There are five Disney hotels including the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Disney Ambassador Hotel, Hotel MiraCosta, Celebration Hotel, and the recently opened Toy Story Hotel inside Tokyo Disney Resort. In addition to those, there are also six “official hotels” – hotels located within the resort and run by major brands.
One of those is Hilton Tokyo Bay which, offering large rooms and being located just a short monorail ride from either of the two Tokyo Disney parks, makes for a great alternative to one of the Disney hotels. While I planned to write this review more than a year ago, for one reason or another I didn’t get around to doing it. Having stayed at the hotel for the third time recently, though, I finally decided to get it done.
Continue reading to see what the hotel and two of its room types – Celebrio and Hilton – were like.
Getting to the Hotel
As mentioned above, being one of the official hotels, Hilton Tokyo Bay is located within Tokyo Disney Resort. Namely, it’s a two-minute walk away from Disney Resort Liner’s Bay Side Station. With that, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Maihama Station are just a short monorail ride away from the hotel.
In case it is raining or you have a lot of luggage, you can also take a free shuttle bus from Bay Side Station to the hotel. In most cases, the wait for the bus won’t be worth it, though. There is also a free shuttle bus from Maihama Station to the hotel.
Check-in and Lobby
To the left side of the hotel’s entrance was the front desk. They were adequately staffed during all three of our stays and so checking in was smooth and quick. For our last stay, I mistakenly booked a twin room instead of a king room which I only realized after being issued a keycard. The friendly staff quickly resolved that, though, and in no time, we were reassigned to a king room.
Across from the front desk was the concierge desk.
In addition to the front desk and concierge desk, a number of other facilities could be found on the lobby floor too.
Under a staircase in the middle of the lobby was an entrance into Celebrio Lounge where select guests (those staying in Celebrio Select rooms, etc.) could spend some time and enjoy some refreshments. There were restaurants and other F&B establishments on the lobby floor that I will talk about later on too.
To the left of the staircase, near the reception, was a simple kids’ area. It featured a couple of TVs showing Disney content and some seating. The walls in this area were decorated with Disney characters.
To the right of the staircase were some shops including a Disney Fantasy store selling some of the merchandise available for purchase in the parks and a convenience store with anything from things to eat all the way to souvenirs.
Additionally, there were a delivery service pick-up spot and a smoking room.
Lastly, in a slightly hidden part of the lobby, there was also a small business center equipped with a couple of computers, a printer, and some seating.
Celebrio Room (King, Ocean View)
The hotel offers three different room “themes” – Celebrio, Hilton, and Happy Magic. The theme is not only obvious within each room but entire floors follow the same theme too. In the case of Celebrio, the carpet in the hallways on Celebrio room floors was dot-themed.
The dotted carpet continued inside the room too.
Just past the entrance, on the left, there was a closet with a safe, an iron, and some slippers. The closet door doubled as a mirror. Behind the closet was a built-in luggage rack.
Across from the closet was the bathroom door. The bathroom itself was all white and fairly uninspiring. That said, it did the job. There were a single sink, a toilet, and a relatively large bathtub with a handheld shower.
There were also dental kits, a shaving kit, and some other Crabtree & Evelyn amenities.
Perhaps the most interesting part about the bathroom was the ability to play music (or anything else) via a built-in speaker. A regular 3.5 mm audio input for the speaker could be found in the room itself. It was also possible to turn on some mood lighting.
Proceeding into the actual room, on the left side, there was a “drink corner” with some tea and coffee. There was also a refrigerator in a compartment under the shelves which housed the drinks. It was empty, though.
Along the left side wall, there was also a long counter with a chair. The counter served both as a work desk as well as a vanity – above its further end was a mirror, round of course.
On the wall above the counter was a TV.
There was a panel with a couple of power outlets (a standard one and one accepting all types of plugs), the bathroom audio input, and a couple of other ports.
Across from the counter was the room’s comfortable king-size bed. Following the “Celebrio” theme, the panel behind the bed featured dozens of dot-shaped lights. On either side of the bed was a round nightstand. A phone, an alarm clock, and a notepad could be found on the nightstand on the bed’s left-hand side.
To the left of the bed was a uniquely shaped sofa which, in a way, was the room’s signature feature. It came with a small side table.
On the wall to the right of the bed was a small, abstract artwork. Both the design and positioning looked fairly random, though.
Lastly, the window offered a nice view of Tokyo Bay.
Hilton Room (King, Ocean View)
Just like with the Celebrio floor, the theme of the Hilton rooms which we stayed in during our most recent stay at the hotel started just outside the elevator. Unlike the Celebrio theme which was casual and funky, the Hilton theme looked traditionally Japanese and featured a lot of wood.
The layout of the Hilton room was not too different from that of the Celebrio room. Just past the entrance, on the right side were a big closet, a drink counter, and a large floor-to-ceiling mirror.
On the left side was the bathroom.
With its wooden theme and black counter, the bathroom looked nicer than the all-white Celebrio one. That said, on a practical level, it was the same. It included a large bathtub with a handheld shower, a toilet, and a single sink.
It also appeared that between our latest stay and the stay before that, Hilton Tokyo Bay switched from single-use shampoo, etc. to large dispensers of such amenities mounted on the wall above the bathtub. The amenities were still the same Crabtree & Evelyn products, though.
In the room itself, the main feature was a king-size bed placed along the left-side wall. While there were no nightstands, there was a little shelf above the bed embedded in the panel behind the bed. Power outlets and reading lights could be found on the panel as well.
The bed’s position along the wall was dictated by the fixed panel behind it – it was placed right in the middle of the wall. While normally that would be just right, because there was a seating corner with a small table and a couple of chairs behind the bed, the bed’s position looked a bit off.
Along the wall across from the bed was a work desk connected to two counters – one under a TV and the other one serving as a luggage rack.
While overall the area looked nice, due to the material it was made out of, the desk surface had a lot of scratches upon closer inspection.
The last thing to note here is that the view from the room was similar to that from the ocean view Celebrio room.
Gym and Pool
Hilton Tokyo Bay is equipped with Livista Fitness facility. While I didn’t visit it during our stays, it is free to access for hotel guests and offers a selection of gym equipment and a 17 m indoor pool. Squash courts can be rented and massages had for additional fees too.
The hotel had an outdoor pool area too. That was closed during all of our stays due to COVID-19 at first and then due to it not being summer yet.
Dining Options
For those looking to grab a cup of coffee or have something light to eat, there were Segafredo cafe and Fresh Connection deli on the lobby floor. The latter offered a selection of salads, sandwiches, and some hot meals for take-out/in-room delivery.
For proper meals, there was a Chinese restaurant on the B1 floor, “the square” main restaurant with three different offerings (Forrest Garden buffet, Accendo grill and Italian, and Silva bar lounge) on the lobby floor.
There was also a Lounge O – the lobby lounge where, among other things, a sweets buffet was offered.
There also appears to be a pool bar during the times when the outdoor pool is operational.
In addition to the breakfast that I will talk more about in the next section, we also had afternoon tea at Silva during our first stay. It was decently priced, offered a nice selection of sweets, and was very filling (maybe a bit too much).
Breakfast
The hotel’s buffet breakfast was served in both “the square” and Lounge O. While the photos below are a mix taken in both restaurants, the overall content was the same in either place. There was a decent selection of both Japanese and western food.
To drink, there were coffee machines and a selection of Premier’s tea bags. There were also Minute Maid juice dispensers.
Lighter items included different types of cereals with regular/low-fat/soy milk or yogurt drink, yogurts with a variety of toppings, and a selection of bread and pastries with a variety of jams and other condiments. There were also French toasts.
There were also some cut and whole fruits, a salad bar, and cold cuts including ham, cheese, and smoked salmon.
Hot western items included sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, boiled vegetables, grilled tomatoes, and pasta.
There was also an omelet station and a section with “kid-friendly” items.
Japanese items included a selection of hot dishes, pickles, soba noodles, and ochazuke.
Lastly, in addition to all of the above, there were some soups.
Hilton Tokyo Bay Summary
If you are looking for a place to stay in Tokyo Disney Resort but don’t want to splurge on one of the higher-end Disney hotels, then I can only recommend staying at the Hilton Tokyo Bay. The hotel offers all the amenities you might need, the rooms (both Hilton and Celebrio) are large and comfortable, and the hotel is just a short monorail ride away from both Disneyland and DisneySea.
In case you are trying to decide between this hotel and the cheapest Disney hotel – Celebration – I would go with the Hilton. While the Celebration hotel features Disney theming and some of the perks associated with being a Disney hotel, the rooms and overall facilities at the Hilton are incomparably better.
