NEWARK, Ohio There s no mistaking that it s December in Ohio, as snowflakes can be seen drifting down outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of Cherry Valley Lodge.

But inside the newest addition to the rustic country hotel near Columbus, it s a balmy 84 degrees. Kids in bathing suits are zipping down water slides, splashing toward the hoop on a water basketball court, and blasting each other with water cannons while their parents relax in chaise lounges, chatting and sipping frozen drinks.

This is the new CoCo Key Water Resort, one of two new indoor water parks in Ohio that opened, coincidentally, on the same day in mid-December. The other is the Great Wolf Lodge at Paramount s Kings Island in Mason, near Cincinnati.

The addition of the two new watery playgrounds brings to six the number of such facilities in the state. All have been opened in the last few years, and most are attempts to help transform seasonal destinations into year-round attractions.

At Cherry Valley, plans for the water park were announced soon after the 200-room hotel was purchased last year by a Denver company called Sage Hospitality Resources. Partnering with a Milwaukee water-park developer, Sage is building a number of indoor water parks around the country, all attached to hotels it owns or operates.

Cherry Valley is the first of Sage s water parks to open.

The d cor and atmosphere of the new 50,000-square-foot water park is meant to reflect the theme of Key West, Fla., with lots of faux palm trees, colorful birds, and a tropical environment. Its mascot is a live macaw named CoCo that s already become a favorite with young visitors, who are delighted when they manage to coax the occasional Hello! out of the brightly feathered bird.

There s also a six-foot-tall plush version of CoCo that wanders through the water park regularly, greeting visitors, posing for pictures, even singing Happy Birthday at parties.

The $20 million facility, which took more than a year to construct, features three winding water slides that jut in and out of an outside wall; a 275-foot-long tubing river; activity pools with basketball and other games, and a shallow dip-in theater pool where kids can float around while watching movies and animated features on a full-sized theater screen.

A giant play structure includes a zero-depth entry area for toddlers, slides for smaller children, water cannons and geysers, and a huge bucket that dumps 300 gallons of water on those below every few minutes. Older guests can enjoy both indoor and outdoor whirlpools.

Sandwiches, pizza, and other types of food are sold at an enclosed snack bar just off the water park s deck, and a bar with open seating serves adult beverages in an area that overlooks the entire park. Despite its size, the water park is laid out so that parents can keep an eye on their children no matter where they are.

At one end of the water park are five open cabanas that can be rented by the day. Each of them has a TV, refrigerator, and safe, and butler service is available. For larger groups, there are separate party rooms for rent.

Life preservers and rafts are available for guests use at no charge.

Outside the water park is another dining area, as well as a store and a large arcade.

The new water park and the family business it aims to attract is a radical departure from Cherry Valley s traditional market of weekday business people and conferences, and adult leisure guests on weekends.

The lodge s management is keenly aware of the challenge of trying to integrate a noisy and raucous water park into the laid-back lodge without destroying its atmosphere or alienating its loyal guests, many of whom return to Cherry Valley year after year.

Early on, it was a concern with a lot of our regulars, said Becky Miller, the lodge s general manager. We found that the best way to convince them was just to take them down to see [the water park]. After that, they weren t worried.

The water park has a separate entrance and registration desk, and its patrons will be gently steered away from the main lobby and other public areas of the lodge.

Miller contrasted Cherry Valley s new set-up with that of most other water park hotels. With those, you ve got a water park with a hotel attached, she said. Here, we re a hotel with a water park attached.

You can stay here and not go anywhere near the water park, or even know that it s here.

The water park is primarily for guests staying overnight at Cherry Valley, she said, but a limited number of day passes will be available for public purchase, with the prices ranging from $30 to $40 depending on the day of the week and the season.

To go along with its new water park, Cherry Valley is also adding a full-service spa, which is scheduled to open next month.

Within the next several weeks, Sage will be opening other CoCo Key water parks at hotels in Arlington Heights and Rockford, Ill., and in Danvers, Mass.

Great Wolf Lodge

About 120 miles southwest of Newark, just north of Cincinnati, the new indoor water park in Mason is part of the second Great Wolf Lodge to be built in Ohio. When the first one (initially called Great Bear Lodge) opened in Sandusky in 2001, it became the first indoor water park in the state.

The Mason water park is more than double the size of Sandusky s (79,000 square feet, compared to Sandusky s 33,000), and it s attached to a four-story, log-sided lodge that contains 400 all-suite guest rooms. The resort and water park took 16 months and $100 million to build.

The cavernous park, called Bear Track Landing, features the usual array of pools (six of them) and water slides (a dozen), as well as a water roller coaster, a 112,000-gallon wave pool, a rock-climbing wall, adult and family whirlpools, and a four-story treehouse water fort, all clustered under a 90-foot-high, sky-lit roof. There s also a lazy river and a zero-depth entry kiddie pool.

And like every water park worthy of the name, this one has a giant bucket that dumps water out in this case, a whopping 1,000 gallons every few minutes.

There is also a gift shop, an arcade, and several places to buy food, drinks, and snacks and there s even a Starbucks coffee shop, but that s in the lodge itself, not in the water park. A spa at the resort offers massages, facials, and other services, including an Ice Cream Pedicure.

An innovative wristband system at Great Wolf allows for keyless entry into hotel rooms, and guests can use their wristbands to make cashless purchases throughout the resort, even at the arcade.

Great Wolf is partially owned by Kings Island, and it s the official resort of the popular seasonal theme park. The water park is open only to overnight guests of the lodge.

The resort near Kings Island is the eighth Great Wolf facility in North America. Others are in Sandusky; Traverse City, Mich.; Wisconsin Dells, Wis.; Kansas City; Williamsburg, Va.; the Pocono Mountains, Penn., and Niagara Falls, Ont.

Other indoor water parks in Ohio are: Kalahari Resort, Castaway Bay, and Great Wolf Lodge, all in Sandusky, and Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort in Columbus.

Mike Kelly is a retired Blade travel writer.

Contact him at kelly.writer @yahoo.com.

First Published December 24, 2006, 11:09 a.m.