The catch at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
Loews Portofino Bay is booked for one thing, the room key that doubles as Universal Express Unlimited, and most of what is worth knowing before you book it follows from that. Five things stand between the harbour and the stay: what a night costs, where the key works, how you reach each park, how much room a family gets and what the hotel no longer has. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs two days of shorter queues if that is the trip you are planning.
The rate is high before anything is added: $795 a night in February, and $36 a night to park.
The entry Garden View King Room cost $795 a night before tax on Tuesday 2 February 2027, and the Bay View King $840. There is no resort fee, but 12.5 per cent tax goes on top, so $795 becomes about $894. Overnight self-parking is $36 plus tax per car, and valet $45 plus tax. A third or fourth adult adds $55 a night, and the one rollaway a room is allowed costs $35 plus tax a day. Holiday weeks cost more: the cheapest room on a Tuesday was $853 in Thanksgiving week and in Presidents' Day week, $950 in Easter week and $1,332 between Christmas and New Year.
What to do. Early and mid December, May and late August are the cheapest weeks: the cheapest room was $586 on 15 December, $689 on 11 May and $676 on 24 August. For a trip that stays at Universal a car is optional, because the boat and Universal's free shuttle buses reach every Universal park, and leaving it at home saves $36 a night.
Express Unlimited covers two parks, and not Epic Universe, Volcano Bay or Hagrid's.
Every guest registered in the room gets Universal Express Unlimited, a separate, shorter queue at participating rides in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, from the moment the room key is issued until the parks close on the day you leave. It does not work at Epic Universe or Volcano Bay, and since 1 July 2026 Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Islands of Adventure has not taken Express at all. It is valid only in normal park hours, it excludes separately ticketed events such as Halloween Horror Nights, and park tickets are extra. Friends staying at another hotel do not share it.
What to do. Pre-register at the front desk on the morning you arrive and the key works in the parks all day, so one night covers two park days. Give Epic Universe a day of its own with an early start, using Early Park Admission when Universal offers it there, and queue for Hagrid's early in the day.
The boat goes only to CityWalk; Epic Universe and Volcano Bay mean a bus every 30 minutes.
The free water taxi leaves the piazza, 4 minutes' walk from the lobby, and reaches CityWalk in under 10 minutes on average; from the landing, the gates of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure are 3 and 5 minutes away on foot. Walking the whole way takes 19 and 23 minutes. The boat does not go to Epic Universe or Volcano Bay. Universal's free shuttle bus calls at this hotel every 30 minutes for both, and Epic Universe is 16 minutes by car with the roads clear. Volcano Bay is closed from 26 October 2026 until on or before 1 April 2027. Walt Disney World is a drive: 28 to 34 minutes to the four parks, again off-peak.
What to do. Use the boat for the two original parks, and allow up to half an hour's wait for the bus on an Epic Universe morning. If Disney days are part of the plan, budget for a car or rideshares, and for parking here.
The standard rooms are 450 sq ft, and a fifth bed depends on the one rollaway.
Garden View and Bay View rooms are both 450 sq ft (42 m²). A king room takes three and a two-queen room five, but only with a rollaway: one per room, $35 plus tax a day, handed out first come, first served. Two-queen rooms can sell out: neither the garden nor the bay version was on sale on 2 February 2027, a night when the king rooms were. Deluxe rooms add 40 sq ft (4 m²) and are sold with a garden view. The rooms and suites were renovated for the hotel's reopening in December 2020, and rooms showing their age is a recurring complaint among recent guests.
What to do. A family of five should book the two-queen room early and ask for the rollaway when booking and again at check-in. For a door between parents and children, price the Despicable Me Kids' Suite: 650 sq ft (60 m²), a children's room with its own beds, and $1,245 on the same February night.
The spa closed in 2024, and the hotel's restaurants charge resort prices.
Mandara Spa closed on 30 November 2024, and the hotel no longer lists a spa among its features; the fitness centre is for guests 18 and over. The restaurants on site are Italian and priced for a resort. At Bice, which serves dinner only, pasta runs $25 to $35 and main courses $40 to $80. Main courses at Mama Della's are $28 to $54. The breakfast buffet at Trattoria del Porto is $38 for adults and $19 for children aged 3 to 9. Menu prices exclude 6.5 per cent sales tax and the tip, and parties of six or more pay an 18 per cent service charge, or 20 per cent at Bice.
What to do. For a cheaper supper, stay on the piazza: Sal's Market Deli sells pizzas from $21 and sandwiches from $18 until 11pm, to eat in or take away. CityWalk is a boat ride away, and an Orlando barbecue counter is six minutes by car.
Who should skip it
Anyone planning a Disney-first holiday: every Disney park is 28 to 34 minutes away by car, off-peak. Anyone whose trip centres on Epic Universe or Volcano Bay, where the room key's Express does not work and the boat does not go, and anyone counting on Volcano Bay between late October 2026 and April 2027, when it is closed. Anyone who wants a spa, and anyone for whom $795 a night before tax, plus $36 to park, is too much to pay for shorter queues.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone planning two or three days at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, especially a family with a long ride list. Express Unlimited for everyone in the room, from the moment the key is issued until the parks close on the day you leave, is what the rate buys, and pre-registering on the morning you arrive makes one night cover two park days. The boat runs from the piazza to CityWalk, the Beach Pool has a Roman aqueduct waterslide and a sandy beach, and Musica della Notte fills the piazza with opera at sunset. Book a Bay View room, budget for the tax and the parking, and let the room key do the queuing at most rides.
The catch elsewhere in Orlando
- Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & SpaWalt Disney World, Magic Kingdom area
The entry Resort View rooms look over the courtyard, the marina or the pools, and like the Water View and Theme Park View rooms they are in the outer lodges, not the main building. On a Tuesday in January the lagoon view costs about $60 a night more and the Magic Kingdom view about $200 more.
- Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World ResortWalt Disney World, Magic Kingdom area
Park days run on the resort's timetable: free coaches go once an hour to each of the four Disney parks, with no monorail, Skyliner, boat or walking route, and transfers to Disney Springs or Universal cost extra. Disney gives the resort its 30-minute Early Theme Park Entry but not Extended Evening Hours.
- Universal Cabana Bay Beach ResortUniversal Orlando
Extras add up: self-parking is $26 plus tax a night, tubes for the lazy river are sold rather than lent, and Galaxy Bowl charges for its lanes, which must be booked.
- Disney's Animal Kingdom LodgeWalt Disney World, Animal Kingdom area
Disney sells the savanna only with the Savanna View rooms. The entry Resort View faces what Disney describes as rooftops or the car park, and on an early-February Tuesday the Savanna View costs $740 a night before tax against $527, $213 more.
- Disney's Yacht Club ResortWalt Disney World, Epcot area
The entry Resort View rooms look over gardens, rooftops or the car park, and guests have found theirs facing a roof or the bus stop. The Water View, over Crescent Lake or the quiet pool, cost $118 a night more on a February weeknight in 2027, and Disney sells the view over the Stormalong Bay lagoons only with Club Level.
- Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a Loews HotelEpic Universe
The rooms are small for the money. The entry Standard 2 Queen Beds room is 325 sq ft (30 m²), a fifth guest needs a $35-a-night rollaway, and on a February weeknight the Park View room costs about $200 a night more.
- The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande LakesGrande Lakes
A $55 nightly resort fee and $58 a night for valet, the only parking at the Ritz, add $113 a night before tax to the room rate.
- Disney's Pop Century ResortWalt Disney World, Skyliner area
There is no table-service restaurant. The Everything POP food court, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and crowded at peak meal times, Petals Pool Bar and pizza delivered to the room are the choices on site, so order ahead in the My Disney Experience app or plan dinners in the parks.
- The Alfond InnWinter Park
The hotel runs no park shuttle and its free house cars go only around Winter Park, so the parks mean a car or a taxi, 28 to 31 minutes to Universal Studios and Epic Universe and 42 to 47 minutes to the Disney parks with the roads clear, and more at rush hour.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
What are the downsides of Loews Portofino Bay Hotel?
Loews Portofino Bay is booked for one thing, the room key that doubles as Universal Express Unlimited, and most of what is worth knowing before you book it follows from that. Five things stand between the harbour and the stay: what a night costs, where the key works, how you reach each park, how much room a family gets and what the hotel no longer has. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs two days of shorter queues if that is the trip you are planning. The rate is high before anything is added: $795 a night in February, and $36 a night to park. Express Unlimited covers two parks, and not Epic Universe, Volcano Bay or Hagrid's. The boat goes only to CityWalk; Epic Universe and Volcano Bay mean a bus every 30 minutes. The standard rooms are 450 sq ft, and a fifth bed depends on the one rollaway. The spa closed in 2024, and the hotel's restaurants charge resort prices.
Who should not book Loews Portofino Bay Hotel?
Anyone planning a Disney-first holiday: every Disney park is 28 to 34 minutes away by car, off-peak. Anyone whose trip centres on Epic Universe or Volcano Bay, where the room key's Express does not work and the boat does not go, and anyone counting on Volcano Bay between late October 2026 and April 2027, when it is closed. Anyone who wants a spa, and anyone for whom $795 a night before tax, plus $36 to park, is too much to pay for shorter queues.
Our verdict
Book it for a short, ride-heavy Universal trip, take a Bay View room and let the room key do the queuing at most rides in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. Budget for $36 a night in parking, and for standby queues at Epic Universe.