Ross3half
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2005
- Messages
- 348
Hi all. Our family of four (me, DH, DD4, DD2) just returned from 3 nights at the Carousel Inn and Suites on our $85/night Entertainment Book rate. After reading some of the recent reviews on here, I was a little leery of what we would get. However, we were pleasantly surprised so I thought I'd share our experience!
We arrived at 11:00 AM and they had our room requests on file that we had sent when making our reservation. They said that our room would be ready upon check-in time (by 3:00 PM), and then she said if we'd rather be on the other side of the hotel, she could get us in right away into a more spacious room. I didn't even realize that the hotel had rooms on that side, but I said sure! She gave us our keys and parking permit, explained the breakfast times, hotel layout, etc. and we set off for our room. The down-side, which she explained, is that this side of the hotel doesn't have an elevator since it's only one level of rooms above the covered parking, but on the plus side the rooms are larger and there aren't rooms above or below you.
Our room (#249) had the new wood (pergo) floors, two queen beds, a desk and two chairs, a cabinet with a fridge and microwave, an armoire with a TV that included the Disney channel for the kiddos, and a very generous sized bathroom. After seeing the size of the large separate vanity area that closes off behind a plantation door, we wished we'd have brought a playpen for our 2year old to have her own quiet space. Shortly the front desk called up to check on our room, so we asked if they had a portable crib and they said they'd bring one right up and were there within 5 minutes. Just $6/night gave us a great set-up with the rolling crib parked inside the large vanity area. (I don't think it would fit well in the regular size rooms). The room was very clean and I didn't see any wear/tear.
As with all/most hotels on Harbor, it can get a bit noisy from the outside traffic but it wasn't bad at all compared to others we have stayed at and we easily drowned it out when necessary by turning the room fan on. The heat and A/C both worked great. The shower was nice and hot regardless of what time we showered (maybe because there were fewer rooms on our side of the hotel for the water heater??) and the beds were comfortable for an economy hotel, with the down comforters being a nice touch. DH recently had back surgery and he slept very well - whew!
I had read about the limited breakfast choices prior to our trip, so I brought some plastic bowls, ziplocs of cereal plus some instant oatmeal packets, and we purchased milk at the market to put in our room fridge (which stayed very cold and the little freezer compartment worked as well). We went up to the breakfast room in the mornings to get a few pastries (donuts, croissants, fruit pastries) fruit (whole oranges and apples), juice (orange and apple), and a few slices of bread and jelly packs to make PB&J for a mid-morning park snack. The girls even tried the hard boiled eggs one morning and said they were okay. They also had coffee available.
The Quiznos in the hotel was very convenient - one evening we picked up sandwiches that we took over to the park to eat while we waited for the parade to start - it was great! The free apples in the hotel lobby were also a tasty mid-day snack.
Overall the staff and housekeeping were great and very friendly. The proximity to the crosswalk was of course the greatest bonus of all and the main reason we chose the Carousel. We would definitely stay there again.
We arrived at 11:00 AM and they had our room requests on file that we had sent when making our reservation. They said that our room would be ready upon check-in time (by 3:00 PM), and then she said if we'd rather be on the other side of the hotel, she could get us in right away into a more spacious room. I didn't even realize that the hotel had rooms on that side, but I said sure! She gave us our keys and parking permit, explained the breakfast times, hotel layout, etc. and we set off for our room. The down-side, which she explained, is that this side of the hotel doesn't have an elevator since it's only one level of rooms above the covered parking, but on the plus side the rooms are larger and there aren't rooms above or below you.
Our room (#249) had the new wood (pergo) floors, two queen beds, a desk and two chairs, a cabinet with a fridge and microwave, an armoire with a TV that included the Disney channel for the kiddos, and a very generous sized bathroom. After seeing the size of the large separate vanity area that closes off behind a plantation door, we wished we'd have brought a playpen for our 2year old to have her own quiet space. Shortly the front desk called up to check on our room, so we asked if they had a portable crib and they said they'd bring one right up and were there within 5 minutes. Just $6/night gave us a great set-up with the rolling crib parked inside the large vanity area. (I don't think it would fit well in the regular size rooms). The room was very clean and I didn't see any wear/tear.
As with all/most hotels on Harbor, it can get a bit noisy from the outside traffic but it wasn't bad at all compared to others we have stayed at and we easily drowned it out when necessary by turning the room fan on. The heat and A/C both worked great. The shower was nice and hot regardless of what time we showered (maybe because there were fewer rooms on our side of the hotel for the water heater??) and the beds were comfortable for an economy hotel, with the down comforters being a nice touch. DH recently had back surgery and he slept very well - whew!
I had read about the limited breakfast choices prior to our trip, so I brought some plastic bowls, ziplocs of cereal plus some instant oatmeal packets, and we purchased milk at the market to put in our room fridge (which stayed very cold and the little freezer compartment worked as well). We went up to the breakfast room in the mornings to get a few pastries (donuts, croissants, fruit pastries) fruit (whole oranges and apples), juice (orange and apple), and a few slices of bread and jelly packs to make PB&J for a mid-morning park snack. The girls even tried the hard boiled eggs one morning and said they were okay. They also had coffee available.
The Quiznos in the hotel was very convenient - one evening we picked up sandwiches that we took over to the park to eat while we waited for the parade to start - it was great! The free apples in the hotel lobby were also a tasty mid-day snack.
Overall the staff and housekeeping were great and very friendly. The proximity to the crosswalk was of course the greatest bonus of all and the main reason we chose the Carousel. We would definitely stay there again.
