KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort {Review}

Indoor Waterpark Family Fun @ #KeyLimeCove

 

Where shall I begin?  My family of 5 had the great opportunity to stay at the KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort this past weekend so we can share our waterpark experiences with you.  Let’s just say, road trips and me just do not seem to get along.  I had a horrendous experience driving home from Florida last summer and it just goes to prove that perhaps I should start looking at other travel means to get us to our destinations.  Let me explain…

My husband didn’t arrive home from work until 3pm on Friday.  We were scheduled {my own personal time clock} to check into the KeyLime Cove resort around 5pm-ish.  Knowing the Chicagoland area traffic…or better known as rush hour…sitting in your car for hours on end on a Friday….I looked for alternative routes to get us there with the least amount of “sitting” time.  My route was one that did require us to go slightly in a different direction but it said with the traffic we’d arrive in 1 hour 38 minutes.  My other half, aka…my husband, decided he didn’t want to listen to my pre-planned routing and went his own way, because “It’s stupid to go out of our way….”, but little did he know that his preferred route would leave us in a complete parking lot on the bumper to bumper expressway that lacked the “express”.  So after sitting in the car for two hours we finally reached an exit ramp and took that.  We were all starving so we drove around until we found this…

After we finished inhaling our Giordano’s Stuffed Pizza, we were back on the road.  This time, still going his route, it took us an additional hour to get there.  We arrived to the resort aggravated and anxious at 8:30.  We left the house at 4:30.  What should have taken us an hour and a half ended up taking us 4 hours!!!!

Upon our arrival we checked into the resort and with this being my first time there, we decided to go to the room, catch our breath for a few, then walk around to get a feel for it all.  My initial thought upon walking in for the first time was how tropical it was.  Even though I was still in Illinois, I felt like I was on a tropical island and after being in a car for 3+ hours, it was a blessing to have that sense of vacation.  Everything from the music playing to the employees to the decor screamed tropical vacation and I loved it.  We found the game room, the indoor waterpark entrance, the craft room, all the varieties of food and stores.  It was a cute little place.  We didn’t experience the waterpark that night primarily because we all had just had a long ride and everyone was tired.

We did get up early the next morning to go on a behind the scenes tour of the waterpark and pump room.  We met with the #KeyLimeCove director of engineering who showed us the ins and outs of what takes place on a daily basis to ensure water safety for its guests.  The waterpark holds 420,120 gallons of water and it is filtered at a rate of 4,788 gallons per minute!  That’s a lot of water!  The filtering process was quite interesting and we learned that KeyLime Cove uses ozone to produce the purest water you could ever swim in.  You know when you walk into an indoor pool and you get a huge wiff of the chlorine?  You don’t get that at all when you walk into the waterpark.  It doesn’t leave that nasty smell on you at all, and I’ll say this, my hair wasn’t crunchy leaving there!   They still use chlorine but goes through a state of the art purification and disinfection process.  If you like engineering or want to learn more about how the waterpark operates, I strongly suggest going on the tour that is offered on Saturday mornings.  My kids were impressed and learned a few things…imagine that?  The water is tested every two hours to make sure that everything is pure and spot on!

The other thing that I was very, very impressed with was the lifeguards there.  They were impeccable.  Each lifeguard completes 38 hours of training before they even start their work there.  They are certified in CPR, First Aid and Emergency Oxygen Delivery.  They were always checking the water areas for distressed kids or adults.  They are really to be commended for the work they do.  While we were there a young boy was struggling during the wave pool action and the lifeguard on duty in that area quickly jumped in and brought him to safety and another lifeguard took over from there making sure he was ok and that his parent was located.  His quick spotting and response was key to this little boys safety.  It was awesome to see each and every lifeguard take their job as seriously as they did that day and every day.

The kids LOVED the water slides!  I think they liked the Hurricane’s Vortex {or as my daughter referred to it as the “toilet bowl”} the best.  It is 45 feet high and 140 feet long and it seriously looks and feels like you are being flushed down the toilet!  I myself {my husband and oldest did as well } enjoyed the 560 foot long lazy river.  And who doesn’t love standing under a pineapple filled with 250 gallons of water just waiting for it to fall on top of you?  Here are some shots from our time there so you can see for yourself just how much fun we were all having…

 

Of course we can’t forget the game room….8,000 square feet of gaming fun.  As soon as we saw the game room and my oldest daughter noticed the claw game filled with stuffed pickles, she was fixated on winning one for herself.  Why?  Because who doesn’t like saying “I have a stuffed pickle”???  With that, she began her quest to win herself a stuffed pickle and on her first try, she accomplished that task and then proceeded to win one for her brother and sister within a matter of 5 tries total.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention breakfast!  We thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast buffet at D.W. Anderson’s Eatery and Ice Cream Parlor!  I had an egg white omelet, a waffle with chocolate chips on top, bacon and fruit!  The kids also enjoyed waffles, pancakes, and scrambled eggs.  My husband filled up on just about everything they provided!  It was delish!!  And the omelet maker {sorry I forgot his name, he was so bubbly and fun…I’d go back just to see him!}.

Stores; you can’t go on a vacation anywhere and not go into a store!  We ended up with a sweatshirt for my oldest, a seashell and necklace for my youngest and my son didn’t want anything other than the neon ball that he won.  I of course couldn’t walk away from a trip without my photo frame fridge magnet! 🙂

Despite our long and exhausting road trip to KeyLime Cove, once we arrived, we left that all behind and found a way to have a great time while we were there.

 

 

 

*we did receive a complimentary nights stay to facilitate this review, however all words, views & thoughts are mine and mine alone.