Not sure what folks are expecting this Residence Inn to be - the Ritz Carlton it ain't! And it ain't being sold as one! I have stayed at A LOT of Marriots, Courtyards and Residence Inns - Heck! I've done over 50 nights this year itself in Marriott hotels - and it's only August! This one is by far the best Residence Inn I've ever stayed at. Yes, if you're looking for a 'kidless' please, this isn't it. However, given that hotels in the vicinity are catering largely to SeaWorld crowds, this place clearly has it right. The entire entrance area, dining area, pool, are all brightly decorated, very well maintained, etc. While the breakfast is the regular Residence Inn stuff, the rooms are well appointed - and clean. I've stayed at full service Marriott Resorts that had worse appointed rooms. While some may find the fact that the hotel is a little removed from the main road is a bit of a pain, we actually is nice - an extra 50-75 yards from the main road isn't going to kill you - yes, even at $4/gallon of gas!!! Check in process and staff are polite, helpful and prompt.

Anyways, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel - especially those with kids. If you're looking for peace and quiet, look elsewhere.

This is a VERY kid-friendly hotel. Tons of kids everywhere which is OK but our room could have been cleaner, some staff seemed very grumpy and the parking is murder. Parking spaces (parking is $10/day) are very small and fill up quickly.
We mentioned our concerns to the Asst. Manager and he was very gracious but of all the Residence Inn's my family and I have stayed in, this was the least-enjoyable.

My wife and I and two toddlers (2 and 4) stayed here on an extended weekend for a family event and Seaworld-Legoland trip. Although the place shows up on the map as being right off the freeway, it's actually well back from the freeway up a long driveway. and we didn;t notice any traffic noise at all. On the other side of the freeway is a nice mall and bunch of eating places and stores which is very convenient for quick and easy meals and other stuff. (We loved Rubio's.) Seaworld was a quick drive over with Legoland being more of a trek.

Parking is gated and wasn;t much of a problem. We always found a place to park near the rear door close to our room but the spaces can get tight for full sized SUVs.

The property was well maintained and felt safe day and night. Our kids LOVED the pool and we ended up using it every day. They had inflatable loungers to float on and some pool toys lying around for the kids to play with. They also have a small 1ft deep pool for the little ones. The pool got busy but never felt crowded.

The breakfast was great with rotating pancakes/waffles/french toast along with usual eggs, meat, toast etc. Stuffing ourselves everyday before our long days at the Parks was really convenient, saving time and money. Staff also walked around and give drinks in sippy cups to all the kids, which was a nice treat. They do stop the breakfast for 15 minutes to re-stock everything but it didn;t seem to bother anyone. Seating fills up as the morning goes on but seemed like everyone was able to find a place. We sat outside the last two days which actually seemed nicer. One morning one of the maintenance staff saw our two little ones finishing up breakfast outside and gave each of them a little stuffed sea animal, just because. Who else does that?

Between the full breakfast, the pool, the great location, the suite, the friendly staff and the well maintained property, i can;t ask for much else. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

My family and I (2 adults, 2 toddlers ages 4 and 2) spent 4 nites at the Residence Inn-Mission Bay based on the reviews I read on Tripadvisor.
My first impression was that the hotel and our room was clean, bright and new. Our room was a 2 bedroom king with a kid's suite. The website advertises the kid's suite with bunk beds, but ours came with two separate twin beds. This actually worked out better since our children were probably too young for a bunk bed setup.
The kitchen was well stocked with utensils and dishware. The stove top was missing the knobs for the burners. We didn't use the stove so it wasn't an issue (I assumed the knobs were somewhere in the drawers). The living area and masterbed room and bathroom were comfortable and again clean--which being new parents with toddlers was a great concern and major consideration on choosing a hotel for our first summer vacation.
The second concern I had was how quiet the rooms are at nite--I'm a light sleeper and having 2 toddlers getting woken up by noise means no one would get any sleep. Luckily, even though you can definitely hear loud voices or pitter patter or feet running around, I think that since most of the guests were families traveling with kids there was hardly any commotion I hear after 10 or 11 o'clock when families are probably passed out.
The hotel had a toddler pool (1 foot deep, ~10ft diameter), a main pool and a spa. We didn't use the hotel pool, but many guests did. The laundry facilities were modern which even uses low water front loader washing machines. The gameroom had pool tables, air hockey, foosball and few arcade games. There was a second gameroom which was small and not well air conditioned that had some older arcade games.
The best features of the hotel were the complimentary hot buffet breakfast and the evening "dinner". The breakfast always had hot eggs (one basic scrambled and the other a variation like hame and cheese or spinach and mushroom etc), sausage or bacon, hot potatoes or beans, oatmeal, pancakes/waffles, several types of cereals and breads and variety of hot and cold drinks (milk, juice, coffee). The selection was great. At nite, the hotel had things like bbq hot dogs and hamburgers or spaghetti and meatballs. The dinners weren't 5 course meals, but great for something quick after a long day at Sea World or the Zoo and you can relax and eat by the pool.
Overall the Residence Inn met my expectations on cleanliness, amenities, and staff professionalism. The only negative I can think of is that the buffet breakfasts can be crowded (I heard the weekends can be crazy) but the staff did a good job keeping up during our stay. I would definitely recommend this hotel to other families and would stay here again.