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.
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...
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.
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...