Beautiful but highly overpriced
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 5/31/06
The Portofino is indeed a beautiful hotel, it's too bad that they overcharge you to the point that you feel just awful. $10 per day to park, $10 per day for internet, $15 per day for a fridge. Our family of five would drink 10 to 15 bottles of spring water each day (11 ounce bottles)...would you believe $45 per day! And, their "Children Stay, Play, Eat Free" is bogus! The good Hotel restaurants don't honor it, and the Theme Parks only have a handful of restaurants that will dish your kids out a miniature dish of Macaroni and Cheese or pizza.(Sure they say "go back as many times as they want" - try standing in a 30 minute line more than once). The best part of the trip were the Rickshaw Rides from the Hotel to the Parks. In all honesty, unless you are prepared to end up with a bill that is about twice what they have promised (due to the extras, including water - the tap water is awful) then stay in a fine hotel outside the Property. The "Kitchen Restaurant" at the adjacent Hard Rock Hotel was the most kid-friendly, but the pool at the Hard Rock was standing room only. One more point, the Portofino also allows dogs! The Hotel staff cleans up the messes almost as fast as the dogs can make them but how can you say this is a 5 star hotel for cleanliness when you have dogs doing their thing.