LOCATION
Located on the North Shore, just 19 miles from downtown Boston, the Double Tree by Hilton, Boston North Shore, offers a great destination for exploring the city and then heading back to the hotel for even more fun. If you want history, Salem MA is only 4 miles from here. The location of this beautiful hotel allows you to explore all that the Boston area has to offer.
Our Family Guest Room
With 363 guest rooms to choose from, you are sure to find a room that best suits your family. Our family suite was extremely spacious and in one area featured a king size bed, large television, and a large desk, and free Wi-Fi. The room also contained a microwave and mini-fridge, which is convenient for having meals and snacks in your room. This is a wonderful way to keep your trip on budget.
The second area contained two toddler beds that were long enough to fit my tall girls (ages 8 & 10) comfortably. It was so nice to have the separation between the two sleeping areas because everyone appreciated having their own space after playing together at the water park all afternoon. They even had their own television. Both rooms have spacious dressers and there was a large closet that contained robes and an electric safe.
TradeWinds Restaurant
This beautiful restaurant is conveniently located in the hotel and offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We were originally planning on having dinner here, but after a long day of playing in the water park we opted to eat in our room before heading back to the water park for round two.
TradeWinds Lounge
This casual spot features a double-sided fireplace and large bar. There are televisions on the walls, and many people seemed to be enjoying the Patriots game that was on. Serves lunch and dinner daily.
Coffee Shop
Nothing wakes me up more quickly than a Starbucks coffee! This is a great choice if you want to grab a muffin, bagel, or pastry. The morning we were leaving we picked up some juice, muffins, and a delicious coconut latte to enjoy in our room. It was a great way to start the day.
CoCo Keys Indoor Water Park
When it is freezing cold outside, what could be better than someplace where you can splash around in pools for hours! Coco Keys Water Park offers 65,000 sq. ft. of fun for the entire family.
First Impression
I’ve been to several indoor water parks and I must say that not all of them have been a good experience, mainly because of a lack of cleanliness. I’m pretty picky about germs when traveling, and let’s face it, it’s hard to keep up the cleanliness of an indoor waterpark. I was pleasantly surprised by how immaculate the floors and pool areas were and not once during our visit did I feel uncomfortable while walking around. My kids couldn’t wait to get on the slides and I knew it would be a fun experience for us all. Here were some of our favorite areas:
Parrot’s Perch Play Area
This area is a water-filled jungle gym that contains squirting water cannons and small water slides. The best part is the huge bucket that dumps hundreds of gallons of water down on guests every few minutes.
My girls pretended to be animal rescuers in a rain forest. It’s a great area to let your creative side go wild.
There are also some pretty cool water slides!
Coconut Grove Adventure River
This is where we spent lots of time lounging in tubes while floating around the river. Watch out for some squirty surprises along the way! After dinner, there were so few people at the water park that we felt like we had the Adventure River all to ourselves!
The lifeguards are so attentive that I felt comfortable letting them go on the lazy river by themselves as I watched from the side.
Coral Reef Canyon
This fun area allows older kids to complete on an obstacle course made from cushiony lily pads. The lifeguard does a wonderful job allowing only one child to be on the course at a time. In another section, they can shoot some hoops or meet other kids and play a basketball game.
Shark Slam, Pelican Plunge, Barracuda Blast, & Gator Gush
If you are looking for adventure, these slides are a must! Although it took some convincing, it ended up being our favorite activities. (And by the way…I needed the convincing, not the kids! Haha) Two slides are done with tubes and two without. You get to choose whether your slide is lit or if you go on the one that is completely dark. We had fun screaming our heads off as we sped through the darkness. (Ok…that may have just been me screaming!)
Key Quest Arcade
When you’ve had your fill of water activities, head over to the arcade to play some fun games. Although I like that the arcade uses cards to store the kid’s credit on, it was difficult for them to keep track of how many points they had left and quickly ran out of points to play games. I think they are used to having quarters, or coins, to regulate how much more they had to spend. I would advise you to have them check their credit after every few games so they can see how much they have left. Some games cost up to 8 credits so it goes quickly.
Gator’s Grab and Go Restaurant
If you are looking for a quick place to eat, this is a great place to grab some pizza, burgers, fries, and drinks. For dinner, we bought some burgers and fries and just brought them back to our room to enjoy while we relaxed a bit and dried off. If you buy the CoCo Keys water bottle, you can get unlimited drinks, including slushies.
Wet Rooster Bar
After a day of play, a cocktail may be just what you need! Here, you can watch your kids play while taking a break from the water. They have some fun cocktail specials that will remind you of being on a Caribbean beach. The best part is the high-top table that allows you to face the water park so you can still keep an eye on your kids while they play. Of course, if you have young kids I would not recommend letting them go off on their own.
Staff
The staff at the hotel and water park went above and beyond during our stay. Check in was a breeze, and my girls were thrilled to be welcomed with warm chocolate chip cookies. One thing we noticed was, on three different times when we asked for directions, people stopped what they were doing to bring us there, instead of just telling us where to go. The hotel goes to great lengths to make their guests feel like they are home.
Tips
Day passes are available.
The water park offers towels for guests of the hotel but you may want to bring your own.
If you choose a Splash-and-Stay package, you can start using the water park pass at 10:00 am, even though check-in is not until 4:00.
ADDRESS: 50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923
PHONE NUMBER: (978) 777-2500
WEBSITE:www.cocokeyboston.com
CHECK IN: 4:00 CHECK OUT: 11:00
A warm thank you to DoubleTree by Hilton North Shore and CoCo Keys Water Park for having us as guests of your hotel and for the complimentary water park passes. As always, all experiences and opinions are 100% my own.
