I was planning a spring break vacation that coincided with my son's tenth birthday. Since he wants to be a marine biologist Sea World was the chosen destination. Even though we are in Los Angeles, I chose to take my two children on the autism spectrum to San Diego via Amtrak. I decided to spend two full days at Sea World, which meant three nights staying at the Holiday Inn at Mission Bay Sea World.

I chose the Holiday Inn at Mission Bay Sea World based on the Travel Coupon Guide I picked up in January at a Denny's Restaurant in Los Angeles. This guide has a map with the corresponding numbers to the Hotels and attractions. The Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World is located at 3737 Sports Arena Boulevard. The tour of the rooms at the website helped me get a sense of the room. The site is www.himb.com. When driving along Sports Arena Boulevard we found a Holiday Inn Express down the street.

Although the kids mini suite has an activity table and bunk beds, I went with a regular two room suite for $119.00 per night. I called 1-800-219-6824 to make the reservation with my debit card. Our actual suite did not look like any of the pictures shown in the Travel Coupon Guide.

Besides being in close proximity to Sea World, I chose the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World because the rooms have microwaves and refrigerators. Since my son only drinks soymilk and likes popcorn and bacon from the microwave, I needed to have these two appliances. I learned that Vons grocery store was very close by, which clinched the decision for this location due to our taking the train and not renting a car.

I knew from the website that meals are free for children under the age of twelve with one paying adult. There is a Baker's Square at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World. I perused their menu online, but needed more details about their service. I called the toll-free number to check on the reservation a few days prior to leaving for San Diego. My reservation had been for two adults instead of one so I made that change. I also inquired if the meals could be taken out or for room service. The agent on the phone had never been asked that question before and could not give me a response. He even stated he did not have a menu. It seemed I stumped him, but I found upon my arrival at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World a black notebook with divided sections. This contained a menu and a mention that the free meals could not be used for take out or room service. I would suggest that the agents who respond to calls at the toll-free number have these books at their station for ease in assisting future travelers.

I found someone through www.craigslist.org to assist me with my two autistic children at Sea World for two days. She picked us up at the train station on Kettner Boulevard and proceeded to find the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World. It had been many years since I was in San Diego so I relied on her to get us to the location. I had joined an autism group in the San Diego area for tips on visiting Sea World. For some reason when mentioning I was staying at the Holiday Inn many assumed it was on Hotel Circle. It looks like that location is farther from Sea World than the Sports Arena site.

The parking lot is very large with a few disabled parking spaces. I brought along the placard I have for my non- verbal autistic son for ease in getting around in San Diego and parking for Sea World. There are four buildings at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World. Registration and lobby are located in Building A. The Bakers Square is directly across the way through the parking lot. The outdoor pool is on the other side. I saw children coming from the pool after obtaining my room card. The parking is free here with many families arriving the week of Spring Break.

I was aware the check in is at 3, but the agent on the phone when I made the reservation said it was okay to get there earlier since our train was getting there about 2 in the afternoon. Since we had a bomb scare in Los Angeles the train was almost thirty minutes behind schedule. This made our arrival at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World at 3 pm. There were others arriving at the same time, but several agents took care of us quickly.

I was given a map, room card and a carbonated meal ticket for each meal. The gal at the counter told me I would have to get one for each day. I did this but we never entered the Bakers Square since my son is very loud and would not fare well in a sit down restaurant for us to take advantage of children eating free.

Directly next door on Sports Arena Boulevard is San Diego Fitness. Visitors of the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World can utilize the facility by showing their room card. You cannot bring the towels from the Hotel there. We walked by twice when going to Vons where I noticed you work out in front of windows for all passerbys to see. Across the street within the Vons shopping center is the 24 Hour Fitness that has the same set up. Mc Donald's, Arby's and Wendys are all within walking distance. Only Mc Donald's was open for breakfast.

Besides the large parking lot there is also an enclosed parking area. I could not tell if it was designated for employees only, but did note it was not filled to capacity. There are elevators to get to the three levels for the rooms. We did get room 378, but I really wanted a first floor room. When I inquired at check in I was informed it would be a two hour wait, so we kept the room assigned.

Outside the elevator was the ice machine and soft drink vending machine. The maids were early each day as I saw them when we were leaving by 8:30 am. Each day we returned to a clean room with fresh towels. The garbage cans were so small that I had to empty them several times at the garbage receptacle near the elevator.

The air conditioning in the living room area was on low upon entry, which was a welcome feeling. The table was directly in front of the vent, so I moved it each day to get the full effect of the air. The cabinet for the television was black with it hard to spot the microwave and refrigerator at first. There was a shelf below the television that was suitable to keep our items picked up at Vons and the nearby Target. The room was fresh smelling, airy and decor was pleasing to the eye. The bedspreads were colorful and in great shape as were the white sheets and brown blanket.

The living room contained a sofa sleeper couch that was very comfortable and two chairs. One chair has wheels that enabled my kids to go around the room with the other able to move about with ease. I had packed two DVD players, but could not find the audio/video input on the television to utilize the SpongeBob player. There was a plug near the doorway that was suitable for the CyberHome portable DVD player.

A sliding doorway with white curtain divided the living room area from the bedroom. It was hard to keep the sound from filtering through each room from the 25 inch televisions. The downside was having only one remote for both televisions and that each time the sets were turned off we had to go through the whole system again to find that channel and turn the volume up again.

The refrigerator had two side sections for all our drinks and two levels for lunchable stock. I made use of the refrigerator for our reusable ice that I brought for our arctic zone bag. Sometimes you will luck out with the small compacted refrigerators and find a small spot for freezer items, but this was not the case.

The bedroom contained two full beds, a bathroom that had a full length mirror on the door, sink with coffee maker, two mugs and a blow dryer mounted on the wall. There was also a three drawer dresser with the television mounted on top.

The sink area had a small basket with shower cap, soap and shampoo. There was a towel rack with small hand towels and wash cloths. I had packed a few of my blue washcloths to dry off my son's bottles. One day the maid had them hanging up on the rack for me.

The bathroom had two rolls of toilet tissue, bathmat and six full white towels along with hand and wash cloths. There was a laminated notecard in several languages hanging on the rack indicating that towels on the floor and in tub meant they would be changed, but any remaining on the rack would not be. I made a point of throwing towels on the floor, even though that is not my usual style!

The shower had some mats inside that were for non slipping and worked great. The shower massage was a nice touch and the hot water was plentiful each morning. My ten year old thought the tub was too small. A few times upon entering and turning on the light that is located inside, it had a smoke scent that did not linger once the vent started up.

The rooms had smoke alarms, sprinkler system and a fan that went inside to the bedroom. I kept it on high since it seemed rather hot in there at night. The beds were comfortable with both kids sleeping throughout the night.

Another laminated note card appeared on each bed informing guests that your sheets would be changed if you left this card on the pillow, otherwise the bed would be made with same sheets. This is to conserve "millions of gallons of water and tons of detergent in thousands of hotels around the world".

Since my son is not toilet trained I brought a package of his Goodnites along with babypowder and picked up Huggies wipes at Vons. I brought a rug to lie him down to change him and used plastic bags to dispose of the diapers at the garbage pail near the elevator. I did notice that the baby powder residue was still on the floor. It is easy to move it about so I feel the rooms were not vacuumed, just cleaned up.

The television was equipped with HBO and cable, but for children it only had PBS and Disney. My kids missed not having access to Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The armoire in the living area contained in a sealed pouch the bedding and pillow for the sofa bed, an ironing board and iron. There were a few wooden hangers with the dry cleaning information and luggage rack.

The telephone was in the bedroom with two drawers in the nightstand. The Gideons Bible and a San Diego booklet were in the top drawer. The lighting options were plentiful with two switches to the same bright light over the large mirror that was over the sink. The nightstand had two lights that were individually accessed by one switch. There was one painting over each bed and one in the living room. The living area had a standing light, one lamp on the table that had plugs for internet access and two more smaller ones on the wall. I also brought along a nightlight for my kids to be more comfortable and a blanket for the couch to help them relax before retiring into a bed. I ended up leaving a light on each night in the living area. My kids liked playing with the door between the rooms, but ultimately we kept them open all the time.

I never did find a gift shop as it was mentioned on the card in the room. The lobby also has a video arcade room and a few vending machines for personal items that might have been overlooked in packing. My son developed a toothache from eating the munchies given on the train. I probably could have called the lobby to request some medicine, but since he only likes chewable tablets in bubble gum flavor we headed over to Vons for items.

There was also a coin laundry on site that we never used. They have an express video check out option through the television that I did not pursue. One annoying issue that happens to visitors at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World is pizza cards getting tossed in through the door from some companies in the area. There was a note in the room that said to not use these companies because they do not list an address and many visitors have complained about the rude and slow service. We got three of these every day tossed inside the door. I did see when going to the garbage one room used them.

The USA Today newspaper was free in the lobby and I noted one visitor down from us had one wrapped in plastic on their door knob. We stayed here Monday through Wednesday night, March 21-24, 2005. The first night at 10 pm with my kids sound asleep, I heard the fireworks that startled me. I saw several other visitors outside looking to see what the disturbance was.

There was an alarm clock on the nightstand that I used with radio mode for the first morning. The next day I went with the automated wake up call system through the voice mail function of the telephone. I set it up for a 6:15 wake up call, which ended up coming 8 minutes earlier than requested.

Holiday Inn Mission Bay Sea World does offer discounts to the attractions, but there are no shuttles to them. The ticket booth was busy with visitors getting brochures to various sites.

When I checked in I was told they would be putting a hold on my card. I noticed the next day when I took money out of the ATM across the street that it was $524. I felt this was an odd amount considering the room was $119.00 per night and my final bill upon check out was $397.80. The occupancy tax for each night was $12.60 with a five cent charge for a tourist tax.

I had the agent call a taxi for us to get to the train station. This was done quickly with the ride showing up faster than we get here in Los Angeles. I did find a cart at the elevator that I used to get our luggage to the lobby. There were many families coming out of Bakers Square and the lobby was busy earlier in the morning when we headed out for breakfast.

Inside the room was a note that for an additional $40 you could check out at 4 pm and enjoy a day out at the attractions. Normal check out is Noon. All rooms at this location are Non Smoking. A sign was on the air conditioning system. This also has a cool feature and fan with all three working. The blinds for the room kept out the light.

We plan on staying here each time we visit Sea World in the future.

Recommended: Yes