Aug '14 Trip Report: The Ride-Chickens go to Universal/Portofino Bay

[ArwenMarie]

Enjoyed reading your TR! We're probably making our 2015 a split stay at Universal and WDW. I'm even more excited to see Universal now, after reading about all the fun you had. And I love that quote!

Thanks for reading!

Split stays are great between Universal and WDW, six parks to choose from instead of four. I just wished we had more time for each part, but I think I just wanted a longer vacation

Have fun planning your trip!

 

[schumigirl]

I wanted to wait till I got home from Orlando to read your trip report properly.

It is fabulous! You really brought the resort to life with your pictures and words.

I'm so glad you all had such an amazing time and enjoyed Universal.

Thanks for writing it, I really enjoyed it

 

[ArwenMarie]

I wanted to wait till I got home from Orlando to read your trip report properly.

It is fabulous! You really brought the resort to life with your pictures and words.

I'm so glad you all had such an amazing time and enjoyed Universal.

Thanks for writing it, I really enjoyed it

Thank you for reading it!

Hope you had a great time in Orlando.

 

[nanhol]

GREAT trip report! I loved hearing about your trip & the food--the character breakfast looks like a fun choice--I love that it's not a buffet. My husband says he really wants to get his picture with a Minion--this breakfast might be the way to do that.

We're headed for a Universal/WDW split stay next summer--but it's still in planning stages. I'm thinking 4 nights at a Universal hotel & 8 or 9 at Disney--we'll see if we actually follow that plan!

I love the hotel's hidden Mickey ottoman!

Seriously, did no one notice this when they were decorating/purchasing these?

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y515/arwenmarie401/11F5D445-0B30-4082-870F-70665AC55325_zpswr5o4ipp.jpg" border="0" width="400" height="533" alt=" photo 11F5D445-0B30-4082-870F-70665AC55325_zpswr5o4ipp.jpg"/></a>

 

[ArwenMarie]

GREAT trip report! I loved hearing about your trip & the food--the character breakfast looks like a fun choice--I love that it's not a buffet. My husband says he really wants to get his picture with a Minion--this breakfast might be the way to do that.

We're headed for a Universal/WDW split stay next summer--but it's still in planning stages. I'm thinking 4 nights at a Universal hotel & 8 or 9 at Disney--we'll see if we actually follow that plan!

I love the hotel's hidden Mickey ottoman!

Thanks for reading!

The character meal at the Studios is a really nice way to start the day. Not being a buffet...added bonus IMO!

4 nights at UOR plus 8 at Disney, wow, that sounds like a super vacation! This was a great split, but it was too short. I kept thinking "If we only had one more night!" on both parts LOL

The hidden Mickey ottoman was hilarious, my kids were cracking up.

 

[LBIJim]

Great photos and trip report. I just got back from a 7 night stay at Portofino. 5 Universal/IOA days, one Disney Halloween party, and one Busch Gardens day.

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If you look closely at the pictures of the buildings, you can see that a lot of the trimwork and other details are not real, they are painted on the stucco. At first I thought that was some sort of theme-park cost-cutting measure, but it turns out that is actually a tribute to the original. According to a little brochure in the room:

"Artists who painted the exteriors of our buildings used the same elaborate painting technique, trompe l'oeil, used hundreds of years ago in Italian fishing villages."
!

Even if it's "authentic" and a tribute to the artists, I was kind of disappointed by the painted-on architectural details of Portofino. Was expecting to see "the real thing," but it's just a minor thing. Loved the hotel and the setting otherwise.

I never made the connection between the weird shaped ottoman and a Hidden Mickey.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Great photos and trip report. I just got back from a 7 night stay at Portofino. 5 Universal/IOA days, one Disney Halloween party, and one Busch Gardens day.

Even if it's "authentic" and a tribute to the artists, I was kind of disappointed by the painted-on architectural details of Portofino. Was expecting to see "the real thing," but it's just a minor thing. Loved the hotel and the setting otherwise.

I never made the connection between the weird shaped ottoman and a Hidden Mickey.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the paint. Even when you know why they did it, it's still sort of odd. My husband wasn't buying their reasoning at all!

Hope you had a good trip, sounds like it was nice (and long!) How was Portofino for 7 nights?

 

[LBIJim]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the paint. Even when you know why they did it, it's still sort of odd. My husband wasn't buying their reasoning at all!

Hope you had a good trip, sounds like it was nice (and long!) How was Portofino for 7 nights?

It was great. We enjoyed the room, the HUGE bathroom, strolling the grounds, relaxing in the various piazzas, the pool, the restaurants, etc.

Most likely we'd go back, but we would like to experience the other on-site hotels as well.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It was great. We enjoyed the room, the HUGE bathroom, strolling the grounds, relaxing in the various piazzas, the pool, the restaurants, etc.

Most likely we'd go back, but we would like to experience the other on-site hotels as well.

Nice. It's a super hotel...I think the best theme-park hotel in Orlando. I'd like to try the other ones too one day.

 

[Fall1]

Thanks for a great TR! Love seeing the pictures and reading! We are doing our first Universal trip with a split stay next month and reading this is so fun for me!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Thanks for a great TR! Love seeing the pictures and reading! We are doing our first Universal trip with a split stay next month and reading this is so fun for me!

Thanks for reading!

I hope you have a great first trip! You will definitely have better weather than we had!