At Nickelodeon hotel, green slime is a selling point

ORLANDO, Fla. -- I consider myself something of a hardened, jaded reporter. I was gassed during the raid to seize Elian Gonzalez. I spent weeks watching officials look for hanging chads during the 2000 presidential recount. I've seen more autopsy photos than the combined "CSI" casts.

But my latest self-imposed assignment had my friends and colleagues expressing concern for my well-being -- a weeklong vacation at the just-opened Orlando hotel themed on Nickelodeon, the children's cable television network famous for dropping neon-green slime on game show winners.

Like a lot of children, my 6-year-old son, Andrew, loves Nickelodeon cartoons -- "SpongeBob Squarepants," "The Fairly OddParents," "Jimmy Neutron" and "The Rugrats." He's seen most of the episodes 30 times, it seems, and he can repeat lines before they're said.

So when Holiday Inn announced last year that it would remake a hotel into the Nickelodeon Family Suites, my wife booked a week for just after its Memorial Day weekend opening. The resort's Web site promised two mini-water parks, Nick characters interacting with the guests and lots of family fun.

Because our suite was $189 a night (about double what we normally pay for a room), we agreed to forgo Walt Disney World -- a mile away -- and other major theme parks. Instead, we'd content ourselves with what the Nick Hotel had to offer and, if necessary, side trips to cheaper attractions, like Gatorland.

Our two-bedroom suite had a comfortable living room, a small refrigerator, a microwave and a coffee-maker. The living room was comfortable and the adult bedroom was nicely and sedately appointed.

Andrew's room was decorated with SpongeBob murals and had two twin beds and a PlayStation 2 video game system -- free to play if you bring your own disks, or you can rent games for $5 each.

Considering that the hotel's population is at least half children, the room was amazingly quiet -- only one night was our sleep interrupted when a rude family let its children run wild on our sixth-floor walkway.

The pool areas are a water-loving child's delight. There are slides and nets to climb. Water jets and spray guns. Buckets to tip over on unsuspecting adults walking below. Many adults -- including this one -- had as much fun as the children barreling down the chutes.

One nitpick: The resort should have indoor activities when the pool is closed during lightning storms -- an almost daily occurrence during our stay.

Indoors, there is a food court, an arcade and seven-station computer center where children can visit children's Web sites. There are caricature, face-painting and balloon artists and a spa where girls can get pedicures, manicures and braids -- all cost extra, sometimes a lot.

For parents, the small Nick at Night bar and other refreshment stands provide adult beverages to help wash away any nervous tics caused by too much contact with hyperactive children. But sneaking away for couple-time is almost impossible -- the hotel doesn't offer baby-sitting.

We tried the breakfast and dinner buffets once -- the Italian dinner was fine, but the breakfast was mediocre at best.

The interaction with costumed characters was disappointingly limited -- my son saw SpongeBob once except at a special breakfast.

My son called the Nick Hotel "the best place ever." I wouldn't go that far, but every child I saw had a smile. And so did I.