We stayed at the Ramada Inn in Fargo as a stopover while driving to a destination over the 4th of July weekend. We had chosen this hotel in advance because of it’s Coconut Cove water park.

Hotel check-in and check-out are reasonable hours, early and late enough respectively to spend plenty of time at the pool. The front desk and lobby area are more in line with a Hilton or large suites hotel than I would expect for a Ramada. The lobby area is large and finely decorated, with a big-screen tv in one corner. There is a conference area, which I did not see. If one is inclined to have a reception at a hotel, this is probably a good pick in Fargo.

There is a nice restaurant available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Free coffee is available before noon (and perhaps later – it is possible I did not see it) just outside the restaurant. We did not eat at the restaurant, but it was listed as American fare and a glance at the menu showed prices typical of a slightly upscale (but not super upscale) hotel restaurant.

The rooms are nicely appointed. We stayed in a suite with two queen beds. A tv was available in both the bedroom and living room portion of the suite. There’s really no view to be had. We had a view of the street intersection. I’m not sure there’s any room with any better view. The beds were comfortable enough, as far as hotel beds go. One complaint is that it seems like they used vinyl mattress pads – like the ones you use on a potty training child’s bed. The pillows were quite thick and fluffy. I slept like the dead; however, my husband and son struggled with sleeping. A desk was in the bedroom area, and free wifi access was slow.

The room had a mini-fridge, safe, microwave, and mini-coffee brewer. I’ve used similar safes in other hotels and these are easy to use, but you can only keep a small amount of stuff in them. The bathroom was rather spacious with a single sink and large counter area. The shower was large, part of a tub/shower combo. Everything was clean, which is my primary concern for a bathroom in a hotel. Shampoo, soap, and lotion is provided. The shampoo smelled nice but did not seem to work well, according to my daughter. It did feel a little funny in my hair.

The sitting area had a small, 2-person table for eating and working at; a nice feature when I’m at a hotel for business by myself, but became difficult when dealing with two or more people needing to use it to eat or work. There was a chair and couch. The couch was a pullout couch. Pillows were available in the “closets” and we had to search for the bedding, which was in the tv stand under the tv. My daughter slept out on the pull-out couch. She said she slept fine. She’s probably not the best judge of comfort level of pull-out couches, but she said it was comfortable enough.

As I said, we chose this hotel specifically for the water park feature. One can go to the Ramada Inn Fargo website and get an accurate picture of the park. The only thing available one cannot see in the photo is the hot tub off to the right corner.

I found the water a little cool, but the kids said it is warmer than the public pool where they take swim lessons. All the pools are separated by rails, which I am of two minds about. It would be nice if it were all a little more cohesive and easily maneuvered between the different areas, but I do see why they have it all separate. The cascade fountain is in a small, shallow pool. My older kids enjoyed it briefly, but it is meant for the toddler/baby crowd. The swimming pool goes from 3’ to 5’ depth. Get there before 9 am if you want to swim anything like laps or spread out. In the  evening, it is too crowded and people playing a game of toss are constantly apologizing to those who are just in the pool. The water slide is fun-enough. We were just at a water park with 7 slides all larger than this one. This slide is an open-slide which one can sit up in or lay down. It exits into about a 3 foot pool. It’s fun enough and large enough for both adults and children. I really liked that if you were up top, you could watch the person ahead of you. And you could see the exit. Even though no lifeguard is on duty, it is easy to tell if you should go or not.
Food is available at the Coconut Cabana. Unfortunately, they cannot charge your room from there, so we skipped out when we thought we might get something. If we had to go to our room to get money, then we might as well go somewhere else. So, the Ramada would probably improve their earnings at the Cabana if they allowed room charge.

The 2 elevators are slow. One member of the family opted to walk the stairs to our 4th floor room rather than take the elevators at any point during our stay.

Our room was under $100. For the suite, plus use of the water park, it was reasonable. The staff was very friendly. When we forgot something and came back for it after leaving, the staff kindly let us go up to the room, willing to provide a new key.

Overall, if you are stopping through Fargo and a suite or $100 room is in the plans or doable, I recommend the Ramada for a family. If you want a cheaper room, this is not worth the jump-up from a lower rate.

Recommended: Yes