Our next Cartoon Destination takes us to warm thoughts and huge 90's nostalgia. Nearby Orlando Florida just down the road from Disney World sat a huge hotel with characters such as Spongebob, Rugrats, and Blues Clues and filled with all kinds of activities such as live shows, 4D movies, and a huge water play area that just OOZES with GREEN SLIME. But underneath all the slime is said to be something else. Was it really the Best Day Every, or was it all an illusion? Pack your bags folks, because we are about to find out, and if you are ready, kids....we're going to the Nickelodeon Suites and Resorts.
For this story, we are looking back at the version that was located in Orlando, FL from 2005-2016, new resorts have since opened in foreign countries but with different concepts. On a previous blog post ranting about CBSViacom, I talked briefly about its utter failure, but there is more to the story than just bad days. In fact, the story begins before the opening of the hotel, when it was actually a Holiday Inn Resort. This location, opening in 1999, was a way to compete against nearby Disney property hotels with two pools and a water playground among many things. In 2003, a deal was made between Nickelodeon and Holiday Inn for a possible chain of Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotels by Holiday Inn (or Nick Hotel for short), the first being the said Orlando location just nearby Disney. The project for Orlando was completed and opened in 2005. 4 other resorts were planned, though actual locations are unknown where they would have gone. The resort opened with fanfare advertising on Nickelodeon as well as Live Promotions being done down there including TV appearances of Tom Kenny as Patchy the Pirate (usually to promote a huge Spongebob event). In Nickelodeon fashion, tons of IPs were used throughout the resort including Spongebob, Jimmy Neutron, Fairly Oddparents, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, Little Bill, and even some older characters like Rugrats and Hey Arnold. Even some oddball properties such as Chalkzone, All Grown Up, and My Life as a Teenage Robot, while not as present as the more popular brands, would appear as decorations throughout the resort, though easily replaced with newer characters from Danny Phantom, Avatar the Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paw Patrol, Bubble Guppies, and for some reason....Fanboy and Chum Chum.
As you enter the lobby, you enter the big orange round circular building, where smiling cartoon characters greet you on the way in. After parents checked in, guests would stay in their themed room of their choice, though the most popular rooms were the Spongebob rooms. Other rooms include Dora the Explorer, Jimmy Neutron, Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, Rugrats, and even Rugrats All Grown Up. As shows came and went, the remaining rooms were Spongebob, Ninja Turtles, Dora, Fairly Oddparents, and one Danny Phantom room left by the time of its closure. Depending on the size of the suite, each would legally hold 6-12 guests per room (with 6 being standard suites and 12 being the bigger double suites).
Working our way inward is the most popular pool area of the two, the Lagoon Pool. This was where all the activity was. Included in the Lagoon Pool were a basketball court, an adult and family spa, a kids splash zone area featuring Nick Jr characters, a miniature golf course, and the star attraction....the massive water structure which had many splash zones, water slides, cut outs of famed Nickelodeon characters, and a HUGE water bucket when filled, it would pour down on guests standing under. Everyday at 4:55pm, the bucket would have water dyed green demonstrating the illusion of a mass slimming (because real slime would have been a mess for both guests and the pipes pumping out chlorine water).
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Further down would be the Oasis Pool. The smaller of the two, it featured a kiddie splash area, family spa, and its own water structure with slides and splash areas (though much smaller in stature compared to the Lagoon Pool's). Most of the time the Oasis Pool would not be open especially on not so busy days and "off season" months. Sometimes it would only be used for special events like for boys or girls scouts. Usually it is only open if nearly all the rooms are booked or during peak season months, but the reality is that everyone wanted to be near the Lagoon Pool since that's where all the action was, so for them to keep the Oasis Pool closed on the least busy days made sense, but it was an option on extremely crowded days or should the Lagoon Pool had to close for whatever reason.
Smack dab in the middle of the resort is the mall area. This is where most of the dining area takes place. Options include Antonio's Pizzeria based off of Ninja Turtles, a deli, the Nicktoons Cafe, the buffet, the lounge, and Starbucks. And as the name suggests, the Nicktoons Cafe is where you dine with your favorite Nicktoons characters, usually Spongebob but sometimes other famed characters from Nickelodeon. When not dining, sets of character meet and greets happened throughout the day at the mall. The mall itself was decked out with orange and green and even has pictures of old Nickelodeon shows like Double Dare, Figure it Out, and Weinerville. Other attractions inside include a 4D Theater with Spongebob Squarepants, Nick Pix where you can buy pictures of you with the characters, an arcade, a gift shop, kids' spa, and Studio Nick home to live entertainment such as character shows and game shows including Who Knows Best, Nick Live (which would move over to the Lagoon Pool eventually using a different kind of slime; not too fake, but water based again due to the pipes used for chlorine water), Slime Time Live, Let It Snow, Celebrate Nickmas, Spongebob's Krabby Patty Celebration, TMNT Dance Show, Dora's Friendship Fiesta, other Dance Parties, and the classic game show....Double Dare. The latter of which would be the last remaining show at Studio Nick. When the Turtles got popular in the 2010's, a Laser Maze was added called Laser Lockdown where you had to avoid lasers in order to save one of the Turtles.
The characters there would make daily appearances at the lobby, mall, and sometimes the Lagoon Pool. Nearly every Nickelodeon character you can think of was there. I may do a walkaround costume post for some of these characters especially Spongebob and the Rugrats as they had different costumes over the years. Defunctland's Keven Perjerer claims that some of the costumes were creepy, but I wouldn't say they were "creepy", rather some of them were "in development stages". Take Spongebob for example: early character appearances limited character movement of the sponge making it hard for kids to interact with him. Rods would control the arms of the character, making shaking hands with the sponge.......awkward........ Improvements to the costume ceased such limitations making Spongebob able to hug, shake hands, and give high fives. Other characters were not so lucky: Mr. Krabs had huge claws for hands, and had an angry face for some reason, The Fairly Oddparents had NO arm or head movements giving NO ability to interact with guests, and the Bubble Guppies had their costumes look messed up just as bad as bootlegged Paw Patrol costumes. Sadly, not every Nick character got a costume, or were at least retired like Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, and the Wild Thornberries. I would have loved to have seen walkaround characters for shows like My Life as a Teenage Robot and The Mighty B since they are among my favorite Nicktoons. Instead we got Ming Ling Duckling, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, and for God knows why.....Fanboy and Chum Chum, who despite the show's failure, stayed at the Nick Hotel until the bitter end. And by the time The Loud House went on the air (only a Lincoln Loud costume has been confirmed for character appearances) it was too late....the Nick Hotel was just starting to become no more. The Spongebob characters were by far the most popular in the hotel as nearly all the characters from the show had a costume.
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| You allergic? No? Then GET SLIMED, SCRUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
So what happened to the Nick Hotel causing its demise? In theory, when you look at the pictures and videos, no mater how good or amateurish they can be, it seemed like a really fun place to go. The kids seem to be having the time of their lives. The reality, however, is that things were slipping away behind the scenes. For starters, as simple as everything was, it was WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. Being an all inclusive resort, and adding everything up such as dining, lodging, and daily activities, could cost as much as over $700! And for what? Waterslides and Chuck E Cheese like food? Nickelodeon also had a deal with Karisma Hotels to open up their own versions of Nickelodeon Resorts in the mid-late 2010's. Nickelodeon's presence at Universal Studios dwindled drastically. Finally, with very rare exceptions such as adding Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, the Nick Hotel was simply left to rot. No major updates were made to make guests return for more. Many of the shows have ended, and some of the rooms were not in the best upkeep having a mildew like smell, rusted appliances, old TV's, broken
But in spite of all the issues the Nick Hotel had, kids that went to it all claimed they had the time of their lives. It may not have been perfect, and sure there were some bad instances here and there, but there were many who had fond memories of going to Nickelodeon. It might not have survived in the long run, but it may have been successful of making it the Best Day Ever.
For more information, check out Defunctland's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CN9HpYrjeM
For even more info, there's also a Defuctland podcast filled with very unusual stories challenging 'The Best Day Ever": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of_lyqUmCpk&t=1400s
And yet there is even more Nick fun to dive into since there were some amusement/theme parks that used the Nick characters over the years, but that may be for another Cartoon Destination.
I'm glad you mentioned Defunctland in this article
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