Portofino....La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life)....
We arrived from the overnight in New Brunswick around 11:00 AM. Alene and I played the hotel subterfuge perfectly. As I said previously, the girls thought the entire vacation would be at Cabana Bay. But, searching the hotel costs weekly, I was able to take advantage of some great rates at Portofino, our go to hotel that we've been to over 120 nights. We took the exit off of I4 that passes right by Cabana Bay. Loudly, I asked Alene to check her phone to see if the room at Cabana was ready. She said, 'nothing yet'. So, I told the girls that I was going to drive over to Portofino, the crown jewel hotel for Universal, so they could see where the VIP's and wealthy people stay. I also told them that the guests there get unlimited front of the line passes to all the rides at USF and IOA. When we turned onto the Portofino entrance road there was lots of ohs and ahhs coming from the back seat. That is really a beautiful entry with the lagoon and piazza in view. When we got to the hotel entrance, I said ,"We have lots of time. I'll park, and we can walk around the hotel grounds". We walked through the lobby, down the stairs to that fabulous piazza, and then to the balcony overlooking the fab family pool, dominated by the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. Scarlett and Layla's eyes were sparkling. Then I told them I was surprising them with the first week of vacation staying at Portofino. Instantly, the two biggest smiles I've ever seen on their faces.
We checked in (See the check in story on the Portofino hotel thread). The day hotel manager gave them a special greeting, and I bought them seasonal annual passes at the hotel ticket office. That is so quick and convenient. At Christmas I had given them Wicked and Gryffindor lanyards. Now, they knew what they were for. They put their hotel keys (express passes) on, and we were off to USF while we waited for our room to be readied. We got on the water taxi, and Layla exclaimed, "This is awesome". Their eyes were gleaming through that ride past the great landscaping and the reveal of CityWalk and USF. We rode DM Minion Mayhem, Race Through NY, Transformers, Simpsons in quick order. The girls loved all the screen rides, and rode each of them 7 or 8 times during the vacation. We then did Mummy and Gringotts. Scarlett loved them. She is really into high thrills and coasters. Layla, who doesn't like coasters, gave them a try but she said once was enough and never rode them again. The girls loved those express passes, walk on every time. Two years ago when we took them to WDW, before Disney cleaned up the disability pass fraud, the lines were mostly long in the heat. No lines at Universal were a stark difference. We had a late lunch at Mels' and then our room was ready.
We took the boat back to Portofino and the management had given us a complimentary upgrade to the larger Villa room with a private patio adjacent to the beautiful Italian Formal Pool and gardens. Our reservation was for the much less expensive standard garden view room. To our amazement, this was the same exact room that Portofino gave us as a complimentary upgrade during our past November vacation. And in the room was a huge Basket of Cheer with treats & snacks, and a nice signed welcome note from VIP coordinators Matthew Rogers and Alexa Perez.
We unpacked and the girls wanted to go to the pool immediately. We went to the pool and the four of us were the only ones in the pool, with a handful of guests lounging on the chairs. Scarlett and Layla then proceeded to make You Tube videos in the privacy of what was almost a private pool. During this stay, that pool would be like their own private oasis.
We also went to the Family Pool and they did a water slide for the first time of their lives. Evening on the piazza with two excellent Sal's pizzas, and a gelato for the girls, while the Italian singers sang. And Alene and I had a glass of wine on our private patio to finish up the evening while the girls were on their phones bragging to their friends back home. ....A truly magical day.