Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites – Waterpark facts for kids
| Holiday Inn Suites Orlando – Waterpark | |
| Hotel facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | 14500 Continental Gateway Orlando, Florida |
| Opening date | July 7, 1999 (as Holiday Inn Family Suites) March 9, 2005 (as Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn) 2010 (as Nickelodeon Suites Resort) June 1, 2016 (as Holiday Inn Resort Suites Orlando – Waterpark) |
| Developer | Miller Global Properties |
| Owner | Urban Commons (UCCONT1 LLC.) |
| of which suites | 777 |
| No. of floors | 6 |
The Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites – Waterpark is a fun hotel in Orlando, Florida. It's super close to popular theme parks like Universal Orlando Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. This hotel is part of the Holiday Inn Resort family. For many years, from 2005 to 2016, it was known as the Nickelodeon Suites Resort, or simply "Nick Hotel," and was themed after the famous TV channel Nickelodeon.
This resort has many different suites, from one to three bedrooms, perfect for families. It also has two big waterparks called the Lagoon Pool and Oasis Pool. You can enjoy a "4-D" film theater, a huge arcade, a golf course, and a basketball court. The hotel used to host exciting family game shows and special "Nick After Dark" events. There was even a mall with a Nickelodeon store and a buffet called "Nicktoons Café." Near the entrance, there was a time capsule that used to be outside the old Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida.
The Nickelodeon Suites Resort was recognized as one of the top ten family vacation spots by the AAA in 2010. In 2011, it was the first hotel to get a special award called the Certified Guest Service Property Designation from the AHLEI.
Hotel History and Fun Times
The hotel first opened its doors on July 7, 1999. Back then, it was called the "Holiday Inn Family Suites." On October 9, 2003, Holiday Inn and Nickelodeon announced they would work together. They planned to change the hotel into the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn.
In 2005, the hotel finished a big $25 million makeover. It reopened with a special event on Memorial Day. This was when the resort started hosting two game shows every night: Nick Live and Who Knows Best. Later, in 2012, they even added a game show based on Double Dare.
The Nickelodeon Suites Resort started offering special wedding packages in 2009. In 2014, they launched a "Summer of Shell" event. This added cool Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-themed rooms and a laser maze based on the show. In August 2014, the hotel even broke a Guinness World Record! They had the most people dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in one place, with 1,394 participants at the Lagoon Pool. Later that year, the hotel celebrated the new show Dora and Friends: Into the City! with a preschool-themed event. This event featured characters from shows like Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, Little Bill, Team Umizoomi, Wonder Pets!, and Julius Jr..
In 2015, the resort celebrated its tenth year as a Nickelodeon-themed hotel. They held weekly parties and events from March until November of that year.
Changing Back to Holiday Inn
On January 29, 2016, the Nick Hotel announced that it would change back to a Holiday Inn. The Nickelodeon experiences were planned to stop after April 30, 2016, but this was moved to May 31, 2016. The hotel officially became the Holiday Inn Resort Suites Orlando – Waterpark on June 1, 2016. Before the change, the famous time capsule that was at the resort moved to Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California. This was the first time it had left Orlando since it was first buried.
The hotel likely changed back because Nickelodeon partnered with another company, Karisma Hotels, to open a new Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Also, some of the shows featured at the hotel were no longer on TV, which made it harder to promote the Nickelodeon theme.
