TR: Rope droppin' Hagrid's with that Italian flare

[Skold]

Just got back from a three-night stay at UOR. Sure, we were there for 10 nights in late May but we did not get the Hagrid softs that we were hoping for, we missed a few odds and ends on our checklist, and there was a great APH rate at Portofino. I only used the APH discount rate once before because our stays are usually 10 days or so and the "Stay More Save More" rates are usually better. But damn! I've wanted to try Portofino out for a while and now was our chance!

Portofino

• Awesome

Hagrid's

• Just kidding! There is so much more to say about Portofino. :grin:
• The harbor is just amazing and so romantic. Even just walking through it to get to the water taxi is amazing.
  
  
  
  
• The walking path is pretty great, as well. A little shorter than CBBR's, and you get to walk by HRH and the Butterfly Garden.
• The paths to the pools and conference areas are really fun to walk around.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pools are good. I like CBBR better. This had the same issue to me as RPR: I like tables interspersed with the lounge chairs so I can sit by the pool, have a beer, and read or mess with my Ipad, without taking a restaurant table up. Talked to our server about this and she assured me that it is cool to sit at the restaurant for a few hours and just drink. I'm still not entirely comfortable with that.
• *Loved* the whole hotel experience though!

Hagrid's

• We rope dropped this all three days and I tried to record all of the pertinent data points as I was there in the Hagrid Wait Times thread.
• This is an odd rope drop. The ride has capacity but it also has the unpredictability of if it is going to run past noon (breakdowns plus weather). So we opted to rope drop all three days and got it each time.
• We were having dinner at Confisco around 4:30* on our second day and the app said the wait was 120. We tried to get there right after but they put the "capacity" signs up right as we arrived. Oh well, it coulda been four rides! :_:
• * Our whole touring plan is basically, "move the entire day up by an hour". Beat early crowds, lunch crowds, dinner crowds. I try to avoid crowds whenever I can, however I can. :bolt:
• Everyone's favorite ride, ever, by far. Those launches are incredible. My wife said her mouth was such an open smile each and every time that she was drooling in the wind.
• Got stuck in the queue for exactly one hour the first time. We were able to explore a bit and find some cool details in the queue.
  
  

Other park highlights

• JPRA Dilophosaurus scene where they tug on the shirt was still covered by mesh on the first day. On our second day, they were entirely removed (they were covered by mesh since May). On the third day, the boat (dinghy?) that they were on was turned as to make it look as part of the bigger boat wreck. Guess they could not get those one-movement machines back working.
• We saw the baby Triceritops again! Always fun when that happens.
• The Discovery Center is awesome, as outdated as many of the exhibits are. My 12-year-old was playing with the egg contraption as a raptor hatched. There were four other kids with families, but no one wanted to name it when asked. So my wife raised her hand and we got our first raptor birth certificate! Ironic, because we have tried three times before with no luck. Now we just stumble in and get it.
• We stopped back the next day to ask how she was doing and they gave us a hand-written report!
• Ingen says that Zemgy (inside joke) is "a great addition to Jurassic Park. Currently is 12 inches long. With her water weight, she weighs 3 lbs 5 oz. She enjoys her dino chow supplement. Will switch her diet to livestock next month. Must wear gloves around her!" Awesome.
• There was a weird JP live show just outside of Raptor Encounter. Two TMs were in the bushes looking for some escaped dinos. They eventually go over ways to protect yourself when encountering different types of dinos, which turned out to be a dance move.
  
  
  
  
• Finally got a dole whip at Schwab's! Yep, just as great.
  
  
• Andojitos is a favorite. Wife and kid went upstairs to take some pictures (we didn't even know there was a second floor!). Asked and it is open Friday and Saturday after 5:30.
• There was a table of Uni VIPs trying out the new menu with the new chef. Didn't take any pics (lol!) but our server told us the names. I considered going up and giving my opinion of Supercharged, but I thought about about it for about .000005 seconds and realized that I would not want people to do that to me. New Andojitos menu coming soon though.
• PussNBoots was doing a meet and great by the Lost Continent entrance of the bypass bridge. He's awesome.

All in all, an awesome trip. Loved Hagrids, Portofino, some new JP stuff, and most importantly, PussNBoots.