On our recent trip to Orlando Florida, we stayed at Loews portofino bay at Universal Orlando. While staying on the property may be a tad more expensive, we would do it again in a heartbeat. We loved the luxurious feel of the hotel as well as the fact that it is conveniently located. They also had great on-site entertainment.
First off, let me start by saying that the hotel property is gorgeous! It offers the ambiance of a seaside village in Italy and many of the rooms in the hotel overlook the lake on the resort. We stayed on the East Wing and had a balcony overlooking the lake. We were told that the East wing was the quieter wing. Our room was large and very clean. The bathroom was very large as well.
There are 3 pools on the property, the beach pool, villa pool and hill side pool. The beach and villa pools are on the west wing and the hill side is on the east wing. The beach pool features sand and has a nice water slide. They also offer movies in the evenings with complimentary popcorn. This particular pool is the most crowded. The other pools are a lot less crowded and much quieter.
There are also many dining options available at the hotel. We thought some of the options were pretty pricey though. One morning while we were having breakfast this bird stopped by. The wait staff immediately came over and asked if the bird was bothering us and let us know that he had a history of stealing food right off of people's plates!
Now that I've given you a brief overview of the hotel, I wanted to give you a list of 5 reasons you should consider staying at the Portofino Bay hotel
- The hotel is pet-friendly. Finding someone to stay with your pets while you go on vacation can be a hassle so pet-friendly hotels are a godsend.
- Early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at 8 AM. This is the newest attraction at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and because of this and the popularity of Harry Potter, it gets very crowded. With early park admission, you can beat the crowds and ride the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff before the park is opened to the public.
- Ability to skip the lines at some of the most popular rides with the complimentary Universal Express Unlimited ride pass. This is superior to the regular Universal Express pass because it allows you to skip the line an unlimited amount of times. We were able to cut down the wait time dramatically using this pass.
- Free water taxi to the parks. This was our main form of transportation to and from the parks. We sometimes had to wait for a shuttle, but the wait was never very long.
- Free shuttles to Wet ‘n Wild water park, SeaWorld, and Aquatica. While we didn't have a chance to take advantage of this, I think this is a great service because the cost of transportation in Orlando is very high.