Key Lime Cove Indoor Water Park in Gurnee, IL

[hezzier]

We are looking for something to do with the kids on our way up to the suburbs of Chicago this summer.  Could do Lego Discovery Center in Schaumsburg, IL, but found this also...

http://www.keylimecove.com/index.cfm

And if yes, did you eat there?  or somewhere nearby?

[starlight]

I've never been, and have no clue about allergy stuff in Gurnee, but I will tell you this is right across the street from Six Flags. As in, I think you can see the roller coasters from the parking lot and you can definitely see them from the highway. I imagine lots of "can we go THERE instead?!?! Please please please?!?!" Just something to think about, if your kids like theme parks and you aren't willing to spend the gazillions of dollars it costs to get into the park, you might be better off with Lego to prevent sad kiddos.

[hezzier]

Not too worried about kids wanting to go to Six Flags since we have one not too far away.

I learned about this place from a friend and it turns out they just went recently, here's what she had to say...

we were at Key Lime Cove last week for the first time. We really liked it. We had a 1 bedroom suite - had gotten a deal through some online deal site (like groupon) for $99/night, then I upgraded when we checked in for $40/night more for the suite. The room was very nice, clean and large. Probably Hilton quality. The waterpark was perfect for the kids. 6 yr old wasn't quite tall enough to do the biggest slides (2 body slices, 2 tube slides and a "toilet bowl" one - that's what we call them), but she was fine with a giant climbing playground with decent-sized slides, the lazy river and wave pool. 9 yr old was well entertained for 3 days - the slides go out of the building, so they are bigger than "all indoor" ones. There is a hot tub in the middle that is parents only where you can have drinks and watch the kids on the slides. There are TONS of lifeguards, and all of the tubes on the lazy river/wave pool are clear. There is only 1 entrance/exit, and you have to have an armband from the hotel to get in (which is also your room key and how you charge things - very handy). It is salt water, so that is nice, too. There is also a huge arcade, lots of shops, a full resort of activities. Great for a long weekend. We did Wed - Sat. It was filling up on Friday night and we didn't swim on Sat, so I'm not sure how busy it is on the weekends. It wasn't very crowded 2 of the days we were there, and Friday it was busier, but fine. We plan to go back. They said they could accomidate allergies in the restaurants, and we only tried the quick-serve pizza place. There are tons of restaurants all around there, too. It is right by Gurnee Mills Mall.

Sounds promising

[GingerPye]

That does sound fun!  We've thought about going but just haven't gotten there yet. 

[booandbrimom]

There are TONS of restaurants right there...it's also right next door to Gurnee Mills (a large outlet mall). There's actually an Outback Steakhouse right across the street.

My kids were never interested in going - they were already too old by the time it opened. Unfortunately, we're MFA so no good for restaurant recommendations, although we love this place if you don't mind driving a little south:

http://mainstreetsmokehouse.com/

BTW, Six Flags Great America does have a water park as well now.

[starlight]

There's a groupon. http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-key-lime-cove-indoor-waterpark-resort

[hezzier]

So we went to Key Lime Cove yesterday.  We had fun, don't know that I'd need to do it again.  It's certainly small enough that we felt comfortable letting DD do her own thing.  They had 3 large slides that used tubes that you could go as a single or double.  There were 2 large body slides,a lazy river/small wave pool, a play/smaller body slide area and a tot section.  We spent about 4 hours in the water park, had dinner and went to the arcade after dinner.  I don't think we would have done much more than that, but I can see how if you were staying longer in the am that it would have been fun to do the water slides again.

A friend had been and said the pizza at the counter service was safe.  We did not go this route and tried the restaurant called the Crazy Toucan.  They had a big CYA statement on the bottom of their kids menu about not being able to guarantee the safety of their food.  I asked before we were seated how they handled allergies.  The hostess said they can cook it separately.  She asked the chef to come out and discuss options.  I asked about the grilled cheese...he said it was safe.  I asked if they made their own bread...it was a no, it came from a bakery...not safe in my book.  For DS, we ordered Kraft mac & cheese and packaged apple slices (skipped the carmel sauce because we didn't know the company).  DH and I enjoyed our salads so it worked out.