Portofino, Velocicoaster, Big Fire, & Toothsome Trip Report 10/12-10/15

jdrum3

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
We love Universal and this is my 6th trip. The first 2 back in OG days of 93 and 96, #3 was in between Hagrid and Dueling Dragons, #4-6 have all been since October 2020. This trip included me, DW, DS18, and DD14. We know that these trips won't be quite the same after our son graduates high school this year, so we've been making the most of our annual passes. We have stayed at Royal Pacific, Cabana Bay, and this trip was our first experience with Portofino. This time in October has turned into quite a busy time as this week lines up with a lot of fall breaks for schools across the country. We are quite spoiled with express passes and we love thrill rides (although mine come with Dramamine these days!)

Portofino Check-In Tuesday, 10/12
We received the email for online check-in the day before arrival and utilized that as we arrived right around 4 pm on Tuesday afternoon. The lobby smells great as do all of the Universal properties and I will say that if you get to this lobby at a busy time, it seems to have fewer front desk spots than Royal Pacific, so it would be easy to have a good wait. Even though we checked in online, they still had to print our keys at the desk and my understanding it that was already supposed to be done if you use online check-in. It wasn't a big deal because we didn't wait in line at all being the middle of the week and most people were in the park. I recommend using the bellhop, they kind of push you that way if you need a rolling cart at all anyway, it's weird, but you can tell that this resort is a level above Royal Pacific and the prices generally reflect that. It is massive and much more of a resort than RPR in the decor and layout. I knew going in that the rooms were bigger, but man I was impressed, they are huge! We stayed in a 2 Queen Dlx with 2 teenagers, the man-child is bigger than me now, and we had plenty of room to spare with a Queen-sized air mattress set up. I was glad that we did not have a bathtub, we had the large walk-in shower, 2 sinks, and throne in separate room configuration. It's definitely an odd setup, we just had to make sure everyone that needed to go use the bathroom in the mornings went before anyone started with a shower. We were in a good location with a beach "pool view" which I put in quotations because you could barely see it and the windows were not sealed well causing constant condensation in between the panes, so you could never see the little sliver of pool anyway. I say it was a good location because it was near villas, so we had an elevator close and as soon as you went down you could turn either direction and hit the beach pool or villa pool and just a few stairs and you were at the boat dock.
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So, checked in at 4 and we were at IOA at 5 pm, very quick and my only desire was to ride Velocicoaster because we hadn't been back since it opened. We hit it just right where they had a delay, so we waited for a few minutes and they were back in operation, so our wait was about 25-30 min. Then our express passes spoiled us with rides on Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, and Hulk, as well as Butterbeers and Hog's Head Ale at The Hog's Head. All of this was accomplished in just a couple of hours because IOA closed at 7 pm this night. We then headed back to the hotel for the night and decided to get pizza at Sal's. The wait for giving our order was short, but the food wait time was about 40 minutes. They told us ahead of time when we ordered and I probably could have just gone to bed without dinner, but not hungry teenagers. The pizza was delicious, better than Red Oven for me. This resort definitely has a vibe of relaxing outside with lots of space to just sit and drink coffee or wine and enjoy your time. Unfortunately, there are some theme parks close by and they whip me to the point of exhaustion every day (along with teenagers who just want to ride)! 😴 2 more days to come...
 
Haha! Had to chuckle at the Dramamine comment. We are a big thrill ride family of four as well but beginning this year, hubby and I had to start Bonine.

We love PBH too! Went there for the first time a few months ago and fell in love. We also had a 2 queen deluxe and had so much space!! We felt like we weren’t tripping over each other which was a nice change. Love that nice big shower!
 
We love Universal and this is my 6th trip. The first 2 back in OG days of 93 and 96, #3 was in between Hagrid and Dueling Dragons, #4-6 have all been since October 2020. This trip included me, DW, DS18, and DD14. We know that these trips won't be quite the same after our son graduates high school this year, so we've been making the most of our annual passes. We have stayed at Royal Pacific, Cabana Bay, and this trip was our first experience with Portofino. This time in October has turned into quite a busy time as this week lines up with a lot of fall breaks for schools across the country. We are quite spoiled with express passes and we love thrill rides (although mine come with Dramamine these days!)

Portofino Check-In Tuesday, 10/12
We received the email for online check-in the day before arrival and utilized that as we arrived right around 4 pm on Tuesday afternoon. The lobby smells great as do all of the Universal properties and I will say that if you get to this lobby at a busy time, it seems to have fewer front desk spots than Royal Pacific, so it would be easy to have a good wait. Even though we checked in online, they still had to print our keys at the desk and my understanding it that was already supposed to be done if you use online check-in. It wasn't a big deal because we didn't wait in line at all being the middle of the week and most people were in the park. I recommend using the bellhop, they kind of push you that way if you need a rolling cart at all anyway, it's weird, but you can tell that this resort is a level above Royal Pacific and the prices generally reflect that. It is massive and much more of a resort than RPR in the decor and layout. I knew going in that the rooms were bigger, but man I was impressed, they are huge! We stayed in a 2 Queen Dlx with 2 teenagers, the man-child is bigger than me now, and we had plenty of room to spare with a Queen-sized air mattress set up. I was glad that we did not have a bathtub, we had the large walk-in shower, 2 sinks, and throne in separate room configuration. It's definitely an odd setup, we just had to make sure everyone that needed to go use the bathroom in the mornings went before anyone started with a shower. We were in a good location with a beach "pool view" which I put in quotations because you could barely see it and the windows were not sealed well causing constant condensation in between the panes, so you could never see the little sliver of pool anyway. I say it was a good location because it was near villas, so we had an elevator close and as soon as you went down you could turn either direction and hit the beach pool or villa pool and just a few stairs and you were at the boat dock.
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So, checked in at 4 and we were at IOA at 5 pm, very quick and my only desire was to ride Velocicoaster because we hadn't been back since it opened. We hit it just right where they had a delay, so we waited for a few minutes and they were back in operation, so our wait was about 25-30 min. Then our express passes spoiled us with rides on Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, and Hulk, as well as Butterbeers and Hog's Head Ale at The Hog's Head. All of this was accomplished in just a couple of hours because IOA closed at 7 pm this night. We then headed back to the hotel for the night and decided to get pizza at Sal's. The wait for giving our order was short, but the food wait time was about 40 minutes. They told us ahead of time when we ordered and I probably could have just gone to bed without dinner, but not hungry teenagers. The pizza was delicious, better than Red Oven for me. This resort definitely has a vibe of relaxing outside with lots of space to just sit and drink coffee or wine and enjoy your time. Unfortunately, there are some theme parks close by and they whip me to the point of exhaustion every day (along with teenagers who just want to ride)! 😴 2 more days to come...

we were there too for a couple of your days, also our first time staying at Portofino. Loved the resort. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip. (the title could've been ours too, also ate at Bigfire and Toothsomes, ha!) Thanks for sharing all the fun and TR.
 


Wednesday, October 13: Day 2, 1st full day in the park
I am always the first one up, but this is actually my favorite part of Express Passes...no rush! The only rush is me being like Christmas morning with the park being my present. However, with my teenagers, there is no way we were making it for 7 am EPA at UO and I was fine with that. When we stayed at Cabana last year, EPA was at IOA. I was addicted to Hagrid's so we took advantage of EPA pretty much every day just to hit that and Hulk. A leisurely stroll to the boat and a relaxing ride brought us to UO around 9:30. We found friends that happened to be at Universal that we didn't know were coming from Tennessee and we found them as soon as we hit Rip Ride Rocket, what are the odds! They were staying at Surfside but had express for the day as well, however, their daughters were not thrillseekers. So, their parents and our kids rode RRR :D while me and DW stayed with their daughters. (I am a band director, so both of their girls were in my band and youngest daughter also played volleyball with DD)
Next, we pulled a pro UOAP veteran move and convinced them that before they jumped to IOA, they had to ride The Mummy with us and see Bourne. I mean, these are two of my favorite things on the UO side and they were going to miss them. Needless to say, we rode Mummy 2x in a row because it's amazing, and using the Express for Bourne was great! They commented on how they were so glad they went because they would have skipped them both. Has anyone here ever tried to steal from Imhotep? I convinced my daughter to try :rotfl2:screams were had!
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It does need love, very sad that it will take 6 months, but the sarcophagus didn't even open at the very beginning, just Imhotep's voice was heard. It didn't really take away, that's why this ride is so fantastic, it has a lot of effects and moving parts, but if 1 or 2 are on the fritz, it is still such a great experience!
Next, we hit the Bourne Stuntacular and we sat in about the 4th or 5th row almost at the end of the row. We didn't have to, there was space, but I will tell everyone if you deal with motion sickness, I highly recommend the far end. I was concerned that it might take away from the experience of not being more "centered," but it was actually quite nice. We then parted ways with our friends because they still had not been over to IOA, so they were hopping and we were staying in UO, so the PopTarts were losing their effect and lunch is at 11 am in school, so it was TIME FOR CREPES! We have really been wanting to try them, but when it first opened, lines were pretty long, this time, it was much more manageable, so we made the most and ordered 2 of the vegan chicken, 2 brisket, 1 strawberry/hazelnut, and 1 lemon/blueberry. I can say that every one of those crepes was worth the wait! I enjoyed them way more than I expected because I've had this type of meal before, but not at a theme park. The crepes were delicious and would have been delicious if not stuffed with mascarpone, lemon pound cake, and blueberries. You do have a wait, but there is 1 cook and man they were working hard, highly recommend, we will go back.
After crepes, it was time for the classic, ET, the only ride still there since my trip back in 1993. It's a great, classic ride, and hard to believe that the wait used to be 90+ minutes when now you can just walk right on. 27 years ago it blew my mind that ET read my name and still miss that part. I wish ET and Back to the Future could exist forever somehow in the UO masterplan, but who knows what the future holds. We kept working our way around the park and the kids rode MIB while DW and I went to talk to Stan at the Knight Bus.
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So, kids came around and we headed into Diagon Alley. The girls and I went in a back way, but DS wasn't having it, he had to do it right 🧙‍♂️ the true wizard way. My DD wanted to try the Fishy Green Ale,
(mainly because of Boba), so off to the Hopping Pot for Butterbeer, Fishy Green Ale, Lemon Squash, Butterbeer, and Dragon Scale Ale. She liked the mint-flavored drink, Butterbeer never disappoints, the Squash was not amazing, but the Dragon Scale Ale was great. We listened to some Celestina Warbeck, drank beverages, hit Gringotts, then it was off to the train. The train was over an hour wait for the normal queue, we waited around 25-30 min for Express. IOA was great because we did Hagrid's at about a 35 min wait in the late afternoon (it had just recovered from technical difficulties). It is just one of my all-time favorite rides and I told my daughter she better know how much she is loved as she sat on the bike and I took my seat in the sidecar :D . We then walked the kids up to the Hulk, then we parted ways. I am working on a pretty intensive, condensed masters program for Ed leadership and I had a Zoom call I could not miss, so I had to head back to the hotel. The girls came soon after, but DS wanted some more Velocicoaster, so headed back to do the single-riders line (not really shorter nowadays as he came to learn). It also started to rain as I headed back to the boat for Portofino, so everyone came back a little wet. Very localized little rain cloud rained on both parks, but dry at PBR. After my Zoom call, we headed back to CW for our BigFire dinner experience.
We had reservations for 8 pm and we were seated right away at our scheduled time. I love smoked flavors, so I was looking forward to this meal. We started with the bread that came with two different spreads and it was delicious, I wish it was included for free, but hey, it's a theme park, right? I went for the NY Strip/roasted carrots, and smashed potatoes, DW had the salmon/seasonal vegetables, DD had a burger/fries, and DS had roasted pork loin/polenta/smashed potatoes. The salmon was the highlight, it was perfect! The vegetables were delicious and included parsnips, but they were not all cooked consistently. DD's burger looked amazing and the only complaint there was she ordered medium and it was more like rare. DS inhaled his food, so seemed to approve, and my steak was just ok. I think I should've gone with the filet, my cut just wasn't great. We didn't complain as we enjoyed ourselves, but I expected more for the price. The AP discount definitely is more worthwhile at the big restaurants for sure! It won't be my first or second choice for a return trip, but I do think the burger is a decent value and very flavorful. Next, we took a little time in the legacy store on our way to turn in for the night and picked up a few things for my DW the Ravenclaw, and a fellow teacher back home who is crazy about Seuss! Then we were off to the boat and another solid night's sleep on very comfy beds at PBR. Before I turned in for the night, I decided to check out the villa pool and hot tub. I was glad the hot tub was open, but the jets were non-existent, but the hot water felt good on my bones. I went to the cold spa as well, but unfortunately, it's not really cool, so seems like a luke-warm spa. I headed back to the room and we asked the kids what they wanted to do for the next day and they said "rides, big rides, no Seuss, just main events." I was hoping they were going to say chill at the pool, but I knew what I signed up for, so time for sleep. To be continued....
 
How lovely you met some friends from home!

I`m glad to read you enjoyed Sal`s pizza....we rate that as best onsite pizza there is, and I`m looking forward to trying the Crepe place too.....sounds lovely.

Yes, the Mummy is amazing and I`m glad you encouraged your friends to go to that and Bourne.......

Enjoying reading along with your report......
 


I'm going to be interested in picking your brain on your preferences between PB, RPR and CB. Those are my top 3 choices for our next trip and I'm having a hard time picking what we really want! Right now I'm leaning towards a split stay of 2-3 nights at CB for pool/resort/volcano bay and 3-4 nights at either RPR or PB. Our kiddos are smaller than yours (right now 6 and almost 10) so the lazy river and bowling are big draws for them, and long walks not so much.
 
How fun to find friends from home while on vacation! Following along with this TR. :)

And oof only one guy working the crepes kitchen? Poor dude! The crepes sound so good, I hope we have time to grab one when we go!

Thanks for the Bigfire review! I feel like I don't hear a lot about that restaurant, and reading about food is one of my favorite things. ;)
 
I'm going to be interested in picking your brain on your preferences between PB, RPR and CB. Those are my top 3 choices for our next trip and I'm having a hard time picking what we really want! Right now I'm leaning towards a split stay of 2-3 nights at CB for pool/resort/volcano bay and 3-4 nights at either RPR or PB. Our kiddos are smaller than yours (right now 6 and almost 10) so the lazy river and bowling are big draws for them, and long walks not so much.
Quick Take: The only reason I would go back to Cabana is Volcano Bay access and to stay in a VB room because those look amazing! The short walk and early access to VB from CB is fantastic. We have walked to/from park from all 3 resorts. Doing the walk from CB is a haul, but we did it multiple times because back then, the boats weren't running from Sapphire because it was closed, so it was bus or walk period and I just don't like going through CW security and walkways. Beds are definitely less comfy than the premier resorts as well. We stayed in an outside entry family suite and it was nice to have the closed off space for our daughter who slept on pull-out, however it was not comfortable by any means (but they're kids right!) Generally if we give our kids the option of more days but no express, they would rather have the fewer day trip, but express passes included every time. The lazy river is great for the ages and size of your kids at CB and a lot better when everyone is at the parks! If you can manage CB as your VB days and hangout time, it will be a perfect fit. Our kids even know that if we do express passes that they will have to trade days on who gets bed vs air mattress, but they are good with that because they get spoiled with the express lines.
RPR, we love it, it's a very convenient walk to IOA and the boat ride is a nice little bonus as long as the wait is not too bad. I will also say it was our first place we stayed as a family quite a few years back, so that is a soft spot and we even used the Loews loves pets and brought our little weenie dog last November. We like the 2 places to eat and just enjoy the overall vibe, but it is more of a hotel where I would consider Portofino more of a resort. Portofino just makes you want to sit and drink wine and coffee outside, (not 6 and 10 year olds or 14 and 17 year olds for that matter) :D It is very peaceful to be right off of I-drive and so close to the parks. The rooms are huge and the buildings are pretty massive. The walk is very pleasant to the parks even though it's longer than RPR walk, it's more serene, less crowded, and there's even a butterfly garden you walk through on your way to the parks. If the price is like $20 more per night at PBR I would go there, but when it's $60-100 more per night than say RPR, I will gladly stay there especially when we are just sleeping and hitting the parks. We just need a comfy place to crash that gives us express.
 
Day 2 1/2: Thursday, October 14:
Well, we asked the kids and they wanted to hit the big rides without a super early wake-up and we had a 4:45 pm Toothsome reservation that we kept going back and forth about if it was going to cramp our day.
I wanted to get to IOA pretty close to rope drop, but since we had good luck with Hagrid's yesterday, we decided to focus our efforts on Velocicoaster. I learned last year that if you wait just a few minutes after rope drop, you can waltz right in the park instead of waiting in a line to just walk through the park and wait in another line. (Now, if Hagrid's is not a virtual line, this is your best option honestly because this week it was getting to a 90-minute wait at park open and yesterday they didn't even open it first thing which made Velocicoaster time jump up)
We chose wisely, decided to walk from PBR and it is very pleasant, even though a little longer than the walk from RPR, it is more serene with fewer people. There's even a butterfly garden you get to pass through on your way to and from the park. We hit the park gates around 9:10 and walked right in. Velocicoaster was maybe a 15-minute wait, so we decided to get right back in line after ride #1. There were a few minutes of technical difficulties, so I say the 2nd wait was around 35-40 minutes. Hagrid's and Velocicoaster are experiencing multiple delays every day, but if the weather is good, it has been worth waiting because delays were always resolved.
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The 2nd launch on Velocicoaster is amazing. We rode back, middle, and front and it was like three different rides, but they were all amazing. The 2nd launch is what makes the coaster so amazing! It is such a unique thrill to have the biggest hill in the middle of the ride, so you get 1st launch, 2nd launch, and the hangtime coming over the big top hat. The middle is definitely the mellow-est ride as I was able to keep my hands up all the time until the roll over the water. 🙃
This was also the day for my Jurassic Shirt
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I really enjoyed the Jurassic Park book when it came out, so I was super psyched for the movie and excited to experience it at Universal many years later. Our obvious next stop after the Discovery Center was...Jurassic Park River Adventure, surprise! It's classic, even though some of the animatronics need some love. I wish it was as scary as Dinosaur used to be at Animal Kingdom, but it's still good and I had a lot of compliments on my shirt from team members. Velocicoaster has really turned the Jurassic Park area into more of a "land" and it is fun to hang out there. If you need food, go to Thunder Falls Terrace, not Burger Digs, definitely enjoyed that at an Orlando Informer Meetup, but neither was on the list for today.
I love the water rides at IOA and don't consider Jurassic a water ride, my family felt otherwise, but we compromised. (They still haven't forgiven me for taking them on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges last year...none of us were prepared for that level of soaked 😂) I had a grand plan of getting everybody in swimsuits, coming to do the water rides, then going back to the hotel and getting changed, but that unfortunately never happened, so we missed out on this trip. I saw someone who invested in lockers for the day so they could put dry clothes in them because honestly, Ripsaw Falls and Bilge Rat Barges are the 2 best water rides I have ever ridden because they have enough thrills and soak you through!
So, after Jurassic, we headed to Kong. It's not really a "must do" for me, but with express passes, you can just decide to ride or not ride, and doesn't really add a lot of time to your day. I think the best parts of Kong are the queue, theming, and the animatronic at the end. I also like how the mountain backdrop of Kong really adds to Jurassic Park because when you are at Thunder Falls Terrace, you look up and just see all of the plants and mountains, really feels like you are on Isla Nublar.
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Well, by now it's time for food. We have been wanting to try Fireeaters Grill and Green Eggs and Ham. So, we hit them right when they opened around 11 am and at Fireeaters there was already a line. We had Gyros, traditional and falafel, and some honey stingers (fried buffalo chicken tenders). The tenders were good, but everything was just meh. It's more creative than just pizza and hamburgers, but not worth a long wait. I know most people know this by now, but the water is unlocked on all of the Freestyle machines that I tried, so you can refill your own bottles or cups all around the park making it more worthwhile than standing in line for the little clear cups. Next, we hopped over to Seuss to try Green Eggs and Ham. We went for the buffalo tots and pizza tots. They taste exactly like you would think, so delicious, unhealthy, and filling. It's theme park food. I think an underrated restaurant between both parks is Confisco Grill near the entrance to IOA. After Green Egg and Ham, DW and I decided to relax at Seuss shade by the water while the children went to ride Hulk. I would've turned green like the Hulk, but would have been the opposite of strong if I tried that so fast after eating! It was now time to head to Hogsmeade and work on park hopping. The wife and I had never done Hippogriff, so DD, DW, and I rode the Hippogriff while DS decided to hold all of the stuff for a change. I really just wanted to see Buckbeak, mission accomplished. We bowed, he bowed, then we went for the flight, great kids coaster, very short.
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We have done Forbidden Journey a lot and become very sick enough, so we skipped that and on to the Hogwarts Express going the opposite way. We hit Diagon Alley for some last rounds of Butterbeer, then we headed to The Mummy, Imhotep was able to open his sarcophagus today, so more effects worked, ride was about a 10-minute wait with express, an hour without. Kids headed off to RRR while DW and I went to Hello Kitty Store because she really wanted the Hello Kitty Psycho shirt. Unfortunately, it was only a baseball t or tank top and she wanted a regular t-shirt. Kids made it back and we headed for our first time to the Hollywood Horror Makeup Show. Lots of cool artifacts and movie props in there, of course, I gravitated to the screenplay I wanted to see:
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The show was corny and fun, Beetlejuice was really funny as he worked the crowd!
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Everyone was getting ready to wrap things up, so DS went to his favorite of RRR while DD and I went to the Christmas shop to pick up an ornament as a "rememberal" for our trip and a ride on Transformers. We were all pretty wiped out and getting hungry so we headed over to Toothsome's for our reservation at 4:45. We checked in early, but there was no getting a table before our time, but right at 4:45 we were seated, so if you can get those reservations ahead of time, do it! We have heard good and bad about this place and thought we might just get dessert, but I am glad we decided to do early dinner! The wife and I tried some Old Fashioned's, her a chocolate and mine a "revolutionary." They were both tasty and well mixed. I love salads so I ordered the Sedona Barbecue Chicken Salad, my wife and daughter ordered quiche with butternut squash soup, and my son ordered the Classic Margherita Flatbread. Everything was delicious! I think it was one of the top salads I have ever eaten with everything being very fresh, not overly dressed and plenty of flavor in every bite. DD and DW loved the quiche and soup and DS is a food vacuum, so I can't really comment on the flavor of the flatbread, but no complaints. 😂
Can't go to Toothsome's without dessert, so next, DD ordered the Heavenly Hazelnut milkshake while DS tried to demolish a huge sundae, and DW and I split the "May Contain Nuts" sundae. It was all delicious, but I would have rather tried some of their more custom desserts and chocolates. We were all pleasantly surprised with our meals and it would be a top choice for a return trip. It is French-inspired, so maybe stick with things like salads, soups, quiche, and dishes that seem to lean that way in cuisine? We obviously needed to walk after all of that, so we took the path back to PBR.
As we got closer, I realized it was 6:30, which meant that opera was being sung, guiding us back to the wonderful resort. We stayed and listened to the singer for a while, but then headed back up for the night. DS went down to enjoy the hot tub while me and DW kept dozing in and out at 7 pm, we weren't just tired, we were theme park tired! We use the 1/2 dose Dramamine and Bromine, but it catches up with you! Everyone was very satisfied, we had done everything we wanted with favorite rides accomplished multiple times and we could have easily ridden more with EP. We had considered going to the parks another 1/2 day before driving home, but everyone was happy and felt complete, so we just decided to head on home. It was a great trip, lots of good memories, new experiences, and already looking forward to the next time! Thanks for reading and following!
 
Wonderful TR. Thanks for sharing the fun and all the details!
I think my kids must've been close behind you Thurs AM. They went to parks a little before 10 and headed to Velocicoaster for one more ride before we got on the road. Love the shirt! We agree that Thunder Falls is a greatQS option, and I got my Who Hash finally from Green Eggs/Ham. Very yummy. We also considered doing water rides, and just never made it this trip, not even JP River adventure, which is one of my favorites. Another time.
Again, so enjoyed your TR!
 
Absolutely loved reading your report.......thoroughly enjoyed the details of your time at Universal and you all managed to do a lot and enjoyed so much of it which is wonderful to read.

Thank you for taking the time to do it.......
 
Quick Take: The only reason I would go back to Cabana is Volcano Bay access and to stay in a VB room because those look amazing! The short walk and early access to VB from CB is fantastic. We have walked to/from park from all 3 resorts. Doing the walk from CB is a haul, but we did it multiple times because back then, the boats weren't running from Sapphire because it was closed, so it was bus or walk period and I just don't like going through CW security and walkways. Beds are definitely less comfy than the premier resorts as well. We stayed in an outside entry family suite and it was nice to have the closed off space for our daughter who slept on pull-out, however it was not comfortable by any means (but they're kids right!) Generally if we give our kids the option of more days but no express, they would rather have the fewer day trip, but express passes included every time. The lazy river is great for the ages and size of your kids at CB and a lot better when everyone is at the parks! If you can manage CB as your VB days and hangout time, it will be a perfect fit. Our kids even know that if we do express passes that they will have to trade days on who gets bed vs air mattress, but they are good with that because they get spoiled with the express lines.
RPR, we love it, it's a very convenient walk to IOA and the boat ride is a nice little bonus as long as the wait is not too bad. I will also say it was our first place we stayed as a family quite a few years back, so that is a soft spot and we even used the Loews loves pets and brought our little weenie dog last November. We like the 2 places to eat and just enjoy the overall vibe, but it is more of a hotel where I would consider Portofino more of a resort. Portofino just makes you want to sit and drink wine and coffee outside, (not 6 and 10 year olds or 14 and 17 year olds for that matter) :D It is very peaceful to be right off of I-drive and so close to the parks. The rooms are huge and the buildings are pretty massive. The walk is very pleasant to the parks even though it's longer than RPR walk, it's more serene, less crowded, and there's even a butterfly garden you walk through on your way to the parks. If the price is like $20 more per night at PBR I would go there, but when it's $60-100 more per night than say RPR, I will gladly stay there especially when we are just sleeping and hitting the parks. We just need a comfy place to crash that gives us express.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this out, it's really helpful. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip! It was a great TR to read.
 
Thank you for sharing. We are going on our first family trip in December, and you gave me a lot of good info! We are also staying at PB. Sounds amazing! Thanks again!
 

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