Elliot and Jason's Excellent Adventure

My review of this motel:

We checked into the Super 8 Motel in Maumee, OH late at night. I think it was after midnight in the morning of 8/8/06. We called only about 1 hr prior to arriving to check on availability for one room with two double beds. The woman who assisted me over the phone was very polite and provided excellent directions from the interstate. It's located on the southern edge of Toledo, OH in a "business park" - small office buildings and a few other hotels are in the immediate area. It looked like a very safe location to stay.

When we checked in she offered a discount off the price she had quoted me over the phone and the original quote was very reasonable. This Super 8 appeared to be fairly new. I'm guessing it isn't more than five years old. The common areas and the room were in excellent condition. They had newer furnishings and decor. The room was very comfortable and clean. The motel also offers a continental breakfast.

This motel provides excellent value and service for any traveler looking for a clean, affordable, safe place that provides basic amenities and a pleasant environment.

*Cedar Point Amusement Park is only one hour east of Maumee, OH.

In Sept. 2007, Amusement Today honored Cedar Point with the Golden Ticket Award for "Best Amusement Park in the World" - for the 10th year in a row. In addition, Cedar Point won the award for "Best New Ride of 2007" for Maverick - its 17th roller coaster. Cedar Point has the largest collection of roller coasters in the world. Five of Cedar Point's coasters have placed in the Top 20 "Best Steel Roller Coasters" category. "Cedar Point is the must-get-to-park for any enthusiast around the world," says Tim Baldwin of Amusement Today. After visiting Cedar Point myself, I believe he may be right.

Spend day in New York.

We went to see Mama Mia! and it was awesome fun. Since we had never been to The Winter Garden Theatre we bought tickets for the main floor near the front so we'd be guaranteed an excellent view. It looked like just about every seat in the house would have a good view.

Staten Island Ferry

My review of this hotel (in a nutshell, don't stay at this hotel):

The Choice Hotels corporate web site states that the Comfort Inn North in Absecon, NJ won the company's "Choice Gold Hospitality Award". Per the web site:

"Winners of this award exceed Choice Hotels' quality standards for Customer Service, Housekeeping and Product Quality. Only those properties that achieve scores in the top 20% of the brand during an unannounced inspection for each of these categories receives the Choice Gold Hospitality Award."

The fact that the web site states that this Comfort Inn location is in the top 20% of the brand was a major influence in my decision to book a standard room for 8/13-8/16 (2006). I expected the hotel to be very clean and was disappointed to discover upon arrival that it's filthy.

When I got into the elevator to go to my 3rd floor room I started to question the quality of the hotel. The walls of the elevator were very dirty. They appeared to have large stains - perhaps some kind of liquid that had been splashed on them. When I got off the elevator I walked into a hallway that had terribly stained carpet, the walls and doors to the rooms were covered with stains and scuff marks, and there was definitely a moderate stench in the air.

The room was not a whole lot cleaner than the common area in the hall. There were liquid stains and scuff marks on the wall. Wallpaper was peeling off in multiple places. At least one gouge was in the plaster wall. The lamp shades and cloth covered chairs were stained. The bathroom wasn't too bad, although the rim of the toilet wasn't clean. And there were small hairs on my bed sheet. I slept on top of the bedspread.

After staying one night I cancelled the remaining two nights that I was booked to stay in the hotel. I then went down the highway a few miles and checked into the new Comfort Inn Jersey Shore.