Hotel at a Glance: CoCo Key Water Resort Hotel

You might not expect a tropical water park in Omaha, but the inside of CoCo Key Water Resort may as well be off the coast of Florida. Youngsters can zip down colorful, 40-foot water slides and grownups can unwind in a gigantic indoor-outdoor hot tub. Best of all, this 60,000-square-foot slice of island-style good times is open all year-round.

• Splish splash: The water park passes included with select options grants entry to such attractions as Parrot’s Perch, a play island with four water slides, and several watery playzones designed for different age groups.
• Onsite restaurants Inside the water park, the Wet Rooster bar and CoCo’s Cove serve cold cocktails and hot burgers. The hotel’s Castaways Bar & Grill provides a more traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner experience.
• Stay connected with free WiFi in the guest rooms.

Omaha, Nebraska: Historic Downtown with Vibrant Arts and Dining Scenes

The largest city in Nebraska, Omaha is located near the Iowa-Nebraska border, on the western shore of the Missouri River. The city has been praised as an affordable place to visit and live; The Huffington Post named Omaha the top “Best Bang for Your Buck” city in 2012. Most of the city’s restaurants and bars are concentrated in the historic Old Market district, a cluster of cobblestone streets and turn-of-the-century buildings located downtown. There’s also a lively cultural scene here, from Broadway shows and jazz concerts at the Orpheum Theater to large-scale sculptures and ceramics courtesy of resident artists at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Visitors can learn about the city’s history at The Durham Museum. Housed in Omaha’s former Union Station—a beautiful art-deco building built in 1931—the Smithsonian-affiliated museum is the place to see 1940s storefronts, explore vintage train cars, and drink a strawberry phosphate from the authentic 1931 soda fountain.

Situated 5 miles east of downtown, the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge stretches 3,000 feet across the Missouri River, to Iowa. There’s a plaque that indicates the point at which the state lines meet; you can literally have one foot in Nebraska and one in Iowa at the same time. At night, the bridge is illuminated by an array of multicolored lights and offers a dazzling view of the Omaha skyline.

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