Pre-Trip Welcome to my life, theres no turning back...

Even while I sleep...
They will find me...
Acting on my best behavior!!!



Now, let's get to the good part! We are going on a trip! But not WDW...*gasp!!!

We are going to the land that the hard core pixie dusters won't mention or speak of. Kinda like saying Valdermorts name in a Harry Potter movie.

Ok, was that enough of a hint? If not, we are going to Universal Studios (Orlando)!

Who is going?

First up we have your favorite trip reporters favorite trip reporter, the prognosticator of prognosticators, the peoples champ, the white tee v neck president, your boy, 9000!

Joining me will be my perfectly well mannered wife, C!

Where: Loews Portifino Bay

When: that's proprietary, but I've stored the info on a document and placed it next to a sports car in a garage which is more secure than Fort Knox (I couldn't help myself).

More details to come.

 

[amjt660]

Looking forward to this!!


Max

 

[Katiekitten]

I'm here and ready for this report!

 

[fractal]

Let's go baby!

 

[Loco_driver]

Nice! Portifino is a great hotel!

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Laurenciaa]

Are you... like branching out? Are you and C OK?

Jussst kidding ENJOY!

..

Also wondering if Universal/Portofino Bay are selling Pandora charms...

 

[wdisney9000]

Are you... like branching out? Are you and C OK?

Jussst kidding ENJOY!

..

Also wondering if Universal/Portofino Bay are selling Pandora charms...

We've had APs at USO for 2 years now and we need to actually use them, lol.

And trust me, if there are Pandora charms nearby, C will sniff them out like a bloodhound

 

[littleroo]

I am in and definitely look forward to your honest thoughts of US!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Can’t wait to check out your report especially the Jurassic Park parts!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Cannot wait to hear what you think of Universal as we are there in September for our first week.

 

[wdisney9000]

I am in and definitely look forward to your honest thoughts of US!

Cannot wait to hear what you think of Universal as we are there in September for our first week.

We had our first visit in October of 2021 and we had so much fun on our first day that we upgraded to annual passes!

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[Bullseye1967]

In before the title change!

 

[wdisney9000]

*Tempted to report for misspelling in title*

Wow. I didn't even notice that. It truly was not intentional. As always, thank you for having my back.

You can only imagine what C has to deal with on a daily basis in regards to my mishaps

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It's not a Disney trip but it's your trip report so I'll follow....

 

[wdisney9000]

As I mentioned prior, we visited USO in Oct of 2021 for 2 days before we went over to WDW and we really had a great time at the resort and the parks and we ended up getting AP's.

Fun fact: I puke in my mouth when people call it , "Uni".

We stayed at Loews Royal Pacific (club level) and it was a great experience and the resort was very relaxing and just a short walk the parks.

Just to be clear, this trip to Universal is not about "fighting with our wallet" against Disney World. Even though Disney has gotten a bit silly with the Genie Plus prices and ILL and the most annoying thing for us has been and continues to be park reservations and not being able to park hop until 2 pm.

We still love Disney and our next trip is in the planning phases, so fret not.

What we are looking forward to, in regards to Universal is having the ability to be more spontaneous and also enjoying the Express Pass that is included with staying at Portifino.

I see a lot people on these forums defend the price of Genie Plus and ILL against Express Pass for free at Loews resorts by claiming that the rooms are ridiculously overpriced but I don't see that to be the case.

We got our room at Portifino, which is a club level room for the roughly the same price as as we got for club level at Wilderness Lodge. And it's definitely cheaper than a non club level room at Polynesian or Grand Floridian.

And considering that Express Pass is included for both of us, it's definitely a better price than what we would spend on Genie Plus each day for a WDW trip amd Express Pass doesn't require constantly being on your phone to attempt to find another selection. You just go to whichever attraction you like.

 

[wdisney9000]

We had seriously considered adding a few days at the end of the trip to head over to WDW because we are eager to check out Tron and C really likes the Snow White merchandise at Flower and Garden.

In the end, we both agreed that it would be better to really take our time amd explore Universal more and discover new things and hopefully find some favorite spots like we have at WDW such as Baseline Taphouse, Bar Riva, Rose and Thorn, etc.

Cocina Mexicana is a newer location that looks.to be a good QS location amd we are excited to check it out. Same for Toothsome and a few spots on City Walk.

The club level lounge at Portifino definitely looks nice as well.

I'll definitely be sharing food pics once we're there!

 

[wdisney9000]

Shifting gears back to WDW. We are planning a trip hopefully in May to head back down and check out Tron and F&G.

I'm training a service k9 for a family that visits WDW multiple times a year and I will be taking the dog down to do some actual training in the parks.

On my recent solo trip to WDW in January, I did some research to learn more about procedures for working dogs at the parks such as where the dogs are kenneled when you ride certain attractions and which attractions the dog can actually go on.

I've trained other working dogs whose families took them to WDW but this will be my first trip actually taking a dog there myslef and I'm really looking forward to it, and also the looks I'll get from people who will judge me for having a dog there. And to be fair, who can blame them? We've all seen the phony "service dogs" at the parks.

Im hoping that some CM's and guests will actually see a true working dog behaving and acting appropriately and give some credit to the real dogs out there!

Here's a picture of her (Zelda)

And she actually looks just like Prince Eric's dog from Little Mermaid

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Shifting gears back to WDW. We are planning a trip hopefully in May to head back down and check out Tron and F&G.

I'm training a service k9 for a family that visits WDW multiple times a year and I will be taking the dog down to do some actual training in the parks.

On my recent solo trip to WDW in January, I did some research to learn more about procedures for working dogs at the parks such as where the dogs are kenneled when you ride certain attractions and which attractions the dog can actually go on.

I've trained other working dogs whose families took them to WDW but this will be my first trip actually taking a dog there myslef and I'm really looking forward to it, and also the looks I'll get from people who will judge me for having a dog there. And to be fair, who can blame them? We've all seen the phony "service dogs" at the parks.

Im hoping that some CM's and guests will actually see a true working dog behaving and acting appropriately and give some credit to the real dogs out there!

Here's a picture of her (Zelda)

View attachment 710670View attachment 710670

And she actually looks just like Prince Eric's dog from Little Mermaid

View attachment 710671

It should be interesting to hear how your training of a dog in the park goes. What rides do they get to go? My husband and I have often discusses which rides our dogs would actually like going on if we could take them there (which we won't because they aren't service dogs).

And you'll have to take picture of Zelda in front of Prince Eric's castle in Fantasyland, she looks like his dog for sure.