Just back. First-time at Universal. No stroller. Great time.

KJTex

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Just back today from a 2 night stay at Universal's Portofino. This was our first trip to Universal and I used the DIS boards a lot in planning, so thought I would write about my experience in hopes that it helps others. There was 5 of us. We arrived at Portofino at 9:30AM. We had booked a garden view room at a rate of $259 (APH rate, though they never asked to see it). I asked the check-in person if they had any rooms available, as we just wanted to freshen up after the drive. She said no. I asked if I was willing to upgrade to a different room type if they had any rooms. She went in the back for about 5 min, came back to the counter and said she had reviewed the entire database of rooms and nothing was open at the moment and that check-in time is 4pm and she could not guarantee anything before that. She promised to text when the room was available. I then asked if I could upgrade to club level. She gave me 2 options - I could get club lounge access for $125 a day or I could also get a club level room for an additional $60 a day. I opted to just get the club lounge access. It was about 9:45 by this time, so we took our club key and went over to the club lounge to relax and get some breakfast. Breakfast was good and it was nice to relax in the big air conditioned room. They had eggs and tator tots and sausage plus fruit yogurt, danish, etc... I also used this time to pick up our seasonal passes and we got our express passes printed. We then freshened up in the nearby bathrooms, left our luggage with the luggage service upfront and decided to head out to the parks. By this time it was about 11am. We felt refreshed, and I was so glad I had paid for the club access.
 
Last edited:
Day 1 in the parks
We took the boat over to Universal Studios (boats to and from Portofino were fast and easy).
We did Minions and then Jimmy Fallon, and then Mummy. They all had Express Pass, but my 6-year-old was too small for Mummy, so we payed in the arcade next store (not cheap. Spent $20 for enough tokens to keep her busy). After that, we hit Simpsons and we did MIB twice. Time for snack. We got one the huge pink donuts from Simpsons which was yummy and a bargain at $5. We also got a pretzel with cheese at the outdoor bar near Simpsons which was not as good of a deal at $9). Next we walked around Diagon Alley and we went on Transformers and ET. My kids then found the water slide at Fievel's playground and went on that multiple times. They loved that area and we were probably there for a good 30 min. We then went over to the Curious George area and the kids had a great time splashing around a getting wet. We hit some gift stores, left the park at 4:30 and were back at Portofino by 5:30 and sitting in the club lounge enjoying their evening service. Hot food was shepherd's pie, potatoes, and cauliflower. They also had salads and cheeses, which was more than enough for my family for dinner. We never did get a text that our room was ready, but it was, so I went to luggage service and they delivered the bags to the room. We all collapsed in the room about 6:30. At 7:30 we saw on the app that the wait time for the Escae from Gringotts was only 15 min, so we ventured out again. We rode that ride twice (walk on both times), and it was awesome. We were back at Portofino Club by 9:15 for desserts, which was cookies, key lime pie, and panna cotta.
 
Day 2 in parks
We made it to club lounge about 7:30 for breakfast. Eggs, tots, and bacon. We left for the parks at 8:30 and we were on Escape from Gringotts by about 8:50. We then did the Hogwarts Express train over to the other park. We did Forbidden Journey (had to use child swap since my 6 year old was not tall enough). Child swap was cool because it meant my older kids got to do the ride twice (once with mom and once with dad). We then did hippogriff twice, Jurassic Park twice, and Kong. We went and got our return time for the pterodactyl fliers, went on Jurassic park one more time and it was time for petrodactyl fliers. We took the train back to the US side and got back to hotel by 1 for lunch. We grabbed sandwiches at Sal's and brought them up to the club lounge to eat. We rested in the room for a while, reapplied sunscreen and were ready to get back to the park around 4pm. We again went to the US side and did Shrek, Simpsons, Gringotts, Mummy, Fallon, and Minions. And by kids did some more shopping. We were back at hotel by about 8pm. Again we bought food at Sal's and brought it up to the club lounge. Dessert that night in club was cannoli and cheesecake (and cookies). We had an early morning flight the next day, so called it a night around 9.
 
Final thoughts
Lanyards - I spent a lot of time researching lanyards before the trip and I am glad I did. I wanted something comfortable and cute. My two girls and I did lanyards and little ID holders from Vera Bradley. They were cute and lightweight. They had zippers which made it easy for the girls to carry around their pressed pennies. The boys used lanyards that they had from previous ski trip.
Clothes - The sun was intense, and I burn easily. I used Stitch Fix to request comfy shoes and light weight long sleeve shirts for the park. It worked great and I felt super stylish too.
Express Pass - This was awesome. There were plenty of lines that were not too bad, but having Express Pass meant I really did not have to plan ahead. We just went wherever we wanted.
Club lounge - This was a must for us as well. The food was decent, but we really enjoyed it for the extra room it gave us to spread out when kids got bored of hanging out in the hotel room.
Bags - I never used a locker because I did not like the idea of parting with my purse. We avoided the rides that did not allow you to bring bags or my husband and I switched off.
Stroller - This was the first time we had not used a stroller with my 6-year-old for a big park/event. She did great and was often running ahead of the rest of the group. I should have given her more credit and should have given up the stroller years ago.

Overall great trip. We have been to Disney probably 10 times as a family, but kids want to go back to Universal now.
 


thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

you got a lot done and sounded like a super vacation at the darkside.

you made a great choice by adding club!
 
Great use of club! Eating breakfast, dinner, and snacks makes it a real value.
 



GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top