Dive into the these 8 Florida resorts with water parks

For beach goers, Florida certainly offers some of the finest sands in the land. But when it’s freshwater fun you’re seeking, set your sights on a hotel that dishes up more than your standard swimming pool. Follow our lead to these Florida hotels with water parks — complete with slides, lazy rivers, lagoons, waterfalls, FlowRiders, and more. Then set off slipping and sliding to your heart’s delight.

Located about 20 minutes west of Walt Disney World, the lakefront Grove Resort & Waterpark Orlando has so many onsite attractions for families that you might even be able to give the house of mouse a pass. Entry to the onsite Surfari Water Park is free with your stay, and gets you access to a 695-foot-long lazy river, dual water slides, kids activity pool, and enormous zero-entry pool. If your kids know the basics of surfing (or just want to try shredding in a controlled environment), you can pay extra to ride the FlowRider Double surf simulator, a sheet wave machine that creates the perfect conditions for feeling what it’s like to ride a wave. Other family fun at this property fronting Lake Austin includes an arcade, kids activity center, and swan paddle boat and kayak rentals.

2. JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa

With free access for hotel guests and day passes available for local residents, Tidal Cove at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura offers one of the best hotel water parks in all of South Florida. This is where you’ll find the nation’s first FlowRider Triple surf simulation pool, with three different surf areas where you can try to hang ten on a Flowboard (lessons are offered for beginners, too). Climb the water park’s 60-foot tower to careen down seven different waterslides, including the 558-foot Constrictor slide, or just float atop a tube through tropical foliage along the a lazy river. There are five acres of pool deck fun to keep you wet and wild here.

3. Orlando World Center Marriott

This sprawling Orlando hotel — just 10 minutes from Disney Springs — has one of the best hotel water parks in all of Florida. The Orlando World Center Marriott is one of the largest Marriotts in the world, with a convention center, golf course, spa, nightly laser shows, and Japanese steakhouse among its many amenities. But for kids, it’s all about the new River Falls Water Park, complete with a zero-entry heated lagoon pool surrounded by a 90-foot-long speed slide, two even longer twisting slides, a slide tower, kiddie splash pad, and a 575-foot lazy river.

4. Encore Resort at Reunion

Perfect for a multi-generational vacation or family reunion, Encore Resort at Reunion, just 10 minutes from Walt Disney World, has vacation rentals with between four and 13 bedrooms that come with five-star hotel-style amenities as well as free transport to all of Orlando’s major theme parks. And the massive private resort community has an epic water park that sprawls across 10 tropical acres. Attractions range from water slides that drop from a 60-foot-high tower to the Surfing Safari Splash Area for smaller kids, with four pint-sized slides, water cannons they can fire, and bridges to scale.

5. Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa

This favorite hotel among golfers is located in the quiet community of Palm Coast — just south of St. Augustine on Florida’s east coast — and it happens to have a great water park, too. (All the better for keeping the kids entertained while you’re teeing up.) The Fantasy Pool Complex at Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa has a zero-entry beach pool where toddlers stay busy building sandcastles while older kids tackle the twisting waterslide or float down the lazy river. There’s even an indoor pool and an adults-only pool, for when you want a break from all the splashing, hooting, and hollering.

6. Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center

This Marriott property in Kissimmee that’s famous for its annual holiday events, incredible gardens, and animal habitats housed inside a 4.5-acre glass atrium also delivers big on water park fun. Cypress Springs Water Park at Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center is a three-acre zone with seven water slides, a surf simulator, two pools, an enormous playground in the water, and more. There’s an action river (not to be mistaken for a lazy river), too, called Crystal River Rapids, where you’re pushed along in a brisk current at four feet per second.

7. CoCo Key Hotel and Water Resort

A water park that’s largely shaded from Florida’s plentiful and sometimes punishing sunshine —now there’s a great idea! That’s what awaits at CoCo Key Hotel and Water Resort, located less than 10 minutes from Universal Orlando Resort and full of splash-centric fun all its own. A 54,000-square-foot canopy shades the bulk of this outdoor water park with 14 slides to careen down, two restaurants, a tiki bar, and a dedicated lagoon area for younger guests with gentle slides and fountains to enjoy. Four tickets to the water park are included in the hotel’s resort fee, which covers shuttles to Universal Orlando, entry to the family-friendly arcade, a fitness center, and other perks.

8. Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort

Even if visiting the nearby theme parks is the primary point of your vacation at the lavish Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort, you might be tempted to build an off-day into your itinerary once you see Explorer Island. The hotel’s fabulous water park centers around a nearly 8,000-square-foot family pool and dishes up a lazy river, The Drop (a twisting water slide), splash zone, and regularly scheduled events like dive-in movies, held every Saturday evening.