Universally fun

There were a few hiccups checking in, which proved to be consistent with the rest of our stay at Portofino. Room type, location, charges, housekeeping and club access were all problematic. Although the hotel was picturesque, we regretted not staying at the Hard Rock. 

Hotel problems aside, we enjoyed Universal. Our room was equipped with two bolster pillows. These should be banned from hotel decor if tween/teen boys will be resident. They were promptly deemed "jousting sticks" and used to smack each other at all opportunities. There was also a chair that I thought looked like three leaf clover but the boys called it the "Tri-bum"  and fought each other to sit on it. They christened the ducks in the bay "Howards" (not for me to reason why) and referred to them this way the whole trip. I think this will stick and expect the word duck to be unused in our household for the foreseeable future. 

The Harry Potter section has been expanded, with a few new rides and a version of Diagon Alley. It is extremely well done and we returned here a few times over the three days. Campbell surprised everyone by riding the Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster and I expect he has broken the fear barrier now and will be riding them all with the other two daredevils. We considered but rejected (on ethical grounds) claiming Josh was special needs so we could ride the pteranodon flyers, which looks fun but is for children only. The river raft ride completely drenched everyone unexpectedly and was the highlight of our ride experiences.

We had a few nice meals, with the standout being "Cow-Fish" a burger/sushi fusion restaurant with fun bento box meals for kids and very good (weird) burgers and shakes. A quick shopping trip was squeezed into the agenda but shoe shopping with teenage boys is a newly discovered nightmare. They don't WANT to shop but they have very definite ideas about what is or is not an acceptable shoe. The line between these options is mysterious as sometimes both acceptable and unacceptable look virtually the same to me.