CoCo Key Water Park — Attraction in Dr. Phillips

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

We love Orlando/Kissimmee. We visit nearly every year for 4-10 days. We have stayed in Airbnb’s and mainstream hotels. This trip I found a great deal ($57/night) for Coco Key, excited for the water, food, and relaxation. The latter was nice, but the rest is NOT WORTH IT. We will not be staying at Coco again, with Airbnb/Vrbo as competition.

1st Reason for ⭐️⭐️: Coco is a great hotel IF YOU ONLY PLAN TO SLEEP THERE. That is, don’t plan on having breakfast there (they advertise an all-you-can-eat breakfast, but it is $16 per person). Don’t plan on heating up anything you buy from Walmart or Publix (there is no microwave in room). There IS a mini fridge and a coffee maker. There is ice available in the corridors between buildings. Also there are vending machines next to the ice machines, again in the corridors.

2nd Reason: The Water Resort is absolutely NOTHING like the advertised photos. The actual “water resort” is small and indoors. Completely misrepresented. There are maybe 4 slides and splash-pads or toddler wading areas surrounding a wimpy jungle gym. There is a bar, billiard table, arcade, and indoor eating areas next to the “water resort.” The front desk gives you wristbands to enter the “resort”, and extras are available if you break or loose them. Don’t go swimming—the water had an almost syrup-like feel to it and was overly salty. It made me sick after less than 10 minutes swimming. They do provide plenty of towels at the pool, but mind you, they are small and thin.

3rd Reason: Sleeping accommodations. Walls are thin. We had a room with two Queen beds. Our door faced the exterior walkway (cheaper) and locked easily, but it looked as if it wasn’t closed all the way (you could hear a lot: people, cars, trucks, etc.). The beds were pretty comfy after long days walking around the amusement parks. Two pillows per person, also pleasant (not too firm, but not flat).

4th Reason: cockroach. We found a giant cockroach in our bathroom. Yes, we know that bugs are common in Florida. But it was disgusting nonetheless.

5th Reason: when we arrived to check in after the set time, they could not find our reservation. We showed them the confirmation emails from the 3rd party we used for booking. After 20 minutes, they found an email that was sent to the hotel that included our reservation. They said it was not our fault, that our reservation got lost in their email system. Everything was squared away quickly after that and we got settled.

Simply FYI: Room Service—Due to COVID-19, the resort room service does not come to your room everyday, towels are not exchanged, and sheets are not changed without 24-hour prior notice. Guests can not be present when room service comes. They do not give extra towels unless you request, and again, give them notice when you will be out. We did request new towels and they brought some to us before we returned from the parks that night. TV and AC worked great. There is no fan in the toilet room. Walls are thin, you can hear a lot that goes on in the rooms around you. The hair dryer is in the closet/wardrobe. Location is FABULOUS for Universal Studios, 10-15 mins away. 20-30 to...

Reviewing this while here as want to mention some useful tips for other visitors. This is a very well kept, safe, well serviced hotel. The water resort is pretty fantastic and we have spent several days without leaving the hotel. Pool/slide area well patrolled by life guards and kids able to be on their own with no worries. Slides on a par with Alpa Mare. Great view from the top slide by the way. We are four to a room and it doesn't feel cramped. Useful fridge and room safe which we use, though never feel like any kind of crime is likely. Room services very comprehensively and towels plentiful. You don't need your own towels for the pool, they are provided there. Laundry room offers large wash and dry for about £6. Our taxes for 15 nights are £215 so be aware of that hidden charge which is on top of what you pay at home. Our room is quiet but facing car park. Interior facing rooms may get some pool noise and seem to be less private. Aircon in room is absolutely essential and we leave it on all the time on auto. We are here with no car and took local bus no. 42 from the Intl. airport to just outside the hotel. 1 hour and $2 each (cash only), absolute bargain. WiFi is pretty good and we are using it loads. TV in room huge but only local channels. It's a great location for I-Drive and there are many places to eat at nearby plus shops. We bought I-ride trolley passes which save a lot of walking to and fro and get you to several malls and other attractions like Sea World. There are 4 morning shuttles to Universal, timed at 0740, 0850, 1000, 1110 but only three back (1715, 1820, 1925) so the return can be very busy and you might struggle to get on. HOWEVER, stroll on to one of the Universal shuttles going to the Endless Summer Resort hotels of Dockside and Surfside and it's a 10 min walk back here. No-one checks who you are and these buses are more frequent and quieter. For local grocery shopping Walgreens is expensive and poor selection. Go to Whole Food Market which is 0.8 mile away on Turkey Lake Road. It's fantastic, like an even posher Waitrose. You can walk on from there to a huge Walmart which we did several times. Pavements all the way. Back to this hotel.. not given 5* as some furnishings are just a little tired and our shower drips constantly. Blind over window lets some light in too. However, we would certainly come back here again and I recommend this hotel...

We are local and I brought my daughter's to have some fun. We arrived early and while we could check in early we were able to start at the water park. We were there for hours, having fun. They called and said a room was ready. The room was pool side and clean. However there was one towel for a room that slept four. I also added the guppie birthday for my girls. The balloons were the wrong colors and the card was not personalized, as advertised. So far, only mild inconveniences. About 30 min after unpacking we hear someone outside trying to get in our room. They had a key,which worked but we had the top lock on. Turns out that when they checked in the staff gave them a key to our room. They double booked the room!!! That's a safety issue and could have turned out much worse than it did. So after that was situated I visited the front desk. They apologized immensely, refunded what I paid for the guppies and redid it the following day with correct colors. They also gave us a pass for free.brrakfast for the next two days. The breakfast is just a continental breakfast that usually comes with a hotel room stay. But they intend to charge way more than it's worth. The second day was better. We had fun at the water park all day. Visited the arcade. Many of the games didn't work but they refunded us, so no big deal. That evening the electric went out not once but twice for about 10 min each time. It happened again the next morning. The water park was great and my kids loves spending two days at that part. But it's over priced for what they offer and the safety and other issues there. I'm giving a 3 just because of how much fun my girls had at the water park. If it wasn't for that...