Anyone stayed at La Quinta in Hollywood?

[h-sar]

We’ve stayed at LQ many times, but in the past 4 yrs, have stayed on the north side of Oakwood Plaza, which is busier (less isolated), less residential, closer to more of the businesses. LQ is on the south end. After dark, I agree with above posts, you’re totally ok walking as a group if you stay right and head north into the plaza after the bridge. We’ve done very late night Ross shopping sprees there many a time. 
 

Aside from the previously mentioned restaurants, there’s also the Moonlite Diner Oakwood Plaza,  which is very popular. Do look it up on trip advisor. At the opposite end of the plaza from where you are, there is a Ross, Marshall’s, liquor store, Dollar Plus, Old Navy, etc; McDonalds is at the very far end from you (closer to Stirling Rd). There’s also a Starbucks and a Chipotle on Stirling Rd, across the street from the Plaza, but might be a bit of a walk. There really isn’t much to your left at the bridge other than the little gas station and Dunkin D.
 

We stopped staying at LQ when they did away with their free port shuttle. Now we stay at the Quality Choice on the other side of the plaza as they still do free to the port and free from the airport shuttles. What I liked about LQ was that it is more of a hotel style rather than a motel which Quality is.
 

I would advise an Uber over the hotel shuttle to the port. Hotel shuttle appears expensive for a family and they invariably involve a lot of mayhem 😆, at least in our experiences.
 

We love staying at Oakwood Plaza (even though the locals aren’t crazy about the area) as it serves all of our needs without a car. Bummed that the Kmart is (or maybe already has) shut down as it was our go to for soft drinks and toiletries.. There is a Big Lots, but about 2/3’s of the way up the plaza from you. However, you are very close to a Subway and a nail salon, as well as a small movie theatre. Do be warned that your hotel, if you want to go to the far north end of Oakwood (at the Stirling Rd end) is a bit of a hike, but I think your family might be up to it...unless a certain daughter and grandson are along 🤣🤣. For us, it was always worth the walk as all the shopping was over there.

 

You might want to check ahead as to which restaurants are open if you’re getting in later.

Edited February 29, 2020 by h-sar

[mitsugirly]

On 2/28/2020 at 1:06 PM, CrzGrl62569 said:

I don't have any input on your question.  Just wanted to say hi and see how your leg is doing?  I hope you're better now!

 

 

 

Still trying to heal but I'm up walking again thank goodness! So glad to be out of the wheelchair. There's still a lot of pain and some swelling and I have limited range of motion, but I'm walking!

 

(Can you tell I'm excited about walking? lol)

 

 

21 hours ago, h-sar said:

We’ve stayed at LQ many times, but in the past 4 yrs, have stayed on the north side of Oakwood Plaza, which is busier (less isolated), less residential, closer to more of the businesses. LQ is on the south end. After dark, I agree with above posts, you’re totally ok walking as a group if you stay right and head north into the plaza after the bridge. We’ve done very late night Ross shopping sprees there many a time. 
 

Aside from the previously mentioned restaurants, there’s also the Moonlite Diner Oakwood Plaza,  which is very popular. Do look it up on trip advisor. At the opposite end of the plaza from where you are, there is a Ross, Marshall’s, liquor store, Dollar Plus, Old Navy, etc; McDonalds is at the very far end from you (closer to Stirling Rd). There’s also a Starbucks and a Chipotle on Stirling Rd, across the street from the Plaza, but might be a bit of a walk. There really isn’t much to your left at the bridge other than the little gas station and Dunkin D.
 

We stopped staying at LQ when they did away with their free port shuttle. Now we stay at the Quality Choice on the other side of the plaza as they still do free to the port and free from the airport shuttles. What I liked about LQ was that it is more of a hotel style rather than a motel which Quality is.
 

I would advise an Uber over the hotel shuttle to the port. Hotel shuttle appears expensive for a family and they invariably involve a lot of mayhem 😆, at least in our experiences.
 

We love staying at Oakwood Plaza (even though the locals aren’t crazy about the area) as it serves all of our needs without a car. Bummed that the Kmart is (or maybe already has) shut down as it was our go to for soft drinks and toiletries.. There is a Big Lots, but about 2/3’s of the way up the plaza from you. However, you are very close to a Subway and a nail salon, as well as a small movie theatre. Do be warned that your hotel, if you want to go to the far north end of Oakwood (at the Stirling Rd end) is a bit of a hike, but I think your family might be up to it...unless a certain daughter and grandson are along 🤣🤣. For us, it was always worth the walk as all the shopping was over there.

 

You might want to check ahead as to which restaurants are open if you’re getting in later.

 

 

Moonlite Diner looks like an excellent place, but may be a little too far for me to walk. We will probably have to go as close as we can to LQ because I still have a healing broken leg with complications and plates and screws. Just trying to make it to TGI or D&B will be a long slow task for me at this point.

 

We are cruising out of Miami so not worried about any shuttle service and we always Uber or Lyft down to the port in Miami.

 

We have stayed at several places along

Stirling and right at that corner down the road from LQ. Funny how I didn't even realize that's where it was at until you mentioned Stirling Rd and I looked on the map and found all the other places we have stayed at including this last place from back in December. LOL

 

I had to LOL about the "certain daughter and grandson" coming along. They are so for their sake and my sanity (even without the broken leg) we need to stay close. haha

 

I think our plane lands around 4pm so we should be good on time.

 

Thanks for all your help and comments.

[h-sar]

Ahhh, the leg might keep you close to the hotel. I don’t think you’ll have a problem having the hotel shuttle give you a lift. Or the family can bring you back something from one of the restaurants.

 

Looking forward to another Mitsugirly instalment 👍🏼. I feel like I’m a part of your family, having watched Sakari grow up and reading about Brandon’s antics over the years, seeing your utter exasperation with, and unconditional love for, your family. You’ve also given me (and everyone else on CC) a tremendous amount of planning assistance with your detailed descriptions of excursions, how to get to a certain location, public transportation info, etc. My kids did the Goff’s Caye excursion this past Christmas based on your excellent review. Thank you for all that you do here! Not sure where you find the time 😁. I hope we get to continue to be a part of your family for years to come. Y’all would make for a great sitcom 😁.

[mitsugirly]

19 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Ahhh, the leg might keep you close to the hotel. I don’t think you’ll have a problem having the hotel shuttle give you a lift. Or the family can bring you back something from one of the restaurants.

 

Looking forward to another Mitsugirly instalment 👍🏼. I feel like I’m a part of your family, having watched Sakari grow up and reading about Brandon’s antics over the years, seeing your utter exasperation with, and unconditional love for, your family. You’ve also given me (and everyone else on CC) a tremendous amount of planning assistance with your detailed descriptions of excursions, how to get to a certain location, public transportation info, etc. My kids did the Goff’s Caye excursion this past Christmas based on your excellent review. Thank you for all that you do here! Not sure where you find the time 😁. I hope we get to continue to be a part of your family for years to come. Y’all would make for a great sitcom 😁.

 

I'm a tropper! I will be going to eat...bum leg and all and the family will just have to suffer and walk slowly. LOL

 

Thanks so much for all the kind words. I really appreciate it and glad you enjoy the reviews and watching Sakari grow up. I feel like it was just a few years ago we started her cruising at 3 years old and now she's this almost-as-tall-as-me pre-teen. Eek!

 

I hope you kids enjoyed their day at Goff's Caye. I know it's not for everyone since it's very primitive and not very big but I LOVE these kind of places.

 

I have ALL the time in the world these days since I haven't worked since my injury. :(  So, hopefully the next review will be a good one. hehe

 

You guys on here don't even see the half of our sitcom family. Add my oldest son, who is always joking around and making us laugh, and you come up with some hilariously good times and stories. Although Kendra....she takes the lead sometimes in that area. 😂

[BNBR]

Hol' up.  I'm not, not in to Oakwood... And I've probably been more local than anyone here!

 

And yes, Moonlite is a great diner, actually.  It's so weird coming of age in this area then seeing the posts here!

[h-sar]

On 2/29/2020 at 8:02 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

I'm a tropper! I will be going to eat...bum leg and all and the family will just have to suffer and walk slowly. LOL

 

Thanks so much for all the kind words. I really appreciate it and glad you enjoy the reviews and watching Sakari grow up. I feel like it was just a few years ago we started her cruising at 3 years old and now she's this almost-as-tall-as-me pre-teen. Eek!

 

I hope you kids enjoyed their day at Goff's Caye. I know it's not for everyone since it's very primitive and not very big but I LOVE these kind of places.

 

I have ALL the time in the world these days since I haven't worked since my injury. 😞 So, hopefully the next review will be a good one. hehe

 

You guys on here don't even see the half of our sitcom family. Add my oldest son, who is always joking around and making us laugh, and you come up with some hilariously good times and stories. Although Kendra....she takes the lead sometimes in that area. 😂

Kids loved Goff’s Caye and all your details helped make it an even better experience. As for being primitive, I think that’s what they all loved the most about it. One of their uncles, who was on the excursion, described it later as Gilligan’s Island (my early 20’s kids wouldn’t have a clue about that reference) and that just made me wish I’d gone, too. Grew up watching Aaron Spelling shows all though the 70’s. In fact, I’m pretty sure my little immigrant self learned English from Gilligan 😆.
 

Oops, just realized autocorrect changed Brayden’s name to Brandon 😬.

Hoping you have a quick recovery and that you get full enjoyment from the cruise...cause, the more you get to enjoy, the more we get to read 😁.

[mitsugirly]

10 hours ago, h-sar said:

Kids loved Goff’s Caye and all your details helped make it an even better experience. As for being primitive, I think that’s what they all loved the most about it. One of their uncles, who was on the excursion, described it later as Gilligan’s Island (my early 20’s kids wouldn’t have a clue about that reference) and that just made me wish I’d gone, too. Grew up watching Aaron Spelling shows all though the 70’s. In fact, I’m pretty sure my little immigrant self learned English from Gilligan 😆.
 

Oops, just realized autocorrect changed Brayden’s name to Brandon 😬.

Hoping you have a quick recovery and that you get full enjoyment from the cruise...cause, the more you get to enjoy, the more we get to read 😁.

 

 

So glad they enjoyed their day at Goffs. I would go back there again in a heartbeat. I think Gilligan's Island was a lot bigger lol and I loved that show!

 

I get any enjoyment from cruising hurt or not. It's my escape. I have cruised once since the injury (in December) and hoping this time goes as well as that time did. I'm completely out of my wheelchair now but still can't walk long distances (so I picked the Oasis of all ships...go figure) 😄 

[MusicalBear]

I have stayed here many times.  Nice pool and nice location along the lake. You don't get the highway noise here because it is away from it.  I have stayed at other hotels  on the other end of the plaza and it was not pleasant sitting at the pool listening to the cars zipping by on 95.  Nice walk to Miller's ( our favorite restaurant) and shuttle will also take you there if they are not busy with airport pickups.  I have tried many hotels in the area and so far prefer this location.  We have walked back from Miller's many times and have never seen any problems.