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Old 15 Jun 19, 11:18 PM  
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bootsie
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Join Date: Feb 15
Thou Shalt Not Cram May 2019 Day 10 Portofino & Universal

Oh no we are in double digits now

Our tenth day of precious holiday time started with another early alarm and after our self inflicted (but totally worth it) late night we were not feeling fresh. I think knowing we had to get up early had stopped me sleeping well so I only had a few hours kip - not a good basis for a long day at Universal. We got coffee and "packed" meaning we thoughtlessly threw things in our suitcase. We checked out of the Rosen Inn and called an uber to Portofino I was so excited for this. When we arrived at 7.30am I wasn't sure it was even the right place as it was just so beautiful more that I had imagined! We checked in and were pleased to find out our room was already free so that was handy. It was a fair walk from reception but actually we had a really good room right by the water taxi (but not on the side facing it) and near the pool too. The room was to die for it was just amazing my photos do not do it justice, it was complete luxury. We dumped out bags and went to get a water taxi for early entry.







I must admit we were not on form today, we were tired and I felt a bit on edge today probably from lack of sleep and the anticipation of moving hotels. We thought that early entry meant the whole park was open and didn't realise that it was only Diagon Alley. So unlike all those in the know we were wandering around taking photos while everyone else streamed towards Gringotts.





By the time we got to Gringotts it was a 45 min wait, the crowd around the lockers was mental and they don't allow express pass until 9am. Opps rookie error on my part as I hadn't known this! We both felt a bit frustrated about it. We walked round and took some photos while we thought about what to do before sacking it off, moving out of Diagon Alley (which was heaving) and wait for the rest of the park to open.









Proof that Jono can always make me laugh even when I am over tired and a tad grumpy at messing up our morning plan:


We got a locker for the Mummy ride (can we just take a moment to mention how much we both HATE having to use the lockers all the time! ) then we queued up in the express lane waiting for 9am. We both love this ride even if it is perhaps showing its age now! We then went onto Transformers which was a walk on with Express and it was a great ride I forgot how good this is! Bumblebee was outside too.



By now we were both really hungry so we went to the Today cafe near the entrance as I knew they did vegan options. I had a vegan elderberry croissant which was really nice, Jono had a very non-vegan ham and egg sandwich he said it was good.





Jono has specifically requested that I pass on his review of the Universal staff - it is fair to say we had really poor customer service nearly everywhere we went at Universal. This time in particular the waitress came towards us with the food we said thank you and she went "uh huh" and pretty much threw the plate across the table. We still joke about it now and sometimes I give Jono his tea in the same way it seemed too strange to even be true! But yes I have been asked to mention in this trip report that unfortunately almost every member of staff we met seemed miserable and in some cases plain rude.

Anyway enough about that we had some breakfast and went to become a minion! How cute is this ride! The wait was 65 mins and it took 35 with express. Jono thought express would be like FP where you are pretty much straight on, but obviously Universal don't know when all the guests with express pass will choose to get in line where as Disney do. Also yes FP is quicker but Express is unlimited. Express was invaluable this week as it was much busier than we remembered and last time we came on a weekend as well.





Today the plan was to hit as many rides as possible until we flaked out. After turning into a minion we went on Race Through New York I really liked the queuing system, I'd queue just for the rag time gals personally. The ride was good, not our favourite but I don't think it is anyones haha! We then went on Fast & Furious, I already knew this got pretty poor reviews so we lowered our expectations. The wait times were really misleading, it said 10 mins standby but it took twice that long in Express line. We didn't think the ride was too bad but definitely not worth a long wait.





By now it was HOT and BUSY. We went round to MIB which we both loved - those cars spin round so quickly! As is usual Jono won. We then went to Simpsons which was good as well. By now it was 1pm, we were hot and hungry. I wanted to go to Monsters Cafe for their vegan jackfruit burger. We found it very busy with a long queue and it didn't move quickly. When we eventually got food there was only one till open so it took ages to pay as well. When we did eat I thought the food was nice, Jono wasn't as keen.



We were so hot and ate too quickly so we felt a bit sick after our meal. We had probably done too many simulator rides in a short space of time as well, they do tend to make Jono feel queasy. I still wanted to push on with our day of lots of rides although in hindsight we probably should have had a mid day break now and come back in later. Jono thought we should walk to IOA but I really wanted to get the train as we found out you can use Express on it and the train is a ride in itself! It was a long and boring wait for the train but we really like the ride itself.







We had a quick look round a very busy Hogsmede and then went to Forbidden Journey I think this might be my favourite ride ever! Again we had to mess about with lockers which are in such a silly position but this wouldn't be so bad if huge groups didn't take up the space when they could easily send one person in!? Anyway the Express queue was insanely quick we pretty much walked on and standby said over an hour so I thought that was great going. In my opinion it was worth having Express just for this. Wow I love this ride so much!





By now we were exhausted and couldn't face another ride but I'm glad we had made it onto Forbidden Journey. We had a slow walk back to the entrance stopping for sweets in Seuss Landing. I was worried at the time that we were wasting an afternoon with Express pass, really I should have called it a day earlier and planned to come back into the parks about 6pm. I hadn't realised how quiet it got later on. Thinking about it we had actually got on loads of rides though.

W went back to the most beautiful hotel ever for a rest and then hit the pool. The pool area was amazing. It was very busy with almost no free sun loungers and maybe a bit loud for some as they had a pool dj playing games with the kids (great for families though). We went to the separate shallow pool area where we found a couple of sun loungers in partial shade. It was much quieter in this area and at one point I was the only person there. It was absolute bliss haha! I read my book while Jono went to the gym for a while. It was such a relaxing afternoon.





About 6.45 we went back in and got ready for tea. We took a water taxi to City Walk and got there about 8pm. We had decided on Anjiotos for tea, it was somewhere I wanted to go last time but no one else did at the time. Our server was helpful and got my an off menu alcohol free cocktail which was so nice. We had the free chips and salsa then we had large vegetable fajitas to share and a side of cassava fries. I had thought that the sour cream and cheese would come separately in dishes but they were actually already on the plate. I just scrapped it off onto Jonos. The food was amazing, we really enjoyed it and the bill was only $48 inc tip so it was great value as well.







We popped into one of the surfer dude shops on City Walk and Jono got a new hat - they have some really nice shops there. Then it was time for Voodoo Doughnuts - I was VERY excited about this as they have a full range of vegan doughnuts. We had a bit of a wait and some of our choices were out of stock but we chose 4 (greedy haha) and walked back to the hotel cradling the big pink box like it was an actual baby the doughnuts were delicious!





Although it felt like today was a bit fraught at times (biggest first world problem ever) we had a good day. Universal wasn't quite how we remembered it. After a pretty perfect 9 days of Disney it had a lot to live up to as well, our expectations were sky high. Combine this with extreme heat and lack of sleep it probably made us notice the little grumbles more than normal today. Looking back now I think how ridiculous we were been but I think it is important to be honest. Focusing on the positives as there were many - we had an absolutely beautiful hotel, went on lots of rides and had one of the best meals of the holiday = a great day!

Total = $175
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Old 15 Jun 19, 11:36 PM  
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GezzasGem
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We haven't been to Universal in 9 years but have opted for our onsite stay before Disney - think this may be for the best from your observations? Thanks for sharing honestly 👍
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Old 16 Jun 19, 06:48 AM  
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katnav
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You did get such a lot of rides done. Thanks for being honest though and I think I will make sure we head back for a rest as and when needed throughout our day and pop back to the parks later.
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Old 19 Jun 19, 01:20 PM  
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collybird
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Portofino looks so lovely, it was definitely the right idea to do Universal second as doing Portofino first then moving to the Rosen would have felt like a bit of a come down.
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Old 23 Jun 19, 06:06 PM  
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Sioux
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We made the same mistake as you thinking the whole park was open early and by the time we'd realised and got to Gringotts it was a 30 min wait We tend to do single rider (3 adults) when we don't have Express passes and sometimes if it's not too busy we end up all on the same ride I don't like hanging around in queues when I can be on and off a ride in a fraction of the time.
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