Entertainment Editor

Chances are, if you were a tourist in the early days of Walt Disney World, you may have stayed at the Hilton Inn South.

It was one of the first hotels on International Drive and dubbed “a folly” because  no one thought  a hotel so far away from downtown Orlando could be successful.

The hotel had close ties to Disney World because while the resort was under construction, the hotel was  home to Disney executives and cast members for Disney's Contemporary Hotel were trained there.

Through the years, the hotel became a Ramada and eventually the Legacy Grand Hotel.

Fast forward to 2010, and the folks from Disney would never recognize the place.

Now, Central Florida's newest family resort, the Coco Key Hotel and Water Resort is now the state's only canopy-covered water resort.

“We think this is a great time to be entering the (resort) market,” Ed Baklor, senior vice president for Sage Hospitality, the company overseeing the operation of all ten of the Coco Key resorts.

The new resort offers a different marketing approach for families with its water park and hotel all-inone concept. Area residents can also buy day passes to use the water park area or spend time in the large video arcade. Also on the plus side, Baklor said, the resort has added 200 jobs to Central Florida.

Affordability for the family is a primary goal, for the Coco Key resort. Room rates range between $99 -$149.  Access to the water park is $19 per room, per day. Admission to the water park for day guests is $19.95 per day, $14.95 for Florida residents.

The water park  consists of several areas:

Minnow Lagoon — A water play area for younger children, with a zero depth entry pool, mushroom water featuers, water cannons and racing slides.

Parrot's Perch — An interactive play island with water cannons and a 400-gallon dump bucket that tips every 30 minutes.

Coral Reef Cove — It features the Cyclone adventure slide and plenty of room for water volleyball.

Adventure Slides — The resorts slide area features three signature slides atop the five-story Sunset Tower. The slides include the Boomerango, a two-person tube thrill ride that lets guests get vertical or also experience a sense of weightlessness.

Also part of the park is the Key Quest Arcade. The 6,500-square-foot arcade includes mini bowling lanes, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Extreme, classic video and high definition racing games, air hockey and more.

Residents should also consider Coco Key as a good birthday destination. The resort offers party packages priced at $24.95 per child (minimum of ten children). The standard package includes a one-hour private party, with birthday meal and cake. A party host serves the cake and meal and assists with handing out gifts and goodie bags including a $5 arcade card for each child.  Meal packages feature either pizza, hot dog or a hambuger and fries. The package includes two hours of admission to the water park.

The resort, which opened in April, also presented a $5,000 check to The Gift of Swimming, a group that provides swimming training for disadvantaged and developmentally disabled children in Central Florida. For more information on the The Gift of Swimming go to www.giftforswimming.org.

The Coco Key Hotel and Water Resort is located at 7400 International Drive.