It's Supposed to be the Budget Trip April 2015 - Day 3: Hollywood Studios, mini golf and Portofino

[moosha]

Day 3 - Sunday 12th April 2015

For some reason (and I think it has something to do with the fact that my husband backed up the photos while we were out there, or rather said he had but didn't) I have barely any photos from today. I know I took more than this but sadly they are no more, so I am including every photo from today that I do have. So apologies for the lack of photos.

The alarm was set for 6 am this morning and Mat and I were still struggling to get out of our comfy bed at 6.15. Only our second morning in Florida and we couldn't wake up; I told you we didn't have jetlag this year . By this point we were regretting going to a park on arrival night. The girls stayed fast asleep while we showered and finished off the packing. We woke them at 7 ish and had to use the Raisin Bran to entice them out of bed.

We left the room at 8.10 am and drove round to Animation Hall. We didn't need to 'check out' as the room account was all settled, but we wanted to leave our luggage with Bell Services for the day before we checked in to Portofino Bay later. Bell Services is located just outside the entrance to Animation Hall to the right of the door, so we pulled up in the drop off area outside and handed over the cases, plus our bag of milk and juice to be kept in their cold storage.

Our park of choice today was Hollywood Studios which we were visiting for the second time already, and we had been here less than two days. It sounds like bad planning but I had planned which park to visit using easywdw,com's crowd calendar when it was released the previous September and all our ADRs were made in October. It was only when I made the last minute addition of adding in a park on arrival night, and choosing the Studios because of the Cinderella coach, that we ended up visiting the same park twice in quick succession (and not yet having visited the other two parks).

Hollywood Studios is the closest park to Art of Animation so it didn't take us long to get there. We arrived at 8.45 am and used the sneaky bag check to the left of the main entrance. The CM there was hilarious. He said his bag check desk was the best thing outside the park as it was free and we should appreciate it as it was Disney giving us something for free. Mat asked him if he got lonely out there by himself, and he said he didn't because he talks to himself. He said he has four different personalities and they see four different psychiatrists. This year we came across quite a few funny bag check CMs. It was certainly a good way to start the day today.

The downside of entering via this bag check right before rope drop is that when we hit the area in front of the tapstiles, it was packed and we had to walk past all those people in line, right to the back of the queues which was way back towards the main bag check. So we possibly didn't gain anything by coming round the other way. This happened a few times so didn't seem to be a one off today.

Once they started letting people enter the park, the lines seemed to be moving really slowly from where we were standing (right at the back). We were into the park about 9ish though, and walked straight round to Toy Story Mania. We entered the standby line at 9.08 am and the wait was already posted as 30 minutes. It did take pretty much 30 minutes to get on and shows that arriving at the turnstiles before 8.45 makes all the difference. If we'd made it to the ride by 9 am, we'd have been off by 9.20 ish. Still, as today was a changing hotels day, I think we'd have struggled to make it to the park any earlier. As we don't do Tower of Terror or Rock N' Rollercoaster, we didn't have to worry about those other lines getting backed up by the time we got out but I know they can have pretty long lines by 10 am.

We all loved Toy Story Mania as always and I beat my score from Friday (probably because I wasn't quite so tired).



There was no debate as to where we were heading once we were done at TSMM which was straight to our favourite breakfast place in all of WDW: Starring Rolls. It wasn't too busy luckily. The girls each had a cinnamon bun, I had my favourite, their huge apple Danish and Mat had a toasted 'everything' bagel with Philadelphia. We also got a banana for Freya. The girls and I went to get the food and grabbed a table while Mat popped over to the Starbucks (Trolley Car Cafe) to get coffee. Unfortunately (but pretty typically for a Disney park Starbucks), the line was out of the door so he gave that up as a bad job.

Everything bagel - $2.99
2 x large cinnamon bun - $6.78 total
Large apple Danish - $3.29
Bottle of water - $2.50
Banana - $1.59

Total including tax = $18.21



While we ate our breakfast we tried to plan our day using the Times Guide and our FP+ and having a discussion about which shows we'd like to fit in today. We had two more days at the Studios after this so there wasn't a desperate need to fit everything in today, and I was hoping for a fairly relaxed day. Seren really wanted to do the Animation Academy drawing class first as she had loved that last year, and Mat and I were keen to go back there too. Freya really didn't want to go as she gets really frustrated if she makes a mistake. She's a perfectionist (she gets it from me) and idea of drawing a picture without being able to rub it out or start again freaks her out. In the end she agreed to give it a go this morning as long as she could give up if it went wrong (that's the spirit ).

We headed straight over there and ended up waiting about 10 minutes for the next class. While we were waiting, the animator for our class popped by and asked the girls if they were looking forward to drawing, whether they'd been before and which characters they had drawn before. Seren and Freya went all shy for some reason so I ended up answering for them. The animator was a really sweet lady who clearly loved her job. When we got inside, she gave us a few options; whether we wanted to go with a 'classic' character, a 'Pixar' character, a 'new' character etc. A few people called out that they would like to draw a Pixar character and she gave us a few options. Woody seemed to be the most popular choice and we were happy with that as he was a bit different to the usual characters they seem to offer here.

Freya got frustrated half way through and started crying. I tried encouraging her and offered a few words of comfort, but at the same time I didn't want to get behind on my sketch which was going pretty well . I thought it was best to 'let her get on with it' and carried on with my drawing. A few moments later, Freya picked her pencil back up and started drawing again. I was really pleased with her for doing that as she'd done it off her own back, and I think in the end she was quite proud of her picture.

At the end of the class, the animator invited guests to go and show her their drawings. I told the girls to go and see her and say thank you. They took their pictures and the CM said they were very good. Then she asked the girls their names, signed her own sketch and gave it to them. They were really happy.

(I will add the drawings in soon.)

Next up was our FP+ at the Frozen sing-a-long which was a new one for us. First mission was to find the theatre. We still weren't all that familiar with the layout of the Studios and hadn't ventured down to the back of the park very many times in the past. We knew when we'd arrived though because of all the people queuing in both the FP+ line and the (hidden away) standby line. We arrived five minutes into our FP+ window and joined the FP+ line which was pretty long. A couple of CMs were passing through the queue scanning bands with a handheld scanner as there was no proper stationary scanner. Once they let us in, we ended up being two thirds of the way back in the centre seats (it's a fill every available space situation with CMs barking at you to keep moving / don't leave any seats etc.) Our seats weren't bad and it was nice to have an air-conditioned sit down. Freya was flagging again and spent some of the show sat on my lap resting and not wanting to join in. Seren and I were there though, singing along to the whole thing . Mat nodded off at the beginning and his head was nodding forward which was amusing. After a little power nap though he was awake and present.

I think we all had high expectations of the Frozen sing-a-long because we're all big Frozen fans and we were also excited about seeing something new. And we were all impressed, especially me. I think you can almost tell that the show was part of the last minute cobbled together Frozen summer events last year (the inflatable ice fractals on the stage for example) and it would be better if the songs were performed live on stage rather than the film clips but it was so funny and I think the quality of the songs they have to work with means they're always going to be onto a winner. It was lovely to see Kristoff too, as he is rather hot. The Elsa really annoyed both Mat and I with her movements and the way she spoke. She just didn't have the character right at all. Unfortunately we saw the same Elsa in all three shows we watched during the holiday.

I mentioned how funny the show was already but it really was hilarious. The two citizens of Arendelle were so funny, and this particular guy and girl were the funniest combination we saw out of the three. How funny the show is will obviously depend greatly on them and these two just got it right. There's obviously a script but some of the performers seemed to ignore some of the jokes or add in a few of their own. At one point during this particular show, the man obviously said something unexpected because the woman ended up laughing and announcing that what he'd said 'wasn't in the script.' The next time we watched the show we had the same funny lady but the guy wasn't funny, and the third time, the guy was funny but the woman wasn't.

I'll admit that I cried a bit during the first version of Let It Go. To be fair, that song has reduced me to tears just listening to it in the car, and I don't even particularly like it all that much . But listening to everyone in the theatre just really getting into singing it together got me again. When they did the reprise complete with 'falling snow', Freya jumped up as she loved getting covered in the foam.

When we came out of the theatre there was a real bottleneck as people were coming out and just stopping dead, hanging around to contemplate their next move. I'm not a big fan of that sort of situation so we quickly moved as far away as necessary to regroup where it was quieter. I wonder whether, now the show has moved to its new home in the last couple of weeks, a smoother quicker exit might be one of the benefits of the new theatre. I don't know the Hyperion Theater well enough to know whether this is the case as we never went to watch the American Idol show, but I hope so.

We decided to go for an early lunch and the plan was Backlot Express. I don't think I had eaten here since the early nineties but we all liked it. The outdoor seating area was cool and quiet and I liked the props and the mix of different tables and chairs. Mat and Seren went in to get the food and came back with roasted vegetable sandwiches and fries for the adults and kids' power packs and fries each for the girls. Bless him but not exactly sticking to the idea of a 'budget trip.' I think the power packs are quite good though; they contained a bag of carrots, a bag of apple slices, goldfish crackers, an oatmeal cookie and a yogurt (which the girls couldn't eat as it contained gelatine). I think if you're kids aren't fussy this is a good little snack lunch, but neither of the girls liked the goldfish crackers and only Freya liked the cookie, so they both basically ate the carrots, apple and half their fries which they both declared too salty.



The roasted vegetable sandwich was a winner with both Mat and I although it was quite salty and had quite a strong herby flavour which wasn't a problem for us but might put some people off. While we were eating, we could hear the Indiana Jones stunt show just the other side of the fence and we could see the sets rotating which was novel. We wanted to make a move before the show kicked out and we got stuck in more bottleneck crowds, and luckily we beat them out.

2 x veggie sandwich - $18.98 total
2 x side of fries - $5.98 total
2 x kids' power pack - $10.98 total
2 x kids' low fat milk - included with the power packs
2 x bottle of water - $5.00 total
Diet Coke - $2.99

Total including tax = $46.47

We had Toy Story Mania FastPass+es next (12.15 - 1.15 pm) so we headed over there and entered the FP+ line at about 12.50. The standby wait was only 55 minutes at this point which proved to me that it was a recommended day. Unfortunately my score went down from this morning.



You may recall in yesterday's report that I mentioned how much time we spend in restrooms during park days, and that we have preferred and less recommended restrooms in the theme parks. At Magic Kingdom we are very clear on our favourite three or four restrooms, and our least favourite. At Hollywood Studios, we are yet to find some restrooms that we're particularly enthused about visiting. Probably the best of a bad bunch are the ones between the old American Idol theater and the Great Movie Ride, the Toy Story Mania ones and the ones between the old American Idol theatre and Jedi Training. Suffice to say we spend a fair amount of time in each of these today and during our other two visits to Hollywood Studios. Our least recommended restrooms at DHS are the tiny ones to the right of the Tower of Terror entrance, and the ones half way along Sunset Boulevard on the same side of the road that you have to go up a slope to enter. Both of these restrooms are tiny and always seem to have a queue, which is not great when there are three female members of your family all in need of 'the bathroom'. As I've said before, I also like to pick my cubicle carefully based on cleanliness and don't like having to use the next available one when in a line.

After Toy Story Mania it was time to use our final FP+ of the day which was Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Our FP+ time was 1.15 - 1.35 pm and the show was at 1.45 pm. The last few times we've seen this, we've not been all that impressed as the effects (those that still work; some of the lasers today were not functioning properly) are pretty outdated. We still always watch it because we love The Little Mermaid, but it could surely use an update. And today we had to put up with my biggest pet hate at this show: Ariel over-singing during Part of Your World. The Ariels tend to over enunciate which really gets on my nerves. I'd like to hear someone sing it as simply as Jodi Benson does on the original soundtrack.

Anyway, today I had bigger issues during the show. Freya was tired (again) and wanted to sit on my lap which was lovely, I'll always grab a snuggle with my girls whenever I can especially now they're getting bigger. We were enjoying a nice little cuddle before the show started but she kept pressing her head against mine, and her hair kept catching my earring. I asked her to move her head because I was worried about losing my earring. She did it a few more times and then only about one minute into the show, her hair pulled my earring out . I managed to save the back, but the earring was nowhere to be seen. Obviously it was dark in there but I couldn't see it on the floor in front of our seats and it hadn't fallen into our laps. These were my favourite earrings which Mat had bought me for Christmas and I was gutted. I sat there for the rest of the show holding onto the earring back, peering down at the floor and planning that as soon as the doors opened, I would get down on my hands and knees to find it. We were in the very end seats of the row so would be holding up everyone else waiting to exit so I knew I'd have to be quick. So you could say I wasn't really concentrating on the show very much today and I just wanted it to be over.

When the performance finally finished and the doors opened, I jumped up and looked under my chair and luckily the earring was right there. Phew .

It was time for us to leave the Studios for the day as today was always planned to be a half day at the park. As we walked back towards the exit we picked up some ice creams from a cart on Hollywood Boulevard by the turning to Sunset Boulevard. Seren and I chose strawberry fruit bars which we both love, and Freya had a Mickey Premium bar. Mat isn't a big ice cream fan so he went to Starbucks to get an iced coffee while the three of us hovered under one of the shop canopies on Hollywood Boulevard and watched the Citizens of Hollywood performing some (slightly odd) little sketch in the middle of the street. It was very hot and the ice creams were melting very quickly so we all ended up in a bit of a mess.

We left the park, went back to the car and drove to Fantasia Gardens mini golf. We love mini golf at Disney but have only previously played at Winter Summerland so we were determined to try Fantasia Gardens this year. We checked in and they told us there was a 45 minute wait for the Gardens course (the easier of the two courses). This threw us a bit as we'd never had to wait at Winter Summerland, and we still had quite a bit to do today (checking in at our next hotel and we also had dinner booked). But we were here now and the lady said they were moving through the wait list quite quickly, so we sat at one of the benches near the reception desk and waited. She said they would call us over the tannoy when they were ready for us.There were a good few parties waiting in front of us so we were fully expecting to wait the 45 minutes.

We bought a couple of drinks from the little shop and chilled out while we waited. There was some kerfuffle on the street outside Fantasia Gardens as it appeared there had been a minor collision involving two cars. The driver of one had walked up to the reception desk at the course to borrow a phone, and there was briefly some drama as Reedy Creek Security, then their Fire Department then a sheriff or policeman all arrived to assist. Eventually the two drivers had a friendly discussion and everyone left and we went back to waiting.

The tee time we had been given was 3.35 pm. At 3.40 Mat went back to the desk to find out what was going on as they had most definitely sent a party onto the course before us who had arrived after us. The woman acted as though it was our fault for not approaching the desk sooner, when we knew they had not actually called us before :angry:. She sent us onto the course anyway, giving us our clubs. We chose our coloured balls and were finally on our way. The Garden course was really good and it was nice to do a different course than what we were used to at Winter Summerland. Mat and Seren said they preferred it to Winter Summerland, but I still like WS better. Because it was so busy, we were catching up to the party in front the entire time and the party behind us were catching up to us. That's my least favourite part of mini golf; feeling like you have to rush when you have people right up your backside :angry:.











At about 4.40 pm, we still had two holes left to play, but two or three parties in front of us were taking ages to play this particular tricky hole, so we decided to quit the course and told the girls we would come back another day when we didn't have to rush so much (which we never did).

I do obviously need to mention though that as of when we left I was winning big style (I was on 48, with Mat on 60, Seren on 74 and Freya on a whopping 86. Par for this course was 53 so my score so far was pretty good, I think ).

We drove back to Art of Animation, and pulled up in front of the main entrance again to collect our bags from Luggage Services. Unfortunately the plastic clip connecting Freya's neck pillow to her rucksack had snapped while AoA had been in charge of the bags. It was only a cheap Primark pillow so it didn't really matter but it was a bit annoying as the pillow didn't fit in her bag and had no way of being attached now, which meant it had to be carried separately.

We got back on the road, a bit concerned about travelling up the I4 at rush hour, but luckily our exit for Portofino Bay came just before the standstill traffic we could see ahead of us. Driving into the resort offers a great view of the piazza and harbour and we were all very impressed with our very first glimpse of the hotel exterior. It looked just as good as it had in photos, and made us more excited about staying there.

We pulled up in front of the reception area and a not-very-friendly front-of-house staff member came over to the car. We told him we were checking in and he said we could stop there for 10 minutes if we left the keys in the car. Unfortunately there was no friendly welcome and I felt a little uncomfortable about leaving all our luggage and car in his 'care' but we all went inside anyway. Surely we aren't the only ones who are more trusting on holiday than we would be at home? I would never hand over my car keys and luggage to a random stranger here.

Anyway, we walked inside the hotel into the lobby area and... well, I had a mixed reaction. If you've been following my reports you'll know I'm quite a tricky hotel customer and my love (or otherwise) of a hotel is very much affected by how I feel about the 'theming.' So, in 2014 the Wilderness Lodge left me cold and I put that largely down to being completely unaffected and unimpressed by the theme and decor (and yes, I know I'm in the minority here). Yet, Cabana Bay Beach Resort really impressed and I fell in love with the place mainly because of the decor and theming. Art of Animation was a winner and (spoiler alert), later on in the trip, the Hard Rock Hotel went down very well on first impressions too. But Portofino Bay both won me over and didn't at the same time. The lobby and lounge were a bit too grand, formal and 'stuffy' but I liked the more 'Italian' feeling elements of the public spaces, like the little cobbled 'street' inside the lobby and most definitely the outdoor piazza / harbor and the courtyard piazza, which were both spectacular. So far the big downer was the unfriendly welcome, and the reception clerk we spoke to when we checked in wasn't a whole lot more hospitable than the guy had been outside. I have to say that the staff at Portofino Bay weren't great overall unfortunately and I know other Dibbers have had similar experiences when they've stayed here too.

I asked her if we were able to pick up our Expedia park tickets at the hotel, telling her we hadn't been able to on our previous visit to Cabana Bay the year before. She said we could pick them up from the park tickets desk just along the corridor, which I still very much doubted, and when I wandered along to check, the guy said no, we'd have to go to the ticket desk at Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure. It wasn't all that reassuring that I knew more about park ticket collection than a check-in agent at Universal Orlando's flagship hotel.

Mat went to park the car while the girls and I waited for him in the lobby. The guys outside arranged for our luggage to be sent up and we took the (quite long-winded) route to our room. We had to take an elevator from the lobby to the harbour piazza, then walk across the harbour piazza to the entrance to the West Wing and take a second elevator to the third floor to our room, number 3334. We don't mind walking and having to take this route each time we needed to go to the lobby or back to our car didn't bother us much apart from when it was raining and there was no avoiding the trek across the harbour piazza. Luckily, the entrance to the West Wing was right by the boat dock to catch a boat to the parks and CityWalk, and close to the start of the walking path which led there too.

We were really impressed with the room when we got up there. It was massive (especially in comparison to our very cosy Art of Animation room). The beds were huge and the decor was luxurious.





The bathroom was massive. I wish I had a photo of the entire bathroom as this one doesn't do it justice. It was like one of those big bathrooms you see in huge American houses on TV, and yet this was just a standard Portofino Bay room.





The big bathroom meant that a few of us could get ready at the same time, and it never felt too hot in there or got steamed up after a shower like those tiny Disney bathrooms do where you step out of the shower and just want to escape to the vanity area to get some air (or is that just me)? We had a view of some trees and the edge of the swimming pool but couldn't really see a lot as the window was small and the trees were quite overbearing.

So my overall review of Portofino Bay is that there is a lot of stunning scenery and the rooms are lovely and big, but the staff were mostly not very accommodating or friendly, and we also noticed that the level of housekeeping wasn't great. For example there were cup rings on the desk which stayed there the entire time, and big ketchup (I hope) splashes on the desk lamp that really can't be justified in an expensive, deluxe hotel like this. As we have before at Cabana Bay and Wilderness Lodge, we had to ask for the floor to be vacuumed after two or three nights as it really bugs me that it doesn't seem to be part of the general housekeeping service at these hotels.

By the time we were settled in the room and our luggage had arrived, it was nearly 6 pm. I suggested that we move our 7.30 pm Margaritaville reservation to another night because we needed to go over and collect our park tickets from Universal Studios tonight so that we could crack on with early entry tomorrow morning without being slowed down by having to pick up the tickets. I think the Studios was open until 8 tonight but I felt it would be a rush to get ready for dinner, head over to Guest Relations and then still be at Margaritaville by 7.30. When I'd planned today, I'd expected us to arrive at Portofino Bay by around 4 pm but the wait at mini golf had really slowed us down.

We were surprised that there was no fridge in the room so having stored our milk and juice all day in Art of Animation's cold storage, we now had to down what we could and chuck the rest which was annoying. From then on we were reliant on ice from the ice machine down the corridor for cold water, and we bought cold milk each morning from the hotel shop or Starbucks for the girls' cereal.

We also had a problem with our room safe. There was no power to it at all so we called down and were told a maintenance guy would be right up. The guy came up and fitted a new battery. When he had left, Mat tried to set up a code for us to use it, but found the safe was still locked from the previous guest. He called back and was told someone would come out again. This time it took longer, and Mat asked if it could be done while we were out as by this time we were all showered and ready to go out, but they said we needed to be in the room because it was a security / safe related issue.

Eventually, a guy came in and reset the code and we were good to go. By now it was threatening rain and since there was no sign of the boat at the boat dock, we decided to test out the walking path to the parks / CityWalk. Just as we started walking, it started raining lightly so we walked quickly. The path was pretty sheltered though so we didn't get very wet, although we did almost get run over by a couple of those Surrey bikes that transport guests between the resort hotels and the parks for tips. They're very speedy even with a few tourists on board!

The walking path is very pretty and it only took us about 10 minutes to walk from Portofino Bay to the end of the path, which is just outside the Universal Studios arch. We passed the Hard Rock hotel on the way, which looked lovely and is so close to Universal Studios. At the end of the path is a solitary security guy checking guests' bags if they've approached CityWalk and the parks this way. We had our bags checked a couple of times here over the few days we were here, but at least once, when we arrived at the checkpoint at the same time as quite a few other people, the guy wasn't able to stop a few parties passing without being checked. Some of the staff were better than others at making sure people didn't just walk past while he had his head in someone else's bag. Maybe they should have two members of staff out here to ensure a more thorough search, like it is at the entrance to CityWalk from the parking garage and bus / taxi drop off.

Once our bags were checked, we walked over to Guest Relations or Will Call or Ticket Sales or whatever the kiosk is called just outside the Universal Studios entrance. We've always collected our park tickets from the one at Islands of Adventure before so this was a new experience. The previous two occasions that we've done this, it has been frustratingly slow with a long wait and then a faffy process to be given the tickets. This time we only waited a minute or two in line, but the same long-winded process still took place whereby I had to write everyone's names down on a post-it note for the Team Member to be able to put them on the tickets. We buy 14 day two park hoppers every time from Expedia to get the cashback from topcashback.co.uk and I wonder why they don't ask you to input each guest's name at the point of purchase so they can just press a button and print them out when you arrive...surely there is a more efficient way of generating these tickets.

We didn't mind the hanging around too much tonight though as we were listening to a fantastic conversation at the next window between a British guy and the poor Team Member he was harassing. If this was a Dibber, then I admire your cheekiness but we couldn't really believe he was trying it on like he was. To be fair he did start with 'I need to ask you a question and I think I already know the answer... ' He was holding two park tickets in his hand; his own and his son's. He told the Team Member that his son had had to go back to the hotel because he was really ill, but that the man himself wanted to go back into the park to get some merchandise from Diagon Alley for the son before they went home the next day. He said his wife (who was standing next to him) didn't have a ticket and he needed her help to make the purchases, so (you've guessed it) could she use his son's ticket please? He was very persistent, saying 'We'll go straight to the shop and back' (obviously not going to take in any rides while they were in there with about an hour until close). She told him that most of the Harry Potter merchandise was available from the Universal Studios shop in CityWalk but he was adamant that the thing he needed to buy was only available from Diagon Alley. He asked if she could 'go and speak to someone' and eventually she said she was 'going to check something' which he took to mean she was going to run to her manager who was most definitely going to break the 'tickets are not transferable' rule for him. As she walked off, she laughed at the idea that she was going to do that for him. Unfortunately we had our tickets by this point (why couldn't it have taken even longer to print them out this time!) so we moved away and never found out what happened but I'm willing to bet that he didn't get his way. Quite right too.

With our tickets in hand, it was so tempting to suggest we quickly nip into the park for a sneaky ride or two, and the girls were whining that they wanted to do that without me even vocalising it. Luckily the light rain we'd experienced on our walk to the park had disappeared, but it had been a long day and we were all hungry. We contemplated walking round to somewhere like Bubba Gumps but fancied a quicker, more chilled out option so decided to walk back to the hotel and try out the pizza at Sal's Market Deli on the harbour piazza. I'd planned for us to have a chilled out meal here one night during our stay and having moved Margaritaville, tonight seemed like the right night.

Even when I wrote my notes a couple of days after, I couldn't remember whether we had walked back or taken the boat. So we did one or the other and ended up back at the harbour piazza pretty soon after we set off. Sal's Market Deli is a really cute little place. We ordered a primavera pizza for Mat and I to share and a kids' cheese pizza for each of the girls (Freya's white, Seren's with tomato sauce). We also ordered some garlic breadsticks, Mat had a Peroni and I had a glass of Cabernet. I got some bottles of water out of the fridge to take to the counter for the girls and when I went to pay for them, the nice lady behind the counter pointed out that they have free tap water, so I put the bottles back and we each got some tap water. See, it was a budget trip .

They gave us a pager once we'd paid and we went and found a table outside. The tables closest to the restaurant were either taken or needed clearing, and a nice staff member came over to clear one for us, but it was wobbly so we moved a bit further from the restaurant where it was quieter and a bit nicer. It took quite a while for the pager to go off, but we were having a lovely time chatting and taking in the pretty surroundings . The sky was looking a bit dodgy and we could see lightning off in the distance, but we were quite happy to sit there until any potential 'inclement weather' chased us off.

The pizzas were worth the wait, they were delicious. The garlic breadsticks weren't very garlicky, they just tasted of bread so were a bit of a waste of money. When we'd finished our food, the girls were still after one of the chocolate chip cookies they'd seen inside.

2 x garlic bread - $9.98 total
2 x kids' cheese pizzas - $13.90 total
Large primavera pizza - $14.99
Bottle of Peroni - $6.50
Glass of Cabernet - $7.50

Total including tax = $56.31

We got them a cookie each ($2.25 each) and took them over to the Thirsty Fish bar across the piazza as we quite fancied a cocktail before bed.



We sat down at a table outside, the girls tucked into their cookies and Mat went in to order our cocktails. By the time he came out it had started to rain, so we moved inside the bar as all the covered seats outdoors were already taken. The inside of the bar was empty, and we found a cosy table with sofas. The girls had some water and cracked on with some colouring they had brought out with them while we sipped our cocktails.



I had ordered a mojito which is usually my favourite cocktail but this one was too sweet so I swapped with Mat and had his Tuscan Limoni (Absolut Citron vodka, limoncello, sour and muddled raspberries). It was really tasty as I always find his drinks are, even though I would usually never order the ones he picks.



Once we were all done, we headed back up to our room (the door to the West Wing elevators was very close to the Thirsty Fish Bar) but I think it had just about stopped raining by then anyway. We put the girls to bed then unpacked completely and went to bed around 11.30pm.

Day 4 is here.

[dixonsontour]

Lots done . I'm shocked the hotel didn't have a fridge - even the basic rooms have them at cabana bay.

[Tartan Tigger]

Your room at Portifino Bay looks lovely.

[Zomax25]

Lovely day! I found the Universal hotel (RPR) so much more basic than our basic hotel room for the airport, but it was incredibly cheap for 3 adults and two children plus FOL passes and the proximity to the fab restaurants at City Walk made it a really good overall experience.

[Redrach1903]

Hmm your breakfast from Starring Rolls looked super tasty!

I am so glad you found your earring! I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the show either!

Love Disney Mini Golf We are looking forward to doing more with Jake this year as we normally do Fairways cos Chris is such a golf enthusiast!

Hmm shame your experience when checking at PB wasn’t great. That really doesn’t set you up for a good time does it! Boo!

Hahaha the cheek of that couple! And they just left their sick son in the hotel room while they tried to blag their way in?! What a weird story! Haha!

Great read! xx

[Davy Crockett]

Cabana Bay looks amazing. I was impressed with HRH last year but that looks fantastic.

[collybird]

You definitely don't anticipate a 45 minute wait for mini golf. Does Fantasia Gardens have its own car park? We are picking our car up from the Alamo desk at the Dolphin and we were (well I was) thinking of popping to Fantasia Gardens afterwards.

I can't believe there wasn't a fridge! I think you end up spending a fortune when you don't have one (which is probably their plan!).

It's so frustrating that Portofino wasn't what you expected, I'm inclined to favour Cabana Bay myself as the bright theming really appeals to me (I love the Disney values). Although I do love the look of the rooms at the Hard Rock and the Express passes benefits.

[caj]

We prefer fantasia gardens! Did any of the buckets get you?

[moosha]

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Lots done . I'm shocked the hotel didn't have a fridge - even the basic rooms have them at cabana bay.

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I know . We couldn't believe it either . Thanks for reading and commenting .

Originally Posted by Tartan Tigger

Your room at Portifino Bay looks lovely.

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Thank you . It was a lovely big room, probably the best of the three we stayed in in Florida this year. The bathroom was my favourite part. I just wish the housekeeping had been a bit better.

Originally Posted by Zomax25

Lovely day! I found the Universal hotel (RPR) so much more basic than our basic hotel room for the airport, but it was incredibly cheap for 3 adults and two children plus FOL passes and the proximity to the fab restaurants at City Walk made it a really good overall experience.

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Thanks. That does sound like a really good deal. This time next year we'll have stayed at all of the Universal hotels except RPR, I don't know why that one's never appealed but definitely worth considering based on what you've said .

Originally Posted by Davy Crockett

Cabana Bay looks amazing. I was impressed with HRH last year but that looks fantastic.

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Thanks for reading. Those photos are from Portofino Bay , bit confusing that they have two hotels that end in Bay .

Originally Posted by collybird

You definitely don't anticipate a 45 minute wait for mini golf. Does Fantasia Gardens have its own car park? We are picking our car up from the Alamo desk at the Dolphin and we were (well I was) thinking of popping to Fantasia Gardens afterwards.

I can't believe there wasn't a fridge! I think you end up spending a fortune when you don't have one (which is probably their plan!).

It's so frustrating that Portofino wasn't what you expected, I'm inclined to favour Cabana Bay myself as the bright theming really appeals to me (I love the Disney values). Although I do love the look of the rooms at the Hard Rock and the Express passes benefits.

See more...

Hello you

No, when you're on a packed schedule, turning up at mini golf to be told there's a 45 minute wait is not part of the plan . Yes, there is a car park at Fantasia Gardens. Even though the courses were busy, there were still plenty of spaces in the car park. A lot of people seemed to be walking there from the Boardwalk though, which we might do next year when we're at the Beach Club .

It's a shocker that there was no fridge . Like you say, you end up spending more. We had to buy small cartons of milk for the girls' cereal from the shop downstairs or Starbucks which obviously would cost more than a big bottle from the supermarket. I think a couple of days we couldn't be bothered with the hassle so bought something in the parks instead. We also bought more cold water in the parks, which like you say, is probably their plan. And you have to be more organised and think in advance about when you'll need ice / cold drinks. We did buy a polystyrene cooler while we were there which we thought was the answer but it leaked all over the bathroom floor :

Yep, my heart is still at Cabana Bay, as you'll see when we popped back to re-visit the place while at Universal. I'm so with you on the theming. And I agree about HRH which is why we're staying there next year (I think that may have been a bit of a spoiler for the new pre-trip...oops .

Thanks as always for reading and commenting Colette .

Originally Posted by caj

We prefer fantasia gardens! Did any of the buckets get you?

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One of the buckets got Freya and one got Mat . Oh how we laughed . Thanks for reading and commenting.

[moosha]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Hmm your breakfast from Starring Rolls looked super tasty!

I am so glad you found your earring! I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the show either!

Love Disney Mini Golf We are looking forward to doing more with Jake this year as we normally do Fairways cos Chris is such a golf enthusiast!

Hmm shame your experience when checking at PB wasn’t great. That really doesn’t set you up for a good time does it! Boo!

Hahaha the cheek of that couple! And they just left their sick son in the hotel room while they tried to blag their way in?! What a weird story! Haha!

Great read! xx

See more...

Sorry Rachael, my multi-quote post missed you out .

You can't beat Starring Rolls in my opinion .

Thanks, I couldn't really believe my earring was right there in full view when I looked on the floor. I'd had visions of scrabbling around for it and slowing down the next performance only to come away empty handed.

Mini golf will be great this year for you when you have Jake and the two of you can take it a bit less seriously than Chris .

You do over-hear some funny conversations on holiday don't you? I couldn't believe those blaggers either. Very strange .

Thanks as always for reading and commenting xx