The Good: Great room size, Decent breakfast, Nice pool/layout, Clean, Friendly staff
The Bad: Minutiae, Nothing distinct, Somewhat expensive during peak season.
The Basics: More plagued by nothing standing out than anything wrong with it, the Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun is a worthwhile place to stay in Kansas City, Missouri!
Every now and then, I get surprised by a hotel because I know nothing of the area. As our last overnight stop on our trip home from Las Vegas, my partner and I found ourselves in the Kansas City area and I insisted on us driving to the Missouri side of the city. There, we crashed at the Comfort Inn Worlds Of Fun, which, as it turns out is literally right next to the theme park Worlds Of Fun. The Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun is most analogous to me with the Quality Inn & Suites at Universal Studios which is just opposite the front gate to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. We only realized we were next to one of Missouri's biggest theme parks in the morning we awoke there.
That said, the $70/night ($82.20 after all of the assorted taxes) hardly seems as bad as I initially thought it was during the peak season. Ironically, that rate is one of the best outside Kansas City and my wife and I enjoyed our stay there thoroughly.
Location
The Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun, (MO005 in the Choice Hotel numbering system, a good number to have if making a reservation on the phone, etc.), is located at 7300 NE Parvin Road in Kansas City, Missouri. This is right off exit 54 on Interstate 435, which is an arterial around Kansas City. 435 connects with the major east-west arterial Interstate 70, as well as the more locally dominant I-35. This hotel is literally across the street from Worlds Of Fun, a waterpark/amusement park in Kansas City. Mapquest provides solid directions when the address was input.
The Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun has one entrance, because Parvin Road is a divided highway. The hotel is surrounded by the parking lot in a horseshoe and even at night the hotel is brightly lit and looks inviting. The three-story Comfort Inn Worlds Of Fun is the situated on the side of a hill, so it peaks at about the same height as one of the roller coasters at the theme park behind it. The hotel has only eighty-three rooms, which surprised me because it seemed so big and the rooms were so spacious. There also seemed to be plenty of parking for more than just the hotel guests. There are no grounds to speak of; this is designed to be a hotel where one crashes for the night as opposed to a luxury resort. Our view was out onto the parking lot and the fast food joints next door. The Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun is was surprisingly comfortable for a place just designed to house us for a night when we were exhausted.
The Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun almost looks like an office building, though it is not unsightly. We checked in on a Monday night and were greeted by a very helpful clerk, who was ridiculously cheerful for it being on the order of 1 A.M. (Tuesday, technically, we were driving a LONG time!). There were no rooms to utilize our free upgrade for, so we stayed in a room with a king bed, nonsmoking.
Room Size
Upon entering the hotel, I was greeted by a very enthusiastic night clerk who wanted to make sure we saw the offer for the Worlds Of Fun coupon book or such. That's not quite my type of entertainment (the next morning, we were directed to the local casinos!). Check-in was very quick and there were no problems with us getting the exact room we had reserved.
As for our room, we found ourselves pleasantly surprised after a day on the road to arrive at the Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun. The room is arguably one of the largest we've stayed at in the Choice Hotels chain and it was very well lit. In addition, the bathroom seemed very bright and bigger than usual. Measuring thirty-one feet deep by thirteen and a half feet wide, the room included a king-sized bed, a desk and a full bathroom with shower/tub, toilet and sink. The room felt large and lit up quickly using lights attached to lightswitches on the walls (I'm finding this to be much more of a novelty than I would have suspected).
Cleanliness
The atmosphere at the Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun was one of fun; the lobby opened up to a hallway with a giant window looking in on the pool, but otherwise there was very little atmosphere. The staff was remarkably friendly and the white walls made the room seem brighter - especially in the bathroom - but as I look over my notes on the hotel, there was nothing terribly distinctive about the Comfort Inn Worlds Of Fun. As far as cleanliness goes, all of the major areas were clean, but there were some very minor issues. We had a nonsmoking room, as always, and it smelled perfectly smoke free. There was no evidence or trace of scent that would have indicated it had ever had a cigarette smoked in it. Indeed, the entire hotel smelled good, even near the pool. But there were wet towels in the stairwell when we arrived and they were there the next morning still when we checked out.
Every time I enter a new hotel room, I flush the toilet (past experience has proven this is an excellent thing to check out right away!) and the Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun easily passed the first flush test with no difficulties. Water pressure in the shower was excellent and after a full day and a half on the road, my partner and I tried all six settings of the shower head!
The wallpaper in the room was tasteful and none of the wallpaper or paint was peeling. Even the rugs looked nicely cleaned and we had no issues with any of them. The public areas, like the breakfast area, were kept quite clean and I recall there being two staff members on hand during breakfast to keep the areas clean as well as the food stocked. There were at least eight tables in the breakfast area, each could seat four people, so there was plenty of room in the lobby/breakfast area,
Amenities
The Comfort Inn Worlds Of Fun has a pretty decent package working for it for a hotel in the Choice Hotel system. In every room there were the standard coffee packets, lotion, and shampoo, along with an air conditioning unit and the usual bars of soap. There were also tea bags with the coffee as well and that was a nice touch! We also had a microwave in our room, along with the standard coffee maker, but there was no refrigerator.
The friendly staff (including the morning breakfast nook workers) was consistent and kind. They seemed very knowledgeable about the area. The free continental breakfast at the Comfort Inn Kansas City/Worlds Of Fun was a fairly average one within the Choice Hotels chain. This hotel had a little bit of everything, but not a lot of variety within the types. In addition to fresh made Belgian waffles (there were two stations!), there were biscuits and country gravy, which seems to be a Midwestern staple and one I enjoy. There were two types of containers of cold cereals, milk, and apple and orange juice from machines. There were pre-sliced plain bagels and white bread for toasting as well as cream cheese and margarine for condiments. As well, there were two types of muffins and two types of danish. This was a good spread and my partner said the hard-boiled eggs here were actually pretty good.
There was an indoor pool, but with the sheer number of children in it in the morning when we awoke, we opted not to partake. It looked very clean, though. There is also a free high speed internet in every room, though the traveler must provide their own computer. The television had only about fifty cable television stations.
Overall
The Comfort Inn Kansas City next to the Worlds Of Fun waterpark is a great place to crash for the night and while it might not be the most exciting place, it is a good hotel and one I would eagerly recommend for those coming to Kansas City.
For other hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Comfort Suites Otay Mesa - San Diego, CA
Quality Inn - Lubbock, TX
Comfort Inn And Suites Airport - Masspeth, NY
9/10
For other hotel and travel reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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