When Youre 7 This Is What Heaven Looks Like

This is the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando. When you are 7 (or 3 or 5 or 11) this is pure heaven on a stick. When you’re a parent, I found, it ain’t so bad either.

We did a brief 2 day/1 night stop at Chez Nick this past week during our spring break. Just like everything else, the recession is hitting Florida tourist attractions hard and as a result Florida residents are scoring big time with Resident Discounts. We paid $135 a night but I did meet someone who said she got her room for $79 on Travelocity.

The Nick is pretty popular with Florida parents anyway because the pools and waterslides and funky rooms and characters and at hotel activities provide enough entertainment that you really don’t have to go anywhere else. It’s the perfect weekend getaway for anyone with kids who lives in driving distance. So I had heard a lot about it but we had never gone. I was anxious to see if it lived up to it’s reputation.

It totally did.

The main attraction is of course the Lagoon pool. It’s huge and has 7 waterslides. It’s surrounded by a putt putt course, basketball courts, a baby slash area, and some hot tubs.

What I really liked about it was that it has a zero depth entrance and that largest section on the right never got deeper than my three (almost four) year old could stand up in. In fact she could walk all the way up to the rope you see where becomes thin (just to the right of the lifeguard stand)

She’s too big and to enjoy to baby splash area, she wants to be in the pool with the big kids but she’s not a swimmer yet and she was able to play happily in waste deep water here while the adults relaxed against the wall. The older kids were happy to play here as well because the shallow depth kept the water very warm and the waterslide water was freezing – they would regularly bounce back and forth.

The waterslide area on this pool does not dump into water but onto that spongy playground material that surrounds the whole pool (yeah! no concrete that is either slippery when wet or so rough it tears up your feet!) so even none swimmers can play in this waterslide area without fear.

Beware though: Because every day at 4:45 there is a Mass Public Sliming!

The Oasis Pool is deeper Min 3 feet but I don’t think it got over 5’. The 11 year old with us could stand in all parts. It’s slides are a little faster and they do dump into a pool of 5 feet of water.

The rooms lived up their reputation for coolness.

I had seen mixed things about the rooms online but in my experience the rooms were great. In fact compared to the rooms we had and Disney’s Caribbean resort last year – Nick was much nicer, more up to date, and had much less wear and tear. The linens and carpets were fresh and clean. You get a two bedroom suite with a queen for the adults and bunks for the kids. Each kid room has a character theme – we had Danny Phantom, the adjoining suite our neighbors had was Sponge Bob. There is a living room area and a kitchenette as well.

One thing I will have to say that Disney does better was food – where we had a big variety of low cost food at their resort. At Nick bring as much of your own food as you can manage because the pickin's are slim unless you want to pay $20 for entrees in the Cafe. The “Mall” area had a grill with burgers and hotdogs, a Subway, and a Pizza Hut. We managed off that for 2 days and the under 5 year olds ate free with an adult but if we were there one more day we would have left property to eat.

We spent most of our two days in the pool but there other things to do. Most of the activities and shows were additional charges. We didn’t do the 4-D experience or any of the other shows. We did let the kids do one craft since we had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon and they made tie-dye t-shirts for $15.00 (each).

Overall I would say that it’s a great weekend place but I’m not sure if it would hold up for a whole week if you were going to Orlando for a longer stay. Don’t get me wrong the kids LOVED IT but I think 2 to 3 days is the right amount of time for the amount of fun they provide.

Unpaid Unsponsored Parental Review of the Nickelodeon Hotel Resort in Orlando Florida

5 Comments

Ooh, aah! I heard about this place from some friends and they agreed it was one cool place to stay with kids. Your pictures are great. Thank you for all the tips! Now I want to go. Especially if I can get that $79 rate.

Posted by: Holly at Tropic of Mom | April 07, 2009 at 06:22 PM