17 Nights at Universal Vacation

[Mad Dog]

This will be a fairly brief report, even though it was a long vacation trip. We absolutely love Universal vacations, primarily
because they are always a nice leisurely, little planning required, vacation, due to the closeness of the hotels, parks,
and CityWalk. And we love IOA and USF since there is so much to do and the attractions have an excellent repeatability factor.
So, our vacation was primarily based on the North Campus and Epic was just a side dish. I'll talk about the Epic attractions , but,
in their respective threads. I have little to add here since @Clive did such an excellent and thorough job, in his trip report, on
Epic attractions. And I, for the most part, have the same viewpoint/observations he expressed, with just a few differences.

 

[Mad Dog]

Day One:
We arrived at Portofino about 10:00 AM on Nov. 15th. We absolutely love Portofino and have spent well over 100 nights
there since 2011. Loews really knows how to run a deluxe resort. Guests come first.
I booked 6 nights back in Feb. and got a really good AP rate. With the in demand pricing, it's important to constantly check
rates. If I would have booked in Oct./Nov. the daily rate almost doubled. Anyway, I booked a garden view for the great discount.
I told the receptionist that we were going to be at Universal for 17 nights and had been to Portofino a lot. He checked my past
booking history and....surprise of surprises....gave us a complimentary updated deluxe Villa room with a patio adjacent to the beautiful
formal Italian pool. We would spend every morning breakfast/coffee on the patio and every evening with my own Chateau Pastor' wine
drinking it on the patio...with breaks on the main Piazza for the Italian singers and the Thirsty Fish bar.
We went to the room, had our usual celebratory glass of wine, unpacked....and went to the parks with our Hotel Express Pass, which is
the best value/comp in all of themeparkdom.
We rode Hagrids twice. A walk on with Express. Experienced the new debut of Botannicus at ET, and did a good number of rides at both
IOA and USF.
We came back to Portofino at dusk to catch the Italian singers show from the balcony, while we dined on the always excellent Sal's pizza.
And then drinks and live entertainment outdoors at the Thirsty Fish. The weather was a dream on our trip. 14 of the 17 days were low 80's
temps and sunny skies. Best weather, by far, we ever experienced at Orlando. The Italian singers were 'Excellent'. During our six nights at
Portofino, the service was always 'fabulous'. The resort looks great after the long refurb (that's the third since 2011) and Portofino has
returned to the glory days.

 

[Mad Dog]

Day Two:
Epic today. I scheduled a non Holiday week Sunday to encounter lower crowds. We arrived around 10:15 AM, earlier than I
originally expected. I didn't want to go too early so we could last until closing at 10:00 PM. Perfect weather again, 82 degrees
and sunny. And, yes, the park thinned out considerably after 5:30 PM, which happens most non Holiday Sundays. I wanted to
be able to judge Epic on how it performs without super long lines or uncomfortable heat. Those are the two factors that are
generally quoted by guests that didn't like their Epic day.
Days Three and Four:
IOA and USF parks, Portofino pools, and Tuesday night on the Piazza watching the Italian singers. On Monday the large (probably 40
feet or more) tree arrived on the Piazza and it was decorated. Monday night we dined at Marleys on CityWalk. We love the ambiance
and food there. Great music also. Looks like they've done some renovation since our last Marley dinner three years ago. Also, I noted
the bill has Universal Orlando Resort on it. That indicates Universal is managing this restaurant, like Pat O'Briens. Sounds like its
probably safe from the non Universal stores/restaurants/bars recent erasures from the resort. Also, on Monday we made our first stop
at the USF AP discount store. This is a great gift to passholders with it's 80% off lowest price on the merchandise. We got lucky since
they cleaned out a lot of the first Wicked movie shirts since Wicked Two was arriving that week. Our nieces and grandkids love Wicked
so we bought three bags of Wicked shirts for them plus a ton of Harry Potter stuff. Most of the Wicked stuff disappeared after that day.
Everyone was buying it.
Day Five:
IOA, USF and the Portofino pool during the day. On Weds. evening our friends Liza and Dave @Disneyhead joined us for wine
on our patio and wine and two Sal's pizzas on the Piazza with a nice show by the balcony Italian singers. Liza and Dave and me and Alene
danced on the Piazza to a few of their songs. The tree was test lit for the last time before the official lighting later in November. A 'Great'
evening with good friends, and some deep theme park, behind the scenes, discussion.