A Universal Adventure February 2020 - Day 4: Sapphire Falls, Blaze Pizza and House of Blues

[moosha]

Day 4 - Tuesday 18th February 2020

The girls woke up about 7 am. Mat and I had got up just before. Mat and the girls had cereal in the room and then we went down to New Dutch Trading Company as I fancied fruit for breakfast. Mat and I got coffees ($4 each). Freya got a pot of Nutella and Go ($3.) It was pretty busy in there being breakfast time.





Once we had paid for everything we went down to the pool using the lift in the lobby which we’ve never used before in three stays here. We’ve always had a room on lobby level or one floor up or down so we tend to use the stairs or one of the elevators at the end of the corridors to each ‘guesthouse’.

We got down to the pool at 8.30 am and it was nice and sunny and warm already. It was really quiet because it was so early. The girls were having a great time playing in the water while we drank our coffees and I had my fruit. I got two fruit cups ($7 each) and they were sadly mostly melon. I ate the pineapple, grapes and strawberries and handed most of the melon to Mat for him to finish off because melon is meh.

Mat went to get us a cup of water each from the water station at the pool and they didn’t have any set up yet so a lovely member of housekeeping staff apologised and gave him two cute little bottles of Fiji water. I love Fiji water so I was super happy about this.

Mat and I both used the lovely restrooms at the pool. Sapphire Falls is such a beautiful resort. My notes say it was hot.

















Two teenage boys in the pool were checking out the girls which Mat wasn’t very impressed with.

At 10.30 we made the girls get out of the water so we could get ready to go out. As we were leaving the pool area a group of lifeguards were coming towards us and one of them was carrying what looked like a floppy person. Funnily enough while we had been at the pool I had read a sign advising that the lifeguards do drills using dolls and not to be alarmed. So I immediately realised the ‘person’ wasn’t real and explained to the others who were concerned.

We went upstairs and the girls got showered. While they faffed about I did most of the packing ready for our move to the Hard Rock tomorrow. The girls were chatting in the bathroom while they took turns to shower and it took forever so we weren’t particularly happy about how slow they were at getting ready.

In the end we left about 12 and drove to Disney Springs.



We parked in the Orange garage as usual on level 2. Parking and The Springs weren’t as busy as they had been on Sunday.







We went straight to Blaze which wasn’t busy yet either.



We decided that Mat would sort out Freya’s pizza and I would do the vegan ones. Freya had a pineapple, mushrooms and mozzarella. I told the lady I was doing two vegan ones and she offered a glove change for the person topping the pizzas which I said yes to. I like that they offer this at Blaze.

Seren had a pineapple and onion pizza with vegan cheese. She’s not a big fan of vegan cheese so usually doesn’t have any cheese on pizza but we convinced her that Blaze vegan cheese is awesome (because it is) and she should try it. Mat and I shared one with spicy tomato sauce, onion, Kalamata olives, pineapple, jalapeños, red peppers and vegan cheese. I didn’t see that they had mushrooms so I didn’t ask for mushrooms but when I saw them on Freya’s pizza I was very jealous. Mat and I also got a blood orange San Pellegrino each because yum.

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[moosha]

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We sat outside near the front door where we always sit and it was quite breezy like it always seems to be when we have Blaze. Think the very necessary napkins blowing everywhere.









Mat went back and got us a second pizza as we’d only had half each whereas the girls had had a whole one each which didn’t seem fair. I told him I didn’t mind what was on the pizza as long as there was mushrooms this time. The lady put too much of the spicy sauce on so it was a bit too tomatoe-y but obviously it was still good as it was Blaze pizza. Build your own pizzas are $9.95 plus tax so with the drinks we ended up spending just under $50 in total.



I posted this photo on my Instagram story while we were sat here:



Once we were all done Mat had to go to the restroom because he hadn’t been in like half an hour. The girls and I took photos by the water. It’s so pretty here.







We put on sunscreen and then went to have a look in a few shops.

We all wanted to go to the Coca Cola store as we love that shop.



They had so many nice things in there. Freya bought herself a phone case which she fell in love with even though she didn’t need another case.



She also bought a Coke polar bear teddy for her boyfriend. We got a really cute pop art bottle opener. Seren got a cute Fanta purse.



We went up to the rooftop bar to do the around the world tasting flight and it was so busy up there. We managed to grab the last table. We’ve done the tasting flight twice before and enjoyed it both times so we were excited to do it again.



Untitled by MooshaPie, on Flickr

We all tried all 16 drinks with mixed reviews as usual. The girls don’t really like fizzy drinks so they didn’t like most of them. There were about eight that I thought were quite nice but then Mat and I both like Beverly so don’t take our word for which ones are good.

Seren was texting her boyfriend while we were doing the tasting. He’s Indian and was in India on holiday at the time so when we got to Thumbs Up, the drink on the tray from India, she told him we were trying it and sent a photo. The drink was blue and he immediately came back saying that Thumbs Up isn’t blue, it’s brown and that he had just been drinking it today. So then we were concerned that we had got all the drinks out of order and had identified them all wrong which would kind of make the little card we had been given with all the details on pretty pointless. We did some googling but were none the wiser. We assumed that maybe the drink was correct but they had changed the colour of it to blue when bringing it to America to make it different to regular Coke.





While we were tasting, a photographer came over and told us that we got a photo included with our tasting flight. This is either a new thing or we’ve just been missed out on our previous two visits. We posed for the photo and the photographer told us to collect the photo from the store on the way out which we did.

Once we had tasted all the drinks we always finish them off the same way. First everyone chooses one drink they want to finish. And then a second. And then the leftovers are mixed together to make two or three different cocktails. Bearing in mind these are the ones no one wants, we then make each other drink them. Fun.

The bar do a happy hour on Tuesday afternoons and it was $2 off cocktails so it would have been rude for me not to have bought one. There was a really long line and only person / occasionally two people serving.



People were giving up and leaving the queue because it wasn’t moving. I couldn’t decide which drink to have but I had plenty of time to choose. In the end I went for a Cuba Libre. It was delicious and strong ($13.)



The guy who served me was the manager and I asked him about the Thumbs Up not being blue. He explained that they’d had a supply problem with the Indian drink and it had been replaced by Fanta blue raspberry but the little card you get given with the drinks hadn’t been updated. He got out a binder to show me the replacement but couldn’t find it so that was pointless and I felt bad for the people still in the long queue behind me. He was such a nice guy though and as they always do there he asked me for ID which always makes me feel young.







We popped to Disney Style but were not really in the mood so I took a photo of Freya in the teacup and we exited.



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[moosha]

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We were also looking for the other Disney shop we went in last year that had clothes and accessories downstairs and toys and baby things upstairs but it doesn’t exist anymore.

























We popped into World of Disney again but didn’t buy anything.



We did go back to Spice and Tea Exchange because Seren and I had loved the Kahuna garlic salt spice blend and the Steakhouse spice blend when we had tried them on Sunday so we had to grab them today.



Mat went to Uniqlo to buy the shorts he’d been looking at on Sunday and he also tried on a shirt and t-shirt. Freya went with him to give him her fashion opinion like a personal shopper. After he had tried on the t-shirt he realised it was a woman’s t-shirt so that was amusing. He bought two pairs of shorts and the shirt though.

Meanwhile Seren and I went to SuperDry and they had put lots more things into the sale since Sunday including some lovely bikinis. I nearly got one for the girls each but couldn’t be asked (as the kids say) in the end. Somehow Seren convinced me to buy the t-shirt I’d refused to buy for her boyfriend on Sunday. It must have been the cocktail. The lady in the shop asked whether we’d been to the parks just like the guy on Sunday had and when I told her we were only doing Universal parks this trip she also said they were the best ones just like the guy had. SuperDry Disney Springs employees seem to love Universal more than Disney.

Mat had a double espresso from Starbucks and got us all some lovely Starbucks tap water.

After that we were all shopped out so it was drink time. We decided to go to either Jock Lindsey’s or Homecoming. I’d had an awesome moonshine cocktail at Homecoming a few years before and fancied going back there but unfortunately Homecoming was closed for a private event so Jock Lindsey’s it was.













We got a table out on the deck at the back. The outdoor area was full but we managed to grab a table just after some people had left so that was lucky.









I had a really strong cocktail, a Wrong Island (Siesta Key Silver Rum, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Tamiami Gin, Tippler's Orange Liqueur, and Sweet-and-Sour with a splash of Coca-Cola $13) and Mat had an Antidote mocktail that was maraschino cherry juice and Sprite ($4.50). Seren got a pineapple juice but when our server brought it out she brought white cranberry juice. She gave it to Mat for free as otherwise it would have been thrown away.

The sunset was a beautiful orange colour and everyone was taking photos of it.























We had dinner booked at House of Blues at 7 pm so we walked round there at about 6.55 pm.





It was all very festive at the outdoor bar.







I just love the evening atmosphere at Disney Springs and House of Blues has always been one of our favourite restaurants here since Mat and I went there a couple of times on our honeymoon in 2001. I’ve said this before but we went there on 12th September 2001 when everyone was still very much in shock about what had happened before and they had set up candles all over the porch and someone was playing Imagine on guitar, it was very moving and beautiful.

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[moosha]

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We only had to wait a couple of minutes to be seated. We basically went to the restrooms (love the restrooms here) and then our table was ready.





















Our server was Jessica and she was lovely with cool red / orange hair. She recommended me the Rock Me Hurricane cocktail which was really strong ( Bacardi Superior Rum, Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum, Disaronno Amaretto, Orange and Pineapple Juices, and a Float Bacardi Black Rum). I didn’t love it because I’m not a huge fan of orange in cocktails or amaretto. Although I did end up having two.



Jessica offered to put the second one in a takeaway cup as we were ready to go by the time it came which was good of her. Mat had a Heineken 0. Not sure why he bothers with the zero alcohol beer as he always complains it tastes disgusting, although this apparently is one of the less disgusting ones. I wouldn’t know as I haven’t touched beer since I got really sick after over indulging at a party when I was 17. Good times.

All of us had Impossible burgers. Mat and I had them with the secret sauce they come with as standard which kind of makes them like vegan Big Macs. Impossible burgers are so so good. We’d been living on Beyond Burgers so far this trip and I always say both are really good but Impossible just taste better and they’re not quite so thick. The girls had them plain and just put ketchup on them. We all wanted regular fries except Seren who wanted sweet potato fries. The girls also got a side each of corn on the cob made vegan. When the burgers arrived they had done them all with regular fries. We mentioned that one of them was supposed to have sweet potato fries so they brought some out and we all shared the extra free regular fries on Seren’s plate.









Oh the burgers were so good. This was definitely up there along with the fajitas at Hard Rock Cafe as my favourite meal of the trip. The fajitas probably just edge it because I had so many burgers during the week and it was nice to get something different, particularly with lots of yummy vegetables.

We had a really fun time at House of Blues, the atmosphere was great and it was just a nice quick casual meal.





We were all done in about an hour. The check was $123.71 and we left $150 as Jessica was such a great server.











There was no DJ dance party for adults again tonight so we decided to go and watch the kids one outside Once Upon A Toy. A few years ago we went to this a few times and had a laugh doing some party dances. They get adults involved too so it’s fun watching parents getting so into it (like me.)

Tonight’s party was run by a very enthusiastic female DJ and just after we got there she started a Fortnite dance competition. Freya wanted to join in and had to beg Seren to get involved.



After that the kids were told to grab and adult to join in so the girls and I did some of the party dances they always do at these things; Macarena, cha cha slide. We had fun.

We left the dance party about 9.45 pm because Mat and Seren were tired and fed up.





We walked back round towards the parking garage and as we passed the Waterside Stage there was a Latin band on. Lots of people were up dancing and members of the band were leading the dancing. It looked like fun and Freya and I wanted to join in but the family party poopers wanted to go home so we left, got in the car and drove back to Sapphire Falls. The girls and I fell asleep in the car on the way home (again) and we all went to sleep as soon as we got home about 10.30 pm.

[sheluk]

The pool area looks so beautiful - I can just imagine having my morning coffee there!

Sounds like a lovely day at Disney Springs. What a shame you didn’t get the same experience drinking the Indian ‘coke’ at the same time. That would have been quite cool.

Sounds like some yummy cocktails were had by you. It made me laugh when you had two of the same cocktail you weren’t too sure about. Why not - you’re on holiday!

What a beautiful sunset.

Another lovely day xx

[mick]

Sounds like you all had a lovely day

Joan

[Jimsdadhalifax]

Thank you for posting this - enjoyed reading it

[NewtoOrlando]

We had a great meal at HOB in 2016, rubbish in 2018, DH refuses to go again, but your pictures make me want to go and give it another go! We also love DS, we did the coca cola trays in 2019, was hilarious as we were with friends and we got the float trays aswell, they were horrific! Looks like such a chilled holiday!

[lmi_77]

Really enjoy reading your trip reports

[Fuellady]

Another nice day. Gotta love a day at Disney Springs - it's just so nice there now. I'm glad you're finding good vegan options for dinner, it seems you all really enjoyed your pizza's and the impossible burgers.