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View Full Version : Recent reports from the Carousel Inn?



disneychick
09-03-2006, 08:41 PM
We're still holding our reservation at the BWPPI, but have another option (we're trying to get something really close to the park, but with a separate bedroom for our 3 year old so we'll all sleep better :) ) - Carousel Inn. We've tried Camelot, Desert Inn, etc. and they're all sold out of the rooms with separate bedrooms during the time of our visit. We've decided against Residence Inn or Homewood Suites as we won't have a car and really don't want to use ART to get to and from the park (DS is diabetic, and we may need to get to the hotel quickly at times). I've read some reviews of the Carousel, but not too many since the renovations (still ongoing, but ending within a couple of weeks I'm told). We travel in November.

We would be paying about $40 more per night than the BWPPI, but gaining the bedroom. Distance seems very comparable - it appears that worrying over the added distance is kind of pointless. Thoughts on that? It's so hard to tell from the maps I've seen whether the distance is worth bothering over. Reviews, for the most part, have been pretty much a mix of "love it" or "hate it" (kind of like most places!) - would love to hear from anyone hear with recent experience at this property.

Thanks! :)

sjcivilady
09-03-2006, 09:37 PM
I stayed at the Carousel March,2005. It is very close to the cross walk. I think most of the hotels right there are very narrow and go way back into the block. After walking across Harbor from Dland, you take a left and just go a little ways. I would definitely stay again, but their prices have been quite a bit higher in 2006. They have a free breakfast that isn't spectacular, but the breakfast room is on the 5th floor overlooking the park -- that was fun our first morning when you are so excited to be there. I had no complaints about our stay, but we only paid about $55 for a dbl room. Hope that helps, Joan

Rockchalker
09-03-2006, 09:51 PM
We're still holding our reservation at the BWPPI, but have another option (we're trying to get something really close to the park, but with a separate bedroom for our 3 year old so we'll all sleep better :) ) - Carousel Inn.

I've read some reviews of the Carousel, but not too many since the renovations (still ongoing, but ending within a couple of weeks I'm told). We travel in November.

We would be paying about $40 more per night than the BWPPI, but gaining the bedroom. Distance seems very comparable - it appears that worrying over the added distance is kind of pointless. Thoughts on that? It's so hard to tell from the maps I've seen whether the distance is worth bothering over. Reviews, for the most part, have been pretty much a mix of "love it" or "hate it" (kind of like most places!) - would love to hear from anyone hear with recent experience at this property.

Thanks! :)

Never stayed at the BWPPI, but I think this hotel is closer than the Carousel. I am one of those that is just a little to the left of hating it. We had a 2 room suite in Sept/Oct 2006. The rate was great, $99 per night for 10 nights. The housekeeping and maintenance staff were extremely nice. (We had a lot of problems with our A/C freezing over.) But you get what you pay for. The second room is a windowless room. So if you want to put young kids in there it sort of defeats the purpose of having a separate bedroom as it is too dark to close the door at night. (Unless you bring a night light, which we had not.) It is also very noisy as the suite rooms are located directly across from the elevator (when they are working.) My brother & his wife were directly above us so there was no need to set an alarm in the morning, as we were woken up when they got up. (I have heard that the rooms below the breakfast room are the worst for traffic noise.) Not sure what kind of renovations they have done, but our room was is need of new carpet, mattress, and television.

They now stay at the Residence Inn and we stay at the DLH.

doombuggy driver
09-04-2006, 06:22 AM
Try checking on trip advisor for the most recent reveiws of the Carousel. They rate all of the hotels in the DL area and give them a ranking.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g29092-d75488-Reviews-Carousel_Inn_and_Suites-Anaheim_California.html

samkj
09-04-2006, 07:27 AM
We stayed at the Carousell in Nov. We had no complaints. We were not near the elevators. As far as the widowless bedroom, we just left the bathroom light (we were in a suite with 2 baths) on with the door cracked so just a little light went through.

princess- ada
09-04-2006, 08:50 AM
We stayed there in May of this year. They are doing some major renovations!!! It was very noisy, dirty, part of the parking lot was taken by construction vehicles, and the pool was closed. If we had known, we would have stayed somewhere else. I would call and find out if they are still doing construction.

Malcon10t
09-04-2006, 09:11 AM
We stayed there in April, taking up 4 rooms. The walk is maybe 3 minutes further than BWPPI. The rooms were clean and the service was great. The breakfast isn't worth writing up, but it is free. We never use the free breakfasts, as they are all carbs, and they just don't do wel with us. They are adding a Quiznos, and teh construction was noisy in the afternoon.

MermaidHair
09-04-2006, 09:16 AM
We stayed in a 2 room suite in March of this year and liked it. It was clean and the staff was nice and helpful. We really had no complaints. Our suite was at the back of the property on the second floor - the people above us did not wake us up and the lack of elevator to that area was not a problem for my strong hubby. I actually got quite sick and spent more time than I intended in the hotel and it was totally fine - the more time you spend in a place the more time you have to see the good and bad things y'know. Anyway, we will totally stay there again.

DwoernAdale
09-04-2006, 11:50 AM
We stayed there for 5 nights this last July and aside from all the construction work down in the parking lot it was fine. We were up and gone before they started in the morning and not back till well after they were done at night. I suppose if you were returning in the afternoon for a nap it might be a problem.

When we arrived it was incredibly hot and the AC didnt work, but within 20 mins. they had pulled the old AC unit out and installed a new one that worked great. The room was clean and everything else worked. Very nice property for around $100 a night.

The difference in walking distance is pretty much a non factor, its maybe 40 or 50 feet further.

This was our second stay there and we will definitely stay there again.

autumnbottom
09-04-2006, 03:22 PM
We stayed there last month for three nights. The room was just fine but they were doing construction in the parking lot. Not bad if you plan to be up and out by 8:30 am but if you want to sleep-in, good luck! Also, the rooms can be noisy from kids running just outside on the walkway or folks stokmping around upstairs; i'd bring earplugs...

tonytone
09-06-2006, 09:32 AM
We were there just this past Labor Day weekend, having chosen to stay there this time instead of at Fairfield Inn because it was a bit cheaper and closer to DLR walkway entrance; there's still construction going on--they're putting in paving stones to replace the plain-looking asphalt in front of the parking stalls; this has resulted in a loss of about a half-dozen stalls or so as they wind their way down the driveway.

Anyways, we were a bit disappointed w/ our stay at Carousel--the A/C wasn't working at optimum performance (room would still be a bit humid even w/ the A/C going full-blast for hours); the bathroom floor felt sticky (had to lay towels on the floor so as to not get our shoes/socks/feet feeling all sticky--obviously maid service didn't do a thorough job of cleaning the floor); it seemed that with each passing day the towels were fewer in number (started out with a full complement of hand/face/bath towels...then each subsequent day there would be a few less towels than before); my skin either didn't particularly care for the detergent used to wash the bed covers or didn't like the material of the bed cover itself (not really a fault of Carousel but still); and other than the local channels and I think Disney Channel, the signal strength of the non-local channels (e.g., ESPN/CNN/etc.) left a lot to be desired (PQ appeared a bit snowy in quality). Also--and not that big a deal but YMMV--even though hotel reservation was prepaid in full, Carousel will still place a $30 hold on your CC for telephone incidentals (BTW--for those who don't already know, Carousel charges even for local calls--to a tune of 75 cents per local call)...a hold that will take up to 7 business days from checkout to be released, so we were told.

Now I know that Carousel isn't a 4- or 5-star hotel but considering the many positive reviews I've read about it, I would have expected better than what I experienced during my recent stay there. I think I'll stick with Fairfield--we've never had any issues whenever we stay there...and unlike Carousel, at least they have ground-floor rooms. In all fairness though--the one bright spot about our room at Carousel was that it was only a few rooms away from the elevator/stairwell...

backsthepack
09-06-2006, 10:42 AM
Check the reviews section. I left one about our recent stay. The only good thing about this place is the location.

samkj
09-06-2006, 11:25 AM
a hold that will take up to 7 business days from checkout to be released, so we were told.

They made an error on our bill at checkout, instead of refunding the $50 difference, they cancelled the first charge and rebilled. It left a hold on our credit card for the entire first amount charged, in addition to the second cleared charge. The hold took 10 days to clear (not a great thing when you are still only halfway through your vacation!)

disneychick
09-06-2006, 01:08 PM
Thanks for all the info, everyone. We had decided to stick with the BWPPI and just deal with the single room - last night, though, we thought everything through really carefully and decided this trip was actually our best chance to stay onsite. It's been a tough year, and we all deserve a bit of a treat, so we're moving over to GCH! We're really looking forward to experiencing it "just once" :)

Rockchalker
09-06-2006, 01:15 PM
Thanks for all the info, everyone. We had decided to stick with the BWPPI and just deal with the single room - last night, though, we thought everything through really carefully and decided this trip was actually our best chance to stay onsite. It's been a tough year, and we all deserve a bit of a treat, so we're moving over to GCH! We're really looking forward to experiencing it "just once" :)

Good for you! Everyone needs to treat themselves nice every once in while. Now you have something to look forward to. However a warning, once you stay on site, it is hard to go back! :)