New Indoor Water Park Resorts Debut in Late 2008

Wilderness at the Smokies, Split Rock Resort, Mt. Laurel Marriott

Jan 9, 2009 Kara Williams

It's no wonder the concept of indoor water park resorts has exploded in popularity in recent years. They feature entertainment for all ages, no sunscreen required!

Indoor waterpark resorts typically feature family-friendly lodging and on-site water-play features like giant raft rides, lazy rivers, dumping buckets, toddler zero-entry pools and much, much more. Other resort amenities might include giant arcades and themed dining that appeals to kids. Some of the nationwide Great Wolf Lodge properties have spa treatments just for kids.

Because entertainment is all under one roof, and because the water play is under one roof, allowing them to be open all year round, families with toddlers to teenagers gravitate to indoor water park resorts that are popping up all over the country. Here's a peek at just a few developments that have opened in the last three months.

Wild WaterDome at Wilderness at the Smokies, Sevierville, TN

Highlights at this 60,000-square-foot indoor water park include a see-through roof that gives visitors the illusion of being outside, plus exciting rides like the "SurfRider," a five-foot ocean wave, and "Storm Chaser," a plummeting raft ride. But you can also kick back in an innertube and loll about in the wave pool, watch the kids get drenched in a multi-level water-play feature or sit in the 1,000-square-foot hot tub.

Brand-new multi-room suites at the Wilderness at the Smokies resort range from simple studio suites to ultra-spacious two-bedroom suites with living room, full kitchen, murphy beds, bunk beds and pull-out sofas that can sleep up to 12 people.

H20ooooh Indoor Water Park at Split Rock Resort, Poconos, PA

This 54,000-square-foot water park features the Northeast's first indoor Flow Rider, a family raft ride, tube slides called "Viper" and "Piranha," a three-story "Jungle Cove," with water cannons and dumping bucket, and the popular "lily pad cross," where kids leap from giant pad to pad while hanging onto an overhead net for balance.

Lodging at the Split Rock Resort & Golf Club includes standard hotel-style rooms, suites, two-bedroom villas and rustic cottages -- 558 rooms in all.

CoCo Key Water Resort at the Mt. Laurel Marriott, Mt. Laurel, NJ

The 55,000-square-foot water park in South Jersey offers similar water-play features to the other CoCo Key developments found adjacent to such hotel brands as Sheraton and Holiday Inn throughout the country. Take a tube ride around the "Coconut Grove Adventure River," sail down three different looping water slides, and play on the Parrot's Perch Play Structure. Stop for munchies at the A&W or Pizza Hut Express or play games in the Key Quest Arcade.

For more family-friendly destinations consider browsing:

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Giant Wave Pool, Courtesy Wilderness at the Smokies
Giant Wave Pool