FWIW, most Debians (which includes Ubuntu and Mint) have Ctrl+Alt+T set to open the default terminal program without needing to install anything else. This is usually reconfigurable in the system settings too if that's an awkward stretch.
But I get that people like the drop-down terminals too, for which see also Yakuake and Guake.
I don't really use a mouse or window switcher, so I prefer the dedicated hotkey. It's nice to have a single keystroke that brings me in or out of the same terminal across every desktop.