Just got home from our 3rd onsite trip at Portofino Bay resort Club level.. Had a Blast a few highlights:
The good:
The resort was just as beautiful as always.We arrived at 230pm and room not ready, but we made our express passes at the kiosk and hung out in the lounge till we got the call about 20 mins later that room was ready.We were in the villas room 2540 overlooking the Villas pool. Room was clean and linens looked brand new.
Club level offerings were less than in prior years, but in prior years the offreings were bordering on obscene almost.The quality was what we have seen the last 3 years.
BEACH Pool was lively and they had poolside bingo and games.My DD won 2 games over our stay and received a free smoothie.Adults got a free alcoholic beverage.Too cold for me to swim( highs were high 60's low 70's but it didn't stop most people, and pools are heated )
Diagon Alley was absolutely breathtaking and Gringotts was operating well and with all the effects working all 4 times we rode over the week.Best seats are in row 6.you get the most lift prior to the small coaster-drop.
The Opera singers at PBH at sunset were beautiful and it was a wonderful way to start and end our trip.
Waits weren't bad with the express pass..Examples of Standby lines at mid day for things like Despicable Me ( 60-90mins) Spiderman ( 45-60 mins), Forbidden Journey 50 mins, Gringotts ( 50 mins) ..We never waited in the express line, except for DM, which once we were in the pre-show, the ride went down for technical issues.
The bad:
Early entry was at the Studios on Sunday.,Monday, with no warning it switched to IOA and that led to confusion on the parts of the all the employees, including the park employees.The ONLY reason we knew of the switch was the boat captain told us.Even the signs outside the parks and boat docks had it WRONG..it led to a lot of chaos
Hogwarts express was a bit of a letdown.It was cute,glad we did it, but nothing phenomenal we need to do it again .We always get the Park to Park tickets, because we hop anyway, but if we didn't, I wouldn't pay extra for it to ride the HE.
There was NO BENEFIT to trying to get on the Hogwarts express to get over to Diagon alley for park opening (remember IOA had early entry this week ).The one day we did do it we got there well after the guests from the front of the park were already there.The other 2 mornings it was NOT operating due to technical difficulties.By the time we hoofed it there, Gringotts had long waits.
The amount of tourgroups this week were more than I have ever seen, and I am used to them..They walked in HUGE throngs, hard to avoid( normally I just go the other way, but this time there would be just as many in the other direction) and would walk 10 across and slam into you ( they wouldn't move).They also would inundate rides and restaurants and would have 40-65 people at a time .We waited 45 mins at Krusty Burger at 11am because they got slammed with several large tour groups that they had to seat altogether for some reason...
The amount of people walking while filming thru full-sized IPADS or cellphones and selfie sticks was staggering.i got smacked into by more selfie-sticks this week from people NOT paying attention.I also saw a woman filming with an IPAD trip ,and split her lip open on the pavement..
On the night we had booked Margaritaville, we got there only to be told they were closed for a Private Party that night.I never received this in an email or were notified when I booked it.
A few points of note:
Early entry is to be at IOA from the 19th thru the 29th .On 1/30-2/1 , it is at both parks and after that, they aren't sure what they will be doing.This is per both parks guest relations and the PBH concierge desk.
They ARE cracking down on items in pockets/waistpacks.They do not allow waistpacks or items in pockets on : Hulk,Rip Ride Rocket and now Dragon Challenge. On Both Forbidden Journey and Gringotts on separate days they wanted to see the clasp on my waistpack ( they must have a 3prong clasp).They sent several people with waistpacks with regular clasps, travel/running belts to the lockers. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ban them altogether..Even with this,people are still sneaking stuff on.. I was still almost hit by a pair of glasses that flew off Hulk that landed on the ground next to us..
King Kong is making HUGE progress.I got a great view from Pteranodon flyers..It looks HUGE and the front is starting to resemble the gates of Skull island..If it isn't going to be Kong, it is going to be something equally impressive.
Overall-We had a blast, but we wont do Jan again..the cooler temps are can be nice, but we prefer the heat of August/September..We couldn't do the water rides because it was just too cold.The tourgroups were also too much this time around.
The good:
The resort was just as beautiful as always.We arrived at 230pm and room not ready, but we made our express passes at the kiosk and hung out in the lounge till we got the call about 20 mins later that room was ready.We were in the villas room 2540 overlooking the Villas pool. Room was clean and linens looked brand new.
Club level offerings were less than in prior years, but in prior years the offreings were bordering on obscene almost.The quality was what we have seen the last 3 years.
BEACH Pool was lively and they had poolside bingo and games.My DD won 2 games over our stay and received a free smoothie.Adults got a free alcoholic beverage.Too cold for me to swim( highs were high 60's low 70's but it didn't stop most people, and pools are heated )
Diagon Alley was absolutely breathtaking and Gringotts was operating well and with all the effects working all 4 times we rode over the week.Best seats are in row 6.you get the most lift prior to the small coaster-drop.
The Opera singers at PBH at sunset were beautiful and it was a wonderful way to start and end our trip.
Waits weren't bad with the express pass..Examples of Standby lines at mid day for things like Despicable Me ( 60-90mins) Spiderman ( 45-60 mins), Forbidden Journey 50 mins, Gringotts ( 50 mins) ..We never waited in the express line, except for DM, which once we were in the pre-show, the ride went down for technical issues.
The bad:
Early entry was at the Studios on Sunday.,Monday, with no warning it switched to IOA and that led to confusion on the parts of the all the employees, including the park employees.The ONLY reason we knew of the switch was the boat captain told us.Even the signs outside the parks and boat docks had it WRONG..it led to a lot of chaos
Hogwarts express was a bit of a letdown.It was cute,glad we did it, but nothing phenomenal we need to do it again .We always get the Park to Park tickets, because we hop anyway, but if we didn't, I wouldn't pay extra for it to ride the HE.
There was NO BENEFIT to trying to get on the Hogwarts express to get over to Diagon alley for park opening (remember IOA had early entry this week ).The one day we did do it we got there well after the guests from the front of the park were already there.The other 2 mornings it was NOT operating due to technical difficulties.By the time we hoofed it there, Gringotts had long waits.
The amount of tourgroups this week were more than I have ever seen, and I am used to them..They walked in HUGE throngs, hard to avoid( normally I just go the other way, but this time there would be just as many in the other direction) and would walk 10 across and slam into you ( they wouldn't move).They also would inundate rides and restaurants and would have 40-65 people at a time .We waited 45 mins at Krusty Burger at 11am because they got slammed with several large tour groups that they had to seat altogether for some reason...
The amount of people walking while filming thru full-sized IPADS or cellphones and selfie sticks was staggering.i got smacked into by more selfie-sticks this week from people NOT paying attention.I also saw a woman filming with an IPAD trip ,and split her lip open on the pavement..
On the night we had booked Margaritaville, we got there only to be told they were closed for a Private Party that night.I never received this in an email or were notified when I booked it.
A few points of note:
Early entry is to be at IOA from the 19th thru the 29th .On 1/30-2/1 , it is at both parks and after that, they aren't sure what they will be doing.This is per both parks guest relations and the PBH concierge desk.
They ARE cracking down on items in pockets/waistpacks.They do not allow waistpacks or items in pockets on : Hulk,Rip Ride Rocket and now Dragon Challenge. On Both Forbidden Journey and Gringotts on separate days they wanted to see the clasp on my waistpack ( they must have a 3prong clasp).They sent several people with waistpacks with regular clasps, travel/running belts to the lockers. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ban them altogether..Even with this,people are still sneaking stuff on.. I was still almost hit by a pair of glasses that flew off Hulk that landed on the ground next to us..
King Kong is making HUGE progress.I got a great view from Pteranodon flyers..It looks HUGE and the front is starting to resemble the gates of Skull island..If it isn't going to be Kong, it is going to be something equally impressive.
Overall-We had a blast, but we wont do Jan again..the cooler temps are can be nice, but we prefer the heat of August/September..We couldn't do the water rides because it was just too cold.The tourgroups were also too much this time around.
will never do it again.
