First Timer at 5 park out of 7 nights — What would we do different?

[pearljammer]

Well, let’s just say I’m still exhausted and we’ve been back a few days now.
We stayed at Portofino Bay and I must say the room (pet friendly) was quite spacious, very comfortable beds and loved the black out curtains.

Our biggest regret with 5 park days? Getting up early for 2 of them in an attempt to take advantage of the early park hours just to get in line for the Hagrid ride at IOA. Our first day it still took about an hour, the second day it was a 2 hour wait by the time we made it back. We managed to ride it later with less wait time and given the express passes don’t even work until 9, that was a huge mistake instead of just sleeping in. There’s not much else we could have done differently really. Also, you’re likely to have less wait time in the single rider line on the Hagrid ride than trying to ride together. The ride is absolutely awesome but no way would I wait 2 hours for it. And I’m thankful for the express pass.

Would we do 5 park days again? Nope. Not even close. Also, it so hot that it made it even worse to be honest With all the walking and the lines we did stand in. Thankfully the air conditioning worked really well in the buildings so we stepped in shops often just to get relief from the heat.

Would I stay at Portofino again? Ummm….probably not. While the size of the room was nice, the distance to the park wasn’t anything I wanted to walk when our feet and legs were ”done” after all the walking/standing in line. We had to hoof it in a rain storm back to the resort one night as boats stop running and THAT was a long ”fast” walk in the lightening and heavy rain.

In my opinion, I would never do the “early hours” again with an express pass. Not worth it. Just get your rest cause you’re going to be standing in line enough for the rest of the day. If my week old younger self had only known what I know now.

 

[christophfam]

Thanks for the report. I’ve been trying to figure out if we should do ee on our next trip. My sisters will be with me and they are early risers so we may still attempt it since we will be up anyway. What time did you hit the boat docks? We will shoot for earlier. Staying at PBH as well.

Also where was your pet friendly room? East wing I believe, but are they way down at the end of the wing? My sister is bringing her pup.

We will be there five days this trip but plan on plenty of down time at the pool, shopping, restaurants and bars. Might even throw in putt putt and a movie.

 

[AngieInOH]

Thanks for your perspective. Did you do Volcano Bay or just 5 days at the parks? If you had it to do over how many days would you spend in the parks?

We have 4 days planned parks only, but if the weather is warm thinking about throwing in a Volcano Bay day instead of a park. Also staying at Portofino. I'm used to Disney resorts so I don't think we'll mind the distance to the parks!

 

[pearljammer]

Thanks for the report. I’ve been trying to figure out if we should do ee on our next trip. My sisters will be with me and they are early risers so we may still attempt it since we will be up anyway. What time did you hit the boat docks? We will shoot for earlier. Staying at PBH as well.

Also where was your pet friendly room? East wing I believe, but are they way down at the end of the wing? My sister is bringing her pup.

We will be there five days this trip but plan on plenty of down time at the pool, shopping, restaurants and bars. Might even throw in putt putt and a movie.

So our pet room was on the bottom floor of the wing that’s across from the boat dock. The room is plenty large enough as ours is a larger size dog. We had his kennel set up and still had plenty of room to spare. We also did one day at the pool and had rented a cabana. To be honest, this is not our first cabana rental at one of the resorts. I must say, I can’t say it’s worth it as there are plenty of chairs with umbrellas.

As far as when we got to the boat dock? We got to the boat dock before 7:30 (having to wait for the boat). The First morning they opened the early park about 15 minutes early so around 7:45 and we hoofed it to Hagrids and still had an hour wait. And as you know, the express passes aren’t vaild until the park opens to all guests. So trust me, we regretted doing early entry cause all those who don‘t have express pass know they have to stand in longer lines for other rides. NOW, perhaps consider single rider for Hagrids later in the day. *wink*

 

[pearljammer]

Thanks for your perspective. Did you do Volcano Bay or just 5 days at the parks? If you had it to do over how many days would you spend in the parks?

We have 4 days planned parks only, but if the weather is warm thinking about throwing in a Volcano Bay day instead of a park. Also staying at Portofino. I'm used to Disney resorts so I don't think we'll mind the distance to the parks!

Hi there, yes we did Volcano Bay or last day. We also had a cabana reserved (#19) which was at the kid pool area but fortunately when we were there, it’s not like it was an issue. So we did 4 park to park days with the one dedicated Volcano Bay day. We left early enough that we were able to get to the room, got the boat and hit Universal Studio side to grab souvenirs (before a huge storm hit). I will say if you are staying at Portofino, we had to wait for the bus to take us to VB. This bus goes to Hard Rock as well. So even though we intended to hit VB for early hours but the bus wait and ride ate up more time than we planned. Our previous stay we were at Saphire Falls and walked to VB which was MUCH faster. To be honest, I would definitely throw in a day of water park in there cause they close earlier any way. To add, it also took a good chunk of time to return to the room (by bus of course), change…wait on the boat in order to return to the parks. So if you leave VB around 5, you can likely be at the parks by 6:30 ish for example. Hope that helps.