Bringing the Keys to New England

The company that opened New England's first major indoor water park resort last year, CoCo Key at the Sheraton Ferncroft in Danvers, Massachusetts (north of Boston), has a couple more in the pipeline. Folks in Connecticut will be able to make a splash year round when CoCo Key Water Park at Holiday Inn Waterbury (west of Hartford) turns on its spigots in October. And the CoCo Key Water Park at Best Western Royal Plaza will be sliding into Fitchburg, Massachusetts (in the central part of the state) this December. The chain's strategy is to buy slightly distressed hotels, remodel them, and add indoor water parks to their amenities. Unlike other properties, such as the gargantuan Kalahari water parks in Sandusky, Ohio and Wisconsin Dells, CoCo Key keeps its water parks around a relatively moderate 50,000 square feet. While they lack uphill water coasters, bowl rides, and other signature attractions found at larger competitors, the CoCo Key parks, which are all essentially similar, feature a decent complement of attractions, including a lazy river, body slides, and tube slides. The chain is also opening a CoCo Key Water Resort at the Mt. Laurel Marriott in New Jersey (near Philadelphia) this November.

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Photo: The CoCo Key Indoor Water Parks feature a lazy river. ©Arthur Levine, 2007. Licensed to About.com.