Full Review of Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark
Spring Break is in the air and we are gearing up for Our Next Family Adventure! This year, we are headed to Moose Mountain Falls for an overnight stay at the Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark in beautiful Lake Geneva, WI! Timber Ridge is part of the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa property and is located right in between Milwaukee and Chicago, in beautiful Lake Geneva, WI.
Now for those of you who aren’t too familiar with Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, be sure Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Instagram as we will continue to highlight the area in our upcoming blogs. There really is something for everyone to enjoy!
A few days prior to our arrival, we received an email from the resort indicating that we may be eligible for some upgrades. We had never seen this before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. After clicking on the email, we found that there were no room upgrades available, which was fine, but we could check-in 3 hours and 30 minutes early for $60. We opted not to check-in early, but still thought this was a nice option for families to consider.
Check-In
We arrived at Timber Ridge on Sunday, March 12 for our overnight stay. We were warmly welcomed as we stepped into the beautiful main lobby. When we say the lobby is beautiful, it really is! Tall, vaulted ceilings, with a large stone fireplace right in the center. You really felt like you were stepping into a mountain-top lodge.
General check-in is typically at 4:00pm, so we weren’t expecting our room to be ready right away, but lucky for us, our room was ready when we arrived at 1:00pm! We were provided our wristbands for the waterpark for Sunday and Monday, our room keys, and an arcade card preloaded with 4 credits for each kid. We unpacked the car and headed to the room, which happened to be on the main level.
Pro Tip
Pack a bag with your swim stuff, just in case your room is not ready right when you check in. That way you can enjoy the waterpark until your room is ready.
Timber Ridge has 225 Suites, either One-Bedroom or Two-Bedrooms. We booked a One-Bedroom Suite for our stay. This room was massive and really had everything we needed for a comfortable overnight stay.
A full kitchen with a countertop stove, microwave, coffee maker, dishwasher, sink, and a full-sized refrigerator is included in every room. The kitchen includes plates, cups, pots and pans, and silverware. There is plenty of seating for meals, as they have a large dining room table with 4 chairs, as well as 4 barstools at the countertop.
The living room has a pullout couch and chair, with a large flat screen TV, and a fireplace. A patio, with two chairs and table, is located off of the living room. With it being so cold in Wisconsin still, we didn’t use it, but if the weather were warmer, you know you’d find us out there with a cup of coffee or a nice cold beer!
The master bedroom had a king bed, large closet, dresser, and flatscreen TV. A DVD player was also in the master bedroom.
The bathroom included a two-person whirlpool tub. The kids loved coming back to the room after the waterpark to enjoy this!
Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark is most known for their waterpark, Moose Mountain Falls. The indoor-outdoor waterpark is a massive 50,000 square feet. During our stay, we enjoyed the indoor part of the waterpark, as the outdoor part was closed for the winter. The waterpark consists of a kiddie pool area, large activity pool, a lazy river, indoor/outdoor hot tub, a large, enclosed body slide, and a large, enclosed tube slide.
Tiny Timbers
Tiny Timbers is the perfect area for the young ones. The pool in this area is ankle deep and features a large tree stump with slides, a water table area, and a couple of swings. All three of our children (ages 2, 8, and 9), all had a fun time going down these slides.
Activity Pool
Directly behind Tiny Timbers is a large activity pool. On one end they have 3 basketball hoops, while on the other end they have a little rope climbing area where you can swing from log to log and try to make it from one end to the other. There is also a smaller slide that goes into this pool. Again, our kids had a blast on this slide and had fun tackling the challenge of the ropes area.
Canyon River
The Lazy River, Canyon River, was a great place to grab a tube and sit back and relax. We found ourselves floating around and relaxing on the river on multiple occasions. We could also easily find tubes for the Canyon River when needed.
Hot Tub
A hot tub was located in the back-left corner of the waterpark. This was an indoor/outdoor hot tub. We didn’t let the kids stay in too long, but they thought it was so cool that they got to go outside in a hot tub in the Wisconsin winter!
Timber Rapids
Timber Rapids is an enclosed one- or two-person tube slide that gives you the option to float into the Canyon River at the exit of the waterslide. We got moving pretty fast with the two-person tubes and never really had to wait in line. We also got a little boost from the lifeguard on duty to give us a little extra speed!
Avalanche Falls
Avalanche Falls is an enclosed body slide featuring music and lights as you go down. You are able to pick the style of music prior to going down. There were a couple of times where we couldn’t hear the music, but this slide was still awesome! Our two oldest girls went on this over and over again – it was really fun, and you really fly down every twist and turn. This was by far our favorite slide at Timber Ridge, and again hardly any lines!
Timber Ridge has two on-site dining options for you to enjoy. Smokey’s BBQ is located off the main lobby and during our visit, they were open for breakfast and dinner. We did not try the food at Smokey’s, but it did smell really good, and the booths were usually full of people when we walked past.
If you are looking for a quick meal or snack, be sure to check out The Hungry Moose, which is located in the waterpark. They have pizza, burgers, chicken tenders, pretzels, and other quick eats. We have tried the pizza in the past, and we enjoyed it. This is a nice option for families to grab a quick bite to eat as you enjoy the waterpark. No need to dry off and get changed! They also have beer and specialty drinks.
Trader Jack’s is also an option to grab a quick snack or beverage, ice cream, or candy. Stuffed animals and other Timber Ridge souvenirs are also available to purchase at Trader Jack’s, which is also located off of the main lobby.
During this visit, we opted to try some other establishments in Lake Geneva. We enjoyed lunch right on the lake, at Lake City Social. We have dined at Lake City Social a couple of times and have really enjoyed it. On Sundays they have half off appetizers and a ton of drink specials, all day long. We really like their nachos and any of their flavored mules.
On Sunday night, we wanted to relax after a long afternoon in the waterpark, so we decided on pizza for dinner. We have tried a couple of the pizza places in Lake Geneva in the past, so we wanted to try one that we hadn’t tried before. This time we ordered takeout from Mama Cimino’s. The prices were reasonable, and the service was friendly and fast. The pizza wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best we’ve ever had.
We brought donuts, muffins, and chocolate milk to enjoy for breakfast on Monday morning. The coffee pot was also fired up to brew us a full pot of coffee to get us going. Coffee was provided, but we do wish we would have brought our own coffee to brew. (I know we said this before, but the full kitchen in the room is really great!)
As we said at the beginning of this post, we were given a pre-loaded arcade card for each child upon check-in. Each card had 4 credits uploaded to it, so you know the kids really wanted to check the arcade out! The arcade was really nice and had a good variety of games. Most games took 6-8 credits, so we had to add some credits to our cards. If you wanted to reload your arcade card, you could do so on several machines that could be found throughout the arcade. We reloaded once and it gave our two oldest daughters a chance to play a few games. We didn’t want to spend a ton of money in the arcade, but the kids did have a good time – and we even won a stuffed animal from the claw machine – pure luck!
Daycation Package
As we were exploring Timber Ridge’s website, we saw that they offered a Daycation Package starting at $119. This package provides you with 4 waterpark passes to use from the time the waterpark opens that day until it closes, and a One-Bedroom Suite from 3:00pm until 11:00pm. An additional 4 waterpark passes could be purchased at a cost of $30 each, plus tax. This package is offered Monday-Thursday, with some blackout dates. We just wanted to make mention of this, as we thought it would be a great option for some families just looking for a fun day at the waterpark!
Other Waterpark Highlights
- Pool towels are available at the Lifeguard Station that is located at the waterpark entrance.
- They have plenty of tables and chairs throughout the waterpark, and we had no issue finding a place to sit during our stay. Cabanas are available to rent for $125 per day, and Daybeds are available to rent for $50 per day. Both are subject to availability.
- Lockers are available to rent for the day. They are located right by the Locker Rooms, just outside the waterpark entrance.
- Lifeguards are also on duty and keeping a close eye on the pools.
Special Thanks
We do have to give a special thanks to the team at Timber Ridge Lodge and Waterpark. Prior to our visit, we reached out with some pre-blogging questions and informed them that we would be blogging about our family’s overnight stay. We didn’t expect anything, but once we arrived at our room, we found that they had a nice welcome card, balloons, and some little toys and stickers for the kids. They also provided us with a complementary cabana at the waterpark on the Sunday of our stay. This was our first time experiencing a cabana and we really did enjoy our own little area! It really came in handy when it came to nap time for our 2-year-old.
Please note – We were not required to express a particular point of view, and all opinions are our own.
Our Final Review
Timber Ridge is a great addition to the Lake Geneva area and is an affordable option for families looking for a fun family getaway.
Overall, there is not too much we would change about the resort and really don’t have any complaints about our stay. The rooms were clean and spacious and the hours and hours we spent in the waterpark were a blast. We do think that a great addition to the resort would be an indoor playground, indoor mini-golf, or an indoor ropes course.
Our only complaint about our stay was that it wasn’t long enough! Upon checkout, we both said that a one-night-stay just wasn’t enough. We look forward to coming back for a visit soon and checking out some more of the resort amenities!
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