PDA

View Full Version : Carousel Inn & Suites warning & mini trip report



poohlover
10-21-2005, 11:43 AM
My family was at DL/CA 10/12 - 10/15. I had made our hotel reservations about 6 months in advance through Expedia at the Carousel, a regular room with 2 queen beds, nonsmoking. Because I'd seen a few warnings about Carousel's tendency to overbook, I called them two days before we left to confirm our reservation, especially since we wouldn't be checking in until after 10:30 pm. I was reassured that we were good to go. We got there at about 10:30 on 10/12, and after a bunch of head scratching between a very nice front desk clerk (female) and two men (apparently "in charge") they finally fessed up that they didn't have a room for us and didn't know what went wrong. Loooong story short, they are supposed to be crediting us for that night's lodging (has yet to show up on my credit card and I haven't received a reply to 2 emails inquiring on the status), and they paid for a room for us next door at the Tropicana for that first night. They had a room for us the four following nights. I was really bummed because I'd tried to head this off with the pre-arrival phone call plus we were really tired. The following morning we left our luggage in their storage room while we headed off to DL, and our room was ready for us when we got back around 8 that night.

Otherwise, the hotel was fine. We were in a room in the back section, and it was very quiet. Nothing fancy at all, but it was clean and the room was plenty spacious for 2 adults and 2 teen-agers. (The room at the Tropicana was nice enough but much smaller.) The continential breakfast was pretty weak. The roof-top pool was small but a fun place to cool off, and there were plenty of lounge chairs and towels. The view of CA was great. We watched the fireworks in DL on Friday night, and then Saturday night we watched them from the 5th floor breakfast room at the hotel, and we had a wonderful view. Would I stay there again? Yes, mainly because it was so convenient to walk to DL (2 hotels over from the crosswalk - 10 minute walk to the front gates).

Highlights of our trip: We'd been at DL two years ago when Space, Thunder and Splash were all down, so we were glad to be able to enjoy those. We loved them! Screamin' opened on Friday (10/14), the day we'd set aside for CA. :-) We saw PoD 3 times and really loved it, especially Simba by moonlight. We thought the fireworks were INCREDIBLE. We happened to be at DL when Mickey was climbing the Matterhorn, something we hadn't seen before, and that was cool. Loved the performance in front of Animations in CA...3 animators singing/dancing and then Sorcerer Mickey, Cinderella and Woody come out. Enjoyed the things inside Animations, too. The crowds were very reasonable in the mornings...got REALLY crazy on Saturday. Dining highlight was a chili dog at the corner Coca Cola place because Alice, the Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dum and Eric (the piano player) showed up, rearranged all of the furniture, and played musical chairs with a bunch of kids. That Mad Hatter is a hoot. My husband and I thought Billie Hill & the Hillbillies were fun. Lots of characters out and about...I think my daughters got 15 autographs this time (as opposed to 11 last time), mostly different characters than our last trip. I still love Pooh the most...he kissed me on the nose. :-) We thought Block Party Bash was lots of fun, too - very high energy!!

Overall, we had a great time!! Like I said, I would definitely stay at the Carousel again (we got it for $59 a night through Expedia) but would be all over them the few days before arrival to be sure we had a room, including letting them know we'd had a problem at our prior stay. Overall, they were pretty professional and gracious about it, even when I got a little snippy!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe Saturday night. We were glad we had made a reservation in advance (6:30 pm) because there was quite a line. We got right in, were served by a really fun waitress promptly, and the food was great. Hubby and I had a seafood sampler with macadamia-crusted snapper, shrimp skewers and a crab patty, plus rather uninspired steamed veggies. Itw as very good. One daughter had a BBQ chicken wrap and the other had a Cajun pasta dish, and they both were pleased. Love the atmosphere.

We bought our tickets through disneyland.com and got 2 coupons for 10% off a purchase of $50 or $20 off a purchase of over $100. I did all of my shopping in one big trip, so I still have one of those coupons, plus another 10% off $50 purchase from a book I bought before our trip. They expire 12/31/05. If anybody wants them, I'd be glad to share. First email gets the big one, second gets the other. khannegan@yahoo.com Happy shopping!

Mermaid
10-21-2005, 01:04 PM
I'm sorry you had trouble with the Carousel but it sounds like you had a good trip otherwise!

celinas mommy
10-21-2005, 01:43 PM
Glad to hear you trip turn out OK even with the Hotel Mishap...

I sent you an email re: the discount shopping coupons..

poohlover
10-21-2005, 03:38 PM
The coupons have been spoken for! :-)

ghoofie
10-21-2005, 03:46 PM
If they haven't processed the credit yet, call your credit card company and dispute the entire charge for the stay. That should speed things up. It's helped me in the past.

Clotho
10-21-2005, 04:24 PM
Great, succinct trip report. Sounds like fun. :)

I find it really great to hear that a teenage girl collected autographs. Keep that childhood spirit a little longer.

poohlover
10-21-2005, 04:31 PM
My daughters are 14 and 17, and just like their mom...Disney to the core. My 17-year-old bought her gold ears the minute she got their and wore them the entire time. We got pictures of them with all of the characters, too, and okay, I was in the Eeyore and Pooh pictures. One cool thing about Disneyland is kids can be kids and leave all that peer pressure junk behind. We watched the fireworks by a family who had two beautiful little girls dressed in princess costumes. The dad looked at my girls and said how happy he was to see that this Disney bond thing could go on and on and on. It was really sweet. Plus, watching fireworks with two princesses, well, it doesn't get much better than that!! :)

Hawaiian Cinderella
10-21-2005, 05:37 PM
Thanks for the warning poohlover.....we were relocated 1 week prior to our trip last year. i confirmed with them a month in advance and they still relocated us to the Annabella a week before our arrival. They said they would give us a special rate if we stay with them next year so i contacted them for our march 2006 trip.....hope we don't get relocated again...can't beat the convenience of walking right across the street to disneyland.

poohlover
10-21-2005, 05:55 PM
They wanted to send us to the Annabella, which they said was their "sister" property, but I said no because it was (as I understood it) a lot further. We wanted to get up the next morning and walk across the street. They had to pay $109 for our room next door at the Tropicana.

Truthfully, I'd have been good with them just paying the difference between what we'd paid for that night there at the Carousel and the rate at the Tropicana, but when he offered to refund us for that night PLUS pay for the other hotel, well, alright then!! :-)

Hawaiian Cinderella
10-21-2005, 06:15 PM
The annabella was far..especially for my 6 year old. the first day we tried to walk it, cut thru the grand californian and to downtown disney. it got really cold (well really cold for us -- what we're used to) and it started to rain so we walked back and got the car and parked it at the mickey and friend's parking structure. we then ended up parking in the structure every day that we visited disneyland. they kept on saying that we were lucky to be relocated since they said the annabella was a better property with more amenities...but who cares when you spend all of your waking moments in disneyland.

Hawaiian Cinderella
10-21-2005, 06:17 PM
1 week prior to our trip last year.

oops i mean relocated 1 week prior to our trip THIS year (march 2005)....i thought they resolved their problem with this since there were a bunch of us at the annabella who were relocated from the carousel due to a "COMPUTER GLITCH."

Pirate Princess
10-21-2005, 08:14 PM
If any of you have read most of my posts you would know what a strong advocate for Carousel I am. My favorite hotel for the money by far! I'm glad you wrote this trip report because I will be calling and calling and calling a week before my trip to avoid this. I have stayed there twice and never had this problem (probably because we were one of only a few thousand people at DL.. I love the off-season!) Now I am worried since this off-season seems to be more like peak season.
Thanks for the heads-up!
H

DrivingtoDisneyAZ
10-22-2005, 07:13 AM
Wow, they overbook? Now I'm worried. I was already fearful of getting stuck with a smoking room, as we're arriving late. I know they only have 6, so odds are that we'll get our requested N/S. But if they're overbooking, my odds get a little worse that I'll end up with a smoking room or worse -- no room at all.

Perhaps I should just pay the extra $50 and stay at our usual BWPPI. We were hoping to have more $$ to spend at the parks, hence were counting on a cheaper room. Right now we're scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving (Sunday - Thursday). Yikes. That Sunday could still be filled with people from the Turkey Day rush.

edited to add: Right now I'm booked directly with Carousel for $79/nt, but was considering rebooking with Expedia for $71/nt. What happens if I do that and the Carousel overbooks? Am I then at the mercy of Expedia and wherever they decide to send me?

Pirate Princess
10-22-2005, 09:03 AM
edited to add: Right now I'm booked directly with Carousel for $79/nt, but was considering rebooking with Expedia for $71/nt. What happens if I do that and the Carousel overbooks? Am I then at the mercy of Expedia and wherever they decide to send me?

Doesn't Expedia charge a surcharge added to the $71.00 a night. Also, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance with Carousel, you can't do that with Expedia. No refunds from my understanding. Someone want to verify this?

disneyhound
10-22-2005, 09:38 AM
Thanks for the trip report. My daughter and I stayed in the Carousel a few years ago. We also watched the fireworks one evening from the Breakfast room!

DrivingtoDisneyAZ
10-22-2005, 10:09 AM
Doesn't Expedia charge a surcharge added to the $71.00 a night. Also, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance with Carousel, you can't do that with Expedia. No refunds from my understanding. Someone want to verify this?

Yes they do, but it's not much. I'd be saving $31.36 exactly if I booked through expedia vs. Carousel directly. That'll buy us a meal at Disney or a few nifty souvenirs.

Refunds vary. (Within a certain time frame) sometimes they'll charge a $25 cancellation fee, othertimes the promotion they have going states that all sales are final. Oh -- and the cancellation policy at Carousel is 48 hours, not 24.

DianeM
10-22-2005, 12:47 PM
I use Expedia. There are no refunds, and they charge a fee to change your itinerary, but they are flexible. I reserved a room for Hawaii for my husband's 50th birthday, and I accidentally reserved a partial ocean view instead of a full ocean view. I called and explained immediately, and they changed the reservations without a fee.


...othertimes the promotion they have going states that all sales are final. Oh -- and the cancellation policy at Carousel is 48 hours, not 24.

Pirate Princess
10-22-2005, 03:11 PM
I never use expedia or anything like it because of the no refund policy. If anyone in the family has the flu, we're not going. That's just us though.

DianeM
10-22-2005, 03:28 PM
I was mistaken. Expedia does allow some refunds. I guess that policy has changed since I first read it. Their current policy is described under customer service on their web site. I remember from when I used to book with them that they also provide trip insurance that will refund the non-refundable parts of the trip under some circumstances. That is what I was looking up when I found the cancellation policy.


I never use expedia or anything like it because of the no refund policy. If anyone in the family has the flu, we're not going. That's just us though.