This was our third visit to Orlando in the past year but we had not yet gone to Universal. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge,Boardwalk and Grand Floridian. This time we did the timeshare thing with an extra weekend at the end. We stopped at AKL for dinner at Boma and, as we walked around the hotel,my wife commented on how grand she thought it was and maybe we could stay again for a few days next trip as it is her favorite hotel. That was until she saw Portofino Bay. Wow. This is really a piece of work.
We got a pretty good rate on a "bed and breakfast" package which got us the buffet each morning. We also had the buffet dinner,but the wife had to sit outside on the piazza to eat. I think one of the attractions is this place is right out of one of her soaps.
Knowing I would be at a Loews hotel,I joined their club to take advantage of the extra perks. For some reason the hotel computer kept dropping my membership number from the record so I had to keep calling to find out about my welcome gift (wine) and newspapers. They took care of everything but it was the only problem while we were there. We requested the turn down service (mainly to get the candy) and it was nice to have towels replaced, the ice bucket filled, etc. before the start of the evening. I agree with the posters who say getting to and from the parks is much easier than Disney (except Epcot and MGM from Boardwalk).
We ate at Emeril's at Citywalk. It compares favorably to K Pauls in New Orleans where we ate when Paul Prudhomme was the hot chef. Our concierge at PBH got us reservations at Emeril's newly opened Tchop Chop at RP. Also great food and service,less expensive than Emeril's and oriental/cajun style.
As for the parks, Express entry with our room keys and almost across the board discounts for AP and AAA have it all over the limited Disney AP/on-site benefits.
We got a pretty good rate on a "bed and breakfast" package which got us the buffet each morning. We also had the buffet dinner,but the wife had to sit outside on the piazza to eat. I think one of the attractions is this place is right out of one of her soaps.
Knowing I would be at a Loews hotel,I joined their club to take advantage of the extra perks. For some reason the hotel computer kept dropping my membership number from the record so I had to keep calling to find out about my welcome gift (wine) and newspapers. They took care of everything but it was the only problem while we were there. We requested the turn down service (mainly to get the candy) and it was nice to have towels replaced, the ice bucket filled, etc. before the start of the evening. I agree with the posters who say getting to and from the parks is much easier than Disney (except Epcot and MGM from Boardwalk).
We ate at Emeril's at Citywalk. It compares favorably to K Pauls in New Orleans where we ate when Paul Prudhomme was the hot chef. Our concierge at PBH got us reservations at Emeril's newly opened Tchop Chop at RP. Also great food and service,less expensive than Emeril's and oriental/cajun style.
As for the parks, Express entry with our room keys and almost across the board discounts for AP and AAA have it all over the limited Disney AP/on-site benefits.
