This Friday, Blaze Pizza will open its doors to guests at Disney Springs, bringing a much needed counter service option to the Town Center, just steps away from D-Luxe Burger and Homecoming Florida Kitchen. What is Blaze Pizza? Well, in their own words…

Ok, we’re gonna keep this quick. Because exceptional quality at lightning fast speed is what we’re all about. Blaze Pizza. Head food guy, Executive Chef Bradford Kent (aka “The Pizza Whisperer”). Fresh, made-from-scratch dough. Healthful, artisanal ingredients on the assembly line. Inventive to classic. You decide. Blazing hot oven + dedicated pizzasmith + 180 seconds = fast-fire’d, perfectly crisp perfection. Sound good? Enjoy the rest of your day.

It’s a fast food pizza joint, but don’t think Dominos or Pizza Hut, because that could not be any further from what Blaze is…

Blaze is located in what “was” the Buena Vista Timber Co. in the elaborate Disney Springs backstory.

The most expensive pizzas are $9.65, which regardless of quality would be an incredible value compared to anywhere else in the theme parks of Orlando.

To simplify ordering, guests are given this paper menu which lists all of the possible ingredients (including a gluten-free dough option).

If you find building a pizza daunting, you can always order a simple pie, 1 topping, or any of the signature pies.

Very much like a Chipotle, guests building their own pizza add ingredients step by step before the pizza is thrown into the oven where it cooks for 180 seconds.

The Blaze staff was incredibly helpful and happy to guide us on our pizza quest. I write about theme parks too much, excuse my vocabulary…

I’m not sure how it will work normally, but we were told we could go sit and they would call us when our pizza was ready.

The salads were good for counter service. My cesar salad reminded me a lot of the very enjoyable ones found at Disney quick service restaurants across property.

The strawberry salad was nothing to write home about, but really we’re here for pizza…

I built my own pizza with the spicy red sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, Italian meatballs, pepperoni, and oregano. As you know if you have been reading my reviews for any amount of time, I love spice and the spicy red sauce had a phenomenal kick to it. It didn’t overpower the rest of the pizza, but it blended nicely with everything else. The pizza here has a very thin crust, New York style and the pies are large, certainly enough for one person, possibly enough to satisfy two of a smaller appetite than I. In all honesty, this was the best counter service/quick service/fast food pizza I have ever had. Being from Bronx, NY, I am a pretty big pizza snob and it takes a lot to impress me. I wouldn’t pick this over a NY slice, but, I would pick this over absolutely any pizza in the state of Florida outside of Via Napoli. Blaze Pizza makes Red Oven at Universal Orlando look like the Fantastic Four Cafe (Pizzafari for the Universal-deficient)…

The consensus from those I spoke to was that they loved their pizza. Pictured above is the other pizza I tried, the White Top signature pie, which was so different from what I ordered yet I felt it was just as good in overall quality. You can taste the quality ingredients here and they make a big difference from what you’ll find around the theme parks in Central Florida. It’s fast, it’s delicious, and it’s cheap, and I think it’s going to make a big impact at Disney Springs.

They have a wide variety of soft drink option which are open to refills, including the Blue Sky beverages which can only be found here including a root beer, an orange soda (which is divine), and black cherry.

They also have some delightful teas and fruit drinks available.

For dessert, Blaze offers a brownie, chocolate chip cookie, or a s’mores pie.

None of these particularly stuck out to me, but this is a pizza place and desserts aren’t really a focus. There are more than enough great options at Disney Springs, I would just save room for a D-Luxe Burger shake or something from Amorette’s Patisserie (or than pecan pie from Frontera Cocina).

Overall, the pricing and quality of the pizzas at Blaze make it a top contender at Disney Springs, if not the very best overall counter service in the area. I love D-Luxe Burger with all my heart and soul, but clearly this is a better value. It is so much cheaper and the food quality is at the same level. It will really just come down to what you are in the mood for, pizza or a burger (or I guess you could go get a sandwich at Earl, but that’s not really my thing). If you have a Blaze Pizza near you, you probably won’t be that excited about this, but as someone who had never visited a Blaze before, I was happy with my experience and I don’t feel I would rule out eating here just because it is a chain. If you want counter service at Disney Springs, Blaze Pizza will need to be in the conversation.