For my wife’s first trip to Disneyland in 2003 we stayed across the street at the Carousel Inn, on Harbor Boulevard. Mrs. Share a Dream gave a video tour of our hotel room (Room 150). Our friends joined us for our Disneyland trip and they got an adjoining room with a connecting door. How fun! We parked our rental car at the hotel (probably for a fee) and from the parking lot I could see the monorail going by. For an East Coast WDW boy, that was awesome. For someone riding the monorail it probably wasn’t as magical seeing all the chain hotels and McDonald’s across the street. Before hitting the park for a 9AM rope drop I ate breakfast in their little dining area next to the lobby. I don’t remember if it was free. My wife filmed our room and our walk over to Disneyland, which was actually on June 5, 2003. The walk didn’t take long. I have many videos on my channel of our day at Disneyland and each attraction. I didn’t film our delicious lunch at Blue Bayou though. I tried the “famous” Monte Cristo sandwich and loved it!
On our first day (June 4) we went to Disney’s California Adventure. It was my first time going to this park. There’s plenty of videos on my channel documenting this first trip. My other two Disneyland trips were in 1999 and 2000, and DCA was not open yet. Walking through the esplanade was weird, seeing Disneyland, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney all together. The music was interesting too because they were playing the front entrance music that I was used to at Magic Kingdom, but in between they were playing California themed songs. It was like “Under the Sea” and then “California Girls”. My mind had memorized the Magic Kingdom loop from working in monorails (WDW) so when I heard the California songs my brain said, “This song isn’t next in the loop!”
Carousel Inn & Suites. This hotel opened in 1957 as the Carousel Motel. It was in a prime location right across the street from Walt’s new park. It went through several owners and changes over the years. A long, five-story building of hotel rooms replaced the old one-story motel and the name changed to Carousel Inn. This three-star hotel had 131 rooms and a swimming pool on the roof. Fireworks could be viewed from the roof and a small workout room was up there too. On property was Pizza Press, which was like a Blaze Pizza, where people can build their own pizza for $10. Carousel Inn was a Disneyland “Good Neighbor Hotel” and when the property went up for sale Disney bought it on March 23, 2015. Even though Disney owned it, the Carousel management still ran it. Disney closed the hotel on October 17, 2016 and in 2018 it was demolished. Now the area is a Disney parking lot. The pedestrian bridge that several news reports said would be built there has not been constructed yet.
REFERENCE:
Dead Motels USA: https://deadmotelsusa.com/post/647729541311299584/built-in-1957-and-closed-in-2016-the-carousel
Disney Wiki: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Carousel_Inn
WDW Info: https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/permits-indicate-that-the-carousel-inn-suites-across-from-disneyland-will-soon-be-demolished/
Disney Tourist Blog: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/carousel-inn-suites-review/
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