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Nancy
02-18-2006, 05:07 PM
We're booked for the Caroulsel Inn and Suites for the end of this month (never been there before.) I was wondering if anyone had any tips or thoughts about it. I think the fireworks are visible from the pool area????:confused:


Thanks!!:)

eryn
02-18-2006, 08:15 PM
They will charge you 75 cents every time you use the phone, local or otherwise. No hot tub. Breakfast was ok though, except for some muffins that had a paint taste and moldy jam. The rooms were just fine, beds were comfy. A very close walk to the park.

Lekta
02-18-2006, 08:18 PM
Hey, I'll be staying there also!! Hope it is nice, it is looking like it might rain a bit during our stay, lucky (i guess) the hotel is close! =)

Nancy
02-19-2006, 02:16 PM
Hey, I'll be staying there also!! Hope it is nice, it is looking like it might rain a bit during our stay, lucky (i guess) the hotel is close! =)


We'll have just missed you!!!
Once while on TSI it started to pour and we ducked into a cave near the rafts and there was a maintence cart in there. We took trash bags (sorry!!!:eek: ) and tore a hole in the front for our faces and two on the sides for arms and used them as raincoats with hoods. My kids were mortified!!!But they did keep a bit dryer!! Now we all laugh about it.:D

Nancy
02-19-2006, 02:20 PM
They will charge you 75 cents every time you use the phone, local or otherwise. No hot tub. Breakfast was ok though, except for some muffins that had a paint taste and moldy jam. The rooms were just fine, beds were comfy. A very close walk to the park.


Thanks. I'll keep away from the jam. I prefer to bring breakfast anyway.

Do you have to put a deposit down for the phones? (We have cells too.)

bassett1976
02-19-2006, 02:53 PM
If you want a quiet room ask for a room on the third floor, and away from the pool staircase.

luvitthere
02-19-2006, 03:51 PM
We found this place to be poorly run. The maintenance is terrible, our roof leaked from the rain, the laundry room always had machines broken down. The staff is not very helpful. The room itself was okay, besides the rain. The breakfast was pretty bad, but tolerable.The location is great. Never had time to use the pool, everyone said it was freezing anyway. :mad:

Lekta
02-19-2006, 03:52 PM
If you want a quiet room ask for a room on the third floor, and away from the pool staircase.

Thank you for the heads up! :)

Hakuna Makarla
02-19-2006, 04:18 PM
we stayed here 2 years ago, noticed ant problems ( they were climbing up the outside walls :eek: but the room was nice, we stayed in the top floor, 1 room from the breakfast room ( we requested it) we watched the fire works from the breakfast room and they were nice. my son would not let me stay in the park so we enjoyed them nightly from out motel. I did not mind the breakfast, standard rolls and cofee and juice. for the price, I thought there is better places to stay. the pool is on the roof, and no trees or sun coverage. very small pool.

JookyG
02-21-2006, 03:30 PM
From what I can tell, the motels on "the strip" that charge between $90-120/night are pretty much all the same. Same number of people who love them, same number of detractors, same complaints about the continental breakfast, same complaints about smelly rooms and inattentive staff and bad pillows and hard beds. That's why these are all 1- and 2-star motels. They're cheap. You get what you pay for. If you're going to be in your room for more than sleeping, shoot for a tier higher, like the HoJo or Paradise Pier. I've also heard really good things about Candy Cane Inn, which has comparable rates but is about a 1/2 mile walk to the esplanade. As far as I can tell, the Tropicana is one of the very closest, and although it's cheap and crummy, you can't beat the location. That's where I always stay, but then again, I'm easy to please and only use the room to sleep. I certainly don't expect the Waldorf Astoria when I'm paying $100/night.

potterphreak
02-21-2006, 03:35 PM
I always bring those mini Oust air sanitizers and Clorox bleach wipes. Toss the bedspreads in the corner, wipe everything down, a few squirts of Oust and we leave for dinner or the park. When we return, things are great! LOL That's what I do for all hotels tho, no matter what city I am in.

:-)

Sub Maniak
02-21-2006, 03:38 PM
We're booked for the Caroulsel Inn and Suites for the end of this month (never been there before.) I was wondering if anyone had any tips or thoughts about it. I think the fireworks are visible from the pool area????:confused:


Thanks!!:)

That is my second favorite hotel! They have great breakfast at the top level and a great view!
Feel free to go late back to the hotel.;)

CariBelle
02-21-2006, 06:19 PM
From what I can tell, the motels on "the strip" that charge between $90-120/night are pretty much all the same. Same number of people who love them, same number of detractors, same complaints about the continental breakfast, same complaints about smelly rooms and inattentive staff and bad pillows and hard beds. That's why these are all 1- and 2-star motels. They're cheap. You get what you pay for. If you're going to be in your room for more than sleeping, shoot for a tier higher, like the HoJo or Paradise Pier. I've also heard really good things about Candy Cane Inn, which has comparable rates but is about a 1/2 mile walk to the esplanade. As far as I can tell, the Tropicana is one of the very closest, and although it's cheap and crummy, you can't beat the location. That's where I always stay, but then again, I'm easy to please and only use the room to sleep. I certainly don't expect the Waldorf Astoria when I'm paying $100/night.

Word to that. Most of these places are a Motel 6 with a fancy name slapped on it, it baffles me that people expect outstanding service. I do think that every guest at a hotel should receive "good" service, but you really do get what you pay for in the travel industry.

Malcon10t
02-21-2006, 06:25 PM
Word to that. Most of these places are a Motel 6 with a fancy name slapped on it, it baffles me that people expect outstanding service. I do think that every guest at a hotel should receive "good" service, but you really do get what you pay for in the travel industry.
We have stayed at the Park Inn, and we have had EXCELLENT customer service. The rooms are very large, which I really like. We have also stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn, and found the staff there to be extremely helpful. While the rooms are half the price of the resort rooms, I also prefer to be able to stay twice as long.

DrivingtoDisneyAZ
02-22-2006, 08:33 AM
PROS:

- great low rates
- easy walking distance
- comfy beds and comfiest pillows ever! :D
- microwave and LARGE fridge (really comes in handy for us budget travelers)
- most all rooms remodeled over the last two years
- clean (enough by my standards anyway)
- sliding partition to block off bathroom (sink) area allows one to get ready without waking up kiddos
- sink area outside bathroom

CONS:

- poor customer service (typical of most of the Harbor walking distance motels; word to the wise: double check your room rate! almost always the Harbor hotels have tried to hike the rate at check-in on us)
- musty smell in room at times (get what ya pay for)
- poor continental breakfast (no biggie; we just bring our own and eat in room)
- poor pool (so they say; we never use it anyway)
- no view, no pretty landscaping (but eh, if you're at Disney all day, who cares?)
- limited parking (some say; we've never had a problem fitting our minivan in)
- small room size (our party of 2 adults, 5yo, 3yo, 2yo fit okay...but I won't stay in one room once the kiddos get any older; just too tight)
- housekeeping not prompt (rooms not cleaned until late afternoon/early eve)
- I read on these boards I believe (do a search) that there was an issue at one time with the Carousel overbooking and having to send guests elsewhere (not walking distance either); not sure if that's resolved or not.

A few other cons depending on room type:

I believe (don't quote me) that most/all of the 2BR suites (2Qs in one room, 1Q in other) are in the other building (2 story, with the first floor being parking, second floor being rooms). No elevator in this building, only stairs, which means a lot of lugging coolers, bags, strollers by hand.

With view suites, you are chancing it. Out of the three, one has short windows meaning you're not getting so much of any view, one is okay, and the other is directly below the breakfast room (noisy!). Read tripadvisor for more reviews.

All in all, we like it fine enough. If I can get a good rate, we'll stay. If rates are same or cheaper at our standby (BWPPI), we'll take BWPPI over Carousel any day.

Hope this helps!!!

Nancy
02-24-2006, 05:22 PM
Well we just got back and will no way be returning there. The girl who checked us in was all but worthless. The room was tiny. And the elevator was on the other side of the building. The parking lot was a joke too. On the other hand we were able to get a trolly to load our stuff from the car so only one trip.( as was reloading our car when we left.) The only good thing was an employee named Shauna who was a Godsend for me with a large problem that happened on our departure. She made a ok stay better. But we won't go back.

Nancy
03-02-2006, 04:15 PM
Everyone has different needs for a hotel:)

tmptink
03-19-2006, 06:58 PM
I have a question about the parking. I changed my reservation from Del Sol because I heard really bad parking problems but I am thinking that Carousel has problems too. We got a mini-suite for 4 adults and 1 child. We have 2 cars. They told me on the phone that if we park one infront of the other in the carport there would be room. How small is the parking spaces for that?

DrivingtoDisneyAZ
03-19-2006, 07:16 PM
The way it's set up, there are no rooms on the ground floor. There are carve-outs (for lack of a better term) of 4 - 6 spaces per section, followed by a big pillar and/or staircase, then some more spaces, pillar, repeat. The depth of these carve-outs is quite a bit. I can totally see how it would be possible to have enough room to fit.....well.......maybe two cars in lined up end to end. Worst case scenario, you may be able to "T" it if you get an end stall near a pillar or staircase.

Honestly though, we've never had a problem finding parking. Even when we arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving really late at night, no problem finding a space.

Nancy
03-20-2006, 03:09 PM
I have a question about the parking. I changed my reservation from Del Sol because I heard really bad parking problems but I am thinking that Carousel has problems too. We got a mini-suite for 4 adults and 1 child. We have 2 cars. They told me on the phone that if we park one infront of the other in the carport there would be room. How small is the parking spaces for that?


I personally did not care for the parking situation here. Just not enough spaces for me. Dragging the suitcases back and forth was a pain too.
Years ago when I stayed at another problem parking hotel on Harbor, I was told there was a parking lot down the street for their overflow parking. Fortunately I never had to use it as I didn't want to leave my car someplace I wasn't staying.

MermaidHair
03-20-2006, 04:12 PM
I just wanted to say that I stayed at the Carousel in early March and although it was sold out, we had no problem with parking and it never looked to me like the parking lot was full.

The Carousel was a fine hotel for us. Clean, convenient and the staff was friendly. I spent more time there than I expected because I got ill so it was nice that I had no complaints. One tip, however: the weather was a bit cool when we were there and we had some trouble figuring out how to get the heater working. Ask in advance if you think you will be using it so you don't have to hassle with it when you are chattering after a recent rain storm!

bubsy
03-20-2006, 06:42 PM
We had to pay a deposit for the room key, which I thought was weird.
Otherwise, I really like the Carousel - the shower had excellent water pressure, and I like that there was a door to close off the sink area fromt he room, and from the shower/toilet room.

denise
03-21-2006, 04:39 AM
Hi there! Just jumping in to ask if there are any favourite room locations that we should request? (Just standard QQ) We are staying there also in May, and we were wondering if we should make any special location requests! I read one suggestion for the 3rd floor... Any others? Thanks!

AlbertaMinnie
03-26-2006, 05:12 PM
5th Floor! But not directly under the pool! This way, your morning coffe is only a short shuffle away! Also, if you are not in the park, the breakfast room remains open so that you can watch the fireworks from there too! We have stayed at the Carousel several times and have never had reason to complain about anything. Friendly staff, prompt service, clean rooms, we're not avid swimmers so the pool was good enough for us to cool off in, the breakfast has always been more than adequate - keep the coffee coming!!! One time, our refrigerator wasn't getting cold enough....within 45 minutes....we had a brand new fridge in our room. Bring your binoculars, if you are on the 3-5th floors, you can use them to get a great view of the California Adventure and the Esplanade. I'm sorry that others in this thread have not enjoyed this hotel, maybe my timing has always been good???? You can't please everyone, but I do hope that you have an enjoyable stay too! Have fun!

Pirate Princess
03-26-2006, 07:40 PM
Whenever there is a Carousel post.. I will answer. I am a HUGE fan.
I have never had a problem parking, or any other problem for that matter. I have always found the front desk employees to be really great... and since I am a returning guest I usually get special deals... which to me = great customer service. My rooms have always been clean, well made, etc. I've never had a problem with noise, even during my last trip when we stayed right near the stairs. I have never actually seen the pool, we go for Disney, we can swim here, so I can't comment on that. The continental breakfast is one of the best on the strip... but it still isn't great. At least it isn't the $.25 danishes in a plastic bag that don't expire until 2032.. like at my least favorite hotel: Ramada.
My tip: as soon as you walk in, turn on your refridge. They usually turn them off or all the way down after guests check out.

Enjoy!