Carousel Inn - Kids Suites

[BayGirl22]

Plenty of info here about the Carousel Inn but very little on their Kid Suites. Even TripAdvisor had little on that specific layout. The pictures make them look really cute, but can anyone give more details?

Which building are they located in? Is there an elevator? Are they internal corridor or opening to the outside? How much room is in the kids side - enough to fit a crib or packn'play? What is the actual layout? Can anyone compare them to the HoJo kid's suites?

TIA!

 

[BayGirl22]

Really? No one has stayed here?
With the location and all the Carousel Inn fans here I would have expected these rooms to be really popular.

 

[MommyLove]

I didn't know they had kid suites! Will be keeping an eye on this thread as I'd like to know too!

 

[BayGirl22]

They do, and they look super cute. Here's the description and website pic. I did see one real life pic in another thread and it looked similar to this:

Enjoy your exciting day at the park and end the evening in our unique Kids Suite, with Divine™, a Sleep Experience. The main room has 1 queen pillow-top bed and the kid's bedroom is full of whimsical Disney décor. This 2 room suite offers 360 square feet of mega fun with accommodations for children of all ages with a full size bed as the bottom bunk and a twin size on the top. It is the best suite in town for families and will accommodate as many as 5.

Amenities
1 Queen Bed, 1 Bunk Bed, Mickey Bedding, Mickey Television with Cable, Refrigerator, Microwave, Tea & Coffee Maker, Hair Dryer, Iron & Ironing Board, Oversized Showerhead & Hand Shower, Cable Television, Plantation Shutters.

I have a rate of $206/night, which is slightly more than Hojo (non-retro rate). But the location is better. Just not sure if the quality will be as good as it sounds.

 

[MommyLove]

Looks cute! If we go without the oldest (which could happen) and we could get a better price than that, I think we'd give it a try!

 

[jacs1234]

We keeps tarting out ourlans with a stay at carousel inn but we keep upgrading to the grand Californian. Problem is I need a room for 6 so we need to book two normal rooms or a view suite. So I haven't stayed there so can't help. The kids suite looks great though. You'll have to go to give us a review.

 

[esc38372]

I just responded to your post in the other Carousel Inn thread and then saw this one. We stayed in a standard tower room, but I asked at the front desk about the Kids Suites.

There are three Kids Suites--all on different floors of the tower room. I think they are closer to the front of the hotel (closer to Harbor Blvd) but not positive about that. So that means you have elevator access.

There is one elevator at the front of the hotel and two elevators about midway down the tower building near the pool.

Sorry I can't answer your other questions, but you may want to call the Carousel Inn directly and ask. My guess is that there is only one bathroom in the Carousel Kids Suites while the HoJo Kids Suites have two bathrooms. I would also guess that the HoJo Kids Suites are bigger since they were created by combining two regular guest rooms (including bathrooms), and the standard HoJo rooms are much bigger than the standard Carousel rooms.

(My guess about the number of bathrooms in the Carousel Kids Suites is based on the fact that the View Suites at the Carousel only have one bathroom even though there are three queen beds.)

I would also guess that the Kids Suites open to the outside corridor since there aren't any internal corridors at the Carousel Inn.

Hope that helps!

ETA: I just reread the description for the Carousel Inn Kids Suites and realized that there is another difference. The Carousel Inn has a queen bed and a bunk bed. The HoJo kids suites have a king bed and a bunk bed (and a sleeper chair/sofa too, I think...though I can't remember for sure). We stayed at the HoJo three years ago in a premium room before the Kids Suites renovations. The walk was not too bad, but this trip, I was very glad at the end of each day that we could just go straight to the Carousel and not walk further up Harbor Blvd to HoJo. DH preferred the HoJo though, so we'll see what we decide for our next trip. We may try the BWPPI minisuites.

 

[smiles33]

We stayed in the HoJo Kids Suite and LOVED it. HoJo is much bigger (538 sq ft vs 360), has a king bed for the adults (woo hoo), has an additional sofa bed in the bunk bed room (albeit small, so probably 2 kids or 1 adult on it), and is cheaper (non-Entertainment rate is about $186 for an April 2013 trip I have on hold). Honestly, that photo of the Carousel Kids Suite makes me feel claustrophobic--there are no windows on 3 walls and presumably the last wall is connected to the other room. Plus that's a weird choice for a chandelier!

Compare that photo above to the HoJo photo:

There's a balcony/window behind where the photographer was standing.

 

[BayGirl22]

I just responded to your post in the other Carousel Inn thread and then saw this one. We stayed in a standard tower room, but I asked at the front desk about the Kids Suites.

There are three Kids Suites--all on different floors of the tower room. I think they are closer to the front of the hotel (closer to Harbor Blvd) but not positive about that. So that means you have elevator access.

There is one elevator at the front of the hotel and two elevators about midway down the tower building near the pool.

Sorry I can't answer your other questions, but you may want to call the Carousel Inn directly and ask. My guess is that there is only one bathroom in the Carousel Kids Suites while the HoJo Kids Suites have two bathrooms. I would also guess that the HoJo Kids Suites are bigger since they were created by combining two regular guest rooms (including bathrooms), and the standard HoJo rooms are much bigger than the standard Carousel rooms.

(My guess about the number of bathrooms in the Carousel Kids Suites is based on the fact that the View Suites at the Carousel only have one bathroom even though there are three queen beds.)

I would also guess that the Kids Suites open to the outside corridor since there aren't any internal corridors at the Carousel Inn.

Hope that helps!

ETA: I just reread the description for the Carousel Inn Kids Suites and realized that there is another difference. The Carousel Inn has a queen bed and a bunk bed. The HoJo kids suites have a king bed and a bunk bed (and a sleeper chair/sofa too, I think...though I can't remember for sure). We stayed at the HoJo three years ago in a premium room before the Kids Suites renovations. The walk was not too bad, but this trip, I was very glad at the end of each day that we could just go straight to the Carousel and not walk further up Harbor Blvd to HoJo. DH preferred the HoJo though, so we'll see what we decide for our next trip. We may try the BWPPI minisuites.

Thank you, that is what I wanted to know. They do have only one bathroom and they aren't made out of 2 full rooms, so I'm sure they are smaller.
I beleive the BWPPI minisuites are just one room with a short dividing wall - I prefer a solid wall or door.

We stayed in the HoJo Kids Suite and LOVED it. HoJo is much bigger (538 sq ft vs 360), has a king bed for the adults (woo hoo), has an additional sofa bed in the bunk bed room (albeit small, so probably 2 kids or 1 adult on it), and is cheaper (non-Entertainment rate is about $186 for an April 2013 trip I have on hold). Honestly, that photo of the Carousel Kids Suite makes me feel claustrophobic--there are no windows on 3 walls and presumably the last wall is connected to the other room. Plus that's a weird choice for a chandelier!

Compare that photo above to the HoJo photo:

There's a balcony/window behind where the photographer was standing.

Yeah, I know the HoJo rooms will be bigger and I think the place as a whole will be nicer. I'm just trying to quantify how much nicer. For our dates the difference is $20 more/night for Carousel. I know the HoJo isn't THAT much further, but I keep watching the video and mapping it out and I know that difference will matter to me. Just need to decide how much it matters.

I think we're still leaning heavily toward the GCH. We decided this is our only vacation this year, and we can afford it, so it would be a nice splurge. But the deal finder in me has trouble with spending an extra $1000. The major compromise for us is that the bunk bed rooms are all one room, no separate area for the kids. But for my DS just having a defined space for him to sleep might be enough, with Micky in the morning as motivation to stay in bed. The EE and location of GCH is pushing me over the edge right now.

 

[smiles33]

Go with GCH then! EE and location can't be beat and I think most people would say hands down it's the clear winner if it's in the budget. I get the value argument holding you back, though, as for me, the lack of separate rooms is a deal breaker (2 rooms at GCH would cost how much? $800/night?). Good luck!

 

[profa]

We stayed 2 nts at HOJO regular rm - had to make the walk 2x and then 3 nts at Desert INN sts. I loved being right across the st for making the walk 4x. W/ 3 kids 8 and under it was just nice to be that close. The rms definitely weren't as nice as HOJO but we weren't hanging out in the rm. We were sleeping there and that's about it. Both beds were good.