Wauwatosa, WI ~ good place to stay?

[stacy347]

Once again, hoping Disers can help me out!

On our way back from DD's college orientation we will be traveling through WI. The point that I figure we'd want to stop for the night is Wauwatosa ~ yay or nay? I'm really just wanting to make sure it's a fairly safe area as we have never been to WI.

Thanks for any help!!

ETA:
I'm also looking at the Sturtevant / Racine area so any input there would be appreciated also!

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
What school are you looking at?
I just googled the area, and Wawatosa area is a safe area.
You are right next to the zoo.

I found this hotel http://www.hiexpressmilwaukee.com/

Otherwise if you are down by Racine area-I don't think there is to much out there and I wouldn't stay in downtown Racine. I would travel further down to Gurnee IL, near Six Flags.

 

[stacy347]

Thank you!

She is going to Northern Michigan University up in the UP. We are going through WI because I refuse to cross the Mackinac Bridge, LOL.
I know I'm a sissy and I've tossed it around in my head for months, but I simply can not bring myself to go across that thing. She'll be there for 4 years ~ maybe I'll get brave enough before she graduates, LOL.

On the way up, we will drive straight through (11.5 hours), but on the way back, I'd like to break the trip in half.

 

[rchristiansen]

Eh - Stay in the Brookfield area instead if you are traveling further west. It's only a few minutes down the road on I-94. If you are traveling further north then Germantown or Menomonee Falls area off of HWY 45.

I know exactly where that Holiday Inn is. It's OK, not the best. The mall over there is upscale but has been know to have major problems from time to time.

 

[Zachsmom4]

I second staying in Brookfield. Right off I-94 and Mooreland Rd there are several nice hotels. It sure beats Wauwatosa in my opinion. Not to mention Brookfield Square is right there so you will have shopping and many restarurants to choose from.

 

[mckryan]

My brother lives in Wauwatosa, and we stayed at the Crowne Plaza last June. It's new and very nice.

 

[Purple Nightshade]

The Crowne Plaza is nice, or stay in Milwaukee. We just stayed at the Residence Inn downtown Milwaukee and it was great.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

You will be just fine wherever you stay. This is a great, safe area.

 

[OhMari]

My dd graduated from NMU and my son just graduated this past Spring.
His best friend lives up in Marquette and his wedding is in August and my son is best man.

Ugg, I can't believe you are going to come down and around to drive up to Marquette. Yet it probably is faster, depending where you live in Michigan.

You know you can stop at the Mackinac bridge and ask for an escort to drive your vehicle over the bridge-free!

You are actually going to go right past my town. We have a Country Hearth Inn and it is right off the highway. I probably can call and get you a good rate. Give me a PM if you want to stay 40 miles north of Milwaukee. We have a fairly decent resturant across the street called Bublitz's. Plus your Subway, McDonalds, Burger King. I usually book rooms for visiting Missionaries. Let me know, if it is in the middle of the week, it can be around $65 or less.

Are you visiting NMU or going for Orientation. I stayed in the dorms when I went with my dd. Take a small tv and fan. Rooms are not air conditioned. But then again Marquette rarely gets that warm. When I went to orientation with my son, I stayed in my dd's on-campus apartment. I can't believe how long NMU stretches out their Orientation-is it still 3 days? I have 2 other kids, and their orientations at Wisconsin colleges were a mere 4 hours each.

 

[Wis2InTink]

There is a great selection of hotels just south of the airport, and blocks from the interstate. From the south end, you can continue your journey around the lake. In the past, we've stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott on Bluemound in Brookfield - near I-94, shopping mall, restaurants etc., but it is west a few miles. The Kenosha area also has newer hotels close to the highway if you travel 30 minutes more (exits 340 -345 ish.) We've traveled I- 43 to the U.P.

 

[clh2]

Welcome to Wisconsin.

The Crowne Plaze (on Innovations drive) is a newer hotel - I believe built to accomodate visitors to the GE complex very close by. This is about 2 or 3 miles from Mayfair Mall - a fairly upscale mall in the area with many great places to eat. (PF Changs, Cheesecake factory, Magiano's are the ones that come to mind.) The mall has a Crate and Barrel, Coldwater Creek, Macy's, Boston Store, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, for some of my favorites.

Totally a safe neighborhood. (I work for one of the "really close-to-there" hospitals.)

Personally - I would much prefer the Crowne Plaza in Wauwatosa as opposed to going out to Brookfield. I much prefer everything at Mayfair as opposed to Brookfield Square.

 

[stacy347]

Thank you so much, everyone! I knew my fellow Disers would be able to help me out!

OhMari ~ we are going for orientation. And yep, it is still 3 days, ugh! I signed up for the parent/family package so I'll be taking my younger ones with me, too. If it gets to be too much for the kids, we may bow out early though and go sightseeing. Everyone I have talked to has said that their college kids' orientations have been much shorter.

How did your kids like it up there? DD's boyfriend goes to NMU, so she is already a little familiar and went for a visit with his mom once. She said she loves the campus.

We decided to stay at a local hotel (2 miles from campus) instead of the dorms. I was able to get a great rate through the Entertainment Book and I figure that will give the kids a chance to swim and decompress each night.

We will coming from south of the Detroit area. Going straight up over the bridge would have been an 8 hour drive and going through WI will make it 11.5 ~ totally worth the extra few hours to me!

Do you happen to know if the Country Hearth near you allows 5 per room? I will have DD plus 3 younger ones with me for the trip. Thank you for the offer to help out ~ really appreciate it!

 

[OhMari]

Thank you so much, everyone! I knew my fellow Disers would be able to help me out!

OhMari ~ we are going for orientation. And yep, it is still 3 days, ugh! I signed up for the parent/family package so I'll be taking my younger ones with me, too. If it gets to be too much for the kids, we may bow out early though and go sightseeing. Everyone I have talked to has said that their college kids' orientations have been much shorter.

How did your kids like it up there? DD's boyfriend goes to NMU, so she is already a little familiar and went for a visit with his mom once. She said she loves the campus.

We decided to stay at a local hotel (2 miles from campus) instead of the dorms. I was able to get a great rate through the Entertainment Book and I figure that will give the kids a chance to swim and decompress each night.

We will coming from south of the Detroit area. Going straight up over the bridge would have been an 8 hour drive and going through WI will make it 11.5 ~ totally worth the extra few hours to me!

Do you happen to know if the Country Hearth near you allows 5 per room? I will have DD plus 3 younger ones with me for the trip. Thank you for the offer to help out ~ really appreciate it!

They usually have 2 queen beds in each room, and they don't care how many are in a room.

My kids loved NMU-They wanted to stay and be permenant residents, but like everywhere else, there are no jobs there. My sons best friend graduated from NMU and works at a new motor-sports store. His soon to be wife is a pharmacist-she graduated downstate at Farris-she used to work in Marquette, but just got transferred to Ishpiming (sp?). My sons friend dad works on the train/ship docks and he was layed off for almost 18 months because of shipping/mining cut-backs, but he finally went back to work this past March. Let's just say, NMU is not a suit-case school. If you want to see your kids, you have to go there. When my kids did come home, they always brought someone home from Michigan-we live 4 1/2 hours away.

It is a great school-great class room size and can't beat the free laptops-they still do that right?