Baobab Social by Kalahari Resorts

Would leave zero stars if I could. Came in at 12:30am, the bartender and server refused service because they “close early at 12:30 if it’s dead” even though online it states that they are open until 2, and they have around 20 guests here at the bar. They were so unprofessional and very rude, obviously showing their annoyance towards us showing up at the time we did. I’m VERY disappointed considering the false advertisement and money we’ve spent at the resort while staying here for the week. Piano bar upstairs is way nicer, don’t waste your time here.

Came here with family for the water park. We rented a cabana and bought tickets to the water park online. Warning: The pricing for both is dynamic and can increase, so get your reservations earlier than later. The park wasnt very busy, so im not sure t=why they upped the prices. The rides were a ton of fun, and i was really impressed! What wasnt impressive was finding a woman's bra, and underwear with a dirty pantyliner tucked in with out towels in the cabana. We let the waitress know. She said eww and took it away. No management ever came by to apologize. I even did their internal review and no one contacted me. With the cost of the cabanas, they should be clean. There was also trash under one of the chairs. Drinks are pricey as would be expected. Best selection is in the grotto.

We visited, still currently here, for the Chess National's Tournament. First off, the hotel is spotless. There are trashcans everywhere! The facility is in great shape. The maintenance team definitely knocks it out of the park! The pools and rides are all wonderfully maintained as well. My only negative takeaway from this weekend, is the service staff does not seem to be very helpful at all. Something as simple as asking for directions was met with almost annoyance by several staff members. 2 front desk receptionist on a busy weekend at Peak times doesn't cut it...I waited nearly 45 minutes just to have a glitch wristband re-done/reprogrammed. (The Concierge area was closed). Kalahari is not a budget facility, but I get the feeling that staff at Budget facilities are outdoing Kalahari's staff. Aaron at Tom Foolery's, you are an exception and a true gem at this facility! Thank you for helping us resolve our wristband issue. Jack at Tom Foolery's however, NO you "cannot talk to customers however you want to". I'm not sure if I caught you on a bad day, but I tried to be polite about how you answered my question and 'take it up with the supervisor' is not an appropriate response. I dont really have a desire to come back here simply cause at this price point, great facilities weren't enough to make me want to come back. There's simply better options, with superior service elsewhere.

Let's start with the bad: Check-in was a real mess. The lobby was packed with families and luggage, so much so that is was hard to walk though. We brought a different credit card than we made the reservation with, however we couldn't edit the reservation online. We spent nearly 90 minutes just waiting to check-in. The first part of the wait was for the check-in kiosks, but since we didn't have the original credit card we then had to move to another line that only had two people working at the desk. 90 minutes to check-in is insanity. The lady at the desk made us pull-up a credit card statement on our phone just to prove that the original card used is actually ours... even though we provided a new card and a state ID. Lots of food choices, but it is a resort so expect to pay a premium to eat or drink. We found the frozen drinks to be very weak, and the pizza to be ChuckyCheese quality. There is a coffee shop with a full Starbucks branded menu, however they don't take the Starbucks app or cards. We passed on the Easter brunch due to the high cost. $69 per person is too much of a premium for a water-park brunch, and they add an automatic 25% gratuity regardless of party size. The water park was absolutely packed. The first day we walked around for 30minutes at least just trying to find somewhere to sit. On the second day we paid $100 to reserve a "premium seating" table just to ensure that we had a spot to sit. Do yourself a favor and do this. Stephanie was our server and she made sure we had towels, drinks, whatever we needed without having to go wait in food and drink lines. Our room was nice and clean, but there's no fan in the bathroom, nowhere to hang-up wet swimsuits, and the small refrigerator was useless. It barely cooled at all and was really disappointing. The good: Very clean and well kept property. The grounds are absolutely beautiful. The animal statues around the grounds are very well done and everyone in our family enjoyed them. On Saturday evening there was a live band on the outdoor stage. There was ample seating, and the fire pit made for a great atmosphere to just relax and enjoy the music. Lots of waterslides for heights starting at 42 inches, and even more for people over 48 inches. Two large water play areas with slides for smaller kiddos. Ours had a blast, and was just tall enough to ride a few of the larger slides. Several food options: a steakhouse, a Mexican restaurant, a burger joint, Italian dining, and a piano bar. The spaces all look very well done, they just all come at a premium. Nearly everything is cashless. You'll get a wristband that works as your room key, towel rental, and all purchases on the resort premises. Aside from the front desk, customer service was excellent. Nearly everyone we encountered said hello. Shop workers were friendly. Lifeguards really seemed to be paying attention, especially at the wave pool and splash park areas. Altogether we enjoyed our stay overall and do plan to return. No we know to expect that chaos and stress of checkin, and to reserve premium seating at the waterpark, and to bring more snacks to better enjoy our visit.

There was 7 of us in the group. A mix of kids and adults. Kalahari was beautiful. I loved our room. The Easter egg hunt was well done and a really sweet things for the hotel to do for the guests. However, 3 things make it questionable whether we will return again. #1) Check in was a mess. I didnt know where to go and it was the most chaotic check in that I have ever seen. 1000 people all over the place with luggage, etc. You should have employees out in the lobby directing people and answering questions. I have probably stayed in 150 hotels and have never seen anything like that before. Wasnt a nice impression or way to start our vacation. I think staggered check ins might also help. #2) extremely inadequate elevators. On the second day, I waited for 10 minutes for an elevator and couldnt get on one. We finally walked down the 5 flights in the fire escape. At that point we started only taking the fire stairs. On our last day, the fire stairs were so packed that we were all just moving in a single file line with our luggage. I dont think this is safe or a nice way to depart. There should be a central stair case where people can go up and down OR make about 10 more elevators. Bizarre situation. #3) Water park chlorine was so strong my eyes burned and watered while we were there. I hope there employees working in there are watching out for their lungs, eyes, etc. Kinda creepy

What a disappointment. Kalahari failed to inform me that the property would be under construction and we would not have access to the outdoor pools. If I had known this, I would have booked different dates. The fact that Kalahari has an outdoor water park is the only reason I booked this over Great Wolf Lodge. My kids were so upset that they couldn’t use the outdoor pools. This property is too expensive to not have full access to all amenities. I paid $2, 300 to only have access to half of the amenities. The only outdoor pool open was located in the adults only section of the water park. Kalahari knew that this property would be under construction and should have posted this information on the website as soon as plans were finalized. I feel like I have been scammed. To make it worse, we were awakened by the sound of construction outside my window every morning. We didn’t have the best dining experiences while at Kalahari either. The Italian restaurant was good and the staff was great. However, dinner at B-Lux was a completely different experience. We arrived to watch the championship game at 8:15 and didn’t get food until 10:00. One person in our party didn’t get a drink until 10:30. He went the entire game without a beer. This is after asking the waiter for it 3 times. We had to send half of the food back because it was horrible! The burgers were burnt or grossly undercooked. The wings tasted like cardboard. Service was also extremely slow at breakfast due to poorly trained staff. We had one waiter working tables that weren’t assigned to him because the other waitresses were just slow. And, on my last night we had to evacuate the building at 12:30 AM due to a false alarm. I don’t know what that was about but afterwards, I was just ready to go.

Prior to my visit, I made my reservation for a two-room "suite" online for a family visit-my wife and I, and two other adults. While booking my reservation I only selected 1 occupant for the room within the site, an oversight on my part. Though all adults, I selected the "resort" so my party would not have to leave, we could hangout, eat, and drink all under one roof. Upon arriving to check-in around 1pm on a Friday, the process was slow, at least 2 employees were standing around/unproductive/on their phones as the line got longer. I tried using the kiosk to expedite my check-in and while "tapping" my card to pay, an employee removed my credit card from my hand and said, "It says no tapping, come this way". The employee took us to the counter and began to go over the check-in process; at this point I learned of my oversight of not entering the correct number of occupants, and I was charged an additional $115 for amending my reservation (I had already paid $496.20 for one night). According to the employee there was no way around being charged. For the final act, my card was charged another $400 for incidentals, where I was told the money would be put back onto my card after 4-5 days of checking out. I was told any charges incurred would go against my credit card and not the balance of the amount held for incidentals, I do not know/think that was correct. As we got to our room, one of my guests lost their wristband (this serves as a room key and how you are charged as the resort is cashless). We went back to the counter and the same employee was there to tell us we were going to be charged $50 dollars for the loss. As the wristband was linked to my credit card, we asked that the all the other wristbands be re-programmed so the wristband missing could not have access to my credit account information. Luckily for us, the employee we were with initially handed us off to another person who did not charge us for the new wristband. The room itself was "ok" nothing to note, really nothing more than a Howard Johnson, very bland; I did not see anything worth $400 to hold as incidentals on my credit card. As we were all adults in the room, we looked for glasses, an ice bucket, used to drink out of (we were celebrating and had champagne"), however, there was nothing in the room. I went downstairs and asked for glasses/flutes, anything where I was told, "This is a resort, not a hotel. We do not offer that". Last I checked, resorts have those items, I guess just not Kalahari?. We used the Adult Grotto and the outside portion of the grotto to hangout, it was nicely done. In true fashion, if you want a towel, you have to swipe your wristband, where you can be charged $25 if the towel is not turned back in before the pools close. We opted to forego the towel. The outdoor part of the "resort" we wanted to visit with the pools, etc. was closed, on a Friday, around 4pm..... For dinner we ate at "Double Cut", the steakhouse. The food was lukewarm, but very good. We had everything from salmon, to ribeyes, and NY Strips; sides were shareable portions, we had asparagus and baked potatoes. Overall, Double Cut was pretty good in comparison to a Mortons/Perry's, I would go back to the restaurant. The wine and the lists of adult beverages was great, a nice selection. The service was ok for the most part, if you need something ask your personal server, if you ask someone else who is not your server you will sit there waiting for a fork to eat with. Overall, a "2 out of 4 stars", I think I would return to the restaurant, but most likely would not stay there and would get a day pass if my kids would want to go. I would say Kalahari is much better than a Great Wolf Lodge (based upon my visit to one in Grapevine.

We stayed at Kalahari from March 13th-16th for spring break. My son loves this place, and this was our 3rd time going. Everything was great until the day we checked out. On our way home, I noticed I had left my iPad in the room. I tracked my iPad, and it was still at the resort. I called Lost and found at the resort right away and left a voicemail. I am still waiting to receive a callback. I checked the location a few hours later, and my iPad was outside the resort and moving from different stores in the area. We called the local Police and filed the report on Friday. The Police called me back and told me they had just left the hotel and would like to share some information with me. They looked at the security cameras and saw that a housekeeper came to our room with the Ppad and placed it on her cart. They questioned her, and she said she didn't have the iPad. She left it on her cart. My biggest issue is the hotel staff seemed indifferent to our situation. They did not take any action to investigate the theft, nor did they offer any compensation or apology for the stolen item. Moreover, they did not communicate with us about the situation or provide any updates on their investigation. At this point, we know the management knows about the situation because the Police questioned their employee. We feel disappointed by the hotel's lack of customer service. We want some resolution. We enjoy the resort and would hate not to come anymore.

We had a wonderful stay at Kalahari Round Rock. That being said, be prepared to spend lots of money. All of the food was delicious and everyone we met during our stay were very nice. The water park was great and the kids had a blast. We will go again, but we will take our own bottled water and diet Coke as Pepsi products were the only products available at the store in the hotel.

We had an amazing stay at Kalahari! Our spring break was earlier than most so when the price was lowest we had ever seen it at $210 a night, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go! The rooms were ready when we arrived at 10am and they were clean and beautiful. The water park had SO many things to do and no lines. The tube rides and body slides are so fun and there’s something for every age. My kids loved the wave pool and lazy river best but I could have done all the slides a dozen times each and still not been bored. The little kids area looked super cute and great for that age too. The hours of operation were the perfect amount too. We didn’t do Tom foolery’s or any restaurants so can’t review those- there are a ton of restaurants close by so we opted to eat out (kerbey lane is our fave!). Only negatives were 1) the parking is pretty far from the hotel and 2) the lifeguards weren’t very nice and got irritated when my husband and I wanted to play on the play structure with our kids. Apparently it’s kids only ??‍♀️. Other than that, all of the staff were great, worth more than what we paid and my kids are already begging to go back!

Firstly, glad that I didn’t listen to all the negative reviews on TripAdvisor or elsewhere. We arrived and there were a few people in front, we tried using the self service but it charged me extra, I then had to join the VIP line. They totally got me straight, apparently the system upgraded me to a 2 bedroom. Since it was $200 more for 2 days, we let it remained. $330 a night for the two bedroom is not bad. They slipped in a free breakfast buffet for the family after this slip up. I have heard complaints about the train, I didn’t hear the train. Matter of fact, we heard no noise—- slept well. We were on the 9th floor and away from the elevator. We had views to the outside pool. Great Karoo- Breakfast was worth it. We had the buffet, the smoothie was top tier. The pancake with strawberry purée was excellent. We also had coffee and orange juice. My kids had bacon, personalized omelette and fruits. $26 per adult and $13 for kids. We prepaid the first day. Dinner- Italian restaurant - we made reservation on the day of and it was really good. The portions are excellent, I could not manage my lasagne, it was huge. The lighting is excellent by the red car by the door to take pictures. Lazy pool was fun, I didn’t like random folks trying to swim while the tubes came around. I think that’s dangerous especially small kids with no parents in sight. My kids enjoyed all the rides. Tom Foolery- I didn’t care for it, I didn’t think it was worth it. Customer service was blah, operators looked like they didn’t want to be there. No smile, no energy. We got on one ride and that was it. I would suggest, buy tickets only for your kids if you aren’t sure. I wasted 2 tickets because we didn’t get on anything else. Rock climbing looked fun but the line didn’t move after 30 mins and we were 4th in line. Should have invested that $140 in the arcade, that looked fun. We really enjoyed this trip! No negatives on the resort side.

This bar was nice, large and circular looking out over the firepits and outdoor water park. Roasted marshmallows for a smores cocktail, the espresso martini was delicious.

(Translated by Google) I was here a year ago with Mustafa as a bartender. He is the coolest person I have ever met. He was very kind and I learned about his culture. I'm going to visit it today to see if it's still there.(Original)Estuve aqui hace un año con Mustafa como bartender. Es la persona mas genial que haya conocido. Fue muy gentil y aprendi de su cultura. Hoy lo voy a visitar a ver si todavia esta.

Great place to hangout and have a few drinks. The bartender (Mustafa) was actually an extremely interesting person and really good at what he does. Loved talking to him. Service was great and prices weren't that bad

If they have a policy about drinking they should just tell you instead of being rude.