Located across Lake Disney from Disney’s Hotel New York, I’d class this hotel as being in the moderate (3 star) category.

Only a few of the rooms have balconies.

When entering from the car park or bus stop, you come in at lobby level, with the Bay Boutique shop on one side and the check-in area on the other.

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived and there was no wait at the arrivals desk. A reasonably pleasant French Cast Member checked us in and offered a room with one king size bed, and said she’d have a day bed sent to the room for our daughter. Room keys in hand we trekked off to find the room which was at the very far end of the East Wing (hotel map). After walking down winding corridors for what seemed an eternity I discovered that neither of the room key cards would open the door. A nearby CM also failed to get the door to open. So, with a two small children, bags and a stroller in tow we trudged all the way back to reception. The same CM was there and seemed puzzled that the keys hadn’t worked, and didn’t seem to believe us. After objecting to being given a room so far away she managed to find us another one which was much nearer.

I had to speak to another Cast Member about our free dining vouchers later on, and asked for someone who spoke English. She insisted that she did and I could speak to her, but then couldn’t understand what I was trying to ask and passed me onto the original CM from earlier.

There’s a separate desk for Admiral’s Floor (club level) check-in, and for concierge who can help with dining reservations and park tickets. We only used concierge once to book a dining reservation, the service was good but the Cast Member’s English wasn’t great.

To get from the lobby area to the walkway to the parks you need to go downstairs. As we had a stroller with us we could only get there via the elevator (just inside the doorway shown above). Sadly this is a major let down for the hotel, with there being only one elevator to go down, and a very small one at that. Only one stroller could fit in at one time, and we often encountered a queue of people waiting to use it.

A nice little kid’s area was located in the lobby, with a TV showing Disney movies and a large coloring sheet that kids can color in together. Had to feel sorry for one little girl who we saw one evening when we were going out. Her parents had put her in there while they drank in the adjacent bar. She was still there when we got back much later, and was talking to any passer-by who would listen.

The Bay Boutique store was a reasonable size and stocked a good variety of Disney souvenirs and a small number of sundries.

Our room was located upstairs, but thankfully there were four elevators going up and we didn’t have far to walk once we got out.

It wasn’t terribly big, but as we didn’t spend much time in it that didn’t matter too much. Two double beds, with a TV cabinet opposite. The choice of English speaking TV channels was very poor and we usually resorted to putting on French Playhouse Disney channel for our daughter, which she didn’t seem to mind!

Our room faced the front of the hotel and had a balcony. Being November and quite chilly outside we never sat out on it!

The bathroom, with bath, shower and toilet, was separate to the sink area. There was just a single sink, with hanging space for clothes opposite. This is also where the safe was located, although ours wouldn’t open as the people who occupied the room before us had obviously failed to follow the instructions to leave the safe open. I never bothered to contact front desk about it due to the language barrier problem. The room was quite tired looking and in need of redecorating, especially the bathroom.

Breakfast was included with the hotel stay, and was provided buffet style in the Cape Cod restaurant. The buffet had toast, pastries, cheese, ham, cereals, yogurt, juice, tea and coffee. Each morning there was a queue to get in and the restaurant was manic. As it was off-peak season I wouldn’t have liked to see it during busy periods. The wait staff were very friendly and helpful.

Cape Cod was also open for a dinner buffet each evening. Next to Cape Cod was the Yacht Club restaurant, only open for dinner. Both were located downstairs, access via the stairs or one tiny elevator. Something that all the Disney hotels here lack is a counter service place, which would be most welcome, especially when the parks close early in off-season.

We didn’t use the pool as it was closed for refurbishment.

The parks were only a short 10 minute walk from the hotel, past Lake Disney and through Disney Village. A small tram did run to Disney Village but we never used it.

Overall I don’t think I would return to Newport Bay Club in a hurry. We’ve stayed at Hotel New York on previous visits and had much better service and nicer rooms, albeit a bit more expensive. Newport Bay is badly laid out, and considering the number of English speaking guests that visit I would have hoped to encountered better English speaking Cast Members, but that’s a problem throughout DLP.

Hotel information
Restaurant menus
More photos

---