On our last vacation, we visited South Florida and were lucky to have pretty nice weather and spent most of our time poolside. We took two days and one night to drive to Orlando (3 hours in the car) and despite many are-we-there-yet’s and one vomiting episode, our excursion was fun, complete with the Nickelodeon Hotel, a quick visit to Downtown Disney and a day at Legoland.
We had been talking to our kidsabout Legoland since it opened in November and when my son really wanted to go there, we figured we could do it to celebrate his birthday (in place of a birthday party) while we were on our annual Florida tour. As a surprise for both kids, we booked a night at the Nickelodeon Hotel.
As we drove into Orlando, the signs for Disney World are so overwhelming that my 5 year old started yelling “We’re going to Disney World!!” and we had to say “um, sorry, no, we aren’t.”
Nickelodeon Hotel: Overview
We had booked our room using their online reservation system (super easy). I had actually Googled “Nickelodeon Hotel discounts” and was able to find some pretty good options. They also have some deals posted on their website, so it’s worth a check before making your reservation. As we drove up to the hotel, it was pretty impressive. The kids were so excited and the hotel really looked super cool from the outside. We had arrived early and assumed that our room wouldn’t be ready until closer to the 4pm check-in time, but to our surprise, they gave us a room right away.The agent who checked us in was very knowledgeable about the amenities that the hotel offered and very quick to answer all of our questions and guide us in the right direction.
Nickelodeon All-Suite Resort Rooms
We had booked a 1 bedroom Spongebob Suite which was pretty nice – had a kitchenette with fridge/microwave, large bathroom, king size bed in the bedroom, living area complete with couch, chair and flat screen tv. There was also a “bedroom” for the kids that housed two twin beds, TV, built-in shelves (instead of a dresser) and a Spongebob mural on the wall. The room also came with free Wi-Fi, which is always appreciated. All of the rooms in the Nickelodeon Hotel are suites, which is great for traveling families. One negative was that we would have liked to have a door to the kids sleeping area, but it wasn’t really a big deal. The rooms seemed relatively clean and from a noise perspective, we were thankful that our room was on the side of the hotel opposite the water park. There were rooms directly outside the water park which I am sure were very loud – when we returned to the hotel at 10pm at night, we could still hear a good amount of noise coming from the pool.
Nickelodeon Resort On-Site Water Park
The Nickelodeon has its own water park, which was pretty cool, and had the weather been better, I am sure it would have been packed with a million kids. It also seemed clean, contrary to reviews I had read saying it wasn’t. It was the one day during the week that was cold, but my kids didn’t care as they ran from the water playground to the heated pool (note that the adults were sitting on lounge chairs in sweatshirts drinking hot coffee). When you stay in the hotel, you are automatically entitled to use the water park which is great if you want to take a break from the theme parks and just get some relaxing time in. The slides are really cool and every kid there was amazed and having a great time.
Nickelodeon Resort Dining
Inside The Mall in the hotel, there is a food court with many choices – including Subway, pizza and (hooray) a Starbucks. They also had a character breakfast which the kids enjoyed, as Spongebob and some other characters went from table to table. We expected the food to be just okay and overpriced – and it was.
Nickelodeon Resort Entertainment
The hotel schedule included many indoor shows, pool shows and character meet & greets. The meet & greets were pretty well spaced and they gave you enough time with the characters to say hello and get whatever photos you wanted. We saw a cute Spongebob show at the larger studio in the hotel and the seats were very comfortable and the lines not too long. There is also an arcade and multiple gift shops located in The Mall.
Nickelodeon Resort Overall Review
Our kids had a great time at the Nickelodeon Hotel. The Four Seasons it is not, but that wasn’t our expectation going in. Overall, the hotel was nice, but in my opinion, pretty dated with the main characters you see being Spongebob and Dora. My kids are a little older so while they thought it was cool, they were looking for iCarly and Victorious who are also Nick characters but nowhere to be found.We stayed for one night which we found to be more than adequate. In the end, the kids had a great time and it’s a vacation that they are still talking about, which makes us happy parents.
Amy Platt
Amy Platt is a Long Island native, currently raising two kids here. After the birth of her second child, she realized that parents need a place to find information about parenting on Long Island and LIParentSource was born. Shes loves to be involved with all things happening locally and getting that information out to parents.
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