.  Maybe next year we’ll try the Wisconsin Deer Park, which is a part of the Dells City Pass. 

It is disappointing that the management of Storybook Gardens has decided not to participate in the Entertainment Book.  In our case, they would lose $12 in admission revenue from the one free ticket, but they would have gotten $22 in admission revenue from the other 2 tickets.  Next season, they’ll most likely be losing all of the revenue from our tickets.

I have been visiting the Dells for my entire life.  Much of the Dells has remained the same – The Ducks, Storybook Gardens, Noah’s Ark, Downtown Dells, Paul Bunyan’s Northwoods Cook Shanty, Mini Golfing, and The Tommy Bartlett Show.  Of course, things look a little different now than they did 25 years ago.  In the 70′s and 80′s (and every decade before, for that matter), there was no such thing as a water park resort, like Kalahari, The Wilderness, or Chula Vista.  Lake Delton was surrounded by small lake homes and motels, not million dollar condominium developments.  You would never find a spa in a hotel, much less an entire spa resort, like the Sundara Spa.  Prime real estate was occupied by places like Fort Dells (not McDonalds, Walgreens & Starbucks, which now sit on the former Fort Dells site). 

Am I bitter about all of the changes the Dells has seen over the past couple decades?  Of course not.  Sure, I would love to take my kids to Fort Dells to relive some of the fun I had when I was a kid.  Instead, to educate them about Fort Dells, I need to take them inside of McDonalds to see some of the pictures they have of the old amusement park.    

The Wisconsin Dells has evolved while still staying true family orientated, fun loving past.   That is what makes the Dells such a popular tourist attraction for people from Wisconsin, and all over the Midwest.  There are new and fun things to do – roller coasters and go karts at Mt. Olympus, the Rick Wilcox magic show, high speed jet boats on the Wisconsin River, and year round fun in the indoor water parks.

So, what is DellsAdvice.com, and why this blog?  Great question, thanks for asking!  I hope to create a community and a forum for people who love to visit the Dells.  I want this site to be a place for Dells visitors to come to read about what is happening in the Dells, and to post their own experiences.  For now, this website will just contain this blog.  I have got big plans for the future though, so be sure to check back often!