Lake County News-Sun |

Moran: Waiting to see if Great Wolf Lodge water park will succeed where Key Lime Cove did not

When the news broke almost exactly a year ago that Key Lime Cove — the Gurnee “waterpark resort” that opened to much fanfare in 2008 — was shutting down and would be renovated to become a Great Wolf Lodge, the word was that the re-branded attraction might open for Spring Break 2018.

Parents in Lake County and beyond might have been getting itchy to make reservations as January plodded along, since spring break arrives the week of March 12 at Illinois State and Northern Illinois universities; March 19 at the College of Lake County and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and March 26 at elementary and high schools in places including Grayslake, Gurnee, Mundelein, North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion.

Congratulations, academic overlords, for coordinating those schedules for families with children of many ages.

Fortunately or unfortunately, as the case might be, it turns out that anyone who was looking for a climate-controlled getaway this March won’t have Gurnee as an option after all. As first reported by the Chicago Tribune this week, Great Wolf Resorts has pegged July 1 for the grand re-opening of the sprawling yellow complex of buildings off Grand Avenue and the Tri-State Tollway.

This, it would seem, was why a Gurnee official said “there are no dates confirmed at this time” when asked last February when Great Wolf would open. Always give yourself wiggle room on a renovation estimate, especially one with a reported $60 million price tag.

That renovation appeared to be proceeding apace late this week upon a drive-by inspection of the Nations Drive property. Immense, multicolored segments of what could only be water-slide tubing were stacked up in unassembled rows. The parking lot was filled with the vehicles of construction workers. Debris chutes were arranged next to the balconies of guest rooms.

Temporary fences surrounded the property, posted with signs warning that work boots and hard hats were required, but unauthorized access was “strictly prohibited” even if that’s your daily attire. A security vehicle sat near the entrance, ready to enforce the prohibition.

Other than the aforementioned paint scheme, the only evidence of the late, lamented Key Lime Cove was a green van sitting off to the side of the main entrance, looking like a shuttle bus that had been ditched when the resort closed in mid-April 2017, or around the time spring-break season had wound down.

It was reported at the time by a Gurnee development official that Key Lime had been “underperforming” from a revenue-generating standpoint, taking in only $4 million in the first decade of a hotel-and-resort tax deal that was supposed to net the business $22 million over 20 years.

The village and Key Lime were splitting the 7 percent tax down the middle, which means Gurnee also took in $4 million even before food-and-beverage taxes and other economic impacts of the year-round operation were taken into account. But Gurnee believes Great Wolf will do better: According to a News-Sun report from a year ago, the new outfit is projected by the village to bring in five times the food-and-beverage tax revenue brought in by Key Lime.

All of this raises a critical question, and one that borrows once again from one of the more overused Hollywood catchphrases of the last generation: If they build it, will they come?

In this case, the more specific question is how will Great Wolf be able to succeed where Key Lime didn’t? Or where Paradise Landing in Milwaukee didn’t? Or Mayan Adventure in Elmhurst?

Raise your hand if you’re among the Lake County families who made an occasional cold-weather weekend stay at Key Lime, or if you know someone who drove up the Tri-State from Greater Chicago to do the same.

But keep that hand up if your eyebrows went way, way up when you read the Tribune’s report of the standard rates announced this week by Great Wolf: $199.99 per night, also known as $200. Add hotel tax of 5 percent and the resort tax of 2 percent, and that’s another $13.99 if my math is correct, which is always a gamble.

The obvious competition in this expanded market is Wisconsin Dells, 170 miles to the northwest at $2.75 per gallon of gas. An online search of weekend-night water park rates in the Dells at upcoming dates this winter show prices such as $199.99 at the Wilderness, $160 at the Polynesian, $136 at Atlantis and $80 at Mount Olympus.

And rates at the Great Wolf at Route 12 and Interstate 94 in the Dells? Harder to find out, since the standard rooms were listed as “sold out” weekend after weekend this winter. But it turned out there were a few double-queen rooms left in mid-February at the “best available rate” of $299.99, which was discounted from $399.99, and there was a “late check-out” option of 2 p.m. for $339.98, which was down from $439.98.

So, arguably, the Gurnee Great Wolf will be priced at a relatively competitive rate. But it can also be reported that the Super 8 in Gurnee has online listings this weekend in the $70-per-night range. And, yes, its listed amenities do include an “indoor pool.”

danmoran@tribpub.com

Twitter @NewsSunDanMoran