Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites – Waterpark facts for kids

Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites – Waterpark (formerly known as Holiday Inn Family Suites, Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn, and Nickelodeon Suites Resort (also known simply as Nick Hotel) is an all-suite hotel in Orlando, Florida, United States, near the Universal Orlando Resort and one mile from Walt Disney World Resort. It is a Holiday Inn Resort. From 2005 to 2016, the hotel was themed after the cable television channel Nickelodeon.

The resort features one-to-three bedroom suites and two waterparks, the Lagoon Pool and Oasis Pool. A "4-D" film theater using SimEx-Iwerks technology, 3,000-square-foot arcade, golf course, multi-level basketball court and family game shows are held at the hotel, and "Nick After Dark" event locations were also previously held at the hotel. The resort formerly contained a mall with a Nickelodeon-brand retail shop and a buffet known as the "Nicktoons Café," among other restaurants. Near the entrance of the resort was a time capsule formerly buried outside the former Nickelodeon Studios complex at nearby Universal Studios Florida.

Nickelodeon Suites Resort was named one of the AAA's top ten family vacation spots in 2010, and in 2011, the hotel became the first to receive the AHLEI's Certified Guest Service Property Designation.

History

The original hotel opened on July 7, 1999, and was branded the "Holiday Inn Family Suites." At an October 9, 2003 press conference in New York City, Holiday Inn and Nickelodeon announced a partnership and renovation of the hotel, which would transform it into the Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn.

Nickelodeon Suites Resort logo

In 2005, the hotel's $25 million renovation ended with a Memorial Day event to promote the hotel's reopening. At this time, the resort began hosting two nightly game shows, titled Nick Live and Who Knows Best (a Double Dare-themed game show was added in 2012).

Nickelodeon Suites Resort began offering customizable wedding packages in 2009. In 2014, the resort launched the "Summer of Shell," adding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-themed rooms and a laser maze based on the show. In August 2014, a Guinness World Record (for most people in one place dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was broken at the hotel's Lagoon Pool with 1,394 participants. Later the same year, the hotel promoted the premiere of Dora and Friends: Into the City! with a preschool-themed event featuring costume characters from Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, Little Bill, Team Umizoomi, Wonder Pets! and Julius Jr.

2015 marked the resort's tenth year under its Nickelodeon name and the hotel hosted weekly celebratory events from March 6 until November of that year.

Rebranding

On January 29, 2016, Nick Hotel posted an official statement on their website stating that, effective April 18, 2016, the hotel would be rebranded back into a Holiday Inn. Nickelodeon experiences were set to be discontinued after April 30, 2016, but were extended until May 31, 2016, after the rebrand was pushed back to June 1, 2016. Sometime before the resort's closure, the time capsule previously held at the resort was moved to Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California, leaving Orlando for the first time since its initial burial. The rebrand was likely due to a new partnership with Karisma Hotels to open a Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the hotel falling into a state of limbo and disrepair, the shows featured (with the exceptions of SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Odd Parents, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Paw Patrol) being cancelled, as well as the brand's declining popularity in the area, resulting from its drastically reduced presence, thus making it difficult to promote the hotel.

Even with the debranding, the hotel continued to struggle, and with the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 effecting tourism in the area, costing the hotel 300 jobs in April 2020. The Hotel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 18, 2021.