PORTOFINO BAY HOTEL INFO...FAQ`s and more.......

Those are the same days that my mother and I will be there (11/5 - 11/9). We are staying club level too and can't wait! One week from now. Wow!
Have a great time! It works out really well for us to split our stay between the hectic craziness and planning of Disney and then we take it back a notch when we slow down a bit at PBH resort. If you see a middle aged couple with the woman having wavy mid length brown hair and glasses and the handsome older gentlemen who stands 6 foot has brown hair that is going grey a mustache and glasses in the lounge stop over and say hello! We leave on the first for Disney and I can't wait.

Is this your first trip?
 
Have a great time! It works out really well for us to split our stay between the hectic craziness and planning of Disney and then we take it back a notch when we slow down a bit at PBH resort. If you see a middle aged couple with the woman having wavy mid length brown hair and glasses and the handsome older gentlemen who stands 6 foot has brown hair that is going grey a mustache and glasses in the lounge stop over and say hello! We leave on the first for Disney and I can't wait.

Is this your first trip?

It is our first trip. We did an amazing deluxe trip to WDW in 2013 and have been looking forward to this trip for a while. I can't believe we'll be there on Sunday! We have light early snow around Puget Sound today, so it will be awesome to enjoy warm weather.

No doubt, we will see you in the lounge and around. Mom is 71 and gray, I'm in my 50s with shoulderish blonde hair. We will look for you.

Have a great Friday.
 
Going again this year to Florida for spring break to watch DS play with his high school baseball team at ESPN.
It's me, DH, and DD14.

Thought this year we would focus on WDW parks but DH and DD are upset and want to return to Universal to reride Hulk another 5xs and enjoy the parks.

So it being spring break I know we need to stay 1 night on property again to get the express passes.

Last year we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel for my DD but this year I was thinking Portifino. (Somewhere I've always wanted to stay).

So finally my question, March 23-24th is booked. How likely are rooms to open up as we get closer? I'll book at HRH and keep checking Portifino if that's the case.

Another couple questions:

last year I switched out our tickets and got annual passes. This years trip is still within the year of our first day visit of 2017 and looking at calendar it appears that we can use our passes those two days(3/23 and 3/24/2018). Am I reading that right?

Also can someone tell me what is the annual pass code for the universal orlando hotel discount?

Thank you!!
 
Going again this year to Florida for spring break to watch DS play with his high school baseball team at ESPN.
It's me, DH, and DD14.

Thought this year we would focus on WDW parks but DH and DD are upset and want to return to Universal to reride Hulk another 5xs and enjoy the parks.

So it being spring break I know we need to stay 1 night on property again to get the express passes.

Last year we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel for my DD but this year I was thinking Portifino. (Somewhere I've always wanted to stay).

So finally my question, March 23-24th is booked. How likely are rooms to open up as we get closer? I'll book at HRH and keep checking Portifino if that's the case.

Another couple questions:

last year I switched out our tickets and got annual passes. This years trip is still within the year of our first day visit of 2017 and looking at calendar it appears that we can use our passes those two days(3/23 and 3/24/2018). Am I reading that right?

Also can someone tell me what is the annual pass code for the universal orlando hotel discount?

Thank you!!
The annual pass code is APH in the code box. You will love PBR, we just returned from our fourth stay there and had a great time. It's the kind of place that I really could stay at and not even spend any times in the parks.
 


Thank you for the code.

Yes when we went to Universal one day of our honeymoon in 1994 I saw Portifino and said when we come back I'd love to stay here but DD is all rock in roll and was getting ready to perform in an Eagles School of Rock show when we returned from our trip so HRH (Hotel California) was a must.

We really loved it but Portifino is my dream but do you think something will open up like at the Disney hotels or am I out of luck this trip at Portfino?
 
Thank you for the code.

Yes when we went to Universal one day of our honeymoon in 1994 I saw Portifino and said when we come back I'd love to stay here but DD is all rock in roll and was getting ready to perform in an Eagles School of Rock show when we returned from our trip so HRH (Hotel California) was a must.

We really loved it but Portifino is my dream but do you think something will open up like at the Disney hotels or am I out of luck this trip at Portfino?

I would keep looking for sure. It's so long off that anything could happen. I have seen rooms in different categories book up and then get released later on, could be for any reason. So nothing wrong with keeping hope alive but at least you have a booking for now. Portofino is my personal favorite resort ever so I'm biased to think it's totally worth the trouble!
 
I would keep checking, too. I agree that Portofino is absolutely worth the trouble. We will be there in 37 days and I cannot wait!
 


I would keep looking for sure. It's so long off that anything could happen. I have seen rooms in different categories book up and then get released later on, could be for any reason. So nothing wrong with keeping hope alive but at least you have a booking for now. Portofino is my personal favorite resort ever so I'm biased to think it's totally worth the trouble!

Oh that's great news! I will keep looking. I have a feeling that I will love it ---maybe I'll just send those two to the parks and enjoy the hotel
 
Just returned home from a wonderful vacation at PBR! We stayed a couple of days at Disney first and I have to say that I really love the PBR over the Disney resorts. This trip we were really lucky to get a balcony and with the warm weather we spent a lot of time out on it. One of the other things that I really love is the fact that they still have the large snuggly comforters on the beds instead of the darn three sheets that they use at Disney. I sleep so much better when I have the weight of the comforter to snuggle under.
 
Room location request I fell down and sprained by ankle and will be leaving for PBR on 12/19 we have a garden view room booked where would be a good location to ask for that is close to most things?
Thanks for the help.
 
Hey - I just want to give Universal some credit for a change as much of our experience with them hasn't been the greatest. We bought an AP last February President's Week break and we stayed off-site, partly because they weren't giving out any on-site discount. The AP expires Monday February 19th, so we are heading down to Orlando on the 17th and intend to spend the first 3 days at Universal to use our APs again. Well, I was not real happy with the on-site resort prices. Everyone tells me what good deals they get for the Universal Rooms, yet every time I checked for President's Weekend, no AP discount, and RPR was the cheapest at $429 a night + tax and PBH was $519 + tax per nights, and I sorry these are not good deals for a hotel room, even with Express Pass.

Well, I went on-line again yesterday and saw that prices had actually spiked HIGHER at RPR and HRH, but PBH was at $459 a night, which was still more than I wanted to pay. I decided to call, and Universal FINALLY offered me an AP discounted rate of $379 a night for PBH! So we booked it for the night of the 18th. (We land in Orlando around 5 PM on the 17th, and I don't really have to money to pay $379 for a night when I might have only a few hours of park time, so we are staying just off-site for the first night.)

Anyways, good on ya' Universal for treating your AP holders with some value, giving us a discount during a holiday week! Looking forward to checking out this resort as DW and I just spent 12 days in Italy in September, so it will be a neat comparison.

One question for those with knowledge. I notice that there is a $22 parking fee, does that apply even if you have an Preferred AP? Doesn't seem right that I can park for free at the garage but have to pay for parking at the hotel. It won't change my mind on the stay, but just want to know what's what going in.

Also, how long does it typically take from leaving your room to entering the park. If we want to take advantage of Early Entry at 8 AM, what time do we need to be down at the boat dock? Thanks everyone - looking forward to a trying an on-site stay, even if it's a short one.

Edit: Wait third question - we are booked in a Deluxe Queen room. Any requests we should make to try and get as close to the boat launch as possible?
 
Last edited:
It’s two separate companies policy

Loews owns the hotels and they require that parking charge

Public garage which UO owns and gives ap holders that perk to the premiere and preferred ap holders

I know
It really bites paying for the hotel parking fees

Some hotels that I stay at tack on parking fees in other states

And then there are hotel chains that have higher room charges with parking fees built into the nights stay

The water taxis should start running one hour before the park opens for EE

Call the hotel directly and request your room be closest to the boats

It could be maybe a 10-15 minute walk from your hotel to the parks
if you are a casual walker
 
Edit: Wait third question - we are booked in a Deluxe Queen room. Any requests we should make to try and get as close to the boat launch as possible?

When we checked in, I had requested West Wing close to launch, but they told me the deluxe queens were only in the Villa wing. I'd suggest close to lobby, or if not avail then overlooking the beach pool (there is an elevator in the wing right there- you can take it down and then walk through (up and down a flight of outside stairs) a cut-through between the villa and west wing to get to the harbor).

Also, often the bikers are there at the launch, so if you are in a hurry and it looks like you'll miss the ferry, take them. I did tip them. They drop you right next to Universal Studios, just outside the security walk through.
 
OK sucks to pay for parking at a $400+ a night hotel, but it's only one night so I won't kvetch to much.

Thanks for the advice on the room location. I was noticing that it looked like the Deluxe queens were only by the Beach Pool and Villa Pool. Close to Lobby or Beach Pool? Sounds good. Probably go with Close to Lobby, though it hardly matters for such a short stay. I am one of those that doesn't think having a pool view is necessarily a great thing due to the noise.
 
OK sucks to pay for parking at a $400+ a night hotel, but it's only one night so I won't kvetch to much.

Thanks for the advice on the room location. I was noticing that it looked like the Deluxe queens were only by the Beach Pool and Villa Pool. Close to Lobby or Beach Pool? Sounds good. Probably go with Close to Lobby, though it hardly matters for such a short stay. I am one of those that doesn't think having a pool view is necessarily a great thing due to the noise.

Yeah, you could hear pool noise during the day, not at night, but it was nothing like the sound of a Disney pool. There was trivia and bingo in the early afternoon, so if you nap, that might be an issue. We liked it for the location (close to an elevator).
 
We have booked Portofino for our honeymoon through Universal, we initially booked a King Deluxe but then decided to upgrade to the Club level but unfortunately they only had the 2 queen bed rooms available. We asked when changing about a king bed been available and they said no as they were booked out. From experience is it worth ringing again closer to the time?
 
We have booked Portofino for our honeymoon through Universal, we initially booked a King Deluxe but then decided to upgrade to the Club level but unfortunately they only had the 2 queen bed rooms available. We asked when changing about a king bed been available and they said no as they were booked out. From experience is it worth ringing again closer to the time?

What dates are you planning on?

You can call the hotel and let them know you have a room booked for your honeymoon and would like to switch to a king bed club level

Ask if it is available
If so switch

If none available, ask to be put on a wait list in case anyone cancels and club king room opens
 
Ya tried ringing hotel they said was king rooms fully booked

It's July 3rd for 8 nights. It's not a big deal, to be honest I think American queen size beds are bigger than the Irish King size bed
 

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