by Kalena Thomhave, Good Info News
Pennsylvania is home to some pretty stellar theme parks, like Hersheypark and Dutch Wonderland, but some Pennsylvania hotels feature amenities that can make your vacation even better. Whether you’re booking indoor water parks that also have lodging, unassuming mid-range hotels with surprising attractions, or unique resorts that you can only find in Pennsylvania, a stay at one of these accommodations can spell fun without even leaving your hotel.
1. Cartoon Network Hotel – Lancaster
Typical nightly rate: ~$150
Cartoon fans have a reason to shut off the TV and plan a weekend trip away—the Cartoon Network Hotel! The Lancaster hotel first opened in 2020 and is the only Cartoon Network Hotel in existence. Guests can enjoy cartoon-themed rooms, three swimming pools, an arcade, a kids’ activity room, daily cartoon screenings, a gift shop with lots of Cartoon Network merch, and a full restaurant and bar. The hotel is also a brief walk to Dutch Wonderland, a theme park geared toward younger kids.
2. Kalahari Resorts & Convention Center – Pocono Manor
Typical nightly rate: Varies by season and number of guests, expect at least $250
Kalahari Resorts & Convention Center is one of several Pennsylvania hotels in the Pocono Mountains dedicated to family fun. Its indoor water park is the largest in the state, with its pools, slides, hot tubs, and raft rides covering more than 250,000 square feet. When you’ve gotten too pruney to continue in the water park, you can head to the large arcade, which includes the usual arcade games as well as a mini golf course, bumper cars, a mini bowling alley, and even two escape rooms! (The arcade fun does cost extra.) Kalahari is also open year-round—the colder months promise a less crowded and more affordable experience!
3. Holiday Inn Express & Suites – North East
Typical nightly rate: ~$100
A true hidden gem, you could book a stay at Erie County’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites in North East and expect a typical mid-priced hotel experience—until you walk past the pool area! This affordable hotel has a small indoor water park complete with a tall curving water slide, kiddie pool, hot tub, and even a mini lazy river! That’s right, one night’s stay doesn’t merely get you the free breakfast and all-day complimentary coffee you can usually expect from a Holiday Inn Express, but also access to a compact water park.
4. Seven Springs Mountain Resort – Champion
Typical nightly rate: Varies by season, expect at least $200
Seven Springs Mountain Resort in southwestern Pennsylvania is well known for its winter activities, from skiing to snow tubing. But it’s also a veritable playground of activities each summer. You can take a pass on the alpine slide, try your hand (or arm) at axe throwing, and even admire the beautiful Laurel Highlands scenery on a chairlift ride. The resort is also home to a number of different restaurants and bars, whether you’re looking for casual eats or a more upscale experience. Plus, a night’s stay at Seven Springs during the summer is also more affordable than if you were staying to ski, though note that most resort activities cost extra.
5. Hersheypark Camping Resort – Hummelstown
Typical nightly rate: ~$60-$150 for campsites with or without hookups; $150-$200 for cabins
Hotels aren’t the only accommodations that may be filled with activities and fun. Hersheypark Camping Resort is a campground located outside Hersheypark where you can stay in a luxury cabin, your own RV, or a tent while enjoying the great outdoors and all the campground has to offer. Kids can romp around on multiple playgrounds while everyone can play games like basketball, volleyball, and shuffleboard on the resort’s courts. Head indoors to the family fun center, which has games and also regularly hosts events and activities like kids’ arts and crafts programs, s’mores roasts, or live music. During the summer months, you can swim in the camping resort’s outdoor pools. And if you’re ready for even more fun after all that, you can also take a free shuttle bus to Hersheypark and its roller coasters!
6. Woodloch Resort – Hawley
Typical nightly rate: Varies by season and number of guests, expect at least $400
Considered similar to “a cruise on land,” a stay at the all-inclusive Woodloch Resort is ideal for the family who wants to simply book their stay and consider their vacation planned. The Pocono Mountains resort doesn’t charge extra for most meals and activities—everything is included in one price. And “everything” means your lodging as well as: scenic boat tours of the lake, meals at the resort’s main dining room, a climbing wall, go-karts, nightly entertainment, indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, a fitness center, disc golf, hiking trails, various daily events like yoga classes, bingo, scavenger hunts, and more!
7. Great Wolf Lodge – Scotrun
Typical nightly rate: Varies by season and number of guests, expect at least $200
Located in the Pocono Mountains, Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel with the main attraction of a massive indoor water park, which is open year-round and filled with curving water slides, large pools, hot tubs, raft rides, and even a water park treehouse for the whole family. Besides water park fun, you can complete your stay at the lodge with dry activities (which cost extra), including a ropes course, arcade, and glow-in-the-dark mini golf. You and your family can also play Great Wolf Lodge’s own interactive role-playing game, Magiquest, where players explore the resort and use a magic wand to defeat evil. The hotel’s suites continue the lodge vibe with rustic or animal theming.
8. DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel – Lancaster
Typical nightly rate: ~$160
The DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Lancaster isn’t your usual DoubleTree. This mid-range hotel doesn’t just offer a warm cookie at check-in (and in this writer’s experience, whenever you ask), but it also has an indoor pool and water playground, an on-site 9-hole golf course, a putting green, an arcade, and an on-site restaurant and lounge that hosts regular entertainment. The small golf course, Willow Valley Golf Course, is likely the main attraction, making the Lancaster DoubleTree ideal for golfers (and cookie lovers). Note that you must pay separate greens fees to golf.
