Andrea Lacerda
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2003
- Messages
- 6
Trip Report 3 nights at BWI-3 nights at Portofino universal
Day 1-
Arrived Sat. 4/19-rented car at National very easy on site and best rate with AAA. Stopped at Publix as recommended by board to stock up on drinks and snacks-bought small coffee maker for room.
Arrived at BWI around 1:00 was able to check into room-make sure you ask for close access to lobby and elevator-great room location-good layout of room with double sinks seperate from rest of bath-convenient for quick dressing and showers. Asked for refrigerator-well worth it. OK beds but very uncomfortable pillows.
A few tips we used from this board which were real time savers:
Eat light breakfast in room-bought cups of cereal and breakfast bars, made coffee in room-saved alot of time -try to get to parks early-it pays big. Buy backpack cooler and fill with drinks and snacks-top part you can put other thinks in and not feel like yu are dragging around something.This way you do not have to waste time getting drinks, etc.
Went with husband and son and nephew ages 12 & 15. Stopped at ESPN and had quick bite -pretty quick and decent food. Then on to MGM studios-took water taxi-pretty quick-ended up walking back due to wait for taxi-walk not to bad. Ride ratings according to the boys Rock N Roller Coaster(big hit if you like fast,noisy and dark they loved it) Tower of Terror( not a big thrill-just OK). Waited in line for millionaire about 30 minutes-liked it. Walked around a bit then left for PS at Spoodles. Hated to waste a day ticket on 1/2 day but have to fit everything in 4 days-we will come back to MGM on Tuesday-because we arrived late after 3:00 the lines were long and we would not be around long enough to wait for the fastpass.
Changed and went to Spoodles-had a 8:00 PS -this place was so unorganized by 9:00 we were still waiting and we were told maybe another 15-20 minutes-the hostesses were frazzled everyone was complaining and they seemed to shuffling the PS cards around but never appeared to accomplish anything. We decided not to wait and went outside ate at Pizza window(same restuarant) We were told the ovens were slow and that calzones would take around 1/2 hour. Finally the manager felt bad and gave us a pizza for free with the calzones-I could not wait and ended up eating a hotdog at the stand. The rest waited for the calzones. I was praying our entire stay would not end up waiting in these kind of lines for dinner. The rest of the week was much better- I was told by PS operators next day to compalin to hotel manager-but I could not be bothered because that would eat up more time and energy but they need to get their acts together at Spoodles-a total disaster. We were all tired from our long travel day but son wanted to ride bikes(4 seaters) that was a real hoot try this for fun with your family we had good laughs.
Day 2-Epcot-very fast walk arrived 15 minutes prior to opening-went straight to Test Track-got fast pass-then went to Universe of Energy (very good-no line) went back and used FP at test track then went to Body Wars and cranium command (good -again no line) Went to Ice Station Cool big igloo dumps you out into Coca Cola you get to try drinks from around the world. (We had a few laughs over the bitter Italy soda) no one expects it to taste so awful. Went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience (fantastic)
Went to Figment-We skipped the Living Seas although it was recommended lots of hands on but can take 1-2 hours-we were tired and hungry-stopped at England on way out and ate at Rose and Crown tavern-no wait-food was OK nothing great but you could sit comfortably and eat quickly.
Then walk back to BWI-hit pool and relax-prior to 7:40 PS at La
Cellier Steakhouse in Canada. Walk back to Epcot-arrived a little early for dinner was able to seat us about 1/2 hour early(great compared to Spoodles experience) This restaurant was fantastic. As recommended by board we all had cheesesoup and pretzel bread. We then all had filet mignon -mine with mushroom risotto the others with cream cheese mashed potatoes-absolutley delightful-we eat out alot and I was very impressed.In fact Canada was the best restaurant for our whole trip and I can still taste how good it was
My nephew ate his so fast I thought he may need another dinner.It was that good!!!Go there!!!
We were going to walk the countries but my 12 year old begged and pleaded for a second ride to test track-we finally gave in but an hour wait-this is what happens when you do not plan. All day earlier we had no waits thanks to a colleague who gave me many tips on Disney( her old job required her to visit Disney over 40 times so she helped me map everything down to time waiting and the best attractions-we did not waste time on things that would not appeal to our kids. Back to BWI for ice cream and hanging out at BW while kids did arcade.
Day 3-Magic Kingdom-arrived at 8:10 for 8:30 opening. Decided to take taxi-worth the $12 with tip to save time and sleep-did not want bus. Dropped us off right at door. Had my handy map planned fist to Tommorowland-no line for Buzz went right in then grabbed fastpass for space mountain. Then went to Alien Encounters-no line-rode Buzz lightyear again 10 minute wait-went to Space Mountain and used FP. On to Adventureland rode Pirates of Caribbean (really good)-went and grabbed FP for Splash Mountain-waited about 15min for Big Thunder Mountain ( I liked this tamer roller coaster)-then went to Tiki Bird show while waiting for Splash Mountain FP-No wait for TikI Bird and A/C and seated cute and corny short show. Rode Splash Mountain. On to Liberty Square-grabbed FP for Haunted Mansion-then went for lunch -I had PS at Liberty Square Tavern-very good and 5 min wait with PS. then went back to use FP for Haunted Mansion (this was just OK)-Wanted to do Hall of Presidents but there was a wait for next show and kids were not that interested anyway so we went back across park for one more ride on Space Mountain- about 20-25 minute wait. Then back to pool to relax. Had a 5:45 PS for Flying Fish restaurant- they had table ready-kids hated the
way the salmon was prepared(they normally love this fish) Our mahi-mahi was good but I was expecting more from this highly rated restaurant-We then left for Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney-we wanted to see show at Comedy Warehouse-You have to pay $20- a head to get into pleasure Island but DTD is no charge.Show was way to short but very good seemed like only 1/2 hour maybe a little longer. Good shopping and atmosphere.
Cab there and back.
Day 4-Early entry at MGM-packed our stuff night before-checked out AM by 7:50 and drove over to MGM with luggage in car were in park by 8:15-grabbed FP for Rock N roller coaster-stood in line for 5 minutes and rode-saved FP for later-then over to Star Tours back to Rock N roller coaster kids rode 2x's since we had 4 FP's. Then over to Backstage Tour-wait was over 1/2 an hour somewhat interesting but kids thought it was long and drawn out only seemed to like Catastrophe Canyon and water effects which took forever to get to. Had PS for Brown Derby for lunch
-had cobb salad-good but overrated-Left for Univeral-Portofino Bay Hotel.
Portofino Bay hotel check in was difficult-no rooms were ready until 4:00-when we went to get room keys the room we had requested was not ready but they said they had similar room-I again requested close to elevator and lobby. the room was all the way down the hall seemed like a mile-I complained about location so then they sent us to dirty room-then told us we would have to wait another hour-no rooms was ready- the bell hop put me on phone- I hit roof and got better view room at same price . All I wanted was room they should have thought of giving me this room before I yelled at them. Then they promised refrig.No refrig after 1 hour called to complain-refrigerators all out even though reserved and was paying xtra $15-per day- I had to hit roof again then manager got involved promised it was on way. We left and went to dinner at Trattoria( nice casual on site restaurant) had buffet for convenience it was good. Took water taxi over to Universal-Long wait folks on water taxis-only hold 50 people at a time supposed to run every 20 minutes if a line you can be waiting a while-Sometimes it was real quick other times a lot slower. I will get to Universal in a minute-by the way when we came back at 10:30 still no refrig or icebucket and extra toilet paper which we also requested-inexcusable.
Universal & Islands of Adventure(best thing with room key front of line access) We stayed for 3 1/2 days and did every major attraction-kids liked better than Disney,Adults especially enjoyed Universal Studios-The best attractions at Universal are Terminator,Twister,Back to the Future & ET. The first four are terrific but Jaws,Earthquake,Men in Black are good too. Skip Jimmy Nuetron -too jumpy and even if you know all the characters was not that good. Make sure you see Lucy ( the kids were somewhat bored but too bad)
The best attractions at Islands are the Hulk(the best Roller coaster the whole trip-they rode 4 times)-Spiderman absolutley awesome-Dudly do Right Falls(great long flume ride) and Popeye and Bluto rapids (both of these you will get really wet and I mean soaked but great fun) I had bought ponchos for .89 cents at Target but no one wore one but me- I was dry they were not-but that was the fun. Ride Jurassic Park River Adventure-log flume and a little scary. Dueling Dragons roller coaster -Skip the Poseidon (too long,too much narration)
Restuarants we ate at were Mama Dellas-good but overrated
NBA City-kids liked milkshakes and atmosphere. Mykos Restaurant in Islands of Adventure-very good -small wait with room key-
BRING YOUR AAA CARD 10% OFF IN MOST STORES & RESTAURANTS
Portofino had great atmosphere,very comfortable beds and pillows-beds are too high off ground-bathroom very large but sinks should be seperate from tub/shower and commode-all looks and no functionality-no balcony in standard room.The pools here are stunning and so are the grounds-you feel like you are in Italy. The ice cream and coffee shop close at 10 PM way too early we were told they had room service 24 hours but the tables outside are so attractive late at night I am surprised they shut everything down so early. Layout of hotel a little confusing and very spread out. Hope you find this review helpful and thank you everyone for all your good tips.
Andrea
Day 1-
Arrived Sat. 4/19-rented car at National very easy on site and best rate with AAA. Stopped at Publix as recommended by board to stock up on drinks and snacks-bought small coffee maker for room.
Arrived at BWI around 1:00 was able to check into room-make sure you ask for close access to lobby and elevator-great room location-good layout of room with double sinks seperate from rest of bath-convenient for quick dressing and showers. Asked for refrigerator-well worth it. OK beds but very uncomfortable pillows.
A few tips we used from this board which were real time savers:
Eat light breakfast in room-bought cups of cereal and breakfast bars, made coffee in room-saved alot of time -try to get to parks early-it pays big. Buy backpack cooler and fill with drinks and snacks-top part you can put other thinks in and not feel like yu are dragging around something.This way you do not have to waste time getting drinks, etc.
Went with husband and son and nephew ages 12 & 15. Stopped at ESPN and had quick bite -pretty quick and decent food. Then on to MGM studios-took water taxi-pretty quick-ended up walking back due to wait for taxi-walk not to bad. Ride ratings according to the boys Rock N Roller Coaster(big hit if you like fast,noisy and dark they loved it) Tower of Terror( not a big thrill-just OK). Waited in line for millionaire about 30 minutes-liked it. Walked around a bit then left for PS at Spoodles. Hated to waste a day ticket on 1/2 day but have to fit everything in 4 days-we will come back to MGM on Tuesday-because we arrived late after 3:00 the lines were long and we would not be around long enough to wait for the fastpass.
Changed and went to Spoodles-had a 8:00 PS -this place was so unorganized by 9:00 we were still waiting and we were told maybe another 15-20 minutes-the hostesses were frazzled everyone was complaining and they seemed to shuffling the PS cards around but never appeared to accomplish anything. We decided not to wait and went outside ate at Pizza window(same restuarant) We were told the ovens were slow and that calzones would take around 1/2 hour. Finally the manager felt bad and gave us a pizza for free with the calzones-I could not wait and ended up eating a hotdog at the stand. The rest waited for the calzones. I was praying our entire stay would not end up waiting in these kind of lines for dinner. The rest of the week was much better- I was told by PS operators next day to compalin to hotel manager-but I could not be bothered because that would eat up more time and energy but they need to get their acts together at Spoodles-a total disaster. We were all tired from our long travel day but son wanted to ride bikes(4 seaters) that was a real hoot try this for fun with your family we had good laughs.
Day 2-Epcot-very fast walk arrived 15 minutes prior to opening-went straight to Test Track-got fast pass-then went to Universe of Energy (very good-no line) went back and used FP at test track then went to Body Wars and cranium command (good -again no line) Went to Ice Station Cool big igloo dumps you out into Coca Cola you get to try drinks from around the world. (We had a few laughs over the bitter Italy soda) no one expects it to taste so awful. Went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience (fantastic)
Went to Figment-We skipped the Living Seas although it was recommended lots of hands on but can take 1-2 hours-we were tired and hungry-stopped at England on way out and ate at Rose and Crown tavern-no wait-food was OK nothing great but you could sit comfortably and eat quickly.
Then walk back to BWI-hit pool and relax-prior to 7:40 PS at La
Cellier Steakhouse in Canada. Walk back to Epcot-arrived a little early for dinner was able to seat us about 1/2 hour early(great compared to Spoodles experience) This restaurant was fantastic. As recommended by board we all had cheesesoup and pretzel bread. We then all had filet mignon -mine with mushroom risotto the others with cream cheese mashed potatoes-absolutley delightful-we eat out alot and I was very impressed.In fact Canada was the best restaurant for our whole trip and I can still taste how good it was
My nephew ate his so fast I thought he may need another dinner.It was that good!!!Go there!!!
We were going to walk the countries but my 12 year old begged and pleaded for a second ride to test track-we finally gave in but an hour wait-this is what happens when you do not plan. All day earlier we had no waits thanks to a colleague who gave me many tips on Disney( her old job required her to visit Disney over 40 times so she helped me map everything down to time waiting and the best attractions-we did not waste time on things that would not appeal to our kids. Back to BWI for ice cream and hanging out at BW while kids did arcade.
Day 3-Magic Kingdom-arrived at 8:10 for 8:30 opening. Decided to take taxi-worth the $12 with tip to save time and sleep-did not want bus. Dropped us off right at door. Had my handy map planned fist to Tommorowland-no line for Buzz went right in then grabbed fastpass for space mountain. Then went to Alien Encounters-no line-rode Buzz lightyear again 10 minute wait-went to Space Mountain and used FP. On to Adventureland rode Pirates of Caribbean (really good)-went and grabbed FP for Splash Mountain-waited about 15min for Big Thunder Mountain ( I liked this tamer roller coaster)-then went to Tiki Bird show while waiting for Splash Mountain FP-No wait for TikI Bird and A/C and seated cute and corny short show. Rode Splash Mountain. On to Liberty Square-grabbed FP for Haunted Mansion-then went for lunch -I had PS at Liberty Square Tavern-very good and 5 min wait with PS. then went back to use FP for Haunted Mansion (this was just OK)-Wanted to do Hall of Presidents but there was a wait for next show and kids were not that interested anyway so we went back across park for one more ride on Space Mountain- about 20-25 minute wait. Then back to pool to relax. Had a 5:45 PS for Flying Fish restaurant- they had table ready-kids hated the
way the salmon was prepared(they normally love this fish) Our mahi-mahi was good but I was expecting more from this highly rated restaurant-We then left for Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney-we wanted to see show at Comedy Warehouse-You have to pay $20- a head to get into pleasure Island but DTD is no charge.Show was way to short but very good seemed like only 1/2 hour maybe a little longer. Good shopping and atmosphere.
Cab there and back.
Day 4-Early entry at MGM-packed our stuff night before-checked out AM by 7:50 and drove over to MGM with luggage in car were in park by 8:15-grabbed FP for Rock N roller coaster-stood in line for 5 minutes and rode-saved FP for later-then over to Star Tours back to Rock N roller coaster kids rode 2x's since we had 4 FP's. Then over to Backstage Tour-wait was over 1/2 an hour somewhat interesting but kids thought it was long and drawn out only seemed to like Catastrophe Canyon and water effects which took forever to get to. Had PS for Brown Derby for lunch
-had cobb salad-good but overrated-Left for Univeral-Portofino Bay Hotel.
Portofino Bay hotel check in was difficult-no rooms were ready until 4:00-when we went to get room keys the room we had requested was not ready but they said they had similar room-I again requested close to elevator and lobby. the room was all the way down the hall seemed like a mile-I complained about location so then they sent us to dirty room-then told us we would have to wait another hour-no rooms was ready- the bell hop put me on phone- I hit roof and got better view room at same price . All I wanted was room they should have thought of giving me this room before I yelled at them. Then they promised refrig.No refrig after 1 hour called to complain-refrigerators all out even though reserved and was paying xtra $15-per day- I had to hit roof again then manager got involved promised it was on way. We left and went to dinner at Trattoria( nice casual on site restaurant) had buffet for convenience it was good. Took water taxi over to Universal-Long wait folks on water taxis-only hold 50 people at a time supposed to run every 20 minutes if a line you can be waiting a while-Sometimes it was real quick other times a lot slower. I will get to Universal in a minute-by the way when we came back at 10:30 still no refrig or icebucket and extra toilet paper which we also requested-inexcusable.
Universal & Islands of Adventure(best thing with room key front of line access) We stayed for 3 1/2 days and did every major attraction-kids liked better than Disney,Adults especially enjoyed Universal Studios-The best attractions at Universal are Terminator,Twister,Back to the Future & ET. The first four are terrific but Jaws,Earthquake,Men in Black are good too. Skip Jimmy Nuetron -too jumpy and even if you know all the characters was not that good. Make sure you see Lucy ( the kids were somewhat bored but too bad)
The best attractions at Islands are the Hulk(the best Roller coaster the whole trip-they rode 4 times)-Spiderman absolutley awesome-Dudly do Right Falls(great long flume ride) and Popeye and Bluto rapids (both of these you will get really wet and I mean soaked but great fun) I had bought ponchos for .89 cents at Target but no one wore one but me- I was dry they were not-but that was the fun. Ride Jurassic Park River Adventure-log flume and a little scary. Dueling Dragons roller coaster -Skip the Poseidon (too long,too much narration)
Restuarants we ate at were Mama Dellas-good but overrated
NBA City-kids liked milkshakes and atmosphere. Mykos Restaurant in Islands of Adventure-very good -small wait with room key-
BRING YOUR AAA CARD 10% OFF IN MOST STORES & RESTAURANTS
Portofino had great atmosphere,very comfortable beds and pillows-beds are too high off ground-bathroom very large but sinks should be seperate from tub/shower and commode-all looks and no functionality-no balcony in standard room.The pools here are stunning and so are the grounds-you feel like you are in Italy. The ice cream and coffee shop close at 10 PM way too early we were told they had room service 24 hours but the tables outside are so attractive late at night I am surprised they shut everything down so early. Layout of hotel a little confusing and very spread out. Hope you find this review helpful and thank you everyone for all your good tips.
Andrea
