Just Back- Portofino Bay Review

AtlantaDisneyDreamer

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
We are just back from a seven night stay at the Portofino Bay. We stayed club level in a deluxe two queen room and paid $300 per night (including tax but not parking).


I had called seven days prior to arrival and requested either a balcony/patio OR a room close to the club, and upon check-in, I asked if we had received either request. I was told that the room had no balcony or patio, but that it was on the same floor as the club and lobby (3rd floor) and was “centrally located.” As we walked down the hall of the Villa wing, I quickly realized by looking at room numbers that the room was not what I would call “centrally located.” (Pay attention to the map and not the front desk agent when deciding what is “centrally located”). In fact, it was room 2394, which was right next to the very last room at the far end of the Villa wing. It was a very long walk to the club and the water taxi, but it was close to the Beach and the Villa pool. This is a huge resort and can potentially have a lot of walking. If I were staying with someone with mobility issues, we could not have stayed in the room location where we were. With a healthy family, we were fine where we were.


We had a lovely view of the Villa pool, and I hoped that being at the end of the wing would mean a quiet room. That was not exactly the case. We had a loud family in the room next to us for the first couple of nights. It was a connecting room, and we could hear everything they said, as well as their television. Maybe it wasn’t that they were loud but rather that we had a connecting room. I seem to recall reading that the door between the connecting rooms is thin and causes noise issues. I can attest to that. We probably seemed loud to them, also.


After the first couple of nights, that family left and it was quiet again. Until the family with teen girls came in the last night of our stay and loudly slammed the room door repeatedly while the mom barked orders at the girls as they entered and exited the room.


That being said, the room noise was a minor annoyance and we generally really liked the room itself. The decor is quite beautiful and the room was very spacious, with lots of closet and drawer space for storage. The room was generally clean, though there was quite a bit of dust on the lower part of the television that was quite obvious when the sun was shining through the window. The refrigerator was small but kept our drinks cold, and there were only two bottles of $7 water in it that were offered for sale. We were able to keep quite a few drinks in the fridge.


The bathroom is huge, with two sinks and a separate shower and bath tub. The decor is a bit outdated in the bathroom, but it was clean. The shower is small and I am not used to having to move around in such a small space. I don’t always wash my hair in the shower, and it was hard to avoid getting my hair wet while standing in that small space. They do provide a shower cap, though. The worst thing about the room for us was that there was no sink or dressing area outside of the main bathroom. Everything was contained in one room. With four people getting ready in the morning, that became a minor annoyance as only one person could get ready at a time. We are used to the room designs at Disney with the sinks outside the bathroom and the toilet and shower in a different room. It really does make a difference, and the bathroom design slowed us down slightly in the mornings.


With the negatives mentioned, I will say that we really enjoyed our room, with it's comfy beds, large table and chairs, and nice chair with ottoman in the corner. It was a beautiful, spacious room with a nice view.


The resort itself is gorgeous and did not seem crowded at all, in spite of the fact that it was at full capacity (a friend told me she tried to book a room there for the week we were there and was told it was sold out). There was no line when we checked in around 4:30 pm on Saturday, and there was no line at check out at 10 am the following Saturday. There were so many beautiful areas to sit and to explore and it seemed as if we had the resort nearly to ourselves. There is a beautiful courtyard near the lobby that was nearly empty most of the time. There is a gorgeous piazza in the back of the resort above the Villa pool that was completely quiet and empty most of the time. It was nice and relaxing to walk back there. We played a game of bocce ball next to the quiet, empty, beautiful Villa pool one afternoon.


The boats were convenient and we never had to wait long for a boat to come. The waiting areas were nice and comfortable- especially the waiting area at the resort. And it was a beautiful place to wait, with the views of the quiet lake and resort. It did seem that we had to wait longer for a boat from the parks to the resort than did guests at The Hard Rock. A couple of times, for every PB boat, there were two HR boats. Still, as far as theme park transportation goes, the boats were great. The ride is nice along a gorgeously landscaped canal with lovely water. Nothing to complain about there. We never attempted to walk since, with a five year old in a stroller, the walk seemed a bit daunting.


But the best part of the resort was the Beach pool. With sandy shores and a huge, zero depth entry that extends far out so we could feel perfectly safe letting our five year old play in the water alone, it is probably the best family resort pool we have ever experienced. In the morning, we had the pool practically to ourselves, and at night there were usually about 6 - 12 other people in the pool.(We went to the Poly and Wilderness Lodge one night for a date night and walked past their pools and noticed how extremely crowded and small they were compared to the pool at PB- we felt very lucky to have our pool area). It was so quiet and relaxing and fun. I suppose all the other people were at dinner or in the parks. There was a fun slide and my husband and I could find some comfy, shady chairs where we could watch the kids come out of the slide. There was a lifeguard at the top of the slide who made all children under 48” wear a life vest to go down the slide, and there were life vests available at the top of the slide. My husband and I could relax and feel very comfortable with our children in the pool. The lifeguards were outstanding, and there were always three of them (one walking a wall where he/she could see the slide exit and most of the pool, one at the top of the slide, and one at the deeper end of the pool), even when there were only two kids in the pool. They were so diligent and careful. I watched an unsupervised child jump off the rocks and the lifeguard asked him twice not to do it. Upon the third time the child attempted it, the lifeguard got on a radio he had with him and asked the pool supervisor to come over, which he immediately did. The child ran away and did not attempt to jump off the rocks again.


The kids adored the pool. We were there most mornings and evenings. Pool hours were 9 am to 9 pm on weeknights and 9 am to 10 pm on weekends. They played a movie every night; we saw E.T., Charlotte’s Webb, Scooby Doo, and Babe. The kids played in the sand for hours and loved the slide and the provided beach balls and noodles. We had planned on pool hopping since that is a nice and generous offer at Universal, but the kids never wanted to leave the pool at PB. So we never visited any of the other pools. The pool decor is perfect to me. There are two secluded hot tubs with stone walls and waterfalls, and they were never crowded. Lots of comfortable pool loungers, and the resort provides huge towel covers for the chairs in addition to regular towels for swimmers. There are tables for drinks and a pool bar and seating area. I am not a big fan of swimming, but I could sit in those chairs and enjoy the breezes and watch the kids play every night.


Club level was worth the extra expense for us. It was great having scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage every morning. Yogurt, breakfast potatoes, boiled eggs, bagels, muffins, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew were always available. They had orange juice, apple juice, skim and whole milk, coffee, and a variety of hot teas to drink. The snacks at lunch were nice because the kids love white cheddar popcorn and the Milano cookies. There were also bags of Cracker Jack, Doritos, and Veggie Chips. They had bread and peanut butter, so we could make a peanut butter sandwich if we wanted for lunch. There were five different dinner offerings (one per night) starting with Shepard’s pie, then rotating nightly to Chinese chicken, meatballs and marinara, jerk chicken, and beef soft tacos. The food was plentiful and included vegetarian offerings. It was rather bland and lukewarm, but it was nice to have, especially since the two times we ate lunch outside of the parks (at the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and the Three Broomsticks) we paid more for one meal than we did for the daily upgrade to club level. The club was the only thing in the resort we found to be crowded. A couple of nights we could not find an empty table and they had to open a back room. The tables themselves were shoved together and did not have much space to eat. The club employees were working hard to keep everything filled, but the club guests were consuming faster than they could replace everything. Still, for a family who wants quick food and drink at a reasonable price and who is spending a lot of time at the resort, the club was great.


Overall, for the rate we paid, we definitely got our money’s worth. I do hate paying for parking and feel that it should be part of the room rate, but for $322 per night with parking and club level and included express passes, we could not have had a better vacation experience for our family in the city of Orlando. We would definitely stay at PB again, and I highly recommend the resort to others.
 
Stayed here for 5 nights recently.

Totally agree that for our family of 5, the sink and toilet in one room was a challenge.

However, great beach pool with really good food as well.

Beautiful resort with great ambience in the evening. Convenient boats to parks.

Great service; although they do have a large window for room service. Being able to text the resort for when you’d like your room serviced was very convenient.

Highly recommend.
 
Great review! We are staying club level there in December and are vegetarians so were a little concerned if there would be sufficient options to make the extra cost worthwhile. This is very comforting.
 



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