This place was definitely not what I expected. We live nearby but booked a room just for the use of the waterpark. I was looking forward to the Lazy River, but it was so crowded, we were packed in there like lemmings. Plus, there were about 5 or 6 spouts with shooting water that would slap you in the head as you came by. Where's the fun in that? There was a toddler play zone, with no depth, just water spouts, etc, and that was nice enough for the little ones. Then there was ONE pool for swimming but there were basketball hoops over the entire area so that the pool is very active and rowdy with ball play (regular basketballs, not soft ones, flying everywhere). Not too mention it's too deep. My 5-year-old couldn't touch bottom anywhere. Overall, this place was packed to full-capacity and the park features weren't vey fun anyway, even if it weren't so crowded. There are two water slides/chutes, and my hubby and kids liked those, so that was the only redeeming part of the entire weekend. The hotel was clean enough, but the loud & rowdy clientele from the pool also stay in the hotel, so it's a loud, crazy place at night. Really long waits for the elevator, crowded halls, etc. I have no interest in ever returning.

We have stayed at Holiday Inn Express Splash Universe before and they were great!!!
This Hotel was a big disappointment! Our first impression was dirty. There were multiple juice stains on the carpet. The tv in the kids room did not work properly. The sponge bob light and the sponge bob chair were broken. There was tissue/toilet paper, an apple stem and some other black stuff in the drain of our bathroom sink. There were dirty towels on the back of the bathroom door.

My husband who can usually look the other way at some things immediately started calling to find another hotel in the Chicago area.

We called the desk and asked for the manager to come to our room to show them what our room looked like. There were two managers that arrived shortly after our call. One manager was in charge of the hotel and the other in charge of the water park. I was now in tears about our dirty room.

Both the managers agreed with our evaluation of our room and immediately went down stairs to find us another room. They upgraded our room to a a family suite. There were two bunkbeds and a full kitchen in one room. This room appeared to be for the kids but had no tv for the kids to enjoy. The other room had a king size bed and tv and kitchen table. It was better than the original room but was still dirty. These rooms are in a dire need of remodeling. The sliding glass doors did not lock properly. There was some crate paper on the wall and a ribbon on one of the bunkbed post that was probably left over from a birthday party that was in our room prior to our visit. It was never removed even when our room was cleaned on the second day. The furniture is very abused and looks like it was purchased in a rummage sale.

The water park was very loud. You can hear everthing in your room that overlooks the water park. The park does not close until 10pm. The water park layout was very difficult to get around. The big pool has three basketball hoops that takes up most of the pool. Usually there are older unsupervised children playing basketball. I was in fear of being trampled by them when trying to enjoy the pool. Also it seem everytime we got to the water park they would do a 15 minute safety check where everyone had to get out of the water. This of couse appeared to be a break for the lifeguards. When this safety check was announced all but two of the lifeguards went practically running into a back area and were out of sight. How is that safety? Of course my small children did not want to wait fifteen minutes to get back in the pool. I have been to many other water parks that do not make you get out of the pool for so called safety checks. This appear to be breaks for the lifeguard staff. It seems that they are not properly staffed to keep the pool open during the lifeguards breaks. And of course I definately agree they need breaks but not at our expense.

The managers really tried to make our stay better. But they can only do so much with what they have.

My second impression is still dirty and would not recommend this hotel.

We stayed one night in this disaster of a place. It was FILTHY!!!
We also were overcharged for our stay. When we called to rectify the situation...no one was available to help. the elevator(one of only 2) were too small, the hotel lobby was about the nicest spot in the place. the rooms were digusting, and NOT CHEAP AT ALL. There were uncontrollable kids running thruout with no supervision, the gargabe was overflowing,staff was rude,unaccommodating,and just plain unhappy.The bathrooms stunk like an outhouse in the locker room, and urine/feces all over the TWO ladies toilets. I was appalled and wanted to run out of there but there would be no refund, so we were stuck .I will NEVER go back to that place. Motel 6 would've been nicer with a truckstop attached. YUCK!!! If we dont come down with a disease It will be a miracle!

We tried to stay here in March 2008. We booked the hotel after visiting the website. Price was steep at $199 for a standard room on Saturday night including waterpark but we booked it anyway. We drove up to the hotel - kind of shabby from the outside but we thought we would give it a chance. Interior of hotel was scary! Holes in the wall, stains on the carpet, sewer smell...and that was just the lobby! Our family had to use the restrooms after our long drive and they were completely trashed too. The men's room especially was disgusting beyond words. The check in line was full of people (mostly rowdy teenagers) using "colorful" language. Now I'm not a snob or even that picky when it comes to hotels. But we just couldn't see ourselves sleeping or swimming here. We cancelled our reservation with the very understanding woman at the front desk and drove north to the Key Lime Cove Waterpark in Gurnee. I would NOT recommend this place for families with young children at all.