Are you planning a trip to Orlando, Florida? Specifically Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. If so, this post is for YOU! I’m about to go into detail as to why this is the must book hotel to stay at for your trip!
I’ll start off by saying that we have stayed at all 3 on-site hotels and this is the one we always come back to time and time again. Now I’m not saying the Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific aren’t nice but IMO Loews Portofino Bay is the nicest. While it is the most expensive of the 3 I feel like the price reflects the value. It is worth every cent!
Now lets get into the term on-site. There are more than just these 3 that are considered on-site because the ferry will also take you to Sapphire Falls Resort but the express pass is not included in your stay at Sapphire Falls, and let me tell you the express pass is KEY!!!
The express pass, this is your golden ticket. This is the cats meow, the unicorn, the hear the angels sing, the omg they gave me 10 chicken nugs at CFA instead of 8, moment. Now, when you stay at any of the 3 on-site hotels listed above you get the express pass; for every single day you are staying at the hotel. I should also let you know that the price of your stay at the hotel includes your hotel and express pass only. Park tickets you have to buy separately. The express pass allows you to go straight to the front of the line. Yep, you read that right. Straight to the front of the line. So when you enter the ride you can walk by everyone standing in line for over an hour and be like C-ya peasants. Kidding of course, but you might be thinking it and feeling like a Kardashian for a quick second. Or the entire day, for every single ride you go on! SCORE! Don’t worry you’ll be humbled quick as soon as you get home from your vacay and have to clean the cat litter and do your laundry. Someone get this girl a nanny. Ok got crack coffee distracted, back to it. So yea, the express pass lets you go to the front of the line all day long for any ride in the park, no exclusions. Now you might have to wait a couple mins if there are other people in line from the hotels with express passes but we have never waited longer than 5 mins to get on a ride. Oh and if you are a Harry Potter lover try to be at Islands of Adventure at closing time. Sometimes there are literally so few people in line that they will actually let you stay on the ride and ride it again! You don’t even have to get off! Now that totally made me feel like a Kardashian, or like I had the park rented out all for myself! SO cool!So that is the biggest plus of staying at the on-site hotels. The other plus is the ferry. The ferry is connected to the hotel. So you don’t have to walk or drive to the park and fight with parking, you just hop on the ferry and you are at CityWalk in just a couple of mins! CityWalk is connected to the theme parks so it is incredibly convenient, and let me tell you after you have been walking 10+ miles a day the last thing you want to do is walk all the way to your car. It is so nice to just get to sit on the ferry and be dropped off at your hotel after a long fun filled day!
Now lets get into Loews Portofino Bay itself. It is made to be a replicate of Portofino Bay in Italy, and they did such a phenomenal job that we actually feel like we are back in Europe when we are there. From the amazing architecture to the beautiful flowers everywhere it feels like we literally just got off a plane, minus that hell of a 10+ hour flight. And the restaurants are incredible! We could literally eat at Sal’s the entire trip and we would be happy. Best pizza ever! Get the margherita pizza or the prosciutto you will thank me later! There are also fancier options if you actually have the energy to shower and dress up after your theme park filled day. But lord knows Grandma and Grandpa over here haven’t had that energy in a few years. Here is a list of the nice restaurant options, BICE, Mama Della’s, and Trattoria del Porto. Loews Portofino Bay also has a Starbucks which comes in the clutch every morning before hitting up the parks! And they have a gelato shop! It is so amazing!
The hotel rooms are beautiful and have gorgeous views, along with the most comfortable beds! The hotel also has two pools. Their famous beach pool which is ideal for families with kids it is huge and has an amazing slide and cabana options. If you watched my instagram stories then you saw the kids playing a fun game of Marco Polio. What? Like when did Marco Polo become Marco polio?! Anyways the other plus of the beach pool is it comes with poolside service where you can order food and drinks, delivered right to your lounge chairs.
The adult pool is where you go when you are sick of hearing the kids play Marco Polio and you get to escape everyone and everything kids. So needless to say we love that pool. They play relaxing music and you don’t have to constantly listen to “Mom, watch this, mom watch this, mom did you see me?” Can you tell we don’t have kids? Haha!
From the beautiful grounds, to the gorgeous hotel, the amazing service, and the fabulous amenities you truly can’t go wrong with booking at Loews Portofino Bay! To see all the details of the hotel/our trip just check out my Orlando highlight on my Instagram page!
XoXo,
Lauren