Hotels near SFGAdv

Similar to the other thread, anyone have suggestions for staying nearby? I've tried two places and am 0 for 2 in avoiding cruddiness. Do I really have to go to Princeton to find a good spot?
T.I.A., jeremy

I just came back from a trip their I had the stay a good 45 mins away from the park beacuse we couldn't find anything nearby.

I just booked a room at the Hampton Inn in East Windsor. It's suppose to be the closest Hilton Brand hotel to Six Flags. I've found Hilton Brands the most consistent when it comes to quality.

You could always try staying in Toms River. It's a couple towns over from the park (east). It may be a little out of your way, but I can say that the few hotels on Rt. 37 in Toms River are satisfactory. (Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and one other that I always forget the name)

It's about 30 minutes to the park from Toms River if you drive the speed limit and you only have to take a couple roads to get to the park - Rt. 571 being the main road. Not too complicated.

It's also only a few minutes away from the beach if you're interested in that.
*** Edited 7/25/2006 1:41:01 AM UTC by MrX***

Alternatively, go a couple towns west to Bordentown. There are several basic chain hotels near the convergence of Rts. 130/206 (unless these are the cruddy ones you've tried...). Distance to GAdv is approx. 15 miles, but 195 moves well.

I think we might have stayed in Bordentown back in 91' after my father's brand new car died on us (the computer stopped working). Fifteen miles away sounds about right. Isn't this the town that was built on top of a landfill? All I can remember is that wherever we stayed, it smelled horrible outside. The hotel itself was ok and had a nice dining room (I think it was a Holiday Inn).

Yeah, I was gonna say Bordentown too. I always stay at the Days Inn when I go.

I just noticed while in Toms River that on Rt 37 there is a nice looking Comfort Inn that has on the sign out from that it is newly renovated and has hign speed internet access. So maybe you want to check this hotel out I would say it's probably 15 - 20 miles from GAdv and you would be on county roads for the drive in.

Cherry Hill, NJ. You can priceline a nice Holiday Inn for about $45 per night. It's about a 45 minute drive to SFGAdv. I was just there over the weekend.

Any remotely decent hotel is at least 20 to 25 miles away.

Bordentown hotels are complete crap (and I know Jeremy has similar opinions on hotels as me).

There is a Quality Inn near the Air Force base that is just minutes from the park, it's just something like 9 miles down 537 from the park - it's not *horrible* and the proximity to the park usually wins out when we head that way.

If the distance is the main issue, then I believe that Quality Inn is as close as you can get. If quality matters more, then you will be a decent distance away.

Wow, LG, you *liked* that place? It was an absolute hole! I hated every minute I was there. First off, the floor was uneven like there had just been a flood or something. The whole hotel was dark, drab, and shabby. And to top it off, we got a jacuzzi suite and I swear it looked like the jets hadn't been cleaned in a year. never, Never, NEVER will I stay at that particular hotel again. Lady T doesnt even want to *think* about Quality Inns after that, even though most of them are okay.

For the record, the 'other' place I stayed was a Days Inn, also right near the AFB. That place wasnt 'bad', in fact, *I* would stay there again, but Lady T has a thing against motel (i.e. places where the door leads directly outside). But other than that, it was 'passable', I guess.... We went to the Days the first yr, and then I picked the QI because the distance was about the same as the Days, but it had an interior hallway. What a mistake!

By The by, has anyoe ever stayed in the Residence Inn or Courtyard Cranbury/South Brunswick? Marriotts are usually pretty good (and have great rates for us Federal Employees) but I know nothing of that area.
Thanks again, jeremy

Is this the appropriate time and place to put in a request to Snyder? If there's ONE park in the chain that could FILL a hotel, routinely, GAdv is the one...make it a nicer hotel, and you could charge the customers "until the Kas come home"... ;)

No, the disclaimer is that it wasn't *horrible*. :)

Then again, it's a Choice Hotels property - they're not just inconsistent from hotel to hotel but are inconsistent room to room. Maybe we've scored decent rooms or maybe you scored an bad one? Or both?

I'd still rather be at a hotel I can 'live with' that's a few miles from the park than one that I'm cool with as far away as you have to go to 'be cool' when dealing with SFGAdv. (still think killing the on-property hotel was one of the only major mis-steps Red Zone has made with the parks)

Outdoor entry properties are the worst. The woman has good taste. :)

You'll rarely go wrong with any Marriott property. The bad ones are certainly the exception and few and far between.

LG: still think killing the on-property hotel was one of the only major mis-steps Red Zone has made with the parks

Agree, 10,000% (or more)... ;)

I've been saying the same thing, and I keep hearing "oh, the debt, the debt". Seriously, something that isn't MAKING money, that's bad for the balance sheet. *Investing* the few expendable dollars you have on something that will undoubtedly RAKE in money (like leaves during Autumn in new Jersey), THAT is still sound financial planning for the future of SFI.

Well, in defense of the decision, I've seen the books at more than a few hotels (the wife, you know :) ) and you'd be surprised at how thin the profit margins are...and that's after a property becomes profitable in the first place.

(It's also why I have no idea how a place can charge $39 for a room night and still operate - it really boggles my mind as to what corners are being cut to make it work. But that's a different topic...)

Still, given the hotel situation near SFGAdv, an on-site property would have been a can't miss situation. Sure there would be major cap-ex up front, but still.

Then on the other, other hand I know what kind of issue the park has had with staffing both in quantity & quality and shudder to think of how an SF operated hotel would be run. (especially with the numerous similarities between the hotel and amusement industry - it's all hospitality in the end)

Who knows? If it were my decision, I'd have probably gone for it.

I'm not so sure the hotel won't happen sometime in the near future. I think it's sort of been "put on hold". They already did all the surveying/design so it won't be that hard to get the project going again.

I think it was the right move to delay the hotel. Shapiro said something recently, maybe the conference call, about the lack of advertising on radio and tv. He said "I don't want to advertise a product I can't deliver". And he's totally right. Gadv is not quite prepared to handle an on-site hotel just yet. I think they need to chill with the expensive rides for 2 years and do nothing but improve the park and more importantly figure out a long term solution to the staffing problems. Once the get that done, then the hotel will make sense.

I hope that's what they are doing and not just forgetting about it.