Newport Bay Club FAQ & Information Thread

We stayed one night in a Resort Suite last month, so I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts! The hotel itself and lobby area are very attractive. I thought it was kind of reminiscent of the Yacht Club at WDW. Suite guests have their own check-in area and we were the only ones there when we arrived around 6pm. Our luggage had already been sent to the hotel through the train service and was waiting for us in the room. The room was wonderful. We stayed in 4 different hotels on this trip and this was probably the prettiest. It was also the only one with two bathrooms, one in the main bedroom and another in the living area with the foldout sofa. This is super convenient when traveling with teens!

We really enjoyed the free breakfast. We stay Club level a lot with Marriott where we have status, so have visited a lot of these free lounge breakfasts and this was one of the best we’ve encountered. The selection was good and we were seated by a castmember instead of having to snag a table on our own.

Because we were only in the parks for two days, the VIP fastpasses came in really handy. I will say that the fastpass lines were more disorganized than at WDW, and sometimes led you to cut into the regular line at a point with no castmember to assist. But we did get to ride everything we wanted and rode some things multiple times.

For me, the biggest downside to Newport Bay was that it is really far from the parks. Walking there after a full day of touring was not fun at all.

Overall, though, an excellent stay and despite the distance I would probably stay here again!
 
We stayed one night in a Resort Suite last month, so I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts! The hotel itself and lobby area are very attractive. I thought it was kind of reminiscent of the Yacht Club at WDW. Suite guests have their own check-in area and we were the only ones there when we arrived around 6pm. Our luggage had already been sent to the hotel through the train service and was waiting for us in the room. The room was wonderful. We stayed in 4 different hotels on this trip and this was probably the prettiest. It was also the only one with two bathrooms, one in the main bedroom and another in the living area with the foldout sofa. This is super convenient when traveling with teens!

We really enjoyed the free breakfast. We stay Club level a lot with Marriott where we have status, so have visited a lot of these free lounge breakfasts and this was one of the best we’ve encountered. The selection was good and we were seated by a castmember instead of having to snag a table on our own.

Because we were only in the parks for two days, the VIP fastpasses came in really handy. I will say that the fastpass lines were more disorganized than at WDW, and sometimes led you to cut into the regular line at a point with no castmember to assist. But we did get to ride everything we wanted and rode some things multiple times.

For me, the biggest downside to Newport Bay was that it is really far from the parks. Walking there after a full day of touring was not fun at all.

Overall, though, an excellent stay and despite the distance I would probably stay here again!
Were any rides excluded from the VIP fastnesses (besides those which do not have a FP line setup)?
 
Were any rides excluded from the VIP fastnesses (besides those which do not have a FP line setup)?

I believe I used the incorrect wording in my original question...we are staying Compass Club (not in a suite) so my question should have been: were any rides (besides though which do not have a FP set up) excluded from the HOTEL fastpasees? And is each hotel FP dated or can we use them on any of the days we are there?

On the note of fastpasses, we will be there on a Thursday and Friday in mid July- how necessary/valuable or not are the extra fastpasses?

How does the Compass Club breakfast compare with the hotel buffet? We have free half board so wondering if the Compass Club is “worth it” since we already have a breakfast option included.

Lastly, are there different food offerings in the Compass Club compared with the hotel buffet?

Thank you!!
 
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All rides are included in the Hotel fast pass, there only is a time restraint, you can't use them between 1 and 4. They are dated, but they've never given us a hard time if we wanted to use them on a different date (we just ask, don't pretend they are valid for that day). I know the Golden Forrest Club will change the date of your fastpass if you haven't used it (they put a stamp on it). I asked for the same at the Compass Club and was refused. But like I said, it wasn't a problem at the ride.
I'm not sure about the difference with the hotel buffet since the breakfast isn't included anymore. Before the compass club had hot breakfast foods and the standard buffet did not, but they added them with the change. A month ago we had breakfast in Sequoia Lodge, me in the Golden Forrest Club, my husband the standard (complicated story ;)) and the only difference we found where the pancakes. But since you ask about it being worth it, make sure your free breakfast is the hotel breakfast, because it isn't always! Sometimes you get vouchers to get a hot drink and a croissant in the parks!
Thank you!
 


We stayed here for 3 nights from Sunday 4 August 2019, a party of 4 adults

I booked a room only rate via Expedia as we are all annual pass holders. The only room available at the time was a Lake View room. These rooms are exactly the same as the other rooms, they just have a view of the lake.

No bell service offering to transfer luggage to your rooms, but we didn't mind. Reception was great. Very quick and efficient. The CM checking us in was really nice. I’d emailed the hotel about a week before our visit asking if we could please have a room that was close to the lifts as I was aware the hotel is very big and you can potentially have a very long walk to your room.

The CM had a look at what we’d been allocated and said it was in a good location. He showed me the map and I was happy with the location.

Our daughter has a medical condition which allows a priority pass within the parks. We spoke to the CM about this and he was able to arrange the pass for us. Previously this could only be done using guest services at either park so this is a great timesaver.

The lobby is really nice, very spacious and lovely theming.

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Our room was on the 4th floor in the west wing, room 4183

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Room looked nice, although not as big as expected, two beds, nice dressing table with ample plug sockets. Large unit with tv, ice bucket, 4 glasses and very large drawers which were great.

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Our view

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I found the beds a bit hard and slightly lumpy, but that may just be personal taste. I’ve also found this at HNY, Cheyenne and the DLH so I think it’s just the type of mattresses they use sometimes rather than the hotel class. Lewis, our teenage son said he thought the Cheyenne beds were more comfortable.

I’d initially been unsure about the bathroom set up because I couldn't get my head around the fact that there wasn't a sink in the same room as the toilet.....but actually this worked very well for us. The bath and toilet are in a separate room. The sink and wardrobe area are separate, with a curtain that closes it off. This was really useful when everyone was getting ready in the mornings. Someone could be in the shower and someone else getting dressed in the other area. The bench was large enough to have our suitcase on it too.

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A digital safe is provided along with an iron and ironing board. Hairdryer on the wall, worked fine for us, a bit slow but fine.
The shower wasn't great. Very difficult to get a good, consistent temperature and it kept falling down.

There are ice machines on each floor. The one on our floor was not very good so my DH would go to the bar each night instead to get some ice from there. There are also machines for hot drinks. The hotel information page mentions that you can get 1 free drink per person, per day. We didn’t use it so can’t comment on what it was like.

No fridge or mini-bar. There aren’t fridges in any of the Disney Hotels, but the HNY and DLH both offer mini-bars (not that we use them) but wanted to note this in case anyone was expecting it here too as the NPB now classed as 4*. I know that a kettle can be requested from reception, again the same as all the other hotels.

The curtains didn’t fully close at each end meaning that we didn’t get total blackout. Even if they did close the curtains didn’t seem dense enough to create black out. Again, I can only really compare this to HNY but I used to bump into walls first thing in the morning on my way to the bathroom because it was so dark, lol. Here’s what it looked like at 8am:

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Not a huge deal for us as adults, but if our kids had been really young this would have been a huge problem.

There is air conditioning in the room but it’s not very strong. I’ve read numerous posts about this and there is a general consensus that it’s because the European air con isn’t as strong as it is in the US because it’s not normally needed. I’m going to politely disagree with this. Having stayed at the Hotel New York numerous times in high summer season I can tell you that the air con system there was fantastic. When you entered the hotel foyer there was an instant ‘woosh!’ of cold air where you immediately felt the temperature difference. This was not the case here at the Newport Bay Club. Also, in the rooms I noticed that the air con vent was quite small and narrow. It was positioned over to one side of the room, instead of slightly more central. This meant that you could feel the air con directly opposite the vent, at the dressing table, but hardly anything at all where the beds were.

In practical terms this meant that our room felt slightly stuffy and we all woke up with stuffy noses each morning and slept with the covers kicked off. One of the reasons I booked this hotel was because it offered air con. Not great.

We used the swimming pool on one afternoon. It’s a really beautiful pool with an indoor and outdoor section. We didn’t swim inside, just outside as it was a very hot afternoon. However, the pool itself was actually roasting! We went in expecting it to cool us down but it was actually colder sitting in the slightly windy sun. We still really enjoyed the swim though, lots of sun loungers to use too.

We didn’t eat in any of the restaurants but I understand there are two, one of them offering a buffet.

We had a drink one night in the bar, The Captain’s Quarters. The bar is nice, lovely big armchairs to lounge in but the service wasn’t good. We waited for a while to be served the first time and when we wanted more drinks went to the bar and were told to go back to our table as it was table service. Still took another 10 minutes for someone to come and see us.

The shop is nice and the staff were lovely in here. Very friendly and nothing too much trouble for them.

There are free shuttle busses to the parks, but we never use these and prefer to walk for two reasons. Firstly, I love being in our Disney bubble and not having to see much of real life in terms of busses, sometimes being overloaded and having to wait on the way back etc. Secondly, walking means you clear the security at the entrance to the village and don’t have to battle with everyone else entering the parks. Here’s what the main entrance looked like one morning as we passed:

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There is usually a walk way to the left of the hotel when you exit at the lake. This was undergoing refurbishment whilst we were there meaning that you had to walk all the way around the lake to get to the village and then parks. We timed it, and it was 8 minutes from the NPB to the opposite side of the lake in front of HNY. Not a massive amount of time, but did become very annoying when you wanted to nip back to the hotel for a rest or were heading back after a very long day. I think the walk was actually longer than the walk to the Cheyenne was for us last October.

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In summary there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the hotel. Personally I wouldn’t rush back because there isn’t a feeling of excitement for me returning. I’d book the Cheyenne again before returning here. The main reason we chose this was due to it being a summer visit and we knew we’d want to use the pool. We also like air-con in the summer and little things like glasses in the room and ice. I always hesitate to say if a hotel wasn’t worth the cost, because I think that all the Disney hotels are expensive for what you get. However, on this occasion I really don’t think the extra cost for the Newport Bay is worth it. We enjoyed our time at the Cheyenne much more and would probably book two rooms there next time. The NPB rooms are definitely smaller than the HNY and only slightly bigger than the Cheyenne. I suppose we will always compare everything to the HNY and it’s difficult not to when you’re paying a similar price for the same grade of hotel.

I think Lewis, our teenager has summed it up perfectly. He said ‘it’s not terrible, it’s not amazing, it’s functional.’
 

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