Looking for some advice!

[MomofCKJ]

I am a Disney freak and I almost feel like I'm cheating by coming to this Universal board! Ack!

Was just at WDW a few weeks ago, myself and my 3 kids. Great trip. DH was on a work trip elsewhere, just as well, he is NOT a fan of the Mouse.

So from this last trip I had a nice credit with Jet Blue. JB just announced they are going to start flying out of an airport that is super close to me, like 20 minutes and Orlando is one of the destinations. So, booked two tickets yesterday for a Tues-Fri in November, only cost me $50 out of pocket.

I can't even believe DH agreed to this little getaway for us but he did say NO Disney Which is how I ended up here at this board.

I have been looking around the web for places to stay in Orlando that are NOT Disney. I want to be sure we have someplace with a really nice pool area and it lead me to Royal Pacific which looks very nice. Then I started thinking well if we stayed there we could walk to CityWalk and that could be fun at night. Then I found Portofino and that looks lovely too. And if I could convince him to maybe do a park for a day, well we are right there and I haven't been to Universal since, gosh, I was 20? And I'm 43 now

So what do you recommend for a place to stay for a couple, not bringing the kids, and a nice pool area? I'm really leaning towards choosing one of the Universal hotels just to have the option there to hit a park one day and for being able to walk to CityWalk, just not sure which one?

Thanks!

Allyson

 

[BBQMonster]

Portofino would be perfect. When you are there you don't even realize you are near a theme park. It is a beautiful property.

 

[cieslack]

Ditto on Portofino.

 

[RMulieri]

Portofino..It is the more secluded of the 3 and though there are kids and families, there are less than the other 2.

 

[mjohnson96]

Going with Portofino..we used to stay at RPH and it is a great family resort but PBH is our new fave. It is a bit further from the parks but you don't see them or hear them and the atmosphere is great! You can also pool hop to any of the hotels and HRH is close to PBH so you can walk or boat it over there and check out the pool...I love their pool bar.

My parents loved this place too and my dad is not a WDW person so this was perfect for him. He even made it over to the parks to see WWOHP one night.

 

[bumbershoot]

So what do you recommend for a place to stay for a couple, not bringing the kids, and a nice pool area?

Portofino, absolutely. So romantic. Check out the main pool, but also go to the quiet pool and explore; there's a hot tub and nearby there's a colder plunge pool. And the normal pool is nice as well.

Be sure to walk in the piazza at twilight...sigh.


And you can still check out the pools at the other two resorts; they encourage pool hopping.

 

[glocon]

Don't feel like you are cheating on the mouse- you can have more than one friend.

You are so lucky to have this problem, wish it were me!

I too would suggest PBR even though I have only ever toured it, never stayed there. It seems most adult out of the three. We have only ever stayed at HRH (my teen son's choice) but I visited the other two just to see what they were like.

They are all beautiful, but young families tend to like the RPR for the "little-kid friendly" pool, so lots of young kids there. Families with teens and young adults seem to lean toward the HRH because of its "cool factor". PBR has a fun pool for kids also, but the other two resorts seem to have more kids around.

And there just seems to be a romance factor to the PBR.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Thank you all very much! I've been doing a lot of looking online and reading reviews and I do think Portofino would be the best one for us. It does look very nice and romantic too!

Allyson