Santa Cruz Staycation Elite Event @ The Dream Inn

If I could give less than a star I would. This place has a decent location near the Santa Cruz pier. And that’s about it. Other than that the name «Dream Inn» is a bad joke and the sadly the joke is on you. Let’s start with reservations. The folks on the phone can barely describe the rooms beyond reading their website. We made a reservation for two adults and two children requesting a rollaway bed or a sofa bed. No problem they said. We were assured that we had the «Dream Suite». Which evidently means a magnificent view of the large bathtub they call their swimming pool.
They had no sofa bed and no roll away. The front desk manager explained that they were all out. When I protested that we made the reservation based on their promise of a rollaway bed, the manager said «the thing is we ran out.» Ever notice that every lame excuse is preceded by «the thing is» or «TTI».
But we had a reservation. «TTI you were late and it’s only fair that first come first serve.»
So what are you going to do about it? «TTI we could find some but we got to look for them».
What does that mean? «TTI we don’t use them that often».
I don’t want the rollaway if it is a piece of shit. «OK no rollaway».
Wait are you saying they are a piece of shift?! «Well TTI. No I didn’t say that.»
Are the mattresses old and moldy? «Well the thing this we don’t know but we don’t use them anymore»
You don’t use them because their shit. «Well TTI yeah, so you want them?»
At that point, we discovered blood on the bed covers. So we checked out
We asked for a refund at the desk. They were good about that. Must happen often. Meanwhile, 3 young guys walked in, one wearing a tank top, another shirtless. The third asked the front desk clerk (evidently assuming she was the concierge), «where can we find some trouble?»
I know just the suite for them…

to be a nice hotel, but, wow, what a change this seen. I was very unhappy about my stay the last time I visited the Dream Inn about a week ago. First, we arrived at the hotel to a picket line that we had to cross in order to get into the hotel. I guess the employees had been waiting for their 3-​year wage increase freeze to end, but the new management decided to continue it. Anyway, it was an unpleasant start in what turned out to be a very strange experience at a hotel. Our room, when we went in, had a huge pile of laundry that hadn’t been taken by housekeeping (?) Then, later, when I began to get a migraine, I realized that the scent that they spray in the lobby had triggered it. Luckily, it seemed to be only in the lobby. We went to an event there in the evening, and they were so short on staff that they ran out of food, shooed all of the guests out of the hotel at 11pm, and they closed the bar! The bar was not open at 11pm on a Saturday night! What a disappointment! I want to mention to my friend who rented out the banquet room of the hotel that she should ask at least for a partial refund, because, clearly, she did not get what she or her guests had expected. I used to like coming to this hotel, but I highly doubt that they will get any business from me or my friends in the future.

Thank you ABBY (for putting this great event together), the Santa Cruz vendors for allowing me to sample your fine creations & the Dream Inn for the beautiful destination!
First things first… I saw the vino and went straight to it. Oh wait hold on, I saw the photo booth and went straight to that first, before I saw the vino.
Then came the vino from the Santa Cruz Winery, which is family owned. The wine is super affordable and smooth! That’s the important part: SMOOTH. I found myself coming back to the vino a few times throughout the night.
Then I dashed across the other end of the room to see what’s available. I had the little tray of pork belly and a mini croissant-​like bread with sun dried tomatoes. (absolutely delicious)
Right next to that was Chaminade’s Resort & Spa products. Nice scented lotions and moisturizers.
Oh lets not forget about the pulled pork burgers! Those were delicious!
Last but not least, it was an Olive Oil company from Santa Cruz. They had the best I mean BEST oils ever! Every single one was so delicious! I got a coupon so I can go to the store and pick some up!
Overall, I enjoyed this YEE and could’nt get enough! Can’t wait for the next one!

Oh yeah… Santa Cruz is only a couple of minutes South of us. I think that was the point of the Santa Cruz County Visitors Council joining the party and it succeeded. Especially, the day before the Clam Chowder Cook-​off, there were no excuses left to explain why I don’t spend more weekends in Santa Cruz.
The Memorable:
The True Olive Connection — I am determined to visit them soon. They offer so many more flavors than they brought for us to sample. For instance, I wanna try their Lavender or Chocolate Balsamic. They did offer a taste of their Apricot Balsamic which assured me I really did want to try more!
ZU Bison Grass Vodka — It’s a sippin’ drink on its own but mixed with ginger beer, look out.
Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard — It was all about the blends!
Starring You Photo Booth — Any chance to bust out the mustaches
The Picnic Basket — I never associate pulled pork with healthy but they weren’t kidding around.
Chaminade Resort & Spa — She tried to talk me into a massage a few times but I just knew if I sat down I wouldn’t want to get up!
Aquarius — Pork, need I say more
Next time, don’t hesitate because you think Santa Cruz is far.

I have been begging and pleading since joining Unilocal for a YEE in the 831
In the mean time… I went to half moon bay, san mateo, palo alto. all over the valley… even to Arizona!
Thank you for coming to the other side of the hill!!!
What wasn’t there to love.
All of my favorite food, ice cream and massage places were at the event!
In my future. paddle boarding. anyone down???
HUGE THANK YOU ABBY for making this happen!!!
Shout out to the OG Unilocalers. it has been a minute (love you all!!)
Belly was full from all the goodies (crab wonton, pulled pork sammich, non alcoholic beverages and PENNY BON BONS!!)

–first review for 2012
–first YEE in about 2 years
–first YEE in my hood
–first time for free wine after waltar’s nye partay
–first time I didn’t get an STD at a YEE
–first time I didn’t see any buttons for me to steal, although got my ass a nice ‘dicka’cards
–first time I used Yell R. for a name
–first time seeing hella old school Unilocalers in forever
–thanks to waltar p. aka john michael for the plus 1 cuz…
=MY ASS STILL AIN’T ELITE

This was a YEE unlike any other YEE! This YEE brought us all the way out to the cute beachy city of Santa Cruz, CA for a fantastic time at the Dream Inn. In true stay cation style, there was a fun photobooth to remember the night as well as libations of all sorts from vodka and delicious mixers to delightful wines of red and white kinds!
I totally just rhymed there. lame!
It’s definitely a super nice venue and unbelievable that we got so many folks sponsoring it and the DJ was tons of fun. This is shaping up to be a great year for YEE’s!

Honey? Wanna go to Hawaii with me? I have the perfect dress!
Dropping in, late due to traffic the honey and I stopped off in the fabulous PhotoBooth to get our mugs mugged. The pics turned out hilarious and the options of black and white or color just added to the fun!
As per food wise I adored the bon bons from Penny Ice Creamery (the prune bourbon flavored was my fav) and the fried wontons from Aquarius. The honey himself loved the the local and organic sliders from Picnic Basket.
A big thank you to Abby, Jessica and Ruggy who kept the hits coming throughout the night! This party gave me an excuse to do it Hawaiian tourist style!

The event preceded a pretty epic Santa Cruz weekend.
I love when the Unilocal CMs come up with cool, different ideas like this. Kudos for the staycation concept Abby.
The venue was really nice, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to check out a room. We slummed it at a different motel. The Dream Inn was awesome though given it was situated directly on the beach.
There were plenty of businesses representing at the event. The most memorable ones for me were the Santa Cruz Brewing Co., Zu vodka, and Penny ice Creamery (who knew prune bon bons could be delicious?).
Resident Unilocal DJ Ruggy was spinning a nice, eclectic mix of tunes. Did things get weird when he popped on «All I want for X-​Mas» by Mariah Carey? Nope, not at all. Jessica T. found inspiration in it for her hula hoop skills.
All in all an excellent reason to drive up from the east bay! Thank Abby, Nique, Jessica, DJ Ruggy, and everyone else that participated!

I Love this YEE! Comfortable venue well suited to the amount of Elite Unilocalers for this particular event. It was easy to move around.
Starving when we got to SC. But a tip from Jen C that «Starring You Photo Booth» is located right by the door was awesome. They weren’t busy yet!
Pulled Pork Sliders from The Picnic Basket was awesome. All organic and oh so tasty. Sta Cruz Mountain Brewing Co. for their awesome Love Potion! I know it did a number on Jen C. Lol. It was bubbly almost but still got that unmistakeable beer taste. I tasted the hibiscus, raspberries and rose hips. Heaven especially when served über cold!
The Penny Ice Creamery for their Prune Bön Bons. Yummy! Covewater Paddle Surfing was there and he was a cool guy. Explained his wares well and got us interested. Went home with his brochure.
I was actually impressed by the location of the Inn. Right by the water! The front desk staff was very nice. Valet was available.
We didn’t stay but will do soon!
Abby–
Thanks a million again! Your events are always worth looking forward to!
Met fellow Unilocaler Heather K and her man Adam. What a lovely couple! **Adam do not lose that accent!** Of course very happy to see some old friends again!

FUN! FUN! FUN!
Here’s what I LOVE about this YEE:
1. The Dream Inn — This hotel is a great place to party, it’s right next to the beach! The party room has nice views of the ocean and the Santa Cruz wharf. Freakin’ awesome! Too bad I couldn’t stay overnight to take advantage of the discount.
2. The D.J. — I was totally diggin’ the music! I liked him even more when he played «All I Want for Christmas» by Mariah Carey. You rock, dude! You rock!!! Who was that DJ??? I was having a blast dancing to the music! I couldn’t believe not many people were dancing! Maybe because it was too bright and people would rather dance in the dark. Oh well. Too bad for them. I didn’t care… I just danced!
3. Wine Tasting — I liked the Petit Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. I also liked the Pinot Noir and another red wine from the Copious Winery. I wanted to try the white wines but I had to take it easy! There was more booze from other vendors!
4. Zu Bison Grass Vodka — The pink punch with mint and cucumber and the cocktail with vodka and ginger ale were really good! I need to have those drinks again!
5. Beer from the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Company — Yay for more booze!
6. Pulled pork sliders — Delicious!!! Thank you, The Picnic Basket, for bringing so much of those yummy sliders to the event! They were the only food vendor to have food all night.
7. Bön Bons from Penny Ice Cream — sweet, salty, prune and chocolate… YUMMMY
8. Pork Belly from Chaminade — Excellent!!!
9. Olive oil and balsamic samples from The True Olive Connection — I didn’t know there were so many olive oil and balsamic flavors! I enjoyed tasting the different flavors, especially the black cherry balsamic vinegar!
10. Starring You Photobooth — very cool! So much fun! The pics were the best party favor!
11. Fried wontons from Aquarius — really good!
12. Super fun peeps — Janet O. and Adam, Heather K and Adam, Glenn G, Bobby L, Badri N, and other people I chatted and toasted wine glasses with but I don’t remember their names. Hope to see you fun peeps again!
13. Abby S — thank you!!! I’m so glad I was able to experience this great event!

Great event! All the vendors were very cool and ready to answer any questions.
If the theme of the event was to promote Santa Cruz it definitely helped. I’ve been to SC several times before, but it was always just to the boardwalk. Always took the same routes, same routines, same foods. So it was great to really see there was more than I had initially knew.
The Dream Inn was a great venue, but I guess it is more fitting to put a review for them separately. However, I will add here that it was spacious to accommodate a good amount of people and the staff was FAST when it came to cleaning. I left an empty cup that I had intended to use and I turn away from it for a second then it was gone! Cleaned up by the hotel staff.
A few notables included The Picnic Basket’s sliders. Those were superb. I felt embarrassed to grab another… and another… AND another. lol. Ok, I’m JK, I only got 2 total, but I definitely would’ve had more, but I wanted to make sure everybody got one. They just kept magically appearing from under that table lol.
The Penny Ice Creamery bon bons were a nice sweet cold treat. It really packed a punch with that alcohol, but the texture and flavors were outstanding. Same as the sliders, if I didn’t have some kind of valid excuse I would’ve went to town on these bon bons!
The Zu Vodka gave me a good buzz! The staff there were cool mixing drinks. It was my first time trying a mixed drink with Gingerale but it really worked and extended my drinking palette.
As for the other vendors, it was much appreciated. The Olive Connection samples really had me wondering why I haven’t bought some of these concoctions before. I didn’t get a chance to try the wine and beer vendors simply because I don’t drink wine or beer.
Oh, PHOTOBOOTH WAS AWESOME! Having a photo booth seems like a must now, and the Starring You Photo Booth was top notch! The staff was friendly and the quality of the photos were super clear!
Thank you Unilocal for putting on a great event!

Wow, I had such an amazing time at this Unilocal elite event!
Thanks Abby, Jessica, Unilocal,and Dream Inn for putting this all together!
The event was very well organized. As soon as we checked in with Jessica, it was very easy to talk to all the vendors. I love how each vendor was super friendly, too!
I was able to try the crab wontons. The presentation was really cool, since it was inside a small takeout box. The pulled pork sliders was delicious. I really loved the mini bon bons from the Penny Ice Creamery. Those bon bons can be very addicting.lol.
It was great how we were able to get a free massage and it was very relaxing.
Thanks Unilocal for introducing us Unilocal elites to these nice Santa Cruz vendors. =)

Massage. IPA. Pork Sliders. Best Elite Event Ever. Thanks Abby S!!!