Royal Pacific or Portofino?

[ufgator]

We stay at Disney a lot but have never stayed at Universal. We are going up there to be with family on Thanksgiving week, Nov. 22-26. We can't stay at Disney because we don't have anyone to watch our dogs. It will be myself, DH, and my mom and 2 dogs. We may or may not go to Universal parks for 1 day. We might go to Citywalk since we're there. The person on the phone said Royal Pacific was quiet so we temporarily booked that. I don't know anything about Universal hotels, and we've only been to the parks a couple of times. We don't have any interest in Hard Rock. Which of the other 2 do you prefer? Is one easier with dogs? Which is easier to get on I-4 with? I told them we were FL residents and we got a rate for a standard of $199 per night per room. Is this good? Are there any other discounts we should know about? Is Portofino cheaper or more expensive and what would be a good rate for that? I know it's a holiday week so I figured it might be more expensive than usual. For those who know Disney, how does it compare to the hotels there? I read on some posts that Universal's rooms are small. Is that true? Thank you for any help.

 

[Planogirl]

These hotels are actually Loews hotels and quite nice. I don't think that the rooms are small at all. We stayed at Royal Pacific and were quite pleased. Your price sounds about right. Portofino is a bit more luxurious and has larger rooms but is also usually more expensive.

I would definitely make it a point to at least go to City Walk. The restaurants are good and varied with the food being better than most of the hotel restaurants. You will have an Emeril's location in the Royal Pacific by the way.

As for comparing the hotels to Disney hotels, these will be on the deluxe level. The locations are wonderful! Transportation is good and the pools are all very nice. You can pool hop by the way and I recommend the Hard Rock Hotel's pool if the weather is nice.

 

[Motherfletcher]

You said you may or may not go to the parks. That is the main reason to stay on-site. Once you experience their hotel express front of the line priviledges you may never visit Disney again.
Portofino is a little more $ than RPR. Both are fairly quiet. Both take dogs with open arms. $199 seems high to me but it is Thanksgiving week. We were there 2 weeks ago and received $129. RPR rooms are similar in size to Poly. PBH is more like GF. Both have Thankgiving Dinner specials.
I'd have to say that RPR has a slight edge accessing I-4 but both are very easy.

 

[rie'smom]

You said you may or may not go to the parks. That is the main reason to stay on-site. Once you experience their hotel express front of the line priviledges you may never visit Disney again.
Portofino is a little more $ than RPR. Both are fairly quiet. Both take dogs with open arms. $199 seems high to me but it is Thanksgiving week. We were there 2 weeks ago and received $129. RPR rooms are similar in size to Poly. PBH is more like GF. Both have Thankgiving Dinner specials.
I'd have to say that RPR has a slight edge accessing I-4 but both are very easy.

You are 100% correct. FOTL at Universal spoils you. My DD loves Universal. She likes WDW. You have to experiennce the parks. With the FOTL, you cann see alot of both parks inn 1 day.
We've always stayed @ RPR(6 years inn a row) but this summer we're going to try PBH.

 

[ufgator]

Thanks for your responses! We actually decided to stay at the Portofino instead. I'm glad to know the rooms aren't small and they're comparable to GF and Poly. I'm also glad to know they're both pretty quiet. We're mainly there to go to Thanksgiving dinner at my MIL's house (she lives in Orlando) and to see family but we want to make a mini-vacation out of it too.

Good to know you can pool hop. I wouldn't have thought you could do that.

After your responses, I think we should at least go the parks one day. DH has been wanting to go (I think I've only been to each once and it was years ago).

How is the spa there?

Is there a certain area that we should request? Are you limited by having dogs? We booked standard rooms.

 

[glawgirl]

The rooms at the Portofino are much larger than the rooms at the Hard Rock or at the Royal Pacific. My experience has been that the Portofino is a much more peaceful and tranquil resort than the other two. The Portofino never seems crowded. I know that people always say that there is only one floor for guests with pets but we stay at the Hard Rock and at the Portofino twice a year and have stayed on almost all of their floors - we take our American Eskimo Dante and they treat him like royalty - they even have a special room service menu for dogs and cats. aw:

 

[robvia]

You are not limited by having dogs. You can take them to the Kennel in the morning, come back at lunch to walk them, and then you can go back to the parks. Then Kennel stays open late.
Only thing is, you'll feel guilty about leaving your dogs in there. They bark like crazy after you leave. So we put our dog in for the morning, then kept her out the rest of the time.
On our trip to the RPR this year, we spent the afternoons watching a movie in the room. Then we took turns with someone staying in the room while the others went to the park. I think you'll do something similar. We just kinda "hung out" on our latest trip to the RPR. We didn't even go on many rides.

If you want to see my web pages of our trips with our dog, go here.
HRH
http://www.nogodforme.com/IOA.htm
RPR
http://www.nogodforme.com/RPR2005.htm

 

[agbyrom]

You said you may or may not go to the parks. That is the main reason to stay on-site. Once you experience their hotel express front of the line priviledges you may never visit Disney again.
Portofino is a little more $ than RPR. Both are fairly quiet. Both take dogs with open arms. $199 seems high to me but it is Thanksgiving week. We were there 2 weeks ago and received $129. RPR rooms are similar in size to Poly. PBH is more like GF. Both have Thankgiving Dinner specials.
I'd have to say that RPR has a slight edge accessing I-4 but both are very easy.

We are staying at the RPR 11/21-11/25. This is our first time to US /IOA and we are thrilled(especially FOTL). We've been to Disney and stayed on site many times during Thanksgiving(All Star Music and Port Orleans). What can we expect at RPR and what it the Thanksgiving DInner Special?
Any Info will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Motherfletcher]

RPR is a couple of stars above ASM. Their Thanksgiving dinner is traditional and a buffet served in the Island Dining room and costs around $50/person. They usually send me a menu with costs but haven't yet this year. Mama Della's at PBH does a dinner too.

 

[ufgator]

glawgirl, glad to know Fred and Ethel (those are my mom's cocker spaniels) will be treated well. Also glad to know you haven't been restricted to certain areas.

robvia, thanks for sharing your webpages.

 

[webray]

We stay at Disney a lot but have never stayed at Universal. We are going up there to be with family on Thanksgiving week, Nov. 22-26. We can't stay at Disney because we don't have anyone to watch our dogs. It will be myself, DH, and my mom and 2 dogs. We may or may not go to Universal parks for 1 day. We might go to Citywalk since we're there. The person on the phone said Royal Pacific was quiet so we temporarily booked that. I don't know anything about Universal hotels, and we've only been to the parks a couple of times. We don't have any interest in Hard Rock. Which of the other 2 do you prefer? Is one easier with dogs? Which is easier to get on I-4 with? I told them we were FL residents and we got a rate for a standard of $199 per night per room. Is this good? Are there any other discounts we should know about? Is Portofino cheaper or more expensive and what would be a good rate for that? I know it's a holiday week so I figured it might be more expensive than usual. For those who know Disney, how does it compare to the hotels there? I read on some posts that Universal's rooms are small. Is that true? Thank you for any help.

Universal resorts are Loews Hotels and are called Boutique hotels because of their size and ammenities. The Royal Pacific is the cheapest, Portofino most expensive. We love both. Royal Pacific is like a Disney deluxe resort with better ammenities, probably a notch above most deluxes at disney. Portofino is a notch above anything you will find at disney..very quiet, relaxing and total luxury.