Carousel Inn or Park Vue Inn

[Zbugz]

After much research I have narrowed down my late July five night stay to either the Carousel Inn or Park Vue Inn. PVI is overall $115 more for the stay. The reviews for Carousel are throwing me off. People seem to complain about three things: the charges for parking/internet (not an issue for me), the noise (I'd stay in the Club rooms which seem to minimize it), and the housekeeping failures. PVI has the breakfast and better reviews, but the rooms look nicer at Carousel. My priorities are 1. a comfortable bed, and 2. a clean room.

Any input to help me decide?

BTW, we've stayed at Candy Cane Inn, Fairfield Inn, HoJo, the DLH and PPH in the past. CCI's beds are too soft for me, and the other four are too expensive for this trip.

 

[lalasmama]

I've only stayed at PVI. While not "designer" (I kind of wonder who came up with the color schemes in the 2-room suite, for example), not all the rooms are as bad as others, if that makes sense. The room I stayed in while I was there in Feb was done in creams and browns, and was very nice. The suite we stayed in last time, though (2 years ago) was one of their "updated" ones, and it was a southwestern palate, but with green marble added in (??). In fact, it's on their scrolling pictures on their website. Again, not "ugly" per se, just not my preferred color palate! I think the Jacuzzi suite was cream colored walls with green carpet, maybe, but that's been 2 years ago as well.

3 years ago, a frequent DISboarder had an unfortunate incident with bed bugs and lack of response from management, which has turned some people off from PVI. I have stayed there numerous times (next visit this month will be #4), and have had courteous staff, clean rooms, and no signs of bedbugs.

My generally favorite things about PVI are: comfy beds (soft, but not so soft that I sink too much), comfy pillows (they smoosh down easily for DH's flat-pillow preference), adequate towels (fluffy, white, will cover my plus-sized booty), breakfast (love having hot breakfasts in the morning, and they have to-go cups for coffee and tea), the secluded-feeling pool area (the plants around it make it not as obvious that you are in the middle of a parking lot, however, I believe Carousel has a roof-top pool, which would be even nicer!), and the staff's helpfulness (opened our room for us when I realized after checking out that I didn't have my engagement ring on, and then they helped search for it, they have charged different cards for certain nights of our stay when my dad wanted to pay a night of our honeymoon, etc). The first night of each stay I've had there they have called to make sure I have everything I need. Floors could stand to be a little cleaner maybe in the Jacuzzi suite, but, honestly, we figured that room probably isn't rented as often, so it's not cleaned as often.

For silly things I like, there's a 10 or 15% discount at Cold Stone Creamery when you stay at PVI, and I love grabbing an ice cream on my way back to the room! And you can't get any closer to the pedestrian entrance!

 

[Zbugz]

Thanks, Lalasmama, for the detailed description. That really helps.

I remember the bed bug incident well. It scared me off from looking at the PVI for a long time.

Anyone have recent experiences at the Carousel? I imagine things are changing now that Disney owns it.

 

[wdwmickey]

My DD and I just returned last night from a 6 night stay at Carousel Inn. The remodeled rooms are clean and bright. The bed was amazing! We loved having a Keurig in the room. Our room (second floor of the tower) was quiet. The staff we dealt with were all lovely. The housekeeping people did an impeccable job; our room was always super clean and everything was where we left it. The roof top pool view of the fireworks was awesome! I will definitely stay here again. Let me know if you have any specific questions I might be able to answer for you.

 

[revwog1974]

I was at the Carousel over Christmas and our room was fabulous. We had regular housekeeping and the room was very clean with regular towl changing. The staff at the front desk was extremely courteous. We stayed in the kid's suite which was perfect for our girls. We could send one down for a nap and the rest of us didn't have to be so quiet. One morning there was a problem at the hotel with hot water and I had to take a cold shower. When I complained, they gave me a small credit on our bill to make up for it.

There was another family with us, however, who were in a 2-room suite and their experience was totally different than ours. During the 6 days they were there their towels were not refreshed once, despite repeated complaints and calls to housekeeping. At one point my friend went down to the lobby and stood in front of the desk and refused to move until they handed her clean towels. She wouldn't accept "we'll bring them up to your room."

I can't reconcile the two very different experiences we had at the same hotel the exact same days. We found housekeeping extremely responsive and polite, they couldn't get housekeeping to respond for anything. So, based on our experience, I'd stay there again: in fact, I'll be back there again in September. But our friends say they'll never go back and I don't blame them.

By the way, I found a package deal on Expedia that got me plane tickets and 3 nights at the Carousel for $120 less than paying for either of them separately. That's essentially one night free.

 

[Zbugz]

Thanks for the reviews of Carousel, wdwmickey and revwog1974. It sounds like it is hit or miss. I will continue to stew about it.

 

[geergirl]

We stayed at the Carousel in September and were happy with it. We were in one of the resort suites at the very back of the building. The room was large and worked really well for our toddlers to be able to sleep in a different room while we sat up later. We did have issues with housekeeping because of our nap schedule. Housekeeping wasn't getting to our room until later in the afternoon and it was conflicting with our naps. I called and asked them to come empty the trash a couple of times because one kid was still in diapers and it was getting to be a bit much. They did, but it took a little while.

One of the washing machines in the laundry room was broken when we were there and when I reported it (at probably 9pm) they had the maintenance guy down quickly to look at it.

Basically the service wasn't amazing but not that bad, the location is fantastic, and the room was really nice and convenient for us. We will stay there again.

 

[tomorrowland]

We recently had 2 nights reserved at Park Vue Inn. We had trouble with the water in our room and left after one night. If I had checked the water before going into the park we would have left immediately.

The sink only had a very small stream of water coming out and that was even smaller if you flushed the toilet. Who wants to wait for the toilet to finish filling before you wash your hands???

I had to use bottled water to brush my teeth. When I turned the water on in the bathtub, there was a lot of brown sediment stuff that came out. I let it run for several minutes and thought it looked clear. I noticed when I finished with my shower that their was still brown stuff in the bottom of the tub. So it really wasn't as clear as I though.

We were in room 124 and that room is very noisy as it is by stairs. They were fully booked so I can't tell you if another room had that same problem or not. Also the bed linens in our particular room were very worn.

 

[ter-moo]

If I remember correctly, Carousel does NOT have a jacuzzi in the pool area, if that makes a difference to you. Always a disappointment to me after walking around in the parks all day. We've had good luck with both hotels, however, and the rooms are fine. Carousel USED to serve a continental breakfast, however. Without that, I'd be tempted to go with Park Vue.

 

[Zbugz]

Good to know, thanks! Between the Jacuzzi, the free breakfast and the 400 less feet to walk, I am leaning toward PVI.

 

[andrewlb54]

Not sure these will help but here are links to two recent reviews from Tom Bricker over at the Disney Tourist Blog...
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/park-vue-inn-review/
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/carousel-inn-suites-review/

 

[Zbugz]

Thanks andrewlb54, those were great reviews. They make me feel even more confident about picking PVI.

 

[lalasmama]

Not sure these will help but here are links to two recent reviews from Tom Bricker over at the Disney Tourist Blog...
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/park-vue-inn-review/
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/carousel-inn-suites-review/

Nice to see they upgraded the Jacuzzi suite! When we stayed there 2 years ago, the carpet in the Jacuzzi suite was the only "bad" thing I had to say about it! New carpet should be nice and clean!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

The general theme with PVI is that your stay will be fine as long as you don't have any issues you need the staff to deal with. I had an issue in which I was over-billed. The front desk staff said they didn't have the power to fix it. They said no manager or supervisor was on duty when I was checking out. When I got home, I called, I emailed, no response. They refused to even discuss it with me. If they thought the charge was valid, they could have done me the courtesy of explaining it. Between that and the DISer whose family had issues with bedbugs, I will not stay at PVI again. Lots of hotels have bedbugs. It was the way the management handled it that was in question. They have breakfast, water and snacks in the lobby, etc. But it's all window-dressing for poor management.

 

[FryingPansWhoKnew]

I stayed at the Carousel Inn two weeks ago and mentioned it in a thread a couple weeks back.

I'm usually pretty easy to please (or perhaps hard to disappoint, or maybe I like to think I'm that way) and maybe the extra parking (forced valet) and internet fee soured me, but I was underwhelmed. As far as budget hotels/motels go, I've stayed at three on Harbor and this one ranks a very distant third for me.

I can make a lot of excuses for this motel though being what it is. The staff was friendly at least. I think my main problem is that I had too high of expectations for it when in reality it's really just a bed close to the park. You can't beat the location, but I'd rather walk and stay somewhere else next time.

 

[DizMe]

I just got back from a stay at the Carousel. It was a good price (my friend got us a rate of $89) and our room was very nice. We liked the amenities, very comfortable beds, and friendly staff. They have wood floors which is a plus. A third friend joined us the second day and she had a car. We weren't thrilled about the mandatory $14 valet parking fee (and tip) or the $5 daily "resort fee," but it was still a bargain. We ordered a pizza at Pizza Press and took it up to the room, where we discovered they'd given us the wrong pie. I took it back down and they let us keep that one and gave us our original for no charge. They offered to make a new one too but we didn't need to do that. I've stayed at FFI, Hojo, and Anaheim Plaza on Harbor. I liked Carousel best of those for the price and location. I haven't stayed at PVI so I can't compare those two, but I've been happy with the 3 stays I've had at Carousel. Bummer that Carousel discontinued the breakfast, though!