Club Level room at Hard Rock or Portofino?

[Yvemc]

I know someone here will be able to help! We're currently in the process of rearranging our amazing trip that was planned for next month, we haven't been since 2016 so this was a biggie but now with everything we're having to rearrange and with the removal of the dining plan and some increased Disney costs we're looking to juggle. We're spending three nights at the start of the trip at Universal. Haven't been in a decade so we wanted to do it properly, stay on site at a hotel with the Unlimited Express, and we decided to upgrade to club level to take advantage of the lounge with food and drink. We booked Portofino Bay and having watched loads of You Tube etc about the club lounge we thought it would be perfect for breakfast and then some hot food again at night. Pricing it up this year, we might save a bit if we went to Hard Rock. But looking online the club lounge doesn't seem to offer as much so it might end up being a false economy. Any advice from people who have used the lounges in these resorts? Thanks

[Floridarules]

Not been to Portofino, but I have heard from dibb and own research that their club lounge is much bigger.
I have been to Hard rock club lounge which was tiny and didn’t offer as much for breakfast. Has Hard rock club lounge been updated/extended since 2018?- if not, stick with Portofino.
I have been to RPR club lounge which was lovely and bigger then HR, serving full breakfast including pancakes 🤪🤗

[Disney45]

I would go with portofino we did hard rock and it was a totally waste of money hardly anything on offer didn’t rate it all.

[PoohBears#1fan]

We've only stayed HRH club out of the 2, but it would be Portofino Bay for me next time from everything I've read.

We didn't have any issues with HRH btw, there was the inevitable food frenzy when the hot food came out, but sadly you see that in club rooms everywhere as people desperately try to justify the cost by being fed! We just try and avoid the initial rush, there was always still plenty of food out for everyone.

A little queue for drinks in the early evenings but no more than a few minutes.

I'd be happy with either, but would choose PBH if given a choice.

[swiper]

The last few years we have stayed club Portofino
Having done all 3, PB is by far the best imo.
Breakfast is hot, bacon sausage scrambled egg. Plus pastries and cereals
Lunch, not the best
Evening meal with alcohol, they have some really good food choice, depending on how much you eat, the food at night might just be enough for your tea.
Then last of all they do the sweet treat, which as long as your early can be a wonderful sweet.
This would be my pick every time!

[Boomerukuk]

We've stayed at HRH on the club level for years (since shortly after it opened) and I'm afraid to say the club level is just a shambles these days as its far too cramped and not the laid back vibe it initially was. We stayed at the PBH last year and it is soooo much nicer from a club level perspective (though its not really a level like at the HRH but access to a spacious club lounge not far from the hotel reception). There is far better food and drink offerings and even at peak times you can normally get a table.

In the short term the HRH may improve as they are using the downstairs ballroom and lobby areas so spacing might improve. Not sure if the offerings will though.

HRH still wins in terms of the pool, the easy walk to parks etc but in terms of the club level it is, in normal circumstances much poorer than the PBH.

[fireforhair]

Agree with the comments above. We love HRH - pools, atmosphere, proximity to the parks etc but find the club lounge in PBH far superior. I did miss having a club floor like in HRH but the PBH lounge is much larger and has a wider range of food available. There’s a good selection of hot food at breakfast and we found the evening hot and cold selections substantial enough to avoid us needing an evening meal. The alcoholic drinks service is also an hour longer in PBH

[NewtoOrlando]

We've got club at HRH booked for our 2022 trip, we did it in 2018 and had no issues, we're quite happy with donuts and pastries for breakfast, and the soft drinks were a godsend and saved us a fortune, this was worth the extra cost alone, we quite often got some snacks and went back to our room rather than stay in the club lounge. We love the location of HRH so my dh is a HRH or nothing kind of man, I would liked to have tried RPR as we stayed there in 2016 but the man who pays won this one!

[scoobydooby]

Never had Club at Portofino but have stayed there in a Minions Suite. Class hotel. Have done Club Level at HRH and only bought two meals in 5 days and that wasn’t necessary. It depends what you think your tea should look like really. For me buffet type offerings are fine. There was tonnes at breakfast. Cake at night. Alcohol to your hearts content. Never did afternoon snacks but I think it’s just crisps and the like.

[Jimsdadhalifax]

Portofino is a nicer hotel IMO - the main pool is better (and there are 2 others) the rooms are bigger and the theme is nicer. Hard Rock is great but Portofino is better in every way apart from the longer walk to the parks - but that is what the boat is for!

We have done Club at Portofino and it was excellent. The breakfast was fabulous. The evening offerings were not as good but they were fine and enough for a meal. Plus a great selection of beer! The lounge is a decent size - it gets busy at peak times but there is an overflow room with additional seating to cover that and it never got annoyingly full.

You also get an even bigger room and it was huge! We would definitely do Club again.