Our week at Universal was drawing to an end. Our final day would be spent traveling home, so this was the last day we would spend visiting the parks. We had already done most of what we had set out to do, but there were a few additional experiences we wanted to squeeze in before we headed home. Mostly, they centered around signature snacks, the Jurassic Park River Adventure and bribes to get the kids to agree to ride the dinosaur-themed boat ride. Before we left, we would accomplish most of our to-do list.
I spent the months before our trip preparing the kids to be a little more adventurous this time around. Kara and I watched several ride videos and in the comfort of our living room she was quite brave. To her credit, she did agree to ride Revenge of the Mummy earlier in the trip. But once we were there in person, she balked at pretty much any ride that was more than six feet tall. When she backed out of Flight of the Hippogriff, I figured she would take some convincing to ride Jurassic Park.
Josie has ridden plenty of rides that were bigger than the River Adventure. Her objection was that she doesn’t like dinosaurs. She was quite consistent in adhering to her anti-Jurassic Park policy. In her braver moments, she allowed for the possibility of riding The Hulk with me, but never the River Adventure. So I knew I had an uphill battle where Josie was concerned.
Mindy had never been on Jurassic Park and it was a high priority for her, but she didn’t want to ride alone. Ideally, we would all ride as a family but that didn’t seem likely. If even one of the children sat out, I was going to have to wait with them. We could do a child swap if one of the kids was interested in riding twice, but the main thing was to make sure Mindy got a ride in before we left.
To that end, we reached a bargain with the kids. They could each pick out one large souvenir from the gift shop in exchange for riding Jurassic Park. The night before, the kids examined several gift shops and this morning they had made up their minds. All we had to do was go pick out the items. But there was a trick. The items the kids wanted were sold at Universal Studios and Jurassic Park is in Islands of Adventure. We were going to have to visit both parks.
We started off in Universal Studios because Josie’s top priority was to get a Big Pink donut before the trip ended. That meant a certain amount of trust on Mindy’s part. We were going to have to buy the kids their souvenirs before they fulfilled their part of the agreement. We had bribed the kids to ride rides before, but previously we had always held off the rewards until the end of the day. Mindy was confident the kids would hold up their end, but I wasn’t so sure.
On our way to Lard Lad Donuts in Springfield, we passed the Mystery Machine. Scooby and the gang, weren’t present, but Kara took the opportunity for a photo-op. She had bystanders cracking up when she walked right up to the door and tried to climb in. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the van was locked.
As far as Josie is concerned, a trip to Universal is not complete until you have had a Big Pink. Last year, we ate several of these. They sell them in the gift shops, but those aren’t always as fresh as the ones you get in the parks. As theme park breakfasts go, the Big Pink is a pretty good deal. It’s $5 and it can feed the whole family. They get you on the milk, but we had picked up some bottles at the grocery and brought them along with us.
The kids have a tendency to divide everything up. If one of them likes something, then the other one doesn’t like it at all. Kara likes donuts, but for whatever reason she always turns her nose up at the Big Pink. She was a little mopey about the idea of going to Lard Lad until she heard they had soft serve ice cream. A cone for breakfast really isn’t any worse for you than a big, sugary donut, right? It was our final full day of vacation, so donuts and ice cream for breakfast I guess.
Mindy wanted a maple-bacon donut, but unfortunately they didn’t have any this morning. Instead, I got her a bavarian cream which she liked well enough. We all helped out with the Big Pink. Even Kara tried a bit in between licks of ice cream. She liked it, but I guarantee next time we go she will insist on getting ice cream instead. With everyone pitching in, we finished off most of the donut, but Josie likes to save a little for the birds that are always begging guests for whatever scraps they can get.
Sugared up, we made our way to our first shopping stop. Josie had spent the last few days indulging her newly rekindled love of Spongebob, so she wanted something from Spongebob Storepants.
On our way, we past the mock-up of the Hollywood sign and another photo opportunity.
While Josie was choosing between Spongebob and Patrick, Kara explored the recreation of Bikini Bottom.
Last year, Josie and I took pictures at the ET Adventure during our daddy-daughter day, but Mindy and Kara had missed out. I suggested we could all ride E.T. together, but there were no takers on that offer. But Kara was willing to stop by the gift shop and pose for the pictures she missed out on last year. Josie didn’t feel like climbing back on the bike this year.
We all got our pictures with E.T. in the toy closet. The family photo is at the top of the trip report. We also got one with just the kids. I’m still trying to get my value out of the photo package I bought. Hopefully with the pictures we take on the next trip, it will prove to be worth the expense.
Since we were back in KidZone, the girls wanted to spend some more time at the Curious George Goes to Town playground. It was already shaping up to be a hot day, so the splash zone didn’t sound like a terrible idea.
Just what everyone wants from a Universal Studios trip report, right? An in-depth look at Curious George! Look at it this way. There are lots of places you can go to read about all the hidden features at Diagon Alley. But KidZone and Curious George tend to get overlooked even at sites that devote a lot of coverage to Universal. Here’s a look at what you might be missing!
Despite the constant splashing, it’s actually pretty easy to stay dry at Curious George if that is your goal. Most of the spouts are back behind the town facade and they are not hard to spot if you are paying attention. If you push a button or pull a string, you are going to activate something. Just make sure there isn’t a nozzle pointing at you before you do it.
The buckets at the top of the buildings dump a lot of water, but most of it just spills off the roof. You would have to go out of you way to get splashed by it.
I stood in the center of town and let the kids take shots at me. If I stepped to the side even a little bit, they would have missed me completely. But as you can see, they had fun trying to soak their dad.
For Kara’s souvenir, we were headed to the back of the park. While we were there, we took a few more rides on Men in Black. Yesterday, Mindy had been the lead scorer pretty consistently. But I had been goofing around with funny photos and using multiple guns since we had the ride vehicles to ourselves. Today, I got serious about blasting aliens. I am sure the competition will continue into next year’s trip.
As we entered Diagon Alley, it was starting to rain. First it was a light drizzle, but the raindrops got large and fat in a hurry. By the time we got to The Magical Menagerie, it was a full-on Florida downpour. I expected the small store to be packed with people avoiding the rain, but it turns out it wasn’t bad at all inside. We took our time waiting out the rain before making our purchase.
Kara wanted a Pygmy Puff. They come in a variety of sizes for any budget, but since Mom and Dad were paying Kara had her eye on one of the big ones. In exchange for a promise to ride Jurassic Park, we agreed to shell out for the largest purple puffball on the shelves. No way a kid would renege on that, right?
The guy behind the counter was very entertaining. He played up the idea that we were adopting a living pet and made sure we were aware of all the responsibilities associated with taking care of a pygmy puff. When he asked if we would feed it, I inquired as to what they ate. He then ran through a long list of the kinds of grade school kids find funny. I remember boogers and ear wax were among the foods of choice. Left to their own devices, the clerk assured me, pygmy puffs would forage for themselves. Perfect! Because I haven’t fed the thing once since we got home.
As you can see, the kids were quite happy with their purchases. Now all they had to do was earn them.
The rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, but the sky was still overcast and we had what we had come for. On the way out of the park, we passed the Bluesmobile on its way to the stage. I hollered out to Jake and Elwood as they drove by. I still haven’t seen the show from start to finish, but I can save that experience for next year.
We had been pretty lucky with rain this trip after having had really bad weather last summer. There had been a couple of times when we just missed having the water taxis shut down due to storms, but we had never had to resort to taking a shuttle. Today, that luck ran out. It started raining again, so rather than walk back to Portofino Bay, we hiked through the parking garage and took a shuttle. It really wasn’t bad. We were covered from the rain for the entire walk and the shuttle was waiting for us when we arrived. Obviously, the water taxis are the preferred mode of transportation, but the bus experience was still a lot better than what we were accustomed to at Disney World.
By the time we got back to the resort, the rain had already stopped. So I took the kids for one last swim in the pool. As I said preciously, this is my favorite swimming pool of all the hotels I have stayed at in Orlando. Looking forward to next year’s trip, we may very well stay at Portofino Bay again. If we do, it will have a lot to do with the pool. I talked with the kids about staying at the Hard Rock next year to complete the trilogy of deluxe hotels, but when I read about how shallow the pool was there, that was kind of a deal breaker.
Despite having had ice cream for breakfast, the kids wanted to stop into the Gelataria one last time before the end of our trip.
There’s a dozen flavors to choose from and all of the ones I sampled were good. The kids were very fond of the lemon which was both tart and sweet. I asked for a sample of the peanut butter and it was also very tasty.
As we were eating our gelato, I started checking park hours on my phone. Islands of Adventure had been staying open until 10:00 most nights, but tonight it closed at 8:00. It was already pretty late in the afternoon, so we had to get going if we were going to have enough time to do everything we wanted to do.
When we got to the park, we had a decision to make. We could go right to Jurassic Park or we could take the long way around through Seuss Landing. Since the kids were dragging their feet on riding the River Adventure, I thought it might be a good idea to build some confidence on the kids’ rides. Besides, we hadn’t spent any time in Seuss Landing this year and we mostly just walked through it last summer. The one time we had ridden attractions in Seuess Landing, it was at the end of a long day touring both parks and we were all dead on our feet. So I figured, why not revisit it?
Our first ride was The Cat in the Hat. It’s a perfectly serviceable dark ride that would feel right at home in Fantasyland. Universal being Universal, they added quite a lot of spinning, but other than that Cat is pretty standard. I wouldn’t go out of my way to ride it again, but the kids enjoyed it.
Then I rode Red Fish, Blue Fish with the girls. Mindy doesn’t do spinner rides. Most of the fish seat two guests at a time, but there are a couple of extra wide ones that accommodate three people.
This ride is flanked by fish who spit water at guests. The kids always conspire to get daddy wet, but it never works out that way.
As we marched through the area, we took some time to explore. A lot of detail went into Seuss Landing and the vibrant colors pack a lot of kid appeal.
A lot of the rides, like the High in the Sky Trolley, offer different perspectives on the land. I appreciate the fact that there are lots of sights to see in every direction.
You’re not going to find fast rides with big drops in Seuss Landing. But even if the low-thrill kiddie rides don’t appeal to you, the land is still worth exploring. We spent over an hour and I still feel like I could go back for more.
We decided to take a ride on the High in the Sky Trolley as our last stop before Jurassic Park. It was a nice, relaxing ride but the kids were still nervous about what was to come.
Fortunately, our ride on the River Adventure was postponed when the trolley let us out near the newest addition to Seuss Landing, Honk Honkers. We could smell the cotton candy as soon as we exited the ride. Honk Honkers is a small shop that sells gigantic cones of cotton candy with the option of mix-ins like M&M’s or crushed up Oreo cookies. The price is actually not bad at all for theme park snacks. It was cheaper than the pre-bagged cotton candy I had bought the other night. But the problem is that the process is a slow one.
As you can see, there are only two candy-making stations and each cone took about 8-10 minutes depending on whether or not the guest ordered toppings. There were only a few people waiting in line ahead of us, but it took around 20 minutes to get our cotton candy. All the while, daylight was wasting. We thought about skipping Honk Honkers when we realized how long it would take, but Kara really wanted to try it out. I offered to stay with the kids and let Mindy ride Jurassic Park solo, but she didn’t want to do that.
Eventually, when it became obvious we weren’t going to have enough time to wait for the cotton candy and ride Jurassic Park together, Josie offered to go ride it with her mom. But it wasn’t a genuine offer. I was standing in line at the time, so I didn’t witness it firsthand but apparently it was pretty obvious Josie was only offering out of a sense of obligation. Mindy decided to let the kids off the hook as far as Jurassic Park was concerned, but she wasn’t too happy about it.
Since we were no longer racing the clock, we took our time enjoying the massive mounds of spun sugar. If you have the time and cotton candy appeals to you, Honk Honkers is worth doing at least once just for the Instagram factor. It makes for a heck of a picture.
By the time we finished, we decided it was time to start heading to the front of the park. The River Adventure would have to wait until next year. We still had time to squeeze in one more ride on our way out so we decided to end our vacation at Marvel Superhero Island.
Mindy’s consolation ride was Doctor Doom’s Fearfall. Her favorite attraction at Disney World is the Tower of Terror, so the freefall ride appealed to her. Going in, she knew that Universal’s take on the freefall experience was nowhere near as elaborate as the Twilight Zone Tower, but she enjoyed Dr. Doom for what it was.
While Mindy was being dropped by Reed Richards’ arch enemy, I took the kids for one final ride with Spider-Man. I think they enjoyed the ride even more than usual because the alternative would have involved dinosaurs and a large drop. Spider-Man was a piece of cake.
When we met up outside of Dr. Doom, Mindy was still a little miffed that the kids had backed out of their deal. But the fact we are going back next year took some of the sting out of missing out on the ride. We’ve got another week to fill, so hopefully the kids will be ready to face some dinosaurs by then.
After all our snacking, we hadn’t stopped for dinner. But by the time we left Islands of Adventure, everyone was ready for some real food. We stopped by the Toothsome Chocolate Factory to check on the wait for a table. We were quoted an hour wait, but when I told them we were staying at Portofino Bay they told us we could have a table in fifteen minutes thanks to the priority seating perk. That would have been fine, but the sky was clouding up and Josie was getting worried about another storm rolling in. She decided she would rather eat back at the hotel.
So we grabbed a water taxi and decided we would have our final meal of the trip at one of the hotel restaurants. I was leaning towards the mid-priced option, Mama Della’s. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I had read good things and it was the last night of our trip so I figured I would indulge. But it turns out, Mama Della was packed. The rain had a lot of guests eating at the hotel and there would be an hour wait if we wanted a table.
We could have gone to Sal’s again, but we wanted to try something new. So we went to Trattoria del Porto. The restaurant had been a hit when we went there for breakfast even if I found the price a little high. I had read reviews that tempered my expectations for dinner, and it turns out those reviews were pretty accurate. On the upside, we could sit pretty much anywhere we wanted. Most of the guests were sitting outside, but after touring the parks we were ready for some air conditioning. Aside from one long table populated by convention guests, Trattoria del Porto was deserted.
The waiter talked up the restaurant’s pasta buffet, Pasta Cucina. I thought about giving it a try, but the $30 price tag was more than I wanted to spend. As I said previously, I have been exercising portion control of late and I fill up pretty quickly as a result. So buffets don’t appeal to me all that much beyond the variety they offer. And a pasta buffet is limited to, well, pasta. I haven’t had a plate of pasta all year, so I’m sure I’d be full after a single serving and at $30 that didn’t sound like a great value. I did go over to check it out before I made up my mind.
There was supposed to be a chef at the station to prepare your choice of pasta dishes, but when I walked up to the buffet, no one was there. Eventually, the chef did come out to tend to the sauces, but she didn’t seem overly eager to wait on anyone. I decided I would take my chances with the burger. Even that was $20 and it was just okay. If it had been better or cheaper, I might recommend Trattoria del Porto, but the best thing I can say about my meal there was that it was convenient. Next time, we’ll just go to Sal’s.
Which brings me to the second complaint I have about Portofino Bay. The food options are limited. Sal’s is great and it’s nice to have snack options like the Gelataria and Starbucks. The bars served some decent food, but if you want a table service meal it’s going to cost you. Dining at a theme park hotel is always on the pricey side, but I wish Portofino Bay had a few more dining options priced a little more reasonably. There’s a reason all of the Disney hotels have food courts. One more restaurant priced similarly to Sal’s but with non-Italian options would go a long way.
So the final meal of the trip was a bit lackluster. But all in all, we were very happy with the hotel. Mindy and the kids decided that this was among our best vacations and we’re all looking forward to going back next year. The promise of taking another trip on the same annual pass almost makes it feel as if the trip never really ended. Instead, we’re just taking an extended break before going back for round two.
