Disney's Newport Bay Club refurbishment

[isani]

Did they take the existing headboard and bolt on Mickey ears? That's... looking pretty good, actually.

I also like that a lot of browns and oranges have been added to the color scheme. The previous scheme was so heavy on white and blue that it felt really cold to me.

[pussinboots]

White Titanic-style wood paneling with Victorian sconces would have been appropriate had it been a deluxe hotel, but moderate Disney hotels should be slightly more fun than intimidatingly fancy. I think they've accomplished that very well.

A huge upgrade from the pile of dated cheap that was there before (and unfortunately still comprises 99% of the premises.)

And I agree with the above poster about the brown. Gives it a slight cruise line travel feel without plunging completely into the 1930s.

[ewormas]

HI, does anyone know if the refurbished rooms are being occupied by guests yet? I so wanna stay in one!!

[Josh]

I like the Hidden Mickeys on the carpet. It's a shame they've made the ones on the beds not-so-hidden. I don't like it when they splatter Mickey heads like that, everywhere. Plus, I don't get why they've used portholes when we're not on a ship.

But they're my only complaints, and the rooms are still ten times better than the old ones. XD I love the new little bedside lamps and the new mirror table in the corner. It's much more warmer and welcoming.

[15MagicalYears]

I love that vanity in the corner, it's always so awkward when two people are trying to get ready in the room with the only real space available is the bathroom sink / mirror. This has definitely made the Newport Bay more appealing to me.

[ed-uk]

I like the Hidden Mickeys on the carpet. It's a shame they've made the ones on the beds not-so-hidden. I don't like it when they splatter Mickey heads like that, everywhere. Plus, I don't get why they've used portholes when we're not on a ship.

But they're my only complaints, and the rooms are still ten times better than the old ones. XD I love the new little bedside lamps and the new mirror table in the corner. It's much more warmer and welcoming.

I take your point about the portholes and it not being a ship, and if they had replaced the existing windows with portholes I would agree with you, but it is a hotel with a yacht-club theme so they don't look out of place in the wallpaper design. it is a Disney hotel at a Disney resort after all and I think the portholes and characters are a fun touch.

[Riebi]

Hm I don´t like it that much. Liked more the bite elaborated style of newport bay and so for the rooms. Love the corridors. But this portholes are a bit too much. I loved the not so heavy bambi touches at SL. This room is a bit tooo much characters for me. I want to be in new england. Not in a comic stripe.

So what I like:

The new carpet
The new pillows
The new blankets
The style of the chairs
The idea of suitcase boards (but this variation is to much toon for me)
The bathroom

I think the rooms lost everything of the old imagineering idea. It´s a bit like the cars theme at SF.

[ed-uk]

Hm I don´t like it that much. Liked more the bite elaborated style of newport bay and so for the rooms. Love the corridors. But this portholes are a bit too much. I loved the not so heavy bambi touches at SL. This room is a bit tooo much characters for me. I want to be in new england. Not in a comic stripe.

So what I like:

The new carpet
The new pillows
The new blankets
The style of the chairs
The idea of suitcase boards (but this variation is to much toon for me)
The bathroom

I think the rooms lost everything of the old imagineering idea. It´s a bit like the cars theme at SF.

It's a matter of taste I know but if you really want to be in New England go to New England, a Disney Resort isn't the best place to find the real thing. It's Disney's Newport Bay Club and I put the empasis on the word Disney. I don't understand this logic some people have, if you want the real thing why go to a theme park resort? Surely people who book a holiday to DLP are buying a Disney holiday, not a really a holiday in New England. They want the full on Disney experience. Walt Disney after whom the resort is named was a cartoonist.

[MouseMagic]

It's a matter of taste I know but if you really want to be in New England go to New England, a Disney Resort isn't the best place to find the real thing. It's Disney's Newport Bay Club and I put the empasis on the word Disney. I don't understand this logic some people have, if you want the real thing why go to a theme park resort? Surely people who book a holiday to DLP are buying a Disney holiday, not a really a holiday in New England. They want the full on Disney experience. Walt Disney after whom the resort is named was a cartoonist.

Yeah I agree, you go to Disneyland to be surrounded by Disney, not real world themeing. More Disney themeing is needed in the hotels if you ask me...

[ed-uk]

I go to Disney to escape the real world, it's ment to be a magical place. I can understand the Newport Bay Club has got a yaght-club theme, the sort of place we might find in Cape Cod, but this hotel is at a Disney resort so there has to be some compromise between fantasy and reality. I put the emphasis on the name Disney and then it all makes sense.

[Martin B]

Wow! A real improvement indeed!!

Might just go and update my booking for February!!

[MrsPirate]

Love it, such an improvement on the tired and dated rooms. I will certainly consider staying there again.

[Martyn]

I'm really liking what they're doing to the hotels. The characters in the the banners are cute, and subtle, perfectly done Disney.

I've really liked the look of the NBC, but this looks grand, keep up the good work!

[-breeno-]

Hm I don´t like it that much. Liked more the bite elaborated style of newport bay and so for the rooms. Love the corridors. But this portholes are a bit too much. I loved the not so heavy bambi touches at SL. This room is a bit tooo much characters for me. I want to be in new england. Not in a comic stripe.

So what I like:

The new carpet
The new pillows
The new blankets
The style of the chairs
The idea of suitcase boards (but this variation is to much toon for me)
The bathroom

I think the rooms lost everything of the old imagineering idea. It´s a bit like the cars theme at SF.

Completely agree with you Riebi. I've never really been a big fan of most cartoon/Disney character elements in the hotels, I can understand why they do it but for me it cheapens the high quality of theming just a bit. I can also see why some may say that it's a Disney Park so you should expect Disney but when you look a little further, some of DLP's (and all Disney Parks in general) finest elements don't contain any Disney movie references at all. The likes of Phantom Manor, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Le Visionarium all are (or were) original imagineering and didn't have to rely on the popular Disney faces to attract guests. I always liked to see the Disney hotels taking a similar approach, Disney characters is great as meet n greets in the hotels, but part of the furnishing? Not for me sadly.

[Thaliel]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, a table with mirror and small drawers. LIKE!

[Riebi]

Completely agree with you Riebi. I've never really been a big fan of most cartoon/Disney character elements in the hotels, I can understand why they do it but for me it cheapens the high quality of theming just a bit. I can also see why some may say that it's a Disney Park so you should expect Disney but when you look a little further, some of DLP's (and all Disney Parks in general) finest elements don't contain any Disney movie references at all. The likes of Phantom Manor, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Le Visionarium all are (or were) original imagineering and didn't have to rely on the popular Disney faces to attract guests. I always liked to see the Disney hotels taking a similar approach, Disney characters is great as meet n greets in the hotels, but part of the furnishing? Not for me sadly.

That´s exactly my point of view. Disney never was about characters. It was about story. Why have there everywhere to be characters? The idea behind the hotels was to travel to diffrent regions of america. Not to the real ones but to a perfect wonderful themed idea of this regions.

The better story isn´t a character wallpaper. The best story is to make an enviroment that themed, that you even would be disapointed by the original part of the world.

In the same way we don´t see the disney villains at phantom manor and the funny crew from "Home on the Range" at big thunder mountain. And if we rethink it...well that´s quiet the thing we love about disney imagineering. They make something new. Not something character based.

I´m not completly again this characters in hotels. With a much calmer appearance in the rooms it would be OK with me. As I said the Bambi theme for SL is very calm and it gives the hotel some nice touches without giving it another theme.

The NPBC rooms are for me too much of a fab 5 on a sea cruiser cartoon. And a bad one.
At NPBC we simply aren´t at a cartoonish "The Art of Disney Animation" resort. We are at a new england seaside resort (by the way with a big conference center for dlp business guests)

The point is: More fantasy doesn´t mean more disney characters for me. It means more disney. And that means more magic and a deep imagineering "characterless" look on it. Escaping from the real world is for me not escaping in a cartoon...and by the way: In this times the better theme would be Duffy the Disney Bear for Newport Bay. Cause it´s their nautic around the world sea bear. Wouldn´t that be great?


It´s a bit like Disney Aulani would be just about lilo and stitch. But it isn´t...

[Soap]

Nicely said Riebi

[dagobert]

Well said Riebi! I couldn't agree with you more.

The new rooms look nice, except for the character port holes and the shower curtain. It amazes me that Disney still uses shower curtains. You hardly find them anymore in hotels these days. I don't like them and honestly nowadays I expect glass instead of curtains in hotels of that category. I had to stay in 13 different hotels over the last two years and none of them had shower curtains.

[isani]

Disney never was about characters. It was about story. Why have there everywhere to be characters?

I think it's pretty clear why the characters are everywhere. It's the one thing Disney can do to make their properties more attractive to consumers without spending all that much extra money or effort. If you ask people with kids if they would rather stay at the Cars Hotel or the Abstract Representations of Icons of New Mexico Hotel, the former is a much easier sell.

Many people here have said that the overuse of characters is a loss for imagination, and I agree. I'd also like to argue that it diminishes the characters themselves. Instead of being actual characters with personalities and stories, they become images that can simply be pasted anywhere.

This is why I dislike the Disney Princess franchise, for example. The characters have become pieces of clipart, devoid of story. It's as if all the Princesses have left their respective Princes and taken on careers as runway models.

I think Mickey suffers from this phenomenon as well. If you go see old Disney cartoons at Videopolis, you'll see Mickey making mischief, wooing Minney, chasing Ghosts, fighting giant bugs… Elsewhere in the parks, you'll see him smile, wave and say "Gosh, gee!" a lot. He doesn't get to do things, he's just there to introduce shows and pose in photos.

[ed-uk]

But my point is we're booking a holiday at a Disney Resort, I know the hotels are themed to different parts of America and I like the hotels and always stay with Disney. But people are buying into a Disney experience, and for some families that is about the characters, for others it's about the rides and Jules Verne themeing in Discoveryland, for me it all belongs.
In the parks there's a mixture, Phantom Manor, Pirates (my favourite ride) and Space Mountain don't feature Disney characters, but other rides do like Snow White and Peter Pan. Disney Dreams, which I think is an amazing show full of Disney cartoon characters, so is Fantillusion, Disney Magic on parade and the Tarzan Encounter. Main Street doesn't need characters but at the top of the street there's a fairytale castle based on the classic Disney Cartoon Sleeping Beauty.
So people go to Disney for Disney Entertainment, the rides, the shows and the characters. Then to say that the characters should play no part in the hotels because they cheapen the high quality themeing, I don't agree with that.
Walt Disney was a cartoonist, he created many of these characters and he had more to do with Mickey Mouse and Pluto than TOT. Disney has always been about films, live action, cartoons, cartoon characters, he invented the cartoon character and introduced them into Disneyland in the first place.
i can credit him for inventing the cartoon character, but not for inventing the theme park and roller coaster ride.
And just to add Disney knows what sell, and Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh sell.