Loved this place and would go back in a heart beat, but read on for how to make it work best for you.  This place is busy, so be prepared.

Read  my previous posts to find out what all we did at the park and other ways to "discover" Magic Mountain.

First off I went directly to the site and looked for a room with breakfast included for the 4 of us.  With taxes and anything else added it came to $313 for 2 nights.  I did so much better than that.  Check out the whole thing HERE. I did call and have her offer me something a little better, but I did best with package deal.

Since this Hotel is near the park(actually it's the closest) I figured it would be run down and marginal.  I was so surprised to see that it was not only very nice looking, but it was very clean.  I was very, very surprised.  It makes going back to your hotel to rest a whole lot more fun.

Our breakfast was a cook to order, so I wasn't really sure what to expect there.  BIG TIP:  When we were there the place was busy, but not off the charts busy.  I am sure during the busy season this place is a zoo and you really, really need to plan accordingly.

This is a sit down breakfast.  There is a pastry/cereal/toast bar plus a fruit bar.  From there you wait for someone to come take your order for hot food which is eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pancakes and waffles to name a few.  The kitchen cranks it out as fast as they can, but they do get behind. The servers are running like crazy.  DO NOT think you will eat in 15 minutes or less plan accordingly.  It will take some time especially if you have to wait for a table.

I really, really appreciated the shuttle service. I am sure that since they were not super busy that they accommodated us well.  You have to schedule what time you want to be taken to the park and what time you want picked up.  Spots fill up quickly, so book at departures to the park as soon as you arrive.

We had scheduled a pick up, but some other people waiting had not.  Had we not scheduled it, those people would have never gotten picked up.  The nice thing is since the Hotel is so close they can turn around and come back for the next group within 5 minutes.

I am not sure in the busy season how many trips they become willing to take.  They claim one trip every 1/2 hour, but they were doing more.  At $15 a day for parking this was a great benefit to our hotel.  No other hotels in the area do this.  Not only do you save the $15, but you don't have to walk all the way from the parking lot or back to your car at the end of the day. Drop off and Pick up are right there by the entrance.

Finally last summer I met up with a friend and we stopped in Hood River.  We had the the most amazing meal and I decided the next time we came through we would stop as a family and enjoy.  And we did!!  That was the stop that made me want to come back for a weekend.

So here we are 3 months later enjoying Hood River.  Before we even entered the town we enjoyed hours of hiking and sightseeing and photography.  Not that I am good at photography, but I just wanted to remember it all.  The day was beautiful and we managed all 3 meals outside in the sun.

The weather the second day was bad and we sat inside Doppio Coffee shop, reading and relaxing.  I had found this place online, before we even got here.  When we went out the first day I forgot to take my list of coffee shops to try and that didn't seem to matter, we ended up here anyways.

The bed and breakfast was good.  I am not a bed and breakfast person, but no complaints.  I was hoping for a little protein for breakfast, but the homemade scones did not disappoint.  The room, although small, suited it's purpose on that sunny day.

It seems that there is always something to do in Hood River.  This day was no exception.  As we began to walk around we noticed that the roads were blocked off.  After asking around we realized that there would be a Crit bike race.  This sounded intriguing, so we began to look for a place to sit and watch.  We knew the race was going to start right around lunch time, so we started walking the 1k course to find a place to sit.  We stumbled upon Double Mountain Brewery, which was also on my lists of places to try.  We walked in and the owner/manager (not sure which) told us to go into the other room, where a garage door was wide open and tables were pushed up to the edge.

Double Mountain Brewery is great.  The pizzas were amazing, and the beer was even better.  The thing I really love about beer and breweries is you can sample until you find one you like, then they pour you a big glass knowing you are happy.  This place was no different.  I sampled 3 kinds.  She told me I HAD to try all 3, so I did.  And just like they hoped, I was completely happy and ready for more!!

As the rain began to come down, we sat there, fully covered, yet outside, with the best view of the race.  How do we know it was the best view?  The whole time people walked by the said "wow, you have the best seats here."  We smiled, sipped our beer and hoped they would keep moving, as to not block our great view.

Between the hiking, the breweries, and the bike race we just got a taste of what Hood River has to offer the outdoorsy person.  It is after all the windsurfing capital of the world.  Along with all kinds of other water sports, the close mountain for ski or boarding, and mountain biking there is never a dull moment in Hood River.

The grounds at the Columbia Gorge Hotel are beyond romantic, as they are the settings to many weddings.  From the pictures you can see why.  What I never knew is hidden on the hillside is this beautiful waterfall.  The bridge gives you a view from above.  Worth the stop to just look if you have time.

One of our gifts from the Hotel was a wine tour.  They had 6 places that we could to a tasting.  We didn't make it to all of them, but the drive was so pretty and the grounds of the Wineries we did stop at were  beautiful and surreal. Definitely a place I could hang out at and drink a glass of wine.

We ended our romantic day with an incredible find.  The Stonehedge Garden Restaurant.  I found this online with high recommendations. (go to the website and click on events and you can print a coupon for 10% off) What we experienced far out exceeded our expectations.  The road that leads up is a gravel road, with plenty of potholes, and it's next to a rock quarry.  You kind of think you are not heading anywhere even remotely romantic.  You follow this road to the top where a beautiful home and gardens await.

Walking around before you dine is a must.  The only disappointment in this stop was that it was not warm enough to sit outside, but our waitress took care of us and sat us at the window overlooking the gardens.  Wow!!

The food was amazing.  They offered 4 specials on top of the well rounded menu.  We noticed that there was a signature dessert that needed to be ordered ahead.  We asked and were told it was a must.  Bread pudding without raisins topped with Creme Brulee, topped with a rum sauce that is then lit on fire, brought to your table them topped with a caramel sauce.  Spectacular!!

The day could not have been any better.  It was a leisurely day taking in all Hood River had to offer for the Romantics.

The all inclusives are like being on a cruise ship, if you are familiar with that.  You order an appetizer, soup or salad and an entree.  Then you can end with dessert.  If you get something you don't like you can order another thing.  So it's great you get to try a lot of things.  The one dissappointing thing is that we were there for 8 days and the menus never changed at the restaurants and they never had specials.  The La Cascada had a menu you could order off of, but they also had tacos and quesadilla that you could go up and have made at the counter.  We never tire of Mexican food so that was always great to fall back on.

We tipped on occassion.  I was under the understanding that it was all included and you could choose to tip if you wanted.  We tipped a few of our favorite waiters the day we left and gave them a big Thank You.

The other thing that you need to know is that for all dinners, except the buffet, you have to make reservations.  We had the choice of about 5 different restaurants.  One night we waited to long and were able to get into the restaurant that we wanted.  But we also found that we could make reservations for the following nights at the same time so we didn't have to think about it the next day.

When traveling around Mazatlan it's the same as traveling around anywhere else in Mexico, work a deal with taxis.  My son, who loves to barter, really liked all that you could do in Mexico.  We had told the kids get into a taxi, but if it was too much just get back out.  We got out of a few before the guy would give us the deal we wanted.  One time the guy wanted to charge us 120 pesos and we already knew ahead of time it should cost more than 60-80, and we ended up talking him down to 80.  So be willing to walk, there are always more taxis. I tell you, there is a lot of traffic in Mazatlan!!

We were exchanging our money for pesos at the Motel and getting 12 to 1.  Which was great.  We found that out on the streets in the little shops you could do a little better, it was 12.3 to 1.  The other thing is they will take American money but they do a 10 to 1 exchange rate, so if you have your pesos ready you can get a better deal by paying with them after you have talked American money.

Church in Old Town

The Golden District is a bunch of shops that sell the same stuff over and over again.  Our resort was just on the edge of the Golden District.  We went shopping through there one day and did have an enjoyable time.

The one nice thing about our resort is that even though there is a lot going on in Mazatlan it is really quite where we were.  It's like we were on our own private island.  That really helped make it an enjoyable time.  But all that to say I don't know that we will be running back there.  If we found another killer deal like we found this time, then maybe, but I would like to try something new.  I really want to go to Zihuatanejo, Mexico.  This town is the complete opposite of Mazatlan.  Its a quiet, quaint fishing village.  So you will need to watch for that review.

Our room was fine.  There are pictures on the web that make it look much more luxurious that it really was.  But it was fine for us.  We chose the most inexpensive room you could purchase and we were very pleased.  We had a view out of our room that was spectacular.

There are 3 pools at the El Cid.  We didn't find the 3rd pool until 2 days in.  We were pretty sure there was a hot tub, and we knew it was in the 3rd pool, but we couldn't locate it.  The nice thing is many people can't locate it so it was very quite.  There was always a seat to be had at this pool.  Plus there were some amazing rocks with waterfalls that you could climb up and and jump off of.  And we did that often.

This was all inclusive and that meant all our meals and all drinks.  We went expecting the food to be marginal and that is about what it was.  I consider myself a foodie.  I like good food and I like gourmet food and I really enjoy cooking.  But when I choose all inclusives I lower my expectations and I realize that this is vacation and I don't have to cook or shop or think about it, so it's all good to me.  The other positive thing about food that is good instead of fabulous is that you never overeat.

There were quite a few places that we were able to eat at.  We did most of our breakfasts at La Cascada.  It was a sit down and we found what we liked there, and it had the best coffee.  We went to El Patio one day, the service was not so good and they didn't have coffee, but ran across the street to get some, so it was a long time coming and when it was gone it was gone.  There is always the buffet.  It was fine.  I went to the very back and got an omelet both times.

For lunch we did the outdoor buffet by the beach.  It was easy and again pretty good.  We ate all kinds of tacos most days.  They often were grilling food right there and that was always good.  There was also a snack place in the bar area that had hamburgers, hot dogs and quesadilla.

Dinner wasn't so good.  We went to La Cascada a few times.  I think it was the best.  The Italian restaurant was not good both times we went, and we tried El Patio once and didn't like the selection their either.  I will say it again though, we found things we could eat that we fill us up and we always had the dinner buffet that we could go to just in case we were still hungry.  But because of the selections, we never over ate.  That's a good thing.

So my final opinion would be this.  If you are looking for sunshine and a fun get away at an affordable price I would recommend this place.  We did have an awesome vacation.  If you can afford more there are definitely better places to choose from.  We probably won't go back simply because I am not a huge fan of Mazatlan.

So this motel is modern, Spanish style hotel includes 500 rooms and suites. Chose between low-rise units with pool views or an ocean-view room in our 17-floor tower above Mexico’s largest swimming pool.

27 holes of championship golf, tennis, sport fishing, sailing, spa and fitness center, nature, cultural and adventure tours, swimming and water sports, disco and nightly theme parties, several restaurants and bars.

All Inclusive is available with upgrade option to Elite status.

Free shuttle service and access to all resort facilities to any of El Cid’s four hotels.

And we have upgraded to the Elite Status.

This restaurant is also right outside the Golden Zone, which is the main shopping area in downtown Mazatlan.  Alright I am going to keep looking at all the facilites, dining, and activities….

When you stay on the property inside the park you get a pass to be back there. It has the date that you are leaving printed on the pass. Ours was dated for Saturday, but we ended up leaving on Friday. It's a much better place to enter at the back of the park, it's just that the general public can't park there. But since we had our pass we showed Saturday morning, flashed our pass and parked at the back gate.

Now Breakers Express is so much cheaper. It was $129 after taxes a night on the weekend (in late August). It is newer and cleaner and nicer. It feels like a Holiday Inn Express, nothing fancy, just nice.

It was nice to be there not only to save money, but it just felt better.

We decided for dinner that we would try a restaurant that I had found online. It's called Red Gables and it's just a few short miles from the park entrance. It was not a chain and the food was amazing. They have a 2 pork chop special, which my husband and I got and split. My daughter got the crab cake dinner. (We are from Oregon and I try those everywhere we go, and those are by far the best crab cakes I have ever had. Lots a crab and just a little breading.) My son got the 4 cheese pasta. Each meal came with salad and 2 sides. Which means we ended up with 3 salads and 6 side dishes. We had so much food. We even ordered scallops (amazing) as an appetizer and the kids had drinks and we had beers with our meal. I know, it's definitely a wine meal, but I was craving a beer. My daughter said it was the best restaurant that she had ever been too. The whole meal cost us $90. We got amazing quality food and we got superb service on which we chose to leave a great tip.

Ok, I know what you are thinking. That was by no means a bargain meal. I agree 100%. But we chose to cut corners in other ways. We had a fridge in our room. We started by bringing cereal that would last us the whole time. So when we got there we bought milk, I had packed spoons and we ate out of the cups in the room. So breakfast was cheap and it's what we all enjoy eating for breakfast. For lunch (because we didn't want more bad expensive food from and around the park) we chose to go to the grocery store and we bought cheese, crackers, fruits, plus we already had nuts, bars and dessert that we had brought along. So everyday we would leave the park go to our room and eat a snack that would hold us until we left for a great dinner.

The second night that we ventured out we went to Lymans Harbor and ate a very good meal there too. It too was not a chain, they pride themselves in their perch, which was great. It is across the harbor from Cedar Point. So again just minutes from the entrance and plenty of places to sit, quick service, good service and out the door feeling great.

The funny thing was both nights we would go back and pass the TGIFridays and there would be a line out the door, people would be grumpy and they would end up paying just about what we paid. Only our experience was pleasant.

The last night we were there we decided to go easy on the budget and we ordered Pizza. The Red Gables has a pizza place next door so we thought we would give it a try. That meal cost us $15. HINT: You can go into the nice side of Red Gables and order a great meal and they will let the kids order a pizza from the other side if nothing on the menu is to their liking. LOVE THIS PLACE!!