CoCo Key Water Resort makes its way to Orlando

[Mechanic]

I've ridden the Boomerango at CGA, once. It was a fairly unique experience for a water slide, but I personally much prefer twister type slides. For what it's worth, CGA has a boomerango, an enclosed single rider twister type raft slide, and an open family raft slide, all sharing the same tower. While we re-rode the twister and the family raft slide several times, I believe only one of my sons bothered riding the boomerango again. It's not that it's a bad slide, it's just a very short ride that didn't seem worth the wait if the wait was anything more than maybe 15-20 people. It did seem to be a popular attraction with a sizeable line though.

[montezooma]

Well... all this gives me something NEW to think about. I always considered the next addition to Cowabunga Bay would be a Mat-Racer, but now I guess I better get our and ride a Boomerango.

[Jew]

I'm not sure how competitive I see this place being in the Orlando market, it seems sort of bland for the area. I guess we'll see...

 

It has the competitive advantage of being the only hotel with a waterpark directly on-site.

[Vffreak07]

Well... all this gives me something NEW to think about. I always considered the next addition to Cowabunga Bay would be a Mat-Racer, but now I guess I better get our and ride a Boomerango.

 

In my opinion this would be a very wise move. Another reason (if the visual appeal of the ride isn't enough) that it would be a great investment is because current day, a LOT of waterparks have racing waterslides, while very few have Boomerango style slides. I don't know how they hold up maintenance wise or how much they cost, but if got to decide what I wanted to add to a local waterpark, I would definitely go with a Boomerango instead of racing slides.

[Angry_Gumball]

I've ridden the Boomerango at CGA, once. It was a fairly unique experience for a water slide, but I personally much prefer twister type slides. For what it's worth, CGA has a boomerango, an enclosed single rider twister type raft slide, and an open family raft slide, all sharing the same tower. While we re-rode the twister and the family raft slide several times, I believe only one of my sons bothered riding the boomerango again. It's not that it's a bad slide, it's just a very short ride that didn't seem worth the wait if the wait was anything more than maybe 15-20 people. It did seem to be a popular attraction with a sizeable line though.

 

CGA's Boomerango "Down Under Thunder" is an awesome slide, and probably my favorite part of Boomerang Bay. The airtime on those slides are amazing but sometimes the misters can 'blind' you. Unfortunately, the Boomerangos on the manufacturer's site looks less steep and not as tall when comparing to CGA's. Lastly, the airtime hump is fun to go over and if you're going fast enough, you'll be airborne for several seconds.

[CoasterEricHP]

The purple circle in the pic is where you start off and slide down. You go all the way up the halfpipe then you go backwards all the way to the end of the platform.

They have 1 of these at CGA.

 

I have no idea how I completely missed this entire slide concept for years! That sounds awesome!

[Hockeydad]

...I'd loveeeee to go back to GWL or a Kalahari.

 

Didn't go to the Kalahari in the Dells, but we've been to Sandusky's 6-7 times now...and it is just mindblowing! I was told you can fit three complete football fields inside, (I believe closer to four). What's been nice to me when we've been there is that it's very wide open, not cramped for space. They could continue to add new rides inside for a while without expanding the building again.

 

You'd have to ask a local, but I believe their next goal is to expand further onto the property, and add to the outdoor waterpark. It's an amazing place though...and I don't even go for the waterparks typically.

[rangebob846]

We drove by this many time and they are putting up the slide pieces now. The area that they are placing them does seem like a small area. I'm wondering how much they can fit in the area. Maybe cruising I4 at 60 mph may make it deceiving.

[Hockeydad]

From my experience at the two CoCo Key waterparks I've been to they are pretty small by design...not really meant to be mega-waterparks. I believe the one in Cincinnati is advertised at 35,000 sq. feet, the one near Columbus seemed on par with Cincy's. Obviously, Orlando's already seems much larger, but it's hard to tell since it's mostly outdoors.

[SharkTums]

Can any of our local Orlando peeps go check this place out? I'm very curious on what they actually ended up putting in.

 

My parents drove by it today and said it looked really crowded, there's also not a big canopy over the bucket or bigger attractions, only over some small stuff and a pool. I checked out the website and you can get day passes or it's included if you stay overnight (and nightly prices are pretty cheap around $99 a night). Also they seem to be trying to cater to teens at least at this location with several slides with a 48'' height requirement.

 

The whole thing seems a bit odd the more I read about it and I'd love for someone to go check it out and tell us what's really going on.

[CD]

Well I can't give you an actual report, but I can give you some general observations of CoCo Key (I drive by the place all the time).

 

- From the I-Drive side, it looks pretty horrible. It basically seems like a horribly painted motel 6.

 

-From the I-4 side (which runs parellel to the actual water park) it seems descent but nothing to write home about. It gets busy, but with only a few slides and Florida's heat, that seems like a given.

 

-None of the major attractions are covered.

 

-The place is poorly themed, small, and it seems quicly thrown together. There is nothing compelling me to visit anytime soon (I'd probably only go if it was free...). Infact I'd much rather fork over the extra cash and go to one of the other amazing water parks Orlando has.

[808Freq]

If it's designed for the families including small children, than it would make sense to be a little more on the moderate side in terms of ride design. And there's nothing wrong with it being small, right? I mean, this is just an amenity for people staying at a hotel after all, right? Or is it a theme park first with a hotel attached?

[Hockeydad]

"From the I-Drive side, it looks pretty horrible. It basically seems like a horribly painted motel 6."

From what you said in the quote above it already tells me that it was a rushed. Cincy's was under construction forever...probably a year and a half or more. But then again, the one we visit a couple times a year is an indoor waterpark, (like the rest in the chain other than Orlando). The Cincinnati parks building is very plain and unassuming. It's a tan building with three waterslides poking out the side, and a smallish CoCoKey sign on the front. The hotel tower itself is very nice inside and out, but it was already standing before the waterpark. It always looks really nice though, and it seems to be very busy most times, (Even with Great Wolf about 10 min. away @ KI). But I also can say that a good portion of their business is not from overnight stays much of the time...but birthday parties. We tried three different weekends before we could finally get a party scheduled, (and that was in August for an October b-day).

 

 

"The place is poorly themed..."

Once again that tells me it was quickly thrown together in Orlando. Cincy's has a pretty elaborate tropical theme, (at least for the midwest) to it with lots of murals, palm/coconut trees, pirate ships, a movie screen on the ships sail and lots of color. Even the bar area has a lot of tropical feel to it. It's seems like CoCoKey is just trying to put something out there in Orlando to grab up some tourism dollars. I hope it works for them, but I have a bad feeling about it from what we've already heard.

[Visioneer]

I drove by yesterday on my way back from St. Pete. The traffic was too heavy to try and take a picture. The slide tower line was about half-way down the stairs from the top.

 

Here's the slide tower from their fb page:

 

There are more pictures on their fb page. I'm not sure I can link per the rules (not enough post). Do a quick search for "coco key resort orlando" and look for the fb link.

[Hockeyman55]

We decided to head up to Orlando early before the Busch Gardens Bash and make a long Orlando/Tampa weekend out of it. Thursday after work comes around and we pack up the car and the kids and head up for some fun. When I booked the room on Travelocity I saw they had some decent rates so i said why not, who doesnt love a good water slide. Here is my little photo trip review of Coco Key Resort, hope you enjoy

 

 

Side note: I did stay at this place in its prior life before the Coco Key renovation and it is a lot nicer than it used to be. I got a rate of $80.00 for a room with a king bed and pull out sleep couch. They do charge $20 resort fee which pretty much is to cover 4 adults entry into the water park. Not sure if that charge is $20 per night or $20 total for the whole stay since we stayed just the one night. It wasn't crowded at all the afternoon we went, but being mid October I wasn't surprised. Also they do offer a day pass that I believe was around $14.

Its water slide time

We got to the hotel late and did some exploring before bed. They have two pools under the canopy. The pool closest has a zero entry and some small kiddy play thingsy on one end and then a few small slides on the other.

Another picture looking back, quite a bit of it is covered which helps when you are getting fried from the sun.

The smaller kido slides

They have rooms over looking the water park.

The middle pool is a little deeper and had this cool spiral slide

Top of the big tower at night

Fire pit over by the other pool

Another pool over by the lobby and only one open at night

Mmmmmm pizza!!!! They have an onsite Pizza Hut.

This picture I take no credit for and came from Coco Key. Realized I hadnt taken a picture of the room and wanted to show every one how nice they had renovated the rooms. Our King room had a full couch with pull out bed instead of the smaller couch. Very nice rooms.

The tower from the parking lot in the back.

Pretty decent sides kido play area.

The big kid slides. They dont look like much but I promise they are tons of fun.

Mommy and munchkin playing in the water.

[aimster]

Looks nice! I'm sure water park fans will enjoy this. I'm like Dan though... I do NOT like getting wet. Only time I willingly will is when I take a shower.

[piers]

After driving past this like 15 times in the last few weeks I think I saw one person on the slide tower, looks like a cool little extra for the hotel guests though!

[Hockeyman55]

^ Absolutely, nice perk if you are looking to stay in that area and want something a little more than the standard hotel pool, this is the place. But don't go expecting Wet N Wild or Aquatic lol. The Friday we went it was quiet and the slides had no lines, good deal for me

[Hilltopper39]

Seems like a very reasonable price for a decent little water park. Nice pictures, I've driven by that place hundreds of times and always wondered what it was like inside. I'm may consider it for my next Orlando weekend trip. How late were the slides open?

[-Edge of Beast-]

That's a nice place! I love how you can get a room that overlooks the water park. I've never seen that in any other hotel.

[Hockeyman55]

^^ not late at all. During the week the water park is open until 5 then the weekend until 7. We got there around 9 and I would have loved to have gone that late but had to to wait until the next day. It opened at 11am

 

^ the only time it wouldn't be good to have a room overlooking is if you wanted sleep while the water park was open. Bid echo under the canopy so im sure you would hear quite a bit of noise.

 

Side note they have a tiki bar overlooking the water park also which is an incentive in itself lol

[SharkTums]

Bumping this thread...

 

KT was invited to a birthday party here and we went two weeks ago. I actually thought it was REALLY well done and a great waterpark option for the 3 - 10 year old age group. The two 'indoor' pools are really nice. One is a decent pool with a 48" body slide, the other is a more toddler/preschool area with a few tiny slides and lots of water play elements. The bucket outside is great. KT was able to do all of the slides and it was setup really well for keeping an eye on little ones. I wish it would be covered so it could be a fun winter option as well.

 

We didn't do any of the slides on the 'large' complex but two of them had a 42" restriction and only one had a 48" so I feel they must have realized their core demographic.

 

From what I saw they did a really nice job converting the old property on the inside. It still looks like crap from outside and from I-Drive, but once you're in the hotel you can see they did put some decent money into it. A lot of the locals with small children go and visit, unfortunately it will still be too cold to go from November - March for most of us. If the bucket was covered as well I could see that making more sense.

 

The party was setup well and they seem to do QUITE the amount of business with parties. Two hours in the water park, then one hour in a party room. Worked well and the kids had a good time. We will certainly visit again.