There are two types of vacationers: ones that desire relaxation and the other, seeking adventure! For us, we love both and we get to experience the best of both worlds at Universal Studios Orlando Resorts! Not only do we get to go on thrill rides based on our beloved movies and shows, but we also can feel as if we’ve escaped to a faraway place. And this is by booking our stay at Universal’s Loews Sapphire Falls Resort! What makes Loews Sapphire Falls so special is its contemporary Caribbean theme and tropical vibes with their orange and blue color scheme, lush palm trees, and extravagant waterfall that allows you to feel as if you have escaped to an island retreat! And it’s pet-friendly so the entire family can come on vacation! 🏝 ☀️

BOOK HERE

The front entrance of the hotel is vibrantly blue and orange. As soon as we pulled in, we were met with a line of palm trees and the driveway that leads to either the self-parking garage to the right or to the porte-cochere where they have valet and the doors to the main lobby.

📍:  6601 Adventure Way, Orlando, FL 32819
📞: (888) 430-4999
💲 Pricing starts at $160

They offer self-parking or valet and assistance with any suitcases. Sometimes guests arrive a bit earlier (check in is at 4pm) so they offer luggage storage, in case the room isn’t ready. The front desk clerk will offer to send a text message when the room is ready if you want to go off and grab something to eat while you wait, or head over to the pool!

Self Parking
Overnight Parking: $22 plus tax per night, per vehicle
Day Parking – per day, per vehicle:

5 minutes or less: Free
5 minutes to 30 minutes: $10 plus tax
30 minutes to 24 hours: $45 plus tax

Valet Parking

Overnight Parking: $29 plus tax per night, per vehicle
Day Guest Parking: $34 plus tax per day, per vehicle (for day guests/not staying overnight)

Lobby

Sapphire Falls Resort has to be one of our favorite lobbies at Universal Orlando Resorts! We love the island-chic style, the colorful seating, and of course our eyes went directly to the beach ball chandelier!🤩 It really feels as if we traveled out of Orlando and into a Caribbean destination. The lobby has an open floor plan leading to a massive window with a view of luxurious landscaping and tropical palm trees.🌴☀️

Check-in: 4pm l Check out: 11am

When you first enter the lobby, to the left side is the check-in desk. The guest service staff are very friendly and helpful. Whenever we’ve checked in a bit too early (once at 12pm) they’ve always been able to accommodate us and help us find an available room.

The lobby also has a large seating area in front of a huge tv that usually has on some type of sporting event. (Right next to Strong Water Tavern.)

Vacation Planning

Also on the same level is the Vacation Planning Center, an area to pick up any maps, purchase theme park tickets, and get info about Universal’s City Walk.🎢🎟 This is a great place to save a lot of time buying tickets instead of having to wait in any lines in front of the park. And they also have self-service kiosks for convenience, in case any of the staff are away from the desk.

Universal Studios Store

In case you forgot your sunscreen at home, the Universal Studios Store has got you covered! Located right across from the Vacation Planning Desk, you can find anything from souvenirs like Harry Potter wands, Simpsons merch, to Minion slippers!

Room

The rooms at Sapphire Falls have a really calm and tropical feel. The room we booked is the standard room with two double Queen beds. The beds are comfy with thinner all-cotton linens, which makes sense with the Florida heat. There is plenty of lighting and outlets with charging ports. Also, the iHome radio/speaker is updated with the newer iPhone charging port! (Finally, someone is doing it! lol) 

• You can find extra blankets inside the closet!
• They have 24-hour room service and a limited late-night menu after 11pm.

Opposite of the beds you can find a nice dresser with the TV, a mini-fridge for chilling water bottles and leftover food, and a Keurig with Loew’s brand coffee and tea. Next to the dresser is an office area with additional outlets for charging, menus for room service, info about the theme parks, and a map of the resort.

The bathroom vanity is very colorful and chic. It includes additional towels, a blow dryer, and bathroom essentials such as soap etc. Our room had a shower with a bench, and a tub is optional for those traveling with children or disabilities. The toiletries that are provided are the anti-aging line from Julien Farel, a celebrity hairdresser who has a salon inside of the Loews Regency New York. A full bottle of his product is around $25 dollars. High end and has vitamins that are good for the hair!💁🏼‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️

Restaurants & Lounges

Sapphire Falls has 4 unique on-site restaurants with Caribbean-inspired menus. 

Amatista Cookhouse

Hours: Everyday 6am – 10pm

This gorgeous coastal inspired restaurant serves breakfast (includes a buffet), lunch and dinner with outdoor seating near the water taxi/walkway path. The decor of this restaurant is one our favorites on site. We love the mix of sophistication and class meets beachy. It’s seriously so chic with the gorgeous hanging chandeliers!🤩

Strong Water Tavern

Hours: Everyday 4pm – 2am
🍽 Menu

Strong Water Tavern is a bar and restaurant with draft beers and island-inspired tapas food options. The inside decor is a modern industrialized rum factory.  They offer flights & tastings of a variety of rums. For $18 you can choose 3 rums to taste from around the world and you can request a Rum Captain for a tasting! The captain will give you some background on the rums and make selection suggestions. We actually ran into the manager who was sampling new rums, so they’re always looking to add and update their menus for their guests! 🥃👍🏼

They have a wall of rums with over 100 rums, including rare and vintage. Their Milk Punch is a house favorite, made from their signature three-day process with a recipe they attribute to Benjamin Franklin himself! Another cocktail recommended by the staff was the Rum Rita, made from rum in St. Augustine, FL!

They also serve fresh quality foods from locations such as Little Havana, Mexico, Puerto Rico, West Indies, Jamaica, Colombia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The food comes out tapas style. For those that aren’t familiar, tapas are smaller portion plates that are perfect for sharing and allow guests to try more delicious foods off the menu!🍽😋 This is definitely a good spot to come for a unique experience if you haven’t ever tried foods from these regions.

They also have outdoor seating, which is pet friendly!🐶 Their outdoor patio has some regular seating, as well as a large outdoor fire pit. Imagine a cooler Florida night with a glass of wine! #perfect And you can even catch a glimpse of Universal’s Islands of Adventure, the dock for the water taxi, and Sapphire Fall’s serene waterfall!😍

New Dutch Trading Co.

Hours: Everyday 6am-11pm
🍽 Menu

We like to start our adventure filled day here for our morning coffee!☕️ The New Dutch Trading Co. opens early for breakfast and they serve a selection of grab and go quick service options like hot or cold sandwiches, freshly baked pastries, wraps, healthy smoothies, coffee/lattes, ice cream and more!

Located right in the lobby, the cafe itself is very cute. We absolutely love the design of the tiles!😍 This area can get pretty crowded during the start of the day but the line moves pretty quickly, and they only have a few seats inside (pictured below) so it’s meant to be a quick and convenient spot for guests. This is the go-to spot for anyone that’s in a rush before heading out to the parks or looking for a little snack for the pool. They also have a variety of wine bottles for sale to bring back to the rooms!

Drhum Club Kantine

Hours: Everyday 11am-10pm
🍽 Drhum Club Kantine Menu

A must visit while pool-side at Sapphire Falls resort! The Drhum Club Kantine is an outdoor bar and restaurant with tropical frozen drink options.🍹 The outside of it reminds us of a stone covered sandcastle. The inside has a small bar with a few seats and TVs for anyone that wants to spend some time outside but can’t miss a sporting event. Our favorite spot is around the fire pit and they do have servers that come around to take care of the tables. 

The menu at Drhum Club Kantine is typical bar food but with a tropical twist including jerk-spiced Caribbean wings, Vegetarian Empanadas, and their Havana’s Turf & Turf Burger that has a papaya-mango relish. And if you need something to cool you down, their Frozen Chocolate Banana is so good (we love banana deserts!). We visit the Drhum Club every time we stay at Sapphire Falls as a casual dining option or to grab some cocktails by the pool. If anyone else loves poolside drinks like us, they offer souvenir cups that have a discounted refill price. You can’t go wrong with a frozen creamsicle piña-colada or their refreshing Raspberry Mojito!

15 oz. Hurricane Glass $15, refills $10
45 oz. Super Bowl $35, refills $30

And during the evenings, they offer s’mores and marshmallow roasting around the fire pit! 🔥

Pool Area

Hours: 8am-10pm daily

The most impressive part of Sapphire Falls Resort is their heated pool area. This pool is the largest pool at Universal Orlando Resorts! At the pool they have cabanas, food/drink wait services, an awesome water slide, an outdoor bar and restaurant, and a soft, white sand beach area! Sometimes they play movies at night and offer pool toys and floats!

A feature we love is their zero entry section, meaning zero depth zone, which you can walk through the pool to get to the other side. It’s a nice way to just feel the water without actually getting in the pool!

Hot Tub

Located in the corner near the Drhum Club Kantine is the hot tub!

Poolside Activities

They also have a covered area with pool games. Fun for all family members or even a chill spot to hang out if it happens to rain for a bit. They have games like corn hole, ping pong, a pool table and more!🏓

Cabanas

Pool-side private cabanas are available for reservations. They include a tv for entertainment, a ceiling fan and electric fan, as well as plenty of seating including 4 seats at the roundtable, 2 lounge chairs, and pool couches. 

And you can also rent some sand toys for the kids like a bucket and shovels to make a sand castle in their soft white sand!

Other Amenities

Caribbean Carnaval Dinner Show

Loews Sapphire Falls has an interactive Caribbean Carnaval Dinner Show with an all-you-can-eat buffet, music, and dances of the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad. And they even have a limbo and conga line! Shows happen every Friday at 6pm.

💲Pricing: (includes the food and show)
$71 for adults
$36 for children 

Despicable Me Character Breakfast

On Saturday mornings they have the Despicable Me meet and eat character breakfast at the Cayman Court Pavilion! What’s better than breakfast with Minions?!😍

Calypso Game Zone

Usually a day at the theme parks equals doing a lot of walking, waiting in line, and standing out in the hot Florida sun so we definitely understand why guests would want to spend an afternoon to recharge between busy days at Universal Studios. But that doesn’t mean everyone in the group wants to lounge around, so it’s really cool that they have the Calypso Game Zone! It’s great for families with kids, and adults that grew up going to arcades.

Kalina Health & Fitness Center

Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you have to skip your gym routine. With this spacious gym, there’s no excuses! Kalina Health & Fitness Center is filled with plenty of top-line equipment and machines. They also offer mats and have free weights to get a complete workout in! 

Tip: For any outdoor runners, go out on the first level, past the water taxis, and jog on the garden pathway! It’s gorgeous with so many colorful plants and palm trees. And is a great way to see the entire Universal Studios Orlando’s property!

Locker Rooms

They even have a nice locker room for you to use with plenty of lockers and a couple showers. This is perfect for any early risers that don’t want to disturb the rest of the family while they’re still sleeping. In the showers there’s shampoo, conditioner, and body wash dispensers on the wall so you don’t have to bring anything with you!👍🏼

And they even have a sauna!🧖🏼‍♀️🧖🏻‍♀️ The locker room felt more like a spa than a regular gym!

This gorgeous stone staircase (right next to Strong Water Tavern) was designed to look like a high-end rum distillery. The photos that line the walls are distillery ruins that may have been the inspiration for the design, and at the bottom you’ll find full-size barrels. The staircase leads to the pool and fitness level (level 2), and Amatista Cookhouse and exit doors to the path for the water taxis and garden walkway on level 1.

Water Taxi

Universal Studios gives you so many options to get around to Universal CityWalk and the theme parks! One of our favorite options is by taking the water taxi from Sapphire Falls! No worries about stops at other resorts, the water taxi takes you directly to CityWalk. So this is a really great option for those that need to make it on time for dinner reservations or want to be first in line for early theme park admissions (a perk of staying at one of Universal’s on-site Resorts).  

The complimentary water taxi can be an attraction in itself and is great for families and those that need to rest their feet on the short 5-minute ride down the waterway. 

It’s available until 2am & runs about every 15 minutes!

Other Ways to Get to The Parks and neighboring Universal Resorts

Shuttle Transportation

Universal Orlando Resorts offers round trip shuttle transportation to and from Universal’s CityWalk and Universal’s Volcano Bay!

Take the Walking Path

We love that everything at Universal Studios Orlando is so easy to navigate and explore. It only takes a few minutes to walk to the other resorts, Universal’s CityWalk, and the theme parks. Once you arrive at any of the resorts, you won’t have to get back into your car if you don’t want to! It’s like its own little world, which is why Universal Studios Orlando is an amazing vacation to escape to! We love venturing around and walking through the garden pathway to the theme parks. It gives us a glimpse of the gorgeous Loews Royal Pacific Resort and takes less than 10 minutes to get to CityWalk!

Benefits of Staying at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort

• Early Park Admission: Enjoy early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the other Universal Theme Parks one hour before the park opens to the public, and exclusive hotel guests only entrance to Universal Studios Florida!
• Complimentary Transportation to the parks and CityWalk: As we mentioned before, Loews Sapphire Falls offers complimentary shuttle buses, easy walking paths, and a water taxi to the Universal Theme Parks and CityWalk.
• Shopping Made Simple: While shopping at the theme parks or CityWalk you can keep your hands free! They will deliver your purchases directly to your hotel, free of charge. It doesn’t get any better than that!
• Use your room key in more ways than one: At Universal Orlando Resorts your room key can do much more than just get you into your room. Get resort-wide charging privileges using your room key card. You can also use your key card for complimentary access to select live entertainment venues at Universal CityWalk for the length of your stay! We used this to get into the Rising Star Karaoke Bar, we just showed them our room key and we didn’t have to pay the $7 cover charge. #winning

Pros

• Gorgeous swimming pool with powder soft sand areas, cabana suites with TVs and fans. Perfect for anyone in the group that’s wanting to relax, and another that wants entertainment!
• Pet-Friendly 🐶
• Close to Universal’s CityWalk
• Relaxing and bright atmosphere
• Great dining options that are distinctive from each other – Dhrum club (casual foods like sandwiches but with tropical flavors); Strong Water Tavern (tapas from a huge selection of different cuisines); Amatista Cookhouse (Caribbean inspired homestyle meals)

Cons

• Even though it’s a Universal’s Loews brand hotel, it doesn’t offer the benefit of express passes like guests that stay at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel^®, or Loews Royal Pacific Resort.
• Can be pricey depending on the time of year, we’ve even seen it get sold out during Halloween Horror Nights during the fall season.

And as we mentioned, Loews Sapphire Falls is a pet-friendly resort (2 per room, 75lbs or under) so the entire family can be on vacation! At check-in they provide special gift bags for your fur babies! Usually they have a Loews labeled bowl, a few doggy treats, a floor mat, and a Loew’s dog tag! They do charge an additional fee (about $100 per stay) and may request for additional paperwork such as vaccination records. They even have an area for your dog to go to the bathroom and run around, located on the ground level! 

Loews Sapphire Falls is our home away for home! There are so many reasons we choose to stay at this resort when visiting Orlando. We love everything about it from the Caribbean charm, amazing amenities, and friendly staff! Who wouldn’t want to spend an afternoon at their huge pool area!? We think anyone would love staying at this resort because of its luxury yet contemporary style and it’s convenient location close to the theme park action! 🍊☀️🎢