We decided to go overnight to Key Lime Cove as a birthday gift to our 13-year old son. We also have two other boys, ages, 7 and 11. We live in the area and had heard great things about the resort, so we thought we'd see for ourselves. Our overall experience was okay, but I wanted to bring up a few things that we felt might make it even better!
First off, we had read quite a few of the reviews that were written here, positive and negative. I will admit to being a bit apprehensive because of the negatives, but we decided to see for ourselves.
The resort itself is very nice. Clean and beautifully decorated.
Parking:
There is a huge parking lot, however, no valet parking, which we thought would be a nice option for those who might have difficulty walking far distances.
We checked in around 4 PM on a Sunday (July 20). We had read of people having to wait long periods of time to check in, however, ours was only a 5 minute wait. You can use the water park starting at 1:00 PM, however, your room may still not be ready and you will have to pay cash for food, games, shopping, until you're in your room as your wristbands won't be activated for that.
Cash:
Being that it is a "cashless" resort for paying guests, (you wear a wristband in place of cash to use for all resort services, including the vending machines) we liked the option of the kids not having their wristbands activated for use as "cash", only my husband and I had that ability, so we were able to keep the amount of money being used, under our control. You can put a set amount on each band or just have unlimited use, whichever you decide. It is kind of nice not to have to worry about bringing a purse or wallet around with you.
Room:
Our room was a standard queen double, with a sofa bed and bathroom. We paid around, $149.00 for the room as we were only staying a night and would only be using the room to sleep in. The price was perfect for our needs. The decor was very colorful and the beds comfy. The pillows were fluffy, almost too much, but that's just a personal opinion! The room is small, but again, if you're only sleeping, then it shouldn't matter. It listed as capacity for 4 people or less and that would definitely be the limit. We were five, so it was 2 to each queen bed and one on the sofa bed. A little tight as the beds are more like doubles than queens. The bathroom is a little alcove with a double sink and then a tiny closet-sized room for the shower/tub and toilet, (no fan available for those..ahem...occasions when you might be spending a bit more time in there), that closes off with a sliding door. Very tight, very small. Clean and well-stocked. If you are a family with girls, or even want to change clothing in private, you would have to step into the tiny "shower/toilet-room" or have everyone promise not to peek as you are trying to stay behind the small wall that separates you from the bedroom! There was a tiny mini-fridge and a flat-screen TV that has local Comcast cable channels 1-99 only, no movie channels or movies to rent. There is an air-conditioner under the windows and a ceiling fan above the couch.
Restaurants:
Well, we didn't use any other than fast food to eat at a table in the water park area. We were so busy swimming that we didn't want to change to go into one of the restaurants there, which required us to do so. We were told at 6:45 PM, that it would be a 30-minute wait to sit anyhow.
The food was good. For five people it was around $30. Not bad for a resort.
A major drawback for us was that there is no room service. We have traveled to many water park resorts and this is always a plus for us as many times we are so tired after the pool that we often just want to get into our "comfies" and order up room service,(plus dessert!) and watch a movie! Both of these options were not available. While it is true that around the hotel in Gurnee there is a ton of fast food and sit-down restaurants to choose from, if you don't want to go out, you don't have this option. You can, however, order "take-out" from any of the resort restaurants and then bring it back up to eat in your room.
But because we didn't think to ask or check at just what point the restaurants all close, or even the shops and ice cream parlors, by the time we finished eating poolside and played in the arcade, it was 9:30 PM and to our chagrin, everything was closed down! We had vending machine candy bars for dessert. We also found no type of " resort-book" in the room that listed all the amenities and times for when they open and close. The kids were disappointed that they couldn't get an ice cream at 9:30 PM. After all, this is a resort, it's summertime, in season, so doesn't it make sense to stay open a bit later? The big restaurants I can understand, but an ice cream shop? Anyhow, we have older kids and they go to bed later. I can see families with younger kids not having a problem with that, but for the families with older kids, (especially our boys), food and ice cream on vacation is a must! If the water park is open until 10 PM, the food should be too!.
The Resort:
As I noted before, the decor is fun and colorful. The staff was pleasant and everything was very clean. One thing sorely lacking that someone else also mentioned this in another review, was the lack of security. The resort is located in a very transient area, meaning there is a huge amusement park located across the way and a major interstate that runs right past, and while the water park is closed to non-guests, everything else is accessible: the shops, the arcade and the restaurants. Fine, except, we didn't see one security guard the entire time we were there. If you have young kids, 12 and under, even if your 12-year old is fine swimming alone, all these other areas may be too easily accessed by someone that has "other things" on their mind. The hallways to the guest rooms go on for miles and there are too many areas that someone might find themselves isolated and alone in a bad situation. For obvious fire-safety reasons, the guest room areas can't be accessible by wristband only: eg: some hotels have club-rooms that are accessible via the elevator by using your room card as the only way to get to that floor. We saw a lot of people who were clearly not guests, roaming around, some by themselves, late in the evening after the shops and restaurants had closed. A security force would definitely weed out anyone who might be there for "other" reasons. Watch your kids in the arcade and hallway areas!
The layout itself was poorly done. The water park is located on the lowest level as are the arcade and some of the restaurants and ice cream shops, which is good for noise and crowd control were they too near the guest rooms, but they are, "miles", away, not great for people who may struggle with the distance and small children who would have to walk when tired. Speaking of walking, be prepared to walk everywhere! (which is healthy, but for some, that may be a challenge and a deterrent!)
The Water Park:
This being the main reason we came, we did have fun. However, it is very small by water park standards. 65k square feet may be big for a hotel, but for a water park, not really. We were in the water by 5 PM and it wasn't too crowded. There is a main play area with different levels and built-in water-squirting toys with the giant bucket that spills a huge wave of water down onto the floor below that was fun to play in. Only a few minutes wait for the slides and the lazy river flowed nicely, just pockets here and there that were a bit crowded, but not bad and there were plenty of tubes for everyone. There is a small area that the lazy river ends in that doubles as a place to float on the tubes in. Then there are waves which are generated every little while to make it a wave pool. However, you can only float there on a tube. Which brings us to our main issue with the pool other than size: there is no main pool to just "hang" out in!
There is a small pool that is 3 1/2 feet deep to play basketball in, but that's it. It gets crowded and old very fast as there is just no room for all the people, balls being continuously tossed around and no place to just float around in. The only way you could ever do "laps" here was if everyone else was out and you were the only one in! This place definitely needs a big pool for adults or anyone that just wants to swim and relax in.( both Timber Ridge and Blue Harbor have these) There was a large jacuzzi, but it was crowded. There was also a fenced off tots pool area that looked great for families with small kids, but we have moved beyond that.
There were plenty of chairs and the towels are big and fluffy. It was also very clean.
The big main windows that face west, do need tinting as the setting sun is brutal on your eyes!
All in all, we had a great time. We heard that the water park will be expanded in the future and hopefully they will add a large "wading pool only" with varying degrees of depth. A larger wave pool that people can swim in without tubes would be nice too.
Be prepared to spend money, it isn't cheap and put your walking shoes on as this place is more like a small city and I can only imagine what it will end up like when and if it is indeed expanded!
Given these issues, we will probably choose Blue Harbor, Timber Ridge or The Dells next time.