Mount Laurel advances plan for hotel at the Funplex

There are 28 hotels in Mount Laurel, but only one Funplex, that nearly inescapable - for South Jersey parents - cluster of rides and arcades on Route 38 where youngsters since 1997 have blown out birthday candles, steered go-carts, swooped down water slides, chased one another with "laser" guns, and dropped miniature cranes onto maddeningly elusive toys, all to a backdrop of pulsing lights and music.