Just got back - Newport Bay Hotel!

[annimooboo]

Hi all,

We arrived home yesterday and I wish we were still there!!

We went for 4 nights/5 days using the 50% discounted offer and stayed at the Newport Bay Hotel (standard room).

Highs
- Lovely hotel, clean and spacious room with plenty of towels!
- Amazing weather all week
- Lovely dinners at; Annette's, Rainforest Cafe, Cape Cod Restaurant (all you can eat buffet)
- Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (using the cheap rates!)
- Meeting Sully and Mickey and only having to queue for a few mins
- Great time in the park and able to visit everything we wanted to

Lows
- Awful dinner at Planet Hollywood - 40 mins to be seated then another 40 mins for starters to arrive (one of which had to be sent back due to being cold)
- Rudeness of other guests queue jumping and having no respect for personal space (in fact, one woman with her child jumped in front of us whilst queuing to have our picture taken on Alice's chair and when I pointed out that there was a queue, she made a snippy comment about letting children go first which wasn't fair and made me feel like the worst person in the park!
- Issue affecting the water in the hotel which meant it was off for about 3 hours however we were lucky as due to being in the park, we were only affected for about 10 mins!
- Continuous 35-40 min queue for Crusher's Coasters however this was worth the wait!

All in all, the positives definately outweighed the negatives and as we were having such an amazing time, we barely noticed anything else and we are already in discussions about going back next year!

Also, to share a tip - a lot of people here have recommended the tea basket which now costs E8 (sorry, no euro key) but only comes with 2 tea bags, 2 coffee (decaffinated), 4 sugars and 4 UHT milks which we bought on day of arrival however for the rest of the week, we took sachets of tea, coffee and sugar from breakfast and bought a small carton of UHT milk available from the hotel shop for only E0,80 so if you can survive without a brew on your first night then save yourself the expense and stock up from the breakfast bar!

Feel free to ask any questions about my stay or specifically the hotel and I'll try and help where possible

Thanks,
Anni

 

[mommy2ash]

glad to hear you had a great time

wow that was awful what that woman said to you. if there is a queue it doesnt matter if you are 2 or 100. she had no right to make you feel bad.

i hope you are going to do a trip report, i would love to hear about it

 

[princess jackson]

Sounds like a good trip

By your lucky with 30 ish minute wait for crush coaster it was 70plus beginning September.

IASW was even 15 minute

 

[annimooboo]

I wasn't aware of doing a trip report but I've just had a look and posted my own (link below) - it's a bit lengthy but a nice reminder of the holiday!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2558422

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Thank you for your report. I have read so much about rude people in the parks that I feel a lot of Jersey coming on while we are there. I will be right back in there their face telling them where to put it. I will just be another rude american which I hate because I am not rude at all but really hate people that think the rules don't apply to them.

I was thinking about the smoking issue. If the CM's and Disney made it policy and stuck with it, making people stop and if they didn't pulling their tickets and putting them out, after a bit, those smoking would know that Disney is serious about policy and they would either follow or not go to the park. JMO.

 

[Mrs Pooh Bear]

Glad that you had a good trip!

I would like to know how was the Cape Cod buffet, I am planning to try it in a few weeks time. What time do you suggest is the best to dine there? How long does it take to walk from the park to the restaurant?

Thanks for your help.

 

[flortlebap]

Hi all,

We arrived home yesterday and I wish we were still there!!

We went for 4 nights/5 days using the 50% discounted offer and stayed at the Newport Bay Hotel (standard room).

Highs
- Lovely hotel, clean and spacious room with plenty of towels!
- Amazing weather all week
- Lovely dinners at; Annette's, Rainforest Cafe, Cape Cod Restaurant (all you can eat buffet)
- Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (using the cheap rates!)
- Meeting Sully and Mickey and only having to queue for a few mins
- Great time in the park and able to visit everything we wanted to

Lows
- Awful dinner at Planet Hollywood - 40 mins to be seated then another 40 mins for starters to arrive (one of which had to be sent back due to being cold)
- Rudeness of other guests queue jumping and having no respect for personal space (in fact, one woman with her child jumped in front of us whilst queuing to have our picture taken on Alice's chair and when I pointed out that there was a queue, she made a snippy comment about letting children go first which wasn't fair and made me feel like the worst person in the park!
- Issue affecting the water in the hotel which meant it was off for about 3 hours however we were lucky as due to being in the park, we were only affected for about 10 mins!
- Continuous 35-40 min queue for Crusher's Coasters however this was worth the wait!

All in all, the positives definately outweighed the negatives and as we were having such an amazing time, we barely noticed anything else and we are already in discussions about going back next year!

Also, to share a tip - a lot of people here have recommended the tea basket which now costs E8 (sorry, no euro key) but only comes with 2 tea bags, 2 coffee (decaffinated), 4 sugars and 4 UHT milks which we bought on day of arrival however for the rest of the week, we took sachets of tea, coffee and sugar from breakfast and bought a small carton of UHT milk available from the hotel shop for only E0,80 so if you can survive without a brew on your first night then save yourself the expense and stock up from the breakfast bar!

Feel free to ask any questions about my stay or specifically the hotel and I'll try and help where possible

Thanks,
Anni

Glad you had a nice time

Sorry to hijack your thread but can I ask you a couple of questions?

How was the breakfast?
How long did it take to walk to the parks with the diversions, or did you use the shuttle? How was it?

Sorry again but we're staying there in a 11 days and I keep hearing conflicting reports!!

 

[annimooboo]

Glad that you had a good trip!

I would like to know how was the Cape Cod buffet, I am planning to try it in a few weeks time. What time do you suggest is the best to dine there? How long does it take to walk from the park to the restaurant?

Thanks for your help.

The Cape Cod Buffet was nice enough but we didn't feel it was worth the E27 each. It had things available for the kids like Mickey Mouse shaped potato fritters, fish fingers, garlic bread etc. The main meals were bolognaise and pasta, salmon and pasta in a creamy sauce, garlic and cream new potatoes, sirloin steak roasted in figs and port etc.

They also had a wide variety of desserts including chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, lemon tart etc and a cheese board.

Drinks are bought seperately.

We dined at about 8pm and it was really quiet (unexpected as we thought it would be heaving) and we thought this may have been because most people prefer to dine in the park or the village so I would suggest going around the same time.

To get there, it took us about 15 mins to walk (from Disney Village) and it was a nice walk as it was around the lake however as it's at the Newport Bay Hotel, you can catch the shuttle bus also which took about 5 mins.

Hope this helps!

 

[annimooboo]

Glad you had a nice time

Sorry to hijack your thread but can I ask you a couple of questions?

How was the breakfast?
How long did it take to walk to the parks with the diversions, or did you use the shuttle? How was it?

Sorry again but we're staying there in a 11 days and I keep hearing conflicting reports!!

The inclusive breakfast is continental so made up of croissants, cold meats, cheese, ciabatta and french bread rolls, cereals and toast. It was fine but not really my thing so we chose to upgrade to the VIP breakfast (cooked breakfast) on the Friday which was E12 each. This was much better and included bacon, scrambled eggs, veal sausages (I avoided these!), toast, croissants, cold meats etc.

It takes about 15 mins to walk to the park from the hotel and includes a nice walk around the lake. Most days we opted for the shuttle though which only took 5 mins - the buses run every 15 mins so you're never waiting too long.

It was nice to walk back to the hotel but after a long day in the park, the shuttle bus is very much appreciated!

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back

 

[Jonjo]

I was thinking about the smoking issue. If the CM's and Disney made it policy and stuck with it, making people stop and if they didn't pulling their tickets and putting them out, after a bit, those smoking would know that Disney is serious about policy and they would either follow or not go to the park. JMO.

There are some designated smoking area in the parks but they are not enforced. France is a bit behind the UK, USA and other parts of Europe when it comes to smoking.

It was only in 2007 the France tightened the existing ban on smoking in public places and the workplace. Many French restaurants and cafes were still divided into smoking and non-smoking areas up to 2008.

Unfortunately many smokers in France are now blatantly ignoring the smoking ban in public places due to low enforcement. So it's going to be a few years yet before smoking becomes as socially unacceptable as it is in other countries where smoking bans were introduced many years ago.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Glad you had a good time!

I still haven't ever experienced Crush's Coaster because of the queues!