A Review of Disney's Newport Bay Club Hotel in Disneyland, Paris
Disneyland Paris' Newport Bay Club Hotel is one of Disney's most popular 4-star dwellings. And it's one we chose as our base during a trip to France.
If you've ever wondered what it's like staying at one of the Disneyland Paris hotels, including guest benefits, available amenities, or which room category to book, this review covers all this and more.
First impressions
The hotel's nautical theme reminded us of the Beach Club Resort at Walt Disney World. Fun touches, such as striped wall paper, anchor adorned soft furnishings, and corridors reminiscent of those on a cruise ship help enhance the experience.
Check-in was extremely easy and efficient. Which meant we were settling in to our room soon after arrival.
Newport Bay Club Hotel Rooms
Superior Rooms
We booked a Superior Room at the hotel, which housed 2 double beds, a corner desk and chair, together with a large dresser and a wall mounted TV.
The bathroom has a shower over the bath, plus a toilet. There's a sink and hanging/storage space in an adjacent area, where you'll also find a hairdryer and a safe.
Hint: The hotel hairdryer was of particularly poor quality, so I recommend taking your own.
Aesthetically, the bedrooms are a real pleasure. Striped wallpaper creates a white wood panelling effect, with a port hole border providing some extra Disney fun.
Mickey shaped ships wheel headboards, patterned curtains, throws and cushions, together with luggage effect furniture, all add to the nautical vibe.
Room Categories
Within the Superior Room category, you can pay extra for a Lakeside view. As we didn't plan on spending much time in the room, we decided against this, so received a view overlooking the front of the hotel.
Many bedrooms have a balcony. Although these aren't big enough for furniture, it was quite a pleasant place to catch some early morning fresh air.
We deemed the accommodation adequately sized for the 4 of us. However, if you require a little more space, there are also Superior Family Rooms available. These have an extra child sized sofa bed, and again, you have the option to upgrade to a Lakeside Family room.
Compass Club Rooms
For added amenities and benefits, the hotel has a number of Compass Club Rooms.
Again, within this category there are Lake Views, as well as Family Rooms which sleep up to 6 guests. Friends of ours stay in the Compass Club Family Rooms during their annual trip to Disneyland Paris, and kindly took this photograph to show the larger accommodation size and the layout with the sofa beds at one end. Compass Club Rooms also have tea and coffee making facilities, a fridge, plus 2 showers - one over the bath and a walk in version.
If you wish to reserve one of these, you'll need to be quick as they tend to get booked up well in advance, especially during peak times.
For up to date prices and available offers, check the official Disneyland Paris website.
Disney's Newport Bay Club Hotel Guest Benefits
All Newport Bay Club Hotel Guests:
Park Tickets included
If you've ever stayed at a Walt Disney World resort, you'll know that park tickets are not included in the hotel price. Whereas, all Disneyland Paris Hotel Guests receive complimentary park tickets which are valid for the number of days you can spend in the parks. This meant for our 4 night stay, we were given 5 day park tickets.
This is a huge benefit of staying in a Disneyland Paris Hotel, and one to be factored in when costing up your holiday.
Complimentary Hot Drinks
Every guest receives a token at check-in to be used at various hot drink dispensing machines located along the hotel corridors. Each person is entitled to one free hot drink per day.
As there are no facilities for making drinks in the bedrooms, the tokens were well received. There's a choice of teas, coffees and hot chocolates. We recommend the noisette hot chocolate, it was delicious.
Free Wi-Fi
Free Wi-Fi appears to be a great benefit, especially with a couple of kids, but the hotel Wi-Fi was frustratingly poor. In fact, we found the Wi-Fi within the whole of Disneyland Paris wasn't reliable, so often switched to 4G whenever we needed to check wait times and view menus etc.
Extra Magic Time
Extra Magic Time is when the parks opening an hour early for Disneyland Paris hotel guests only. This can be a real advantage, and one I highly recommend using if (like us) you're visiting at busy times of the year.
Note: Not all rides open during Extra Magic Time. In Disneyland Park, only some rides in Discoveryland and Fantasyland will be operating. However, it does mean you can ride these attractions, then head over to the other areas in time for rope drop.
In Walt Disney Studios, Extra Magic Rides are limited to Crush's Coaster, Ratatouille and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.
Proximity to the Parks
Travel to both Disneyland Paris parks is relatively quick and easy, as the Newport Bay Club Hotel is located close to the heart of the magic.
There are complimentary buses available, but we found it easier to walk. If exiting from the back of the hotel, a 5 minute walk brings you to the security area. Another plus point of staying at Disney's Newport Bay Club Hotel is it's own designated security screening location. As this isn't shared with any of the other hotels, we discovered there was hardly ever a queue for bag check and scanning here.
Once through security, it's another 10 minute walk through Disney Village then you simply veer left to Disney Studios Park, or continue on toward the Disneyland Park.
Compass Club and Suite Guests
Complimentary Food & Drink
Guests of Compass Club Rooms and Suites can also access a private lounge which serves complimentary food and soft drinks from 7am -10pm.
Breakfast offerings of fruit, smoothies, cold meats, breads and hot dishes are available from 7am - 11am.
Afternoon Tea is served from 4pm - 5.45pm, when you can take a break from the parks to refuel on fruits, sandwiches and a selection of cakes.
Hot and cold drinks are also available from the lounge drinks station anytime during opening hours.
Newport Bay Club Hotel Restaurants
There's no shortage of places to eat at Disneyland Paris, although we found much of the food quality somewhat lacking. We did, however, eat at one of the Newport Bay Club Hotel restaurants one evening and I'm pleased to report we all enjoyed our meal.
There are 2 main restaurants at the hotel. For fine dining, Yacht Club serves a number of Mediterranean dishes with a New England twist. As you would expect, the menu is extremely fish based, with a few meat and vegetarian options.
The more casual Cape Cod Restaurant serves meals buffet style. This is where we dined and we were impressed with the selection of soups, starters, children's options plus delicious desserts. The mains were more limited, with much of it being meat in some kind of stewed sauce and vegetables, but there was enough to suit everyone.
Zachary did a wonderful job of photographing some of the dishes:
Hint: If you wish to eat at either restaurant, bookings are highly recommended. It is possible to secure a table at Cape Cod Restaurant by turning up around 15 minutes before it opens and asking the Cast Member checking people in whether there are any free tables. We did this and were seated straight away, but the restaurant did fill up pretty quickly, so you may be turned away if you're not one of the first few groups to arrive.
Other Newport Bay Club Hotel amenities
Captain's Quarters Bar
Despite our best efforts, we never did find the time to visit the bar, except for poking our heads in to have a quick look around one evening. We were always too busy out in the parks, then too tired on our return. The bar has recently undergone a refurbishment and did have a relatively relaxed vibe when we saw it one afternoon, although it's bound to become busy later in the evening.
Bay Boutique
Newport Bay's onsite shop was well stocked with plenty of Disney souvenirs. Here you can purchase everything from cuddly toys, figures and pins, to mugs, clothing, and even Christmas decorations.
Pool and Gym
The lower level of the hotel houses a well equipped gym, which was extremely quiet when we visited. There's also an indoor pool, which unfortunately had been the scene of an 'accident' just prior to our arrival, so it was shut for maintenance. The outdoor pool was closed for the season, but I'm reliably informed that it's a fun area to spend some time relaxing during the summer months.
Pros:
Overall, we deemed Newport Bay Club Hotel a great place to stay during our Disneyland Paris trip. The proximity to the parks, themeing and general vibe were our highlights. We were afforded a warm welcome, checking in and out was extremely straight forward and we found the staff we encountered were all very friendly.
Cons:
The biggest downside for us was poor housekeeping. Our room wasn't cleaned properly during the 4 nights we were there, especially the bathroom. When 4 towels were removed from the room, they were replaced by just 3, which was frustrating when there were obviously 4 of us needing them. Some of the communal areas were filthy and we were handed dirty cutlery and plates at the buffet. Despite this, we would still consider staying at this hotel again - I'll just pack cleaning wipes next time!
Star Rating: 
(4 / 5)
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Have you stayed at this, or any other Disneyland Paris hotels? We'd love to hear about your experiences. Why not drop us a comment below?
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