Christmas at the Newport Bay- quick highs and lows

[DisneyElles]

Hello Dibbers,

I have just returned from a Christmas trip to DLP (20th-24th December) with my DH, my mum and sis and bro (both in their mid-teens).

We stayed in a Compass Club family room at the Newport Bay Hotel and travelled direct with Eurostar.

Highs

+ DLP is looking pretty glossy and well looked after since our last visit. Thunder Mountain and Alice's Labyrinth both looked very spick and span following a bit of a re-paint. Loved the Geysers at Thunder Mountain and the new updates to the interior dynamite scene!

+ Family room size at Newport bay. I was very worried that 3 adults and 2 teenagers may have difficulties sharing, but the room was very spacious and the showers were both very good.

+ Customer service in general. We did not meet a single grumpy CM. Everyone from the security to the parade performers were excellent. Particular shout outs to the very friendly Compass Club cast members who always made sure we were very comfortable.

+ Sequoia Lodge bar, loved this! Very cosy mountain lodge feel, quite Christmassy and extra large sharing cocktails that were well made and had a good kick of booze! We also enjoyed our one very expensive drink in Cafe Fantasia.

+ Christmas shows and parades. Wow! The goofy show at the studios was very good, and I loved the tree lighting ceremony at the Disneyland Parc. Mickey's Big Band was very magical, with lots of classic crooning along with some humour from Mickey and the gang. Both the regular parade and the Christmas parades were very good- the floats looked fresh and the cast were all giving 110%!

+ Compass Club. If the price is right, I would recommend this. The daily fastpass allowed us to nip on Big Thunder without any issues, and the food at breakfast and the afternoon tea was great with lots of options. The lounge never felt crowded and the concierge was very helpful.

+ Crowds and queue times. I was very worried that it would be too busy, but we managed fine! Queue times were reasonable and the atmosphere was festive but not mega busy!

+ Lounge at St Pancras, we get free access to this with our credit card. They had an excellent selection of magazines, good coffee and breakfast options. It wasn't very busy so was great to chill out before boarding the Eurostar.

+ Smoking: There was less smoking in the parks, and I saw four separate cast members intervene when they saw smokers, including handing out of leaflets and issuing warnings. Excellent stuff as I hate passive smoke, particularly around children.

Lows

- New Hyperspace Mountain. I love Star Wars, I loved the original Space Mountain (pre-mission 2) however the mashup was a bit rubbish. The ride has a very strong visual identity, connected with early French cinema of Melies and also Jules Verne- and I really really wish they could restore the original theme! The star wars overlay felt a bit naff, but definitely better than the Mission 2 update, so somewhat an improvement.

-Newport Bay bar. Very busy, slow service and not a patch on Sequoia or DLP hotel bars.

-Gluten Free options. My Brother has coeliac disease and whilst we did manage, I felt like we chose not to go to certain places to try and make sure he could be accommodated. Food quality in DLP is generally poor, although not as bad as on previous visits.

- Mickey Mouse santa hats! I was very excited to see these everywhere in the park shops, but alas- my head is apparently too large! I was pretty sad

-Unique merchandise. When I go to WDW it is very easy to find things to spend money one. The merch in the shops at DLP is not particularly special (similar to the things you can find in UK disney stores) and I didn't spend any money!

So all in all more highs than lows- we had a great trip and DLP really comes into its own at Christmas time.

I am off to WDW again in April, so plenty to plan before then! If anyone has any questions, let me know!

[donna252]

Sounds like an amazing break!my 11 year old daughter is also coeliac can I pick your brains about gluten free?where did you find ok to eat and did the compass club have any gluten free options?last time we went we ate in planet Hollywood everyday. Would love to go back but not sure where to feed her lol.

[DisneyElles]

Hello Donna,

We brought a lot of snacks, bread rolls and GF friendly food with us for the room. The Compass Club rooms have fridges, so plenty of space to store things.

In terms of restaurants we ate at Vapiano and Chez Remy. Vapiano indicated online that they did GF pasta and pizza, but apparently not at the Disney branch in the village. My brother had a risotto which whilst not his first choice, he really enjoyed.

Chez Remy was good- steak and chips! I don't think the chips were contaminated, we decided to take the risk- and they advised on which sauces for the steak were GF. They also baked him a GF bread roll.

Compass Club offer a pack of GF breads, crackers and cakes on request. The rest of the food includes fresh fruits, cheeses, charcuterie- so we were able to make a few sandwiches using our own bread etc. Plenty of GF cereals as well. He had options, but much of the food was lots of pastry, sandwiches, tarts and cake! So we felt a bit guilty- but he assured us he had plenty to eat

We found that the food in the compass club was so plentiful at breakfast and tea time that we didn't really need to eat out in the parks too much.

[donna252]

Aw thanks for the info!

[Floridasun]

We were there 22-24th but in Sequoia Lodge. I agree with a lot of your comments. The shows and parades were fantastic. The shopping has improved but I think there is so much potential to make more money. I always return from DLP with some money but I spend it all at Disneyworld!
I was looking forward to buying a santa hat but yes they were all child size!

The only bit I disagree with is the smoking. I found this worse than ever. I had a cough/cold and as an asthmatic this was really bad and the constant cigarettes caused me huge problems. I often walked around with my scarf covering my face even though it was quite mild. I am going to write to complain and ask why It is not enforced properly. I frequently saw several cast members completely ignore this.

[Gill H]

Please do write - but the answer is that DLP would need to employ at least 3 times the number of CMs to spend all day just going around and asking people not to smoke! Plus, most of the guests either just ignore them and light up as soon as they're gone, or are rude and aggressive, sometimes even violent. And I include Brits in that. One time we were in DLP with friends, and I was looking after their sleeping toddler. I sat down on a bench with the buggy next to me. An elderly British lady sat next to us and lit up immediately. I asked her not to smoke over a toddler, and the lady's daughter yelled at me for a good 10 minutes telling me how rude I was being!

The fact is that if you go to most large European cities (including London!) you get smoke blown in your face every few minutes. It's completely ingrained in the culture, and any attempt to part someone from their ciggy is met with aggression. But to be honest, I've seen it just as bad in theme parks in the UK.

That said, DLP are much better now at indicating where the smoking areas are, and making announcements in several languages before shows and parades.