Portofino Bay was a great resort. If you ever do head over to Universal, we highly recommend it!I don't know too much about Universal (my daughter isn't quite old enough to enjoy it yet) so looking forward to your insights. Your resort looks beautiful, as does that pizza ; )
Thanks for reading!Great report! Thank you! So sorry you missed out on most of the Storytellers. I, too, would have been greatly disappointed.
Thank-you!Just caught up...again lol, great reviews!!!
I think the Etch answer is "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!" That one as really tough. I've enjoyed your reviews as a lot of the places you all ate, we were thinking about trying for our next trip.
Thanks for including your Universal visit! I'm in the process of considering the best way to do Universal, and it's really been helpful to see little peeks of the resorts, rides, and food. From the reports I have read so far, staying in a Universal resort for the night seems to be a great option, as the early entry looks to be a huge perk.
Frozen butter beer looks so delish! I like seeing all the unique options for ice cream, too. Looks like I have a new research project in finding the must try foods at Universal!
You may have addressed this, and if so, I'm sorry, but did you have a car to get from CSR to Portifino?
I am by no means a Universal expert, as we have only been there 2x. (We stayed at the Hard Rock for 9 days back in 2010) But, I think I'd stay offsite at WDW before I'd stay offsite at Universal. In addition to the early entry, you get the automatic front of the line pass for all the rides except a few. (Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Despicable Me and, I think, Pteranodon Flyers.) FJ does have single rider. It's like having an unlimited FP. It was so busy when we went that we wouldn't have been able to do much without it. 90-120 min. waits were 15-20 min. waits.
Even when we went in Aug. 2010 and most lines were only about 30 min. or so, we still saved a ton of time. They do sell Front of the Line passes, but the rates change based on season. Since we were a family of 5 at holiday rate, it was considerable cheaper to stay at a deluxe resort than it was to stay somewhere cheaper and buy the passes. Go figure! It can really vary, though. You have to do the math like with the Disney discounts.
Love frozen butterbeer!
We did not have a car. We just took a cab. We also took a cab from Universal to the airport. It was very easy. I don't remember the exact cost of the trip, but it was under $50. Car rentals were very pricey over the holiday weekend so I decided not to go that route. Since we weren't leaving Universal once we got there, the cab seemed the least amount of hassle. It's also cheaper than the shuttles for us because we had 5 'adults' we would have to buy tickets for but we can all fit in one taxi van.
Universal looks like so much fun. I can't wait to explore it when my daughter gets older. But I gotta ask as the Universal novice, what does the butterbeer taste like?
Thank you so much for your input. It really is helpful for me. I've only been to Universal once, and we did both parks in one day, and really rushed through it. This was before HP, so I can't even imagine that would work with the updates the parks have seen since then.
I've started playing with the rates a little, and it seems like the best way will be getting a room. Good to know!
Thanks for sharing all your meals and hope to see another report from you and the kids going forward!
Just finished reading your reviews. Thanks for all of the pictures! We are going in November and we've never been during the Holiday season so the pictures got me really excited for it.
Universal looks like so much fun. I can't wait to explore it when my daughter gets older. But I gotta ask as the Universal novice, what does the butterbeer taste like?
Just my take on it but it tastes like cream soda with a vanilla foam on top.
Great wrap-up. Thanks for letting us eat along with you
Loved all of your reviews, thanks
Thanks for reading!Loved your report and loved your pictures of Universal. We've said that we would like to go to the other side once our daughter gets old enough, but seeing your pics make me want to go sooner than later.