The Jolly Roger Motel review was written for us by one of our message board members. Thanks Esmerelda for the review!
Upon first arrival the hotel looks nice. You enter off of Katella Ave (by way of U-turn if you follow the signs to Disneyland parks). To register you park your car under a flower and vine covered area. The lobby is bare, but nice. There is a statue of Mickey signaling you are in Disney territory. We were greeted with a smile and a warm welcome by the lone desk attendant. We arrived at 1:00. Check-in was not until 3:00. I thought it was at 2:00 and we forgot about the California time change. However, the clerk checked our room and notified us that we could check in early.
Entry into the rooms is through exterior covered corridors. The outside of the room buildings are up kept but old. The corners of the buildings have awnings to cover the stairs (the rest of the stairs reside under the corridors) which are in need of replacement. They are sun faded and weather ripped.
The pool area is located across from the lobby. The pool is fenced off completely; however, you can’t see the iron fence for it is covered with the beautiful flowered vines. There is a pool house in the pool area but our family didn’t use it so I can’t report on that. The pool is kidney shaped and very large. There are two step areas in the 3 foot section and two ladder areas in the 9 foot section. The pool slopes rapidly once you get past the 3 foot end of the kidney. The pool area is nice and clean. There are covered tables and sun chairs around the perimeter. The pool was usually empty and we felt as if we were alone on vacation. If you choose the Jolly Roger strictly on the pool area (which is what we did), then you will be happy. We had a few other options of hotels in the Budget category but the Jolly Roger’s website appeared to have the best pictures, especially of the pool area. The downside: there is no hot tub. As a Jolly Roger guest you have access to the adjoining hotel’s (the Portofino) hot tub, gym, and pool area.
We parked our car in the ample parking lot (on walking past several other hotels, the Jolly Roger has the best parking!) right out front of our room. We were on the first level. When we first walked into the room it smelled odd. We later determined it was just the smell of a closed up, swamp cooled, room. By the first five minutes of our stay we no longer smelled it. Our room was small but clean. There was a TV in an armoire and a small table with two chairs on one wall. On the other wall there were two beds and a night table with an alarm clock. As the room is small, the other two walls are used as a narrow walking area for the far sides of the beds. There is a closet area with plenty of room for suitcases on stands (we had two), hanging room and shelves for unpacking. The air conditioner (I think it was a swamp cooler) was positioned in the closet to blow into the room. Upon request you can get a refrigerator at an additional cost. The TV stand was broken. It was closed upon our arrival, but once we opened it we couldn’t get it closed again. It remained open the rest of our stay. We didn’t mind as we’re used to having the TV centrally present in our house! The table was small but proved enough room for us to spread out our snack food and accumulating souvenirs. We had several drawers to unpack our clothes in the armoire and night stand. The bedding was adequate for a motel. They were clean and newer. The pillows were small and lumpy, but it didn’t affect any of our sleeping. The beds are small, double beds. They are low to the floor and very firm. I didn’t find them uncomfortable but my husband, who likes very soft beds, did. The carpeting wasn’t clean. We continually had socks or shoes on. If you walked around with just socks on the bottoms were remarkably dirty. I can’t blame the hotel much on that one…as I contributed to the dirty floor! We had the spray sunscreen which goes everywhere when you spray it! Or room had a very large window that was covered with curtains that were newer and free from holes/rips/fading. The curtains were the black out type that provided us with complete darkness on our (few) late rising mornings.
The bathroom at the hotel was small and adequate. The shower was a corner type that always had hot water. The shower door did not close properly. We had to lift it to close it. It was a hassle, but not anything we couldn’t deal with. We were provided with new soap every day (the maid opened them for us and put them back where we had left them) and mini shampoos which we didn’t use. We had clean towels and wash clothes every day. We had enough towels and didn’t have to ask for more (which is usually the case in hotels) which was a nice surprise. The sink area was newly renovated as it was a granite countertop. The basin was new. We had a coffeepot and blow dryer that we never used. I tried to limit our takeover of the sink area every morning, but what we had sitting out was moved to clean the counters every day. The overall look of the bathroom is clean. However, upon “sitting and contemplating” we noticed the wallpaper was in terrible need of replacement under the sink and along the shower area. The grout in the floor tiles was also in need of repair.
The Jolly Roger Café was terrible. They posted they were open for breakfast from 6:30-11:00 (which is partly why we chose this hotel…the “on site” restaurant, turns out we didn’t need it at all as Denny’s and IHOP are right across from the entrance to Disneyland). We arrived twice at 7:30 and they weren’t open. On our second day the doors were unlocked so we ventured in to find a horrid, sewer backup, nasty smell. At a restaurant this is totally unacceptable to me! We didn’t even wait to see a hostess (though the sign stated “this section closed” meaning they still weren’t open). At intervals throughout the day the restaurant is supposed to be open…but every time we passed, no matter what time, it was never open. I do not recommend the restaurant! And don’t base your choice of hotel on this feature!
The atmosphere at the hotel needs improvement. The staff was friendly when approached at the desk; however, if they were sitting in the lobby (on the other side of the desk) they were unapproachable. The maid service was excellent and when we saw them they were full of smiles and nods. We were bombarded every time we walked into the lobby with a person selling Disney time shares (they were the same company doing them in the park and Downtown, but this one was pushy!). Every night at 10:30 there were loud noises of a cart being pushed down the hallways. We were never ambitious enough to get up to see what was the source, but we suspected it was trash being emptied or laundry being hauled down to the laundry room. Either way, the booming sound would have woken us up had we been sleeping. On Saturday night the restaurant hosted a wedding reception in their banquet room. Unfortunately the loud pounding noise, laughter, yelling, smoking etc that comes with a reception was all heard in our room until the wee hours of morning. Luckily it didn’t stop us from sleeping and getting up early for Disneyland the next day. The Jolly Roger promoted “internet access”. We learned that it is not free! We had to pay $10 for 24 hours to use the adjoining hotel’s connection.
The walk from the Jolly Roger to the entrance to Disneyland takes about 10 minutes with a 3 ½ year old. We walked over to Denny’s each morning then into the park. The walks home seem to take longer as you are worn out and have to carry the 3 ½ year old but it’s still doable! Definitely better than parking at Disneyland!! Keep in mind that if your hotel states “across from Disneyland” it doesn’t mean you have access to the entrance! The Jolly Roger doesn’t state this, so we were prepared for a long walk and were pleasantly surprised by the proximity.
My overall opinion: Stay someplace else. If your budget only allows you to stay at the Jolly Roger, then it’s a nice place to stay. If you have a few extra dollars (it was only $100 more to stay at the Ramada which was closer to the entrance) spend it! The hotel is clean and nice for a “budget motel” but there is definitely a difference in budget and moderate locations. The bathrooms are in good condition. The pool is excellent. But for your week long vacation….splurge.
The hotels closest to the entrance to the park are those located by Denny’s, IHOP, and Captain Kidd restaurants (Candy Cane Inn and Ramada Maingate were the only two we really noticed, as we walked past the CCI every night and said we should have stayed there (very pretty location and right next door to the entrance), and the Ramada Maingate which was what we originally had picked when we decided the Jolly Roger website was more appealing).