Waterparks for Winter

As you know, this weekend' s posts spotlight Columbus, OH. Tonight I'm staying at the Cherry Valley Lodge outside of the city. My press stuff said there was a 50,000 square foot water park directly inside the lodge and well ... I had my reservations. Would the place smell like chlorine? Would kids be running around in swimsuits the whole weekend? Or worse yet would their parents be running around in pot-bellies, robes, and speedos?

Turns out, you really have to go looking for their water park called CoCo Key Resort. It's conveniently tucked away and without signs pointing you in the right direction throughout the lodge, you'd get lost and swear the waterpark is its own private entity. But once you do find it, you'll be baffled by how such a big, crazy kid magnet attraction is tucked away inside this lovely lodge.

This place houses pretty amazing slides that go out of the building and come back inside before dumping you out. The slides are enclosed like colorful tubes of a connector set, so the park is open all year round, making it a good family activity for an Ohio winter or muggy summer. And if you have business guilt and want to keep the kids happy on their own vacation, they'll hardly miss you while you're working away. While kids have a blast, there's a bar for parents looking to booze, a pizza-hut, snack bar, arcade, Kids Club, and a ridiculously large screen to catch the Buckeyes play or take-in an evening movie where the kids can watch from the water.

While the rest of the lodge looks like an adult's haven with fireplaces and rustic appeal -- the park really is more for the kids. You'll be hard-pressed to find a couple on a romantic getaway waiting impatiently in line for Barracuda Blast.

Located in the town of Newark, Cherry Valley Lodge is about a 35-40 minute drive from Columbus and also issues waterpark day passes to non-guests provided they're not sold out. If you don't have kids of your own to dump off at the water park, you can swim in the private pool and hot tub (not inside the waterpark), enjoy the spa, stroll the quaint grounds through the gazebo, book a romantic getaway, and hit up their lodge pub or restaurant without ever knowing there are dozens of waterlogged kids teaming with excitement just yards away.


Cherry Valley Lodge has a pretty innovative set-up, they own the market for local indoor waterparks, have WiFi wired throughout the lodge, feature large conference rooms, weddings, a to die for deep tissue massages, full-service salon, and good dining options.