Something Wicked this MAY Comes! 18 nights @ RPR & SFR. An April/May 2025 TR

[schumigirl]

HOTEL POOLS




SAPPHIRE FALLS



Although we are not big pool fans, especially during the day as we are very, very pale skinned people from the West of Scotland, we could almost get sunburned if we stand too close to a lightbulb

But, the two pools we really like are the ones at RP and Sapphire.

In the past we have pool hopped but it`s never really worth it for us as when we do spend time at the pool it`s usually at night and only for the movie and maybe food.

HRH and PB, the pools are ok, but for us, not worth the effort unless we were eating at their pool bar as they all have lovely food, haven`t found anything to complain about there, but it is a nice perk of staying onsite that you can pool hop to most of the hotels.









The Fire pit is a popular little place especially at night, it is lovely and it`s always nice to sit for an hour or so around the fire, even when it`s almost 90F at night!! People do buy the smores kit from the store and you do see a lot of them.

















They do have some lovely little areas around the pool, the water above is the other side of the water wheel and they do have loads of Cabanas here which are very nice. We had one once, but as we never spend a whole day at the pool, I don`t think we would book one for ourselves, however we did enjoy it that day, they are very popular.

Night time is our time for the pool......Moonbathers as we were once affectionately called!!!

We do love the sun, we`re not quite as bad as this.....









But, for pool time and sitting on a lounger, we definitely prefer evenings, sitting out at night in that heat, dipping in and out of the pool is perfect for us, especially with a nice poolside cocktail to go with it















RPR


I think RP overall is our favourite pool out of the two, maybe it`s just that we`ve enjoyed more time here in general, but we love it and we do have our favourite spot here which is something we don`t have at Sapphire. ​

They don`t have a slide here, but they do have the kiddie play area and it does get busy so I`m guessing it is a lot of fun. There are supersoakers I think but not much else, so it does put some folks off booking here apparently if a slide is essential to them, for us, not bothered. ​

Another zero entry pool which is lovely and a separate kiddy pool too which is tiny, they also have a decent amount of cabana`s, hot tub and another excellent place for food and drinks! ​

We have never struggled to find a lounger here, there are loads of them scattered around and in this little area they have a couple of cabanas too and the gate to the walking path is over to the left of the picture.
​

Again, night times are our favourites around the pool!!!

The Dive in movies are something that many do enjoy, around 8pm they start nightly and sometimes the movies are decent, other times we won`t bother. And they do list the schedule on the boards around each pool for the whole month so you can plan if you do want to watch any of the movies.

Too many kiddie movies for us ​

This isn`t really a food post, but one thing Bula Bar does excel in is their Nachos.

We get the spicy chicken with extra jalapenos and some Tabasco, but the portion could easily feed three to four people, it is huge!!!

Very tasty too and it`s been a couple of years since we`ve had some of these, so maybe this trip or the next one we`ll have to give them a try again and see if they`re as good. ​

Both pool bars really are very good and well worth a try for food or even just cocktails!!




More to come



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[schumigirl]

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I love the nighttime pool photos, it’s so nice to be outside and warm without the sun after a long day in it. Those poolside drinks and nachos are delicious!

 

[schumigirl]

I love the nighttime pool photos, it’s so nice to be outside and warm without the sun after a long day in it. Those poolside drinks and nachos are delicious!

Oh I agree Maria, there is nothing better than an evening by the pool after a long day!

I see a large Spicy Margarita for me coming soon and maybe, just maybe the nachos although they do have an amazing chicken sandwich there too!!!

So many choices

 

[schumigirl]

It`s always fun to start thinking about food and where we`ll eat on our trips, one of the best things is finding somewhere new to try out as well as revisit old favourites.

And one of them is Nagoya Sushi.

But, I was on the phone to one of our TM friends a few nights ago and he told us this place is actually closing down completely on April 26th which we are so sad about.

The family who own it are just lovely and they take such pride in their food, service and value their staff and customers highly, so we were sad for them that they`re having to close down on and we won`t even get to visit one last time. I believe they had been there for over 20 years, it`ll be a sad loss to the community as we knew so many folks who loved it too and had been going there forever.

It was one of these little gems of places that not many tourists went to which we loved, ironic I know it was out of the way and we will be forever grateful we had the chance to experience it with both Kyle and others too. ​

They did a real mesh of food from sushi to Bento Boxes and regular dishes like spicy chicken and steak, we loved it and the Bento Boxes were classic and not like the fake ones places like Cowfish do where they have fries in them!! ​

So, we`ll miss it and we`re now on a mission to find another small family run Sushi place nearby, or not so nearby. There are a couple of larger Sushi restaurants we have been to, but we`d prefer small and unique if we could.

We`ll definitely be asking our local friends for any recommendations!!!!

But, we`ll absolutely be visiting some old favourites close to home and further afield as we do plan to drive around a lot more this trip and hopefully a trip to St Augustine will be one of them for sure.

St Augustine is simply gorgeous!!! It`s such a historic place and you can spend hours soaking it all up and never be bored as well as more modern interests with the distillery which we did enjoy visiting a couple of years back.

Usually we park in the centre and head for the St George Street area and find somewhere around there for lunch, but this time we want to go over the bridge and venture over there to explore.

But first we like to visit Flagler College and the Lightner Museum which we really enjoy most visits, stunningly beautiful buildings.
















We can be quite dull and eat at the same places every trip when we come here, last couple of visits we ate in Harry`s Seafood Bar, it is hard to give it a miss as it is fabulous, but this visit we want to cross the Bridge of Lions and find somewhere a little different.




​

There are so many things to amuse us on this side of the bridge, we never bothered to cross it, but on speaking to again, locals, they all said we had to cross over and even though we are most definitely not beach people, we would love it and have our choice of fresh seafood restaurants and each one is amazing.

They weren`t kidding!!!

We did have a look and so many places caught our eye, the trouble will be trying to narrow it down to just one restaurant!!

So, St Augustine is a definite place for us to visit this year as it has been a few years since we last went, we did plan to go during our last November/December trip, but we were too busy......lol, true!!

It`s around a 2 hour drive to get there so it`s prefectly doable for a day trip, we keep saying, and have been saying for years we should really stay a couple of nights and go on one of the ghost tours, but.....we never seem to get around to it!







More to come ​

 

[Draco0801]

It`s always fun to start thinking about food and where we`ll eat on our trips, one of the best things is finding somewhere new to try out as well as revisit old favourites.

And one of them is Nagoya Sushi.

But, I was on the phone to one of our TM friends a few nights ago and he told us this place is actually closing down completely on April 26th which we are so sad about.

The family who own it are just lovely and they take such pride in their food, service and value their staff and customers highly, so we were sad for them that they`re having to close down on and we won`t even get to visit one last time. I believe they had been there for over 20 years, it`ll be a sad loss to the community as we knew so many folks who loved it too and had been going there forever.

It was one of these little gems of places that not many tourists went to which we loved, ironic I know it was out of the way and we will be forever grateful we had the chance to experience it with both Kyle and others too. ​

They did a real mesh of food from sushi to Bento Boxes and regular dishes like spicy chicken and steak, we loved it and the Bento Boxes were classic and not like the fake ones places like Cowfish do where they have fries in them!! ​

So, we`ll miss it and we`re now on a mission to find another small family run Sushi place nearby, or not so nearby. There are a couple of larger Sushi restaurants we have been to, but we`d prefer small and unique if we could.

We`ll definitely be asking our local friends for any recommendations!!!!

But, we`ll absolutely be visiting some old favourites close to home and further afield as we do plan to drive around a lot more this trip and hopefully a trip to St Augustine will be one of them for sure.

St Augustine is simply gorgeous!!! It`s such a historic place and you can spend hours soaking it all up and never be bored as well as more modern interests with the distillery which we did enjoy visiting a couple of years back.

Usually we park in the centre and head for the St George Street area and find somewhere around there for lunch, but this time we want to go over the bridge and venture over there to explore.

But first we like to visit Flagler College and the Lightner Museum which we really enjoy most visits, stunningly beautiful buildings.




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We can be quite dull and eat at the same places every trip when we come here, last couple of visits we ate in Harry`s Seafood Bar, it is hard to give it a miss as it is fabulous, but this visit we want to cross the Bridge of Lions and find somewhere a little different.




​

View attachment 955973

There are so many things to amuse us on this side of the bridge, we never bothered to cross it, but on speaking to again, locals, they all said we had to cross over and even though we are most definitely not beach people, we would love it and have our choice of fresh seafood restaurants and each one is amazing.

They weren`t kidding!!!

We did have a look and so many places caught our eye, the trouble will be trying to narrow it down to just one restaurant!!

So, St Augustine is a definite place for us to visit this year as it has been a few years since we last went, we did plan to go during our last November/December trip, but we were too busy......lol, true!!

It`s around a 2 hour drive to get there so it`s prefectly doable for a day trip, we keep saying, and have been saying for years we should really stay a couple of nights and go on one of the ghost tours, but.....we never seem to get around to it!



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More to come ​

 

[Draco0801]

Ww have stopped at Nagoya it is so good. Too bad we will miss it as well.
We go to that plaza a lot one of our favorite places is in there also a Portuguese restaurant. My husband was born in St Michael Azores, and the owner of the restaurant is from our old hometown in Massachusetts.

 

[schumigirl]

Ww have stopped at Nagoya it is so good. Too bad we will miss it as well.
We go to that plaza a lot one of our favorite places is in there also a Portuguese restaurant. My husband was born in St Michael Azores, and the owner of the restaurant is from our old hometown in Massachusetts.

That Portuguese restaurant looks amazing! We hadn`t noticed it but I think we`ll add it to our list, the menu looks beautiful, Tom`s already chosen about three items from the menu so thank you for the recommendation

The Azores are stunning!! We`ve never been there and have only been to Portugal once, we stayed in a villa between Faro and Albuefeira, beautiful! And what a small world with the owner being from a place you know.

 

[Draco0801]

That Portuguese restaurant looks amazing! We hadn`t noticed it but I think we`ll add it to our list, the menu looks beautiful, Tom`s already chosen about three items from the menu so thank you for the recommendation

The Azores are stunning!! We`ve never been there and have only been to Portugal once, we stayed in a villa between Faro and Albuefeira, beautiful! And what a small world with the owner being from a place you know.

Oh glad to have mentioned it. You will love it great food & great atmosphere it’s a small restaurant.
We have been to Portugal once just to Lisbon it was amazing. We go to the Azores more since that is where hubby is from. We are going in June for 10 days hence why our universal trip will be Sept or December.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh glad to have mentioned it. You will love it great food & great atmosphere it’s a small restaurant.
We have been to Portugal once just to Lisbon it was amazing. We go to the Azores more since that is where hubby is from. We are going in June for 10 days hence why our universal trip will be Sept or December.

You have some wonderful trips coming up for sure. The Azores just look so beautiful, I doubt we`ll ever see them, but it must be gorgeous to visit there, then you have Universal to look forward to.

And yep, looking forward to trying the restaurant

 

[keishashadow]

So, for this trip we managed to get another Acadia or similar of course, as long as it`s not a Rav 4 we`ll be happy.....and all for less than $700!!!

That is an awesome rate for such a long trip!

CBay reminds me of a communist block building we used to see in Eastern Europe, nothing pretty about it at all. But, I`m told I do have an irrational dislike of it lol....maybe it is me....and you too apparently!!!

Lololol first time i heard that description was from the mr re the ‘onsite’ hotels at the Grand Canyon. The interior walls were, literally, painted cement blocks. upon reflection, I do see your point re CB.

For us it’s all about “the value”, as admittedly, U portions of our trip are generally an add on to using our disney points. Last visit in January, we loved staying @ Sapphire again.

Will say, I like CB far more than Adventura. Tried it several times, just not a fit for us, mostly issue with the pool layout being so ‘exposed’ to the lobby.

Night time is our time for the pool......Moonbathers as we were once affectionately called!!!

That’s a good one!

This isn`t really a food post, but one thing Bula Bar does excel in is their Nachos.

I’d venture the best onsite of the hotels.

Trip is really sneaking up on you!

 

[schumigirl]

That is an awesome rate for such a long trip!

Lololol first time i heard that description was from the mr re the ‘onsite’ hotels at the Grand Canyon. The interior walls were, literally, painted cement blocks. upon reflection, I do see your point re CB.

For us it’s all about “the value”, as admittedly, U portions of our trip are generally an add on to using our disney points. Last visit in January, we loved staying @ Sapphire again.

Will say, I like CB far more than Adventura. Tried it several times, just not a fit for us, mostly issue with the pool layout being so ‘exposed’ to the lobby.

That’s a good one!

I’d venture the best onsite of the hotels.

Trip is really sneaking up on you!

I think we got a glitch for sure, it`s now showing at $1050

Heck, painted cement blocks!!! Sounds dreadful, I would have imagined hotels there would have been very traditional and pretty, maybe not

CBay looks exactly like a place near one of four our hotels when we went to Yugoslavia, yep, before the break up, but no colours, it was just grey and not the pretty grey. I thought it was a detention centre of some sort.....it was a small childrens hospital! Bulgaria had many similar buildings too, Eastern Europe was always interesting, in most areas they had the most amazing architecture, then communist block alley around the corner!!

Yes, Aventura and the pool. I know they were limited with space, but it`s too close to the lobby, not a place I`m fond of either lol

Yep, Bula Bar is the best one for us, I`m craving that Huli Chicken sandwich now!!

Yes, it`s creeping up on us for sure!!

 

[keishashadow]

I think we got a glitch for sure, it`s now showing at $1050

Wowzer!

Yes, Aventura and the pool. I know they were limited with space, but it`s too close to the lobby, not a place I`m fond of either lol

Haha I just can’t imagine who thot it would be a good idea to have the lobby bar(s) set up so close; almost as tho the pool is to serve as fishbowl full of swimming mermaids.

Don’t get me started on that disappointing rooftop lounge that could really be a superstar/destination spot.

 

[SCDizFan]

I saw this on the news and wondered if it will effect your trips to the US or is the Florida sun just too much of a draw? Good for you guys, now you can go more often with Kyle!

https://universalukproject.co.uk/

 

[schumigirl]

Wowzer!

Haha I just can’t imagine who thot it would be a good idea to have the lobby bar(s) set up so close; almost as tho the pool is to serve as fishbowl full of swimming mermaids.

Don’t get me started on that disappointing rooftop lounge that could really be a superstar/destination spot.

lol.....he checked again today, down to $1,038!! Bargain. No, we`re happy to pay what we`re paying.

Wasn`t there a restaurant somewhere you could eat while watching women dressed as mermaids swimming in Florida? Or have I just made that up

Yes, it could have been something special, but it`s not been the success they hoped it would be, in saying that whenever we`ve gone up it`s busy enough, but lacks atmosphere and we`ve never been impressed with the cocktails on offer. It is a shame and it`s too darn windy most of the time too!!!

 

[schumigirl]

I saw this on the news and wondered if it will effect your trips to the US or is the Florida sun just too much of a draw? Good for you guys, now you can go more often with Kyle!

https://universalukproject.co.uk/

To be honest, not overly excited about it.

It`ll be ready in 2031....but, we always have delays on things, we don`t have good weather and we just don`t do theme parks the way America does them. Yes, Debbie Downer lol....

I think the weather is the biggest impediment over here, we have a couple of big theme parks here and we never go to them. The last last time was when Kyle was around 10 we went to that area for a week in a cottage with friends of ours with kids similar age to Kyle and it was ok, but, it was freezing and this was in July!!

I think we`ll stick to Florida, although I do believe we are doing less theme park time as time goes on, for us it`s more about outside the parks now and guaranteed heat!!!

And apparently no Potter at this park due to Warner Bros in Leavesden having it.

I`m sure it`ll be wonderful really......

 

[erinch]

Looking forward to your report!
With Helios opening early will you get over there to try out the restaurants and get a tour? And will you brave Epic Universe in preview?

 

[schumigirl]

Looking forward to your report!
With Helios opening early will you get over there to try out the restaurants and get a tour? And will you brave Epic Universe in preview?

along erinch! Happy to have you along

We already have a couple of plans to visit Fernando in Bar Helios for sure, cannot wait to see him and the bar too of course in person, it and the hotel look beautiful.

Have you any plans to visit UOR or Disney anytime soon?? I`m glad I`m not there right now, lines this morning at the two original parks were horrendous!!! Hopefully by the time we get there with Easter being over it won`t be as bad.

Hope you enjoy this one too, always nice to see you

 

[keishashadow]

Wasn`t there a restaurant somewhere you could eat while watching women dressed as mermaids swimming in Florida? Or have I just made that up

Weeki Wachee state park has swimming mermaids, saw as a kid lol

Sea life aquarium in Orlando (never been) has them do a show.

Not sure if the pearl divers are still doing their thing @ Sea World