A top trend in family travel is "resorts with indoor water parks". Families love to pile in the car and head to a friendly resort with waterslides and wave pools and 1000-gallon dumping buckets.
CoCo Key Water Resorts -- with a theme inspired by Key West, Florida-- jumped into the pool with a big splash by opening several indoor water parks which were added onto existing properties, such as Sheraton hotels. The CoCo Key Hotel and Water Resort Orlando opened in 2010 with some differences: its water park is outdoors and the Key West theme continues through the hotel.
Inside the CoCo Key indoor water parks, the temperature is set for 84 degrees; "it's always Florida inside". Size and features vary with at the different locations but signature attractions repeat, such as the Shark Slam, Gator Gush & Barracuda Blast body and raft waterslides, and the Parrot's Perch Play Island play zone with water cannons, spray nozzles, and thousand-gallon bucket dump. Individual properties may also offer CoCo Kids Club (seasonal) and activities for families and for teens.
A couple of points to note:
- A 50,000-square-foot indoor water park is modest compared to giants like the Kalahari and Great Wolf Lodge
- Hotel rates may not include water park admission
- CoCo Key water parks may be open to the public via day-passes (which could mean more mean line-ups at the waterslides)
- Room rates do not always include admission to the water park. (Guests do get special rates.) Look for packages that include water park access.
- Be sure to check recent visitor comments for individual resorts at a site like TripAdvisor. Comments vary widely at time of writing.
- Check About.com's Theme Parks site for current CoCo Key Water Resorts.
- Always check visitor comments at a site like TripAdvisor.com for any individual resort
