Carousel Inn vs BW Park Place Inn

[lminster]

I am trying to decide which hotel to choose between these two. I like that the Carousel in offers two Queen beds (vs 2 doubles) and has a fridge and microwave in every room. However, they do charge an extra fee for a crib and their free continental breakfast hasn't gotten such great reviews.

I hear the Park Place Inn has nice clean rooms although they are a bit smaller and don't offer the extra room amenities. I've also heard negatives about the pool at the PPI.

I'd love to hear some opinions and recommendations.

Thanks

P.S. We are 2 adults & 3 small children traveling

 

[Uncle Mikey]

I've stayed at both places and prefer the Park Place Inn. I thought the rooms were nicer. I also had no complaints about the pool and hot tub. Except for the Candy Cane most of the places that offer a free continental breakfast fall short in that category in my opinion. From my personal experience the Park Place Inn makes the top 5 of places along Harbor Blvd that I've stayed. The Carousel barely makes the top ten. I prefer Howard Johnson's over the rest.

 

[LuvTigger]

I concur with the above poster. I like HoJo's the best because it is a little more like a hotel than a motel, and it has always been consistent in cleanliess and service. There is also lots of parking. The pool there is nice, and there is an onsite restaurant. The only down-side is that it is a little further down the street, but still walking distance. They also have a trolley.

Park Place Inn is great as well. We had a refrigerator in our room, but it sounds like maybe we were just lucky. I actually thought the rooms were quite large, and they were very clean and nicely furnished. The pictures on the postcard looked remarkably like the room we actually had! (You know how usually they make it look a lot bigger than it really is!) I didn't look at the pool there. A big plus is that it is directly across the street from DL. Costs more than the others.

Although Carousel Inn was very adequate and had the fridge (can't remember about the microwave), I thought it was just okay and wasn't really that impressed with it except that it was a very large room. I'm not saying this is a bad place to stay, just that given a choice, I would rather stay at Park Place.

May I offer another option? I haven't stayed here personally, but a friend of mine just returned from Desert Inn and Suites. People here seem to have pretty good things to say about it too. My friend also travelled with 3 children (3, 6, 10) and her husband, and they thought Desert Inn was great. Her only complaint was that the carpets could have been cleaner.

 

[lminster]

I am flying on the Alaska Airlines kids fly, stay and play free package, so I am limited to the hotels that they are offering. I prefer to be close to the main entrance because of m6y young children so I was choosing between the BW Park Place Inn, BW Anaheim and the Carousel Inn. Other options include the Fairfield Inn, Howard Johnson, Marriot Ressidence Inn, WestCoast Anaheim, Radisson Maingate and Quality Maingate.

It sounds like I should change my reservation and stay at the BW Park Place Inn. How is the breakfast? Is it worth going to? Does this property also have a dinner restaurant? Any comments on the pool?

Thanks again

 

[Uncle Mikey]

There is a restaurant directly across the driveway from the Park Place Inn lobby. That is where the continental breakfast was served. It was just ok. Nothing special in my opinion. The Candy Cane Inn had a far superior continental breakfast. I liked the pool. It was a little small but we enjoyed it and the hot tub. We also had one dinner at the little restaraunt. Again it was just ok. There are a number of options of places to eat within easy walking distance. There was a nice Mexican restaurant across from Howard Johnson's. There is also a Tony Roma's (if you like ribs) just a block or two down. Other eating options are Millie's and Denny's. Neither are great in my opinion but some people seem to like them. I hope this helps.