“Life is Grand, it Yacht to be, we are at Disney! 1/29 New TR link, a question, and this TR is complete!

Travel Day. August 16th, Friday!

We didn’t have to get up at the god forsaken 3am for this trip, yay! :dogdance:

We had to be at our shuttle service pick-up at 8:40am. This was heaven to me because I was able to get up at my normal 6:00am and leisurely get ready. My son Jack drove us to the pick up site and bid us farewell. My husband had an early morning meeting so this worked great that Jack was at home.

Here is my obligatory mirror selfie right before we left.

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Our shuttle was about 15 minutes early and I was liking this because I was living on the edge! Why, you ask, well I figured we would be fine with the 8:45am shuttle when I booked it. Well, I started thinking about it and realized it only gave us 1hour and 15minutes at the airport before our flight departure time. I was nervous now, saying to myself “what were you thinking woman!!” This isn’t our small town airport this is the really busy airport! Needless to say I was sweating it out!:scared:

I was so happy to leave a little early until our shuttle driver, who was so busy talking nonstop to the passengers, realizes about 10 miles out, he forgot someone! What! Are you kidding me! We had to go back, so now we are about 15 minutes behind schedule. I don’t panic easy but I was a little shook during the ride!

Thank goodness, the ride went smooth after that and we arrived at the airport at 11:45. We had checked in online and were able to check our big luggage quickly. We then went in to the TSA area and it was very busy! We do have TSA pre check and this line was even long! We made it through in about 15 minutes so it looked worse than it was.

We found our gate, grabbed some drinks and protein bars and the boarding process started soon after. All went well with the flight except for some turbulence, this lasted the whole flight
so we didn’t get any flight snacks. No big deal, since it never is much! We flew Delta and we do like these flights, mostly always on time, yay!

We were in Orlando a little early, this is always a plus! We headed down to pick up our luggage. I love the Delta app, it tells you when your luggage is on the plane and when it is on the carousel. We ordered a Lyft to take us to Portofino Bay, our driver looked like Jon Snow! We arrived and checked in by 6:15pm, not bad!

The Hotel was beautiful and our room was on the lobby floor and not far from it. We had a pool view! We dropped our luggage off and headed to the boat dock. I love the boat rides here. The Captain’s are so nice and who doesn’t like listening to Sweet Caroline, my song! :lovestruc

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We went into Islands of Adventure, we had about 2 hours before park closing. We did Spider-Man first, I love this ride, one of my favorites. Andi went to ride the Hulk and I got us some pretzel bites from Auntie Annies. We were starving so these were good!
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We headed to Hogsmeade via Jurassic Park, we rode HP FJ, this ride is amazing! I did feel a little queasy afterwards, I think because it was travel day, normally I don’t. We only rode the one time. Let me just say Express Pass is awesome, no wait for anything! It was getting dark and we were really tired and hungry. We hit up King Kong before heading out! I like this ride, the big Kong at the end is amazing! Oh and by the way, the wait for the new Hagrid’s ride had a 180 minute wait all evening and then was closed due to time and capacity! Oh well, we knew it would be busy.
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We ordered a Margherita Pizza from Sals and it was delicious! I forgot to take a picture of it. We took it to go and ate in our room and got ready for bed! We had a wonderful day overall!
Room Pictures
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Stay tuned for our first full day!! Loads of fun at Universal, and is that Troll farting sparkles?
 
I would have totally been sweating it out with the late shuttle. Thank goodness that precheck moves so quickly!

Portofino Bay looks very nice, and that express pass sounds even better.
 


Joining in! I recently started reading TRs and yours have been some of my favorites! I mostly do Disney trips with my mom, so I love reading about mom-daughter trips :lovestruc . We are doing a Disney and Universal trip together in a few months so I'm sure I will get lots of ideas from your TR!

That shuttle trip would have had me panicking inside :eek:. Glad to hear the airport security went quickly, I'm from Minneapolis and I know the airport has been going through some security location changes...I'll probably get there extra early for our next trip.
 
Oh my goodness.....I hate when anyone is late, or makes me late, so yes, I`d have been ill thinking we might not make it!!!! Thank goodness it worked out.....seeing long queues at airports are horrible though! Glad you have precheck......

But, sounds like a fabulous departure day....aside the turbulence, which I strangely love......lol......I know......crazy!!!

Portofino Bay is a lovely hotel, happy you liked it and were pleased with where your room was! And Sal`s too!!! Yay........

FJ can knock me a little funny too at times, sometimes I can only do it once.....on an empty stomach isn't good for me! But, so glad your visit was fun and yes, EP is priceless!!!! Wouldn't be without it.......

So much looking forward to your next day in The Studios!!!!
 


Signing up again!
Portofino Bay looks great. I’ve never stayed in a Universal Resort but it’s impressive.
I really like the Spider-Man ride too. But it reminds me how much in Universal is actually Disney property now, especially after the Fox merger.
 
We didn’t have to get up at the god forsaken 3am for this trip, yay! :dogdance:

Yay sleep!

We had to go back, so now we are about 15 minutes behind schedule

Oo no! I would've been in a major panic.

We made it through in about 15 minutes so it looked worse than it was.

Yay!

I love the Delta app, it tells you when your luggage is on the plane and when it is on the carousel.

That's really nice. I don't think we've ever flown delta

We ordered a Lyft to take us to Portofino Bay, our driver looked like Jon Snow!

Oo 🥰

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Gorgeous!

and is that Troll farting sparkles?

I really want to meet the troll that farts glitter and Mike thinks I'm crazy lol
 
Hi Caroline!

Sounds like another fun trip!

I am a RN by day, and as any RN will tell you, our jobs are stressful and Disney Magic is often a cure for the stress! It sure is for me!

::yes::


I was so happy to leave a little early until our shuttle driver, who was so busy talking nonstop to the passengers, realizes about 10 miles out, he forgot someone! What! Are you kidding me! We had to go back, so now we are about 15 minutes behind schedule. I don’t panic easy but I was a little shook during the ride!

What? Oh, no! That would make me super tense! I always drive to the airport and park there so I on't have to worry about any of that. I'm glad you made it there in time!

I don't think I knew you were going to UO. Can't wait to hear all about it!
 
Hello Everyone!


It is time for a new TR from the traveling mom and daughter duo!!





My name is Caroline, I am the chief trip reporter, the financier, the planner, and the mom of the duo! I have a huge love for all things Disney! I am an AP holder and adore planning our Disney trips!

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I am a RN by day, and as any RN will tell you, our jobs are stressful and Disney Magic is often a cure for the stress! It sure is for me!

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Here are a few stress relievers for me at Disney


  1. Afternoon relaxing at a beautiful resort
  2. Riding the People Mover
  3. Riding Peter Pan
  4. Eating at Sana’a
  5. Watching HEA and the electrical water parade
  6. Hugging Mickey and his friends




Here are a few of Andi’s stress relievers at Disney


  1. Having mom pay for everything haha!
  2. Carousel of Progress
  3. People Mover
  4. Meeting characters
  5. Hanging at The Grand, her favorite resort!
  6. Washing her hands with the scrubs at Basin.




Andi and I have been going to Disney since she was 5y.o, she is now 19.


We travel so well together and both love all things Disney.


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We started doing August trips because of a great “deal” from a TA and we found the crowds very low. This was our 5th trip at this time of year!





We have found each time we go now in August, it is getting more crowded, grrrr!


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You will want to watch this thread if you are interested in our reviews of 3 deluxe resorts, the dark side, 2 tours, 2 hard ticket events, many different dining reviews (vegetarian choices), awesome Dis meets, hot and steamy weather, thinking it was spring break a few times with the crowds, a SWGE preview, and many changes to those set in stone plans, haha!

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Here we are, yes it is August, however, it is Disney’s August so of course Halloween is in full swing!!

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Stay tuned for travel day!! Living on the edge
great pics thanks for sharing!

Nothing better than Orlando and Disney to decompress the stress from working in a hospital!

We also love Portofino!
 
I'm with you. I hate those 3 am wake ups for flights. I vowed never to do it again and my next 2 trips have much better departure times. This lady needs her sleep!!!
 
I would have been freaking out with the shuttle fiasco . I am a nervous air traveler. I make my family get to the airport early so we won’t miss our flight . I fly direct if possible - luckily , we live in Atlanta so most of the time this is possible. We had connecting flights on our last family vacation and sweated it out both ways. I kept trying to tell myself the airlines do this everyday .

I am going to Universal in Nov so looking forward to that part of your TR . FJ got me last time ( and the Hulk too ) when I went on an empty stomach. ( I was excited and running late for early entry ). Lesson learned .
 
Hi! Longtime lurker joining in! I have enjoyed reading many of your trip reports and wanted to let you know that your trips with Andi inspired me. My DH is not a big Disney fan, so I stopped dragging him along and last year I started taking my 2 daughters on my own to WDW. They are almost 11 and 14 now, and I hope we are still taking these trips together when they are Andi's age and older!
 
Portofino is so pretty, I love those rooms! I also like King Kong to a point as I miss the original Kong ride.

Express pass is expensive but great to have! Ugh Hagrid's, I should be able to ride in Dec. but the lines are crazy not to mention the staggered opening times and days it doesn't open in the morning
 
Hi hi hi, I'm here! Wouldn't miss it!

I am a RN by day, and as any RN will tell you, our jobs are stressful and Disney Magic is often a cure for the stress! It sure is for me!

What do you mean? it's so easy!

Having mom pay for everything haha!

Having Dad pay for everything alleviates my stress too :rotfl:


Cute look!

We do have TSA pre check and this line was even long! We made it through in about 15 minutes so it looked worse than it was.

Security lines are always so stressful!

We ordered a Lyft to take us to Portofino Bay, our driver looked like Jon Snow!

My friend would have died!


Portofino is so lovely! The room looked really nice too!
 
Hi there! Figured I'd be on time to your report since I'm so behind on everyone else's :P Can't wait to hear more about your adventures. Certainly seems like the weather got slightly better for you all. We had heat indexes of 110 the early part of the trip and a storm every day. You are so right on the crowds. They were much higher than I remembered the last few Augusts being. I wondered if the Star Wars previews ended up bringing more people in.
 
I would have totally been sweating it out with the late shuttle. Thank goodness that precheck moves so quickly!

Portofino Bay looks very nice, and that express pass sounds even better.
I know, I was nervous! I have done this route many times and I guess I was tired of being super early to the airport and sitting around for almost 2 hours!

This did work in our favor but I don’t recommend only having an hour before departure time at a big busy airport!

We really liked this hotel, would stay again and the EP is such a nice plus!
 

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