Splish splash cool pool!

Thanks to Jamie, who told the folks at Key Lime Cove Water Resort about me and The Full Mommy, my 5-year-old daughter and I were invited to check out this brand-spankin'-new water park hotel in Gurnee, Illinois. (That's halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago, and about a two-hour drive from where I live.)

Now if you don't live in the Midwest--I didn't, until 4 years ago--you may not realize that water parks are The Thing to Do in the winter. Lots of hotels have fancy indoor pools that they call water parks. They add some slides and a couple of other fun features for the kids, and pretty soon families are descending every weekend for some R&R.

So Key Lime Cove is entering a crowded market, but it's bound to be a big hit. Gurnee already has a Six Flags and a humongo outlet mall (plus every chain restaurant known to man) so a water resort fits right in. And Key Lime has plenty to offer families. The kids, of course, will be totally wowed by the 65,000-square-foot water park, plus there's a huge arcade and an arts-and-crafts space. For moms and dads, there are restaurants, shops, and a spa right in the building. Yes, it's complete cheese -- the pizza place is called Anna Chovy's, just to give you one example -- but it does have that power to make you forget your real life that totally themed-out places do.

The spa wasn't open yet during our stay (damn) and we didn't have time to check out more than two eateries, but we certainly explored the water park! It features a wave pool, a lazy river (my daughter and I both loved floating round and round in inner tubes), no less than 10 different water slides, a hot tub, a cute kiddie pool, and a humongous play structure crowned with a 10-foot-tall, pineapple-shaped bucket. My daughter quickly learned that when you hear the bell ring, get out of the way if you don't want to be hit with 250 gallons of water! She was, however, disappointed that there wasn't a "regular" pool so she could practice her swimming strokes.

We were among the very first to try out the park, so it hadn't had time to get grotty or crowded. But I was impressed with the lifeguards--there seemed to be dozens of them, and they were very helpful and friendly. I loved that the baby/toddler pool area was completely fenced in and had its own lifeguard too. There was a large, clean locker room plus a couple of smaller family changing rooms.

The resort is especially proud of its "cashless" status. When you check in, you get a plastic wristband embedded with a radio-frequency ID chip. You use it to enter your room and to charge anything and everything available at the resort -- food, drinks, tokens at the arcade, souvenirs and supplies at the shops, whatever. Parents can also get kids a pre-paid band. Sure, this is a great way to get you to spend more dough -- but it is convenient to be able to hit the pool without having to carry a wallet or room key. (I was concerned that there are no safes in the room to secure said wallet or other valuables; but I'm told safes will be added next month. In the interim, there are safe deposit boxes at the front desk.)

I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that all this doesn't come cheap. The best deal I could find on the Key Lime Cove web site was the spring weekend special rate, with rooms starting at $199/night plus tax. Still, when winter's dragged on as long as it has around here ... you'll pay almost anything for a mini vacation in the (fake) tropics.