ToyStory3
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
We just got back from our first Universal trip. It was a quick 2 night trip after we had spent a week at Hilton Head Island. We surprised the kids with 2 days after they thought our vacation was over. We stayed Portofino Club Level for 2 nights with 2-day park-to-park passes. I've stayed on site a couple times but just for meetings - not for leisure. So I don't really count those and they were quite a while ago.
We really liked the hotel! It was beautiful and the theming was everything we had hoped. Check-in went great. My husband bought the tickets while I checked in (we used gift cards) and we went for our express passes. We ran pretty hard for 2 days. That was all we had so we wanted to do as much as possible. We had been at the beach for a week so we didn't want to use our time for swimming or sitting by the pool. We wanted to make the most of the club level and the parks.
Our room had a great view of the bay and we were close to the club which was very convenient. We spent about equal times at both parks and really enjoyed both of them. We used our express passes like crazy and loved them! Will always stay at a deluxe hotel there for that reason! It was well worth it. We got pizza from Sal's one evening and it was very good. We also ate at Three Broomsticks and Monsters Cafe in the parks. They were both good (especially Three Broomsticks) but we were blown away by the cost of food. Even for theme park standards we were pretty surprised. We spent almost $100 on 4 regular meals and butterbeers just for lunch. But, they were very good and we enjoyed ourselves. I think our favorite attractions were Spiderman, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Transformers, Gringotts and our absolute favorite was Forbidden Journey! We rode it 4 times in 2 days. I could ride it over and over and never get tired of it! Such an amazing experience!
We loved having the boat to take to the parks. It was very relaxing and we never had to wait very long for it. No issues at all with the security lines. I would say there were only a couple things that could be improved such as having to carry so many cards (ticket, express pass, room key, and a club key). Even with lanyards it's too many. Would love to see them simplify that in some way. But, we knew about it ahead of time and it certainly didn't dampen our experience. And, unfortunately I have to say that we were pretty disappointed with the club level experience. I don't think I would pay for it again at Universal. No one ever attempted to greet us or talk to us during any of our stops in the lounge. We didn't receive turndown service the 2nd night which is one of my favorite things about club level. We were out the entire day so I know they didn't have trouble getting into the room. And, we thought the offerings were very disappointing - especially for kids. We really didn't enjoy them at all. We liked breakfast and having the soda and water accessible - but that was it. The afternoon was basically just bags of chips and the evening offerings had a very small and unappealing selection. But those were the only drawbacks of a wonderful stay.
Loved the hotel and loved the parks. Really liked everything being so compact and close together so we didn't have to spend hours going back and forth between places. And, I loved being able to text them any questions or requests at any time. I used that a lot and they always answered quickly. Can't wait to go back and spend more time. I think we'd like to try Royal Pacific next. Thanks for all of the helpful advice!
We really liked the hotel! It was beautiful and the theming was everything we had hoped. Check-in went great. My husband bought the tickets while I checked in (we used gift cards) and we went for our express passes. We ran pretty hard for 2 days. That was all we had so we wanted to do as much as possible. We had been at the beach for a week so we didn't want to use our time for swimming or sitting by the pool. We wanted to make the most of the club level and the parks.
Our room had a great view of the bay and we were close to the club which was very convenient. We spent about equal times at both parks and really enjoyed both of them. We used our express passes like crazy and loved them! Will always stay at a deluxe hotel there for that reason! It was well worth it. We got pizza from Sal's one evening and it was very good. We also ate at Three Broomsticks and Monsters Cafe in the parks. They were both good (especially Three Broomsticks) but we were blown away by the cost of food. Even for theme park standards we were pretty surprised. We spent almost $100 on 4 regular meals and butterbeers just for lunch. But, they were very good and we enjoyed ourselves. I think our favorite attractions were Spiderman, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Transformers, Gringotts and our absolute favorite was Forbidden Journey! We rode it 4 times in 2 days. I could ride it over and over and never get tired of it! Such an amazing experience!
We loved having the boat to take to the parks. It was very relaxing and we never had to wait very long for it. No issues at all with the security lines. I would say there were only a couple things that could be improved such as having to carry so many cards (ticket, express pass, room key, and a club key). Even with lanyards it's too many. Would love to see them simplify that in some way. But, we knew about it ahead of time and it certainly didn't dampen our experience. And, unfortunately I have to say that we were pretty disappointed with the club level experience. I don't think I would pay for it again at Universal. No one ever attempted to greet us or talk to us during any of our stops in the lounge. We didn't receive turndown service the 2nd night which is one of my favorite things about club level. We were out the entire day so I know they didn't have trouble getting into the room. And, we thought the offerings were very disappointing - especially for kids. We really didn't enjoy them at all. We liked breakfast and having the soda and water accessible - but that was it. The afternoon was basically just bags of chips and the evening offerings had a very small and unappealing selection. But those were the only drawbacks of a wonderful stay.
Loved the hotel and loved the parks. Really liked everything being so compact and close together so we didn't have to spend hours going back and forth between places. And, I loved being able to text them any questions or requests at any time. I used that a lot and they always answered quickly. Can't wait to go back and spend more time. I think we'd like to try Royal Pacific next. Thanks for all of the helpful advice!