Portafino - molto bene

Stayed 3 nights at Portafino. All I can say - is WOW. I have very high standards when it comes to hotels - and if you read my review of our stay at the Swan - that holds true. However our time at the Portafino could not have been more perfect.

The rooms are large and well appointed. The internet is great at the room. The staff is exceptional. We had a bay view and I had requested a room near the boat launch. We were literally right over the boat launch. In retrospect I would have requested a more inward view of the hotel - but that was my own doing.

We normally don’t have a bellman take our bags - but it was late so we did. The grabbed us a TON of waters and and gave us a brief - but informative tour of our hotel on the way to our room. He was most personable and just added an extra “welcome”. Although we didn’t stay concierge - we were able to take advantage of their services. They booked us a car from MCO to the hotel.

The food at the hotel - although expensive - was wonderful. Mama Della’s was very nice and we ate outside.

The pool was exceptional. We ordered dinner there one night. Although the service was a bit slow - the food was excellent and the presentation was very very nice. It just allowed us to relax a bit.

We also needed to get a car from Portafino to the swan - it was ready in 2 minutes.

The benefit of the Express Pass is WORTH THE STAY in and of itself.

If you are able to do it - I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the Portafino - it was a true resort experience. If you prefer one of the other hotels - I HIGHLY recommend staying at one of the deluxe so you can take advantage of the express pass. It made the park days so much more enjoyable.

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David, Orbitz has a standard room for a total of $288/night including all taxes and everything. Do you think the AP rate would be any better? Seems like a pretty good price to me. Thoughts? It’s a free cancellation, so I’m tempted to book it for November (before Thanksgiving when crowds don’t look too bad, the weekend before Thanksgiving).

I have no idea what the AP rate is. i would call the hotel directly as well and see if they can beat it or match it. We ended up paying $336 for a bay view (non bay was $320). That is a great rate at 288 IMHO. The bay view was nice - but for only about 30 seconds a day as that is all we were able to enjoy it for as we were out of the room.

If it is free cancellation - book that bad boy Then continue to check. I think I rebooked 3 times.

Yep! Did that. Will continue to check.