Spring deals for indoor waterpark lodges

With warm weather barely hovering, the idea of finding a place where temperatures feel more tropical is appealing. You don’t have to head south to find it. Several indoor waterpark resorts are offering spring deals to entice travelers. I’m heading to one of them myself.

Cherry Valley Lodge in Ohio is a deal-making expert. Tomorrow, for example, by ordering two adult entrees at the lodge’s Sunflower Restaurant you get a one-day admission for four to the CoCo Key Waterpark. The way I see it, this takes care of what to do for Easter dinner as well as getting out of town for a mini getaway. From everything I’ve ever read or heard about the restaurant, it’s superb. I envision the waterpark before we eat, and then a walk through the lodge’s garden afterward.

Cherry Valley Lodge is offering several other package deals this spring that include a stay at the lodge. The Going Green with CoCo is connected to Earth Day and includes an Earth Day craft, a tote bag and more. There’s also a Wild Waterpark Works package that includes passes to The Wilds, an outdoor wild game preserve, and passes for The Works, a discovery center museum. Check out the lodge’s seasonal package page for the deals and the promotional codes.

Here’s a round-up of more packages at other indoor waterpark resorts.

If you’re looking for something to do with a group of friends, consider these as an option.

A few years ago, my husband’s family including four of his five siblings and most of their kids met for the day at Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio. We did the birthday party package even though it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. At the time, the package was cheaper than if we all bought individual day passes, plus it included ice-cream, pizza and a drink. One of my sister in-laws set it up under one name and we each paid for our own family when we arrived.

Other resort and waterpark deals:

Great Wolf Lodge, a chain located in various states, is offering a variety of package deals. The deals vary depending upon the lodge. Splash into Spring is available at the Kansas City location, for example. If you go to the Great Wolf Lodge website, you can find packages that include water park passes and lodging once you click on the particular water park in which you are interested.

CoCo Key waterparks are connected to various hotels such as the one at Cherry Valley Lodge. Like Great Wolf Lodge, the deals depend upon the location. Click here for options.

Country Springs Hotel, Water Park and Conference Center, Waukesha, Wisconsin. There are a few spring packages from which to choose depending on your budget and what you’d like to include. Food vouchers, birthday party fixin’s and game tokens are some of the options. Click here for details.

Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, Dubuque, Iowa. There’s a Lil’ Squirt Package that includes waterpark tickets for four, $25 voucher for the Riverwalk Restaurant, 40 arcade tokens and 10% off the gift shop.

White Water Bay Great Escape Lodge and Indoor Waterpark, Queensbury, New York–There’s a package to celebrate Earth Day, one that includes breakfast, another that includes dinner and one for birthdays. All come with lodging and waterpark passes.

King’s Point Waterpark Resort, Storm Lake, Iowa. The resort’s website has coupons for discounts. You can get one night for free if you pay for two, for example. There are coupons for free food and other goodies as well.

Watiki Indoor Waterpark Resort, Grand Rapids, Rapid City, South Dakota. Through April 30th day passes are at a discount. During the week, a pass is $5.95. On the weekends it’s $11.95. Stay at the Fairfield Inn or La Quinta which are less expensive than many resort hotels. In May, the admission goes up by $5, which for an indoor waterpark, is not a bad deal.

Vacation comfortably in (only) your own skin

Lost your shirt in the market? Thankfully, some destinations will provide service absent one. You won’t need shoes … or pants … either. Nude tourism is on the rise according to some estimates, and the industry is pegged at $400 million annually.

Ready to throw your vacation fund into the mix?

Packing, apparently, is easy. Maybe you’ll need some sandals or bring a book, and sun block is certainly in order. Once you get settled, strip down, step outside and join the fun. Most nude resorts have plenty of naked activities for you to enjoy.

When you think kink, Hedonism II is usually at the top of the list, but there are plenty of other resorts that cater to the nudies. Click here (CNN) to check a few of them out.

Your next luxury vacation – on an oil rig?

Picture this – instead of taking a bus to your next hotel, you grab a boat and sail out to a remote oil rig in the gulf of Mexico. On board the platform you’ll find all the amenities you’d expect from a luxury resort, including a spa and several swimming pools.

This may sound like something out of a James Bond movie, but the concept is actually not that far from becoming reality.

The brains behind the idea come from Morris Architects, a design firm with offices in Houston, Los Angeles and Orlando who won an international hospitality award with the concept.

There are currently just under 4000 platforms in the gulf of Mexico, varying from tiny facilities to massive concrete structures. Sooner or later the oil and gas in their field will go dry, and the normal solution is to blow the thing up and let it sink. By converting some of the platforms to hotel resorts, the impact on the environment could be greatly reduced.

That said – I’m not sure I’d feel entirely comfortable in the gulf of Mexico during hurricane season. Despite being built to withstand pretty bad weather, the thought of being stuck in my pre-fabricated oil rig room waiting for a category 3 hurricane to move away is a tad unnerving.

Morris Architects, via Curbed LA

Pay like it’s 2008 in Antigua this year

Need a deal to make it to Antigua? Curtain Bluff is ready to help you out. The upscale resort has only 72 guestrooms and is only feet from the beach. To entice you down to the island this spring, the hotel is offering an unprecedented deal. Book six nights, and the seventh is on the house … but only from March 1 to March 14 and March 21 to April 4. Reserve an additional room for the kids (under 18), and you’ll save another 25 percent.

To make Antigua even more attractive, Curtain Bluff is freezing rates. This year, you can reserve rooms at 2008 rates. So, do a bit of SCUBA diving or snorkeling and eat like a king – everything is included in the hotel’s daily rate.

Luxury is tough to imagine in this market. Curtain Bluff is making it a little easier this year.

Make ski resort losses your gain this year

Skiers are winners in the current recession. Lodges and resorts out west are offering generous deals to put you on their powder. So, if you have a bit of extra cash on hand and the urge to hit the slopes, there’s never been a better time to be alive.

In the Aspen/Snowmass area, you can get a free flight, a free night’s stay and a free lift ticket. Of course, there’s a catch. You’re total stay has to stretch to five-days/four-nights, and you need to pay for one of the two airline tickets – which have to be on Frontier Airlines.

Vail Resorts, with properties in Colorado and on the California/Nevada border, can get you three nights in a room and three days on the hills for the price of two at its Heavenly Resort or Lakeside Inn & Casino. RockResorts, which operates on the luxury end of the scale, is kicking in a free night, a bottle of wine and a $50 gift card for guests who stay at least two nights.

These types of deal are rare this time of year, when skiers normally flock to the slopes. But, times are tough. Visits to Vail Resorts are down 5.8 percent (through January 4, 2009), and revenue from lift tickets is down 7.5 percent. Bookings through the end of last year … down 14.8 percent. More and more reservations are hitting at the last minute. For the airlines and resorts, this is brutal, and they’re willing to go the extra mile, it seems, to get you to dig into your wallet.

[Via NY Times, where more deals are listed]