3 nights at the Portofino (Entertainment rate of $189), 4 3-day passes (two free through AAA!), myself, wife, daughter (9) and son (6). First time at the Universal complex.
The Portofino:
The good (or should I say great!): Hotel room was great. The bathroom was larger than the three we have at home! Boat transportation. Underground parking. Beatles exhibit at the art gallery. Had the small east pool all to ourselves the entire stay. The greenery at the resorts really hid the main streets and the parking garage very well. All the employees from front desk, bell hops, store cashiers were top rate and very friendly.
The bad: Arcade was very disappointing (and small). Three elevators to get from my car to my room. So much open space around the lake made the place feel deserted. We ate one of the pizza places by the lake (on the east wing) and we were the only customers from 6 - 7 PM
The ugly: My son thought it was so cool to have a phone next to a toilet. I'm thinking "Do I really want to use a phone that's a foot away from a toilet?"
The parks:
The good: Loved how all the entrances are in the same area. Easy to park hop. Margarittaville...great food! FOTL access. Spiderman, Hulk, MIB, Cat In The Hat, One Fish, saucer spin ride, son loved Woody rollercoaster, Mummy, Shreck, and Jimmy Nuetron (the best overall family ride IMHO!). Rained hard every day around 7 which tended to clear out the parks. We found no lines the last two hours of the park. Becasue of FOTL, we were able to do both parks in under 6 hours. The remaining days were used re-riding our favorite rides.
The bad: NASCAR cafe..waitress gave us the wrong food bill (didn't notice until after I charged it). Took over 20 minutes to correct it loosing valuable ride time in the parks. Unlike Disney, my kids and I had no idea who half of the costume characters were. Also unlike Disney, majority of rides our kids have no connection with the ride theme. We skipped things like Twister, Jaws, jurasic Park. Rented MIB on video not reading the rating and had to stop it after about 20 minutes because of language. Park definitely geared towards teenagers and young adults. Our kids likes the parks but were very limited to what they could ride. Surprised how small the parks were. Most dissapointing rides: Back To The Future (lame plot...Star Tours much better), E.T (cheezier than "It's a Small World"....poor animatronics). Had to get off rides and renter the queues even if no one was waiting in line.
The ugly: No consistancy checking the hotel/express pass and bag checking. My wife had a small shoulder purse that clearly fit in the baggage net in Men In Black. Each time she had to convince the ride ops not to have to check it. Got ugly the last night when she was not allowed on yet they let in a lady with one of those large over the shoulder shopping bags that don't even close. She talked to the manager. Wish I had written down her name but she apologized for the inconvenience, explained they had a new ride manager, and walked us straight up to the loading platform. Also, the rides seem to break down often.
Great time especially with the discounted park tickets but doubt I would pay full price unless the kids were older. A one-day hopper would be ideal since most can hit the major attractions at both parks with FOTL access. Would never go to the parks without Express Pass or at least not staying on site.
The Portofino:
The good (or should I say great!): Hotel room was great. The bathroom was larger than the three we have at home! Boat transportation. Underground parking. Beatles exhibit at the art gallery. Had the small east pool all to ourselves the entire stay. The greenery at the resorts really hid the main streets and the parking garage very well. All the employees from front desk, bell hops, store cashiers were top rate and very friendly.
The bad: Arcade was very disappointing (and small). Three elevators to get from my car to my room. So much open space around the lake made the place feel deserted. We ate one of the pizza places by the lake (on the east wing) and we were the only customers from 6 - 7 PM
The ugly: My son thought it was so cool to have a phone next to a toilet. I'm thinking "Do I really want to use a phone that's a foot away from a toilet?"
The parks:
The good: Loved how all the entrances are in the same area. Easy to park hop. Margarittaville...great food! FOTL access. Spiderman, Hulk, MIB, Cat In The Hat, One Fish, saucer spin ride, son loved Woody rollercoaster, Mummy, Shreck, and Jimmy Nuetron (the best overall family ride IMHO!). Rained hard every day around 7 which tended to clear out the parks. We found no lines the last two hours of the park. Becasue of FOTL, we were able to do both parks in under 6 hours. The remaining days were used re-riding our favorite rides.
The bad: NASCAR cafe..waitress gave us the wrong food bill (didn't notice until after I charged it). Took over 20 minutes to correct it loosing valuable ride time in the parks. Unlike Disney, my kids and I had no idea who half of the costume characters were. Also unlike Disney, majority of rides our kids have no connection with the ride theme. We skipped things like Twister, Jaws, jurasic Park. Rented MIB on video not reading the rating and had to stop it after about 20 minutes because of language. Park definitely geared towards teenagers and young adults. Our kids likes the parks but were very limited to what they could ride. Surprised how small the parks were. Most dissapointing rides: Back To The Future (lame plot...Star Tours much better), E.T (cheezier than "It's a Small World"....poor animatronics). Had to get off rides and renter the queues even if no one was waiting in line.
The ugly: No consistancy checking the hotel/express pass and bag checking. My wife had a small shoulder purse that clearly fit in the baggage net in Men In Black. Each time she had to convince the ride ops not to have to check it. Got ugly the last night when she was not allowed on yet they let in a lady with one of those large over the shoulder shopping bags that don't even close. She talked to the manager. Wish I had written down her name but she apologized for the inconvenience, explained they had a new ride manager, and walked us straight up to the loading platform. Also, the rides seem to break down often.
Great time especially with the discounted park tickets but doubt I would pay full price unless the kids were older. A one-day hopper would be ideal since most can hit the major attractions at both parks with FOTL access. Would never go to the parks without Express Pass or at least not staying on site.
