Screams of children on water slides and splashing in pools and the roar of the International Drive traffic are just a few sounds you will hear when you wander around the Coco Key Hotel and Water Park in Orlando, Florida.  The hotel and water park opened just a few months ago and we were very lucky to be guests of CoCo Key on our last trip to Orlando, Florida.  Orlando’s hot, humid weather makes it the perfect home to water parks.  And a water park in which you can stay the night?  My kids thought that they had hit the jackpot!

The CoCo Key Hotel and Water Park are located in the heart of the touristy area of International Drive.  I had actually never been to this part of International Drive before and was fascinated by how much it resembled the Panama City strip or Gatlinburg’s main tourist drag.  Within walking distance of the hotel, you will find many restaurants and activities; however, there is plenty to do on the hotel grounds so you might not want to leave!

When we arrived and got checked in, I was disappointed to find that our room was located on the outside of the hotel near the main road.  It turns out that this was a great location because we could have thrown a football at the Dunkin’ Donuts that we got our breakfast from and it was much quieter than being next to the pools and splash areas.  The hotel room was large compared to other typical two double bed rooms we have stayed in and had plenty of room for my family of four.  It was clean and brightly decorated.  I believe I spied furniture from my favorite store!  When we realized that our room only had hand towels in the bathroom (surely they can’t expect us to dry off after a shower with these?!), I called the front desk for towels and they were delivered about ½ an hour later. 

We decided to skip the water play the first evening we arrived because everyone was exhausted from the drive.  The kids popped out of bed bright and early the next day ready to hit the water.  We were surprised to find the water park incredibly crowded later in the day.  We visited over Labor Day weekend after my kids had already started school.  I forgot that lots of people hadn’t started school yet!  There was plenty to do and I never felt like my kids weren’t able to play, but it was a crowded Sunday afternoon at the park.  We kept Little S in a life jacket the whole time and I was thrilled to see that after a few months of constant use by lots of children they were not showing any wear or tear.  We started our day in the Minnow Lagoon and Slides which is under the canopy. 

The kids spent an hour splashing around, shooting water cannons and sliding down the little slides.  After they tired of that, we went to the area that I was dreading…the Parrot’s Perch. 

As a slightly nutty mom, I openly admit that I think the worst of things and this was no exception.  How would I find my child?  Can they escape the area without me noticing?  What if they slip and fall?  I was happily surprised that none of this happened.  Both kids spent almost an hour and a half going up and down the stairs, sliding down the slides and waiting for the bucket to dump its 400 gallons of water on them.  To make this more fun for me, Daddy J and I stationed ourselves near the exit gate so we could see the kids at (almost) all times so we didn’t have to worry as much.  It helped that parents are welcome to play too so Daddy J and I were able to walk up with the kids for the first few times.  Little S and Big S both had strict instructions to wave at us every time they went down a slide and were ready to run back up to the top of Parrot’s Perch. 

There are also three very large slides.  Little S was too small to check them out and Big S didn’t want her to feel bad (which was sweet but I think he was secretly a little frightened!).  We saw many tweens and teens getting off of the slide and heading straight back up again.

The water park is not just limited to guests.  You can purchase day tickets or even have your birthday party at the water park. 

Besides the water park, there is also a large pool that is open late into the night (one of the reasons I was glad our room was on the street side).  We hung out there after dinner for awhile before going back to the hotel and collapsing from water logged exhaustion. 

The hotel has a restaurant that offers kids eat free and there is a Pizza Hut Express.  There is also an arcade available full of state-of-the-art interactive video games.  The hotel has free wifi available but we could never get it working in the room.  We were traveling with two laptops and neither one would pick up the wireless in the hotel room.  Luckily this doesn’t happen often when we travel, but when it does it is incredibly annoying.  We had to spend time working in the lobby because it was the only place our computers would pick up the wifi.  The lobby is huge with plenty of comfortable seating.  There is even a children’s play area with a TV turned to children’s shows.

The room prices are reasonable and for a fee of only 19 dollars more, you add the cost of water park admission for four.  I think that we would stay at the CoCo Key Hotel and Water Park again because of its proximity to the theme parks, the price, the clean hotel rooms, and the friendly staff. 

Disclosure: We were guests of the CoCo Key Hotel and Water Park resort for two nights.  Our water park admission was included.  We paid for everything else including food and gas to get there.

Today we are linking up to Trekaroo’s Spotlight Thursday.