First time ever to Universal, Royal Pacific or Portofino?

[Tonberry]

We're going for 5 nights this coming August for our first ever trip to Universal Orlando. It will be a party of 4 including me, wife, teen daughter and pre-teen son. We've decided to go all out and get a 2BR Suite so everyone has their own bed, we have multiple bathrooms, and we all have room to breathe.

Being that we've never been, we can't decide between Royal Pacific or Portofino. Both are relatively the same cost but I have no idea what the difference is between the two is or which one would be better for our family.
Some of what we're looking for:
1) Pools are extremely important. Kids must have been fish in their former lives.
2) Easy access to parks is a must.
3) Planning on having some breakfasts / dinners at the Resort. Which has better food and or choices?

Thank you everyone!

 

[schumigirl]

Both are lovely.

It`s all down to personal preference which type of food appeals to you. RP suits us better in all areas. Restaurants are perfect for us a we are not keen on the two from PB, but we do love Sal`s pizza there.

RP is a 7 minute walk to IOA, PB is around 15 minutes to the Studios, but the boats are so handy, don`t let that affect your decision. 15 minutes is still a relatively short time.

We like the pool at RP, but PB do have several pools and they are lovely.

Have a check on the hotel stickies and other sources and see which hotel would suit your family better, you know them and what they like.

 

[AJA]

I agree with the pp. Other than RPR having a shorter walk, it just comes down to what theme you like best. You can pool hop at Universal (Covid of course may come into play so check before you make plans) you can try out any of the pools.

When our daughter was little we liked the theme at RPR but she liked the pool at Hard Rock.

With a preteen if you do have time to pool hop, Cabana Bay has a pool with a slide and a lazy river. The hotel great fun family atmosphere (they also have bowling) its a great place to spend an afternoon and evening.

 

[hhoope01]

It might be worth thinking on the following:

1. PBR has 3 different pools to choose from. One main pool, a pool that tends to be mostly adults and quieter, and a smaller more secluded pool. RPR has 1 pool that when the hotel is crowded and the day is nice can get a bit crowded.
2. The main pool at PBR has a slide. No slide at RPR, but it does have an interactive water play area. And while the hotels do allow pool hopping, for us, it can take a lot more time to get to the other hotel pools and then getting back to the room for anything is a bit more of a hassle. But I have seen a lot of comments from different folks in this forum that do like that option.
3. While I definitely enjoy Italian food, I prefer the restaurant options at RPR better. RPR has a more diverse set of restaurant options.
4. You don't state what type of 2-bedroom suites you are looking at for each resort. Some of them automatically come with Club access. Some don't. If you haven't checked on that, you might see if either option comes with it. That could be a nice added benefit.
5. In general, the suites at PBR tend to be a bit bigger than at RPR. But again, that could change depending on what type of suite you are looking at for each resort.
6. If you do get Club access, we like the club offerings at PBR a bit better than at RPR. Though to be fair, at PBR you might be a bit farther away from the Club lounge than you would be at RPR.
7. I do believe some of the suite rooms at PBR have balconies. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any of the suites at RPR have balconies.
8. While the Tuk Tuk market at RPR is nice, we have had a couple of times where they were out of some drinks. My wife prefers the Starbucks at PBR and, so far, they have never been out of any drinks that we wanted to order.
9. As already mentioned, the walk from PBR to the parks is a bit longer than RPR, though not unreasonably longer and both have water taxi access to/from CityWalk. Do note that the walk from PBR will bring you to the US side of CityWalk where RPR brings you to the IOA side.
10. In general, we haven't had to wait too long for Water Taxis, but we have noticed that the RPR lines can sometimes be longer. But the waits for either aren't terrible even during crowded times. I will say that we tend to walk to/from RPR about half the time versus taking the Water Taxis. We tend to use the Water Taxis about 90% of the time when staying at PBR.

 

[Nabas]

It might be worth thinking on the following:

10. In general, we haven't had to wait too long for Water Taxis, but we have noticed that the RPR lines can sometimes be longer. But the waits for either aren't terrible even during crowded times. I will say that we tend to walk to/from RPR about half the time versus taking the Water Taxis. We tend to use the Water Taxis about 90% of the time when staying at PBR.

Thanks for posting that list!

During our last stays at the Royal Pacific, we twice started to wait for a water taxi near closing but gave up because of long lines. It's less than a 10-minute walk from there and so just wasn't worth the wait.

We noticed much shorter water taxi lines for Portofino Bay.

 

[mickeymom22]

We just got back from our first ever trip to Universal. We stayed at PBR. We are a family of five and just had a bay view room. The room was large. We made use of a roll away bed. The bathroom was large enough that a single bed could have fit in there!

I do wish the sink area was separate from the shower and toilet. We only stayed one night so it wasn't that big of a deal, but if we were there longer that would have been annoying.

The resort was great. As far as restaurants, I can only comment on the pizza from Sal's. My family thought it was great.

The water taxis were punctual. We walked to the parks on our 2nd morning and the walk isn't bad at all. The grounds are lovely. We actually beat the water taxi that was at the dock when we left. We even stopped and took pictures along the way. We weren't in a rush just a regular pace.

While I can't compare the two, I would stay at PBR again. All the staff we came into contact with were extremely helpful and friendly.

Sounds like a great trip! I am sure you will make special memories!

 

[Gatrcruzer]

While I like both resorts, we always prioritize walking distance. RP is literally half the walk of PB. And while the water taxis are great if the timing is right, they can be a long wait. Because PB is a larger and further resort, we have actually found the wait times to be longer when we stayed there. Also, there can be times when the water taxis don't run - this happened to us a couple of times during stormy weather. That said, PB has larger rooms, and in my opinion has better restaurants (then again, I like Italian food) and also has a Starbucks. It is a larger resort so there can be long walks to rooms in addition to the parks. I think you will enjoy either stay! Have a great trip.

 

[macraven]

Disboards thread of the day
December 31

 

[Claudia1]

Going for 5 days, I strongly recommend you get at least one AP so you can get an AP rate. We got a PBR AP room for $245 eight months ahead of our trip, which was was less than the price of express passes for 3 or us. You can get the lowest AP and still get a great discount, especially with a suite. Check the website for the price and snag the room now. They don't ask for the AP until check-in so you can wait until right before you go to get your tickets. AP prices go up as they sell out.

Our personal choice is PBR but we used the water taxis a lot. August will be hot so a lot of walking may be a lot to deal with at the end of the day. Universal also closes a lot earlier than Disney so you will have more evening free time.

 

[Ross Kratter]

Having stayed at both, I like Portofino more. The rooms are larger, and the resort itself is just gorgeous. The dining options are excellent, too.

 

[Disneylover99]

My family preferred the dining options at RPR.
And for us, closer walking proximity to the parks wins out every time.

 

[wdwrule]

I also lean towards Portofino after staying at both but everyone has their own personal preference. They both include unlimited Express Pass for everyone in the room including check in and check out days. They also both have water taxis, bus, and walking paths to the parks. I found the rooms at Portofino were very spacious. We had a deluxe 2 queen room (490 sq ft) and it was plenty for our family of four. I’d personally use the money towards Club Level instead of 2 bedroom suite, but again, that’s just my opinion. We found the convenience of daily hot breakfasts, varied ‘dinners’, coffee/tea/waters to take for our walks to the park and evening beer/wine/desserts to be outstanding. But if you’d rather have 2 bathrooms and separate bedrooms I totally get that too. Again, everyone’s desires will be different.

Another thing that intrigued us about Portofino was it felt like we were in another world, removed from the parks. You really felt like you were stepping into Italy. The atmosphere is stunning.

Definitely not a deal breaker at all but we did like the Starbucks at PBH whereas the one at RPR wasn’t an official one… they just serve some of their drinks. For example, I couldn’t get my usual hot chai tea at RPR because they only had chai syrup to be used in a latte. They didn’t have the flavored tea bags… at least not chai.

Both resorts are lovely though and within close range to the parks with RPR closer. Many don’t prefer walking from PBH but we walked everyday to and from and were fine… even in August heat. The paths are lovely and we’re all very active. Many times we beat the boats getting to the parks.

 

[Brett Wyman]

We prefer RP. Portofino is a very nice resort(and is part of Amex fine hotels if you're a member) but its too "fake Italian" or America's vision of Tuscany for us. its feels like the inside of a macaroni Grill(remember those!).

Yes I get the irony that RP is "fake" Polynesian

 

[gharter]

Both are our preferred places to stay, for different reasons.
Portofino when its just the 2 of us. We love being out by the water at night. Its a longer walk to the parks, but an easy walk or take the boat.
Royal Pacific is a little trendier, a short walk to the parks.
both have amazing restaurants with Portofinos being a little more high end.

 

[cfoxga]

3 of our 6 trips to UO have been at PBH, so it is definitely our favorite. However, for your first trip, you'll be doing a ton of walking between the resorts, parks and CityWalk. So being so much closer to the resort will make a difference. You can always visit the other resorts to see if you'd like to stay at them in the future.

Don't forget to look for APH rates for your dates (usually 2-4 months out) as they would likely save a couple hundred dollars per night vs the ST rates. If you book direct, then it is easy to cancel the old reservation...