Over the summer, we recieved a postcard in the mail with some great return rates at Universal Orlando. We said what the heck, lets give them a call and we ended up booking a room at Lowes Sapphire Falls Resort to celebrate our 22th Wedding Anniversary at the end of September.
The last time we stayed at Universal we stayed at the Portofino Bay Hotel. It was a nice resort, but we felt it was a little too quiet and a little bit too stuffy for us. The Portofino is in the Premier category that allows you Free Universal Express Unlimited Pass that allows you to skip the regular lines at most attractions.
This time, we liked the look of Saphire Falls so that is where we decided to stay.
Sapphire Falls is one category down. As a Preferred Hotel, you do not get the Free Express Pass but you do get early entry. We figured that it wouldn’t be too busy as most kids are in school so we went with the slightly cheaper option.
Check in was a breeze, our room was pretty far away from check in but had kind of a pool view. The rooms are on the small side but are very bright and cheerful.
Getting to the parks is very easy as there are several options for tranportation here. There is the water taxi, shuttle bus or taking a short walk. We used the water taxi exclusively and never had to wait more than a few minutes for a boat to arrive.
One of the reasons we chose this resort over others was the dining choices available. The first day we actually ate in the parks so we just stopped in for a drink at the Strong Water Tavern’s Rum Bar when we got back to the hotel. A very knowledgable bartender made us two very strong, very declicious cocktails. I got a mai tai and I forget what Danny had, but they definately packed a punch. We will be back without a doubt!
We ended up hanging out in the hot tub and I got hungry so we got a drink and a club sandwhich with fries at the Drhum Club Kantine which is located at the pool. It was huge and very good! They had a fire pit out by the pool but it wasn’t lit this night. They also show movies in the pool. At one point we played bingo at the pool and I won a free drink!
The next dag after spending the day at the parks went to Amatista Cookhouse for some appetizers for dinner.
We tried the wings, the empenadas and queso fundido. It was all really good and we ordered too much but were able to finish most of it. They surprised us with balloons and dessert of our choice and candy for our Anniversary. Nice touch!
Our last night we went to Strong Water Tavern which serves tapas type food, but basically everything had cilantro in it, which I dont like. I was dissapointed as I brought up my dislike of cilantro to the hostess and she said I could just ask to have anything made without. Our server told us otherwise. So we had our drink and an order of beef sliders (the only item without cilantro) before going back to Amatista for dinner.
We had a new server who seemed quite nervous. I asked for a specialty cocktail but he came back and said they don’t carry that liquor anymore. (Then why have it on the menu?) A large party came in and our service went down hill quickly. Our burger took for ever and the manager came over and they basically comped our meal.
When we got back to the room. Danny surprised me with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.
The next morning (our last) we were hoping to grab a breakfast sandwhich at New Dutch Trading Company but they had just stopped serving breakfast so we bought some orange juice to make mimosas out of the left over champagne and went back to Amatista, where breakfast is available all day. We both ordered the fried egg sandwich. This was the best breakfast sandwich we have ever had. It was loaded with crisp bacon, arugula, tomato and 2 perfectly fried eggs on sweetbread toast with pepper jack cheese. I’d come back to this resort just for this sandwich!
There was an issue with the gym lockers so we couldn’t stow our stuff for the day so we had to leave our bags with the bellman and went off to souvenier shop and play minature golf over at CityWalk. We picked the Haunted House side and was really fun! It was super hot today so the spray fans were a welcome addition.
I wanted ice cream but all that was there was Coldstone Creamery, which I am not a fan of, so we stopped at Cinnabon for a delicious iced coffee before heading back to the hotel for showers. We really liked the hotel and would recommend it. We probably had some of the tastiest hotel food and drink we have had in a long time. Really good choice for families and we would definately stay here again.
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Kathy's Korner 