Disney’s Riviera Resort Stay Report: Highlights & Greatness
This hotel stay report covers our recent experience at Disney’s Riviera Resort, where we check out the new health safety protocol, enhanced cleaning, dining, pool crowds, and more as Walt Disney World continues its phased reopening. We’ll focus extensively on the highlights of this particular property. While we’ve been critical of the Riviera in the past, there’s actually a lot to love about it!
Our stay at Disney’s Riviera Resort is one of several we’re planning to do during Adventure or Choice Season on Disney Vacation Club’s point charts. The former is all of September and first half of December; the latter adds in all of October and most of November, minus the holiday weeks. The room categories we book require the same number of points during both seasons on weekdays at most resorts, so there’s little distinction for us.
We’ve mentioned this in passing a few times, but our intent is to use all of our 2020 and most of our 2021 DVC points during the next few months. That’s for the reasons covered in our Disney Vacation Club Point Pool Problem. We won’t rehash all of that here, but this remains an ongoing issue of which DVC members should be aware…
Even though DVC properties at Walt Disney World have been open since the end of June, there are a couple of reasons why this problem persists. First, Aulani and (to a much lesser extent) the Grand Californian still have not reopened. Second, because no resorts are booking to capacity (or anywhere close to it). Availability is still high for the next couple of months as compared to normal levels.
This means that the outstanding point balance has continued to grow, presumably as many DVC members are postponing visits until “things are back to normal.” The likely result is a lot of people all trying to book for Summer and Fall 2021. If you have 50 people competing for 25 rooms, half of those members are going to be shut out, disappointed and disgruntled. Unless Disney intervenes, this isn’t going to end well.
We don’t have a lot of faith in Disney Vacation Club remedying this, so we’re using our points now to avoid potential future headaches. There probably aren’t a lot of similarly-situated local DVC members reading this, but if you are, we’d recommend doing the same. If you’re out of state, this could be the “perfect” excuse to book a quick getaway. There’s still a good amount of availability in November and December, but it is starting to book up.
Just a heads up and explanation in case you’ve missed our previous comments on this topic. Anyway, moving on to our stay at Disney’s Riviera Resort…
I’ve made clear in the past that I’m not the biggest fan of this property. My Disney’s Riviera Resort Review used words like “lazy, uninspired, and boring” when describing the architecture and design. I compared it to cookie-cutter suburbia, specifically drawing a parallel to Val d’Europe, the Disney-developed town adjacent to Disneyland Paris, as opposed to the more lavish and ornate French Riviera.
Judging by the reader comments, this was a polarizing assessment. That was especially true with Walt Disney World fans who had, by their own admission, never visited Disney’s Riviera Resort.
This overlooks our praise for the rooms, which are among the best Deluxe Studios at Walt Disney World. We specifically compared them to the Villas at Grand Floridian, which is fairly high praise.
While I stand by every bit of criticism about the unambitious and bland exterior design, it’s worth giving some additional attention to the guest rooms at Disney’s Riviera Resort.
In terms of comfort and functionality, the Deluxe Studios at Disney’s Riviera Resort are unparalleled.
The only other rooms that come close are the new studios at Saratoga Springs and those don’t quite hit the same high notes.
It’s not a coincidence that both the Saratoga and Riviera rooms are DVC’s latest designs, making strides in space-saving design and adding innovative features like the pull-down Murphy sleeper that is somehow both a comfortable couch and a comfortable bed.
The rooms at Disney’s Riviera Resort seem like the culmination of a lot of lessons learned by DVC over the last decade. They iterate on past successes, disregard past failures, and come together perfectly.
Contrast this with Bay Lake Tower, which opened a decade earlier and is arguably the last of Disney Vacation Club’s “old” style of rooms. While we love BLT for its location, its rooms were (and are) a low point for DVC.
It’s been mostly uphill since then, with the rooms at Disney’s Riviera Resort being the pinnacle to date. Earlier entries like Old Key West offer more spacious rooms, but Riviera makes much better use of its more limited space.
Everything about these rooms–the quality finishings, array of textures, Disney flourishes, space-saving design, storage, and capacity–is top notch.
Some long-time DVC members might quibble about a feature they like at other resorts being absent, but the deliberate choices made here are a net gain for most guests.
Above is a video tour of the room.
Cinematography by Sarah; ninja-like bed conversion by me.
That’s right, we have different last names.
Disney must assume that Sarah uses her indoor voice whereas I like to shout my name. They are correct…although they missed my affinity for exclamation points.
Wanting to focus on the best part of Disney’s Riviera Resort, we spent a disproportionate amount of time in the room and on our balcony. (Finally, success with both a nice balcony and a decent view!)
I still have a ton of criticism for Disney’s Riviera Resort; it was a squandered opportunity and it’s easy to see where corners were cut. However, I cannot let my disappointment in all of that cloud my critique. These guest rooms are undeniably nice.
Another thing that’s undeniably nice is the dining at Disney’s Riviera Resort.
We’ve already done several meals here since Walt Disney World’s reopening began. First, we did Topolino’s Terrace Modified Character Meal, following that up with dinner at Topolino’s Terrace that same night.
Since reopening, we’ve done Primo Piatto several times–while doing our Skyliner Snack & Sip Strategy and also while staying at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
In that CBR resort stay report, we specifically recommend guests staying at Caribbean Beach walk over to Riviera Resort to eat here.
This time, we did both breakfast and dinner at Primo Piatto. Doing takeout and bringing the food back to our room was really smooth via Mobile Order. We hit the “I’m here, prepare my order” button a few minutes before leaving the room, and by the time we got downstairs to Primo Piatto, our food was ready.
Even though we already have properly-plated photos of all these items, we went the extra mile of “converting” the brown boxes into something more photogenic just for you.
Given what’s open and the reduced menu options, Disney’s Riviera Resort is arguably the best place to stay in terms of restaurant quality and diversity.
Disney’s Riviera Resort has solid options for pretty much everything: character breakfast, fine dining, counter service, bar/lounge, and cafe–plus easy access to everything at Caribbean Beach (which admittedly doesn’t add much). For even more options, Crescent Lake and EPCOT are a short Skyliner ‘flight’ away.
We noticed pool usage was down at Disney’s Riviera Resort despite shorter park hours. It’s also worth noting that pool hours have quietly been adjusted (everywhere, I believe, but definitely at the Crescent Lake and Barefoot Bay resorts).
Resort pools were previously open from 9 am until 9 pm; new hours are 10 am to 10 pm.
Now that we’re out of summer vacation season, I wouldn’t expect pool crowds to be much of an issue going forward.
In fairness, all of our recent stays have been during the week. With locals still doing staycations on weekends, the pools could see spikes in usage–especially if the weather is hot and sunny.
Bus transportation also seemed fine. I didn’t hang out at the bus depot, but whenever we were up there, we saw 1-2 buses. If anyone has recently stayed at Disney’s Riviera Resort and used the buses, we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments!
Finally, the Disney Skyliner gondolas remain the best form of resort to park transportation aside from your feet. It does have occasional downtime when there’s lightning in a certain mile radius, but there’s a reason the ‘doom and gloom’ prognosticators have largely gone silent: the Skyliner is great.
Ultimately, another great post-reopening stay for us at Walt Disney World. While I continue to have objections to the weak design choices and unambitious style of Disney’s Riviera Resort, it delivers on a substantive front in several ways that matter to us: rooms, dining, and transportation.
I wouldn’t say that Disney’s Riviera Resort is growing on me–I’m still glad we don’t own here and wouldn’t even entertain the idea until prices find their bottom on the resale market. However, stays like this help emphasize the resort’s advantages while downplaying its faults. That makes it easier to “see what others see” when it comes to Disney’s Riviera Resort, so to speak. From a utilitarian perspective, Disney’s Riviera Resort gets the job done even if it falls short of the high bar Imagineering has set at other resorts around Walt Disney World.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you stayed at Disney’s Riviera Resort since it reopened? What do you think of all the modifications? Experiences with the pools, transportation, or dining? If you’ve stayed here or even just visited the grounds, how would your review differ from mine? What do you think of Riviera’s theme/decorations? Will you be booking a resort reservation for Walt Disney World this fall, or are these rules/restrictions/policies going to cause you to postpone? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Tom, a concern I noticed when I went on a DVC tour of Riviera a year ago is that when you take the Skyliner from the Riviera to Epcot you have to wait extra long for an empty gondola. That’s because most of the gondolas were filled at the Caribbean station. And that was in the middle of the day, it must be worse at Epcot opening time. A simple solution would be for the Caribbean station to leave every third gondola empty, but none of the Riviera station workers I talked to said that happens. Back before the pandemic did you happen to notice excessive wait times to go from Riviera to Epcot in the morning rush?
Are guests at Riviera resort, allowed to use Caribbean beach pool?
Only if you are a DVC member booking your stay on your own points and pool hopping hasn’t been blacked out. Unfortunately, during Covid, pool hopping is blacked out.
We are beyond excited to try out this new resort in November 🙂 we have a one bedroom villa and cannot wait to see it!! We have never use the Skyliner, so that will be new to us, too. I am glad to hear that the pool was not very busy at Riviera. The pool looks a little bit smaller. Food choices sounds Solid;) Also, any recommendations at Topolino‘s terrace for dinner?
Kudos for being one of her few WDW influencers willing to occasionally criticize the company.
Others (I’m thinking of a particular podcaster) have never encountered a bad WDW decision they can’t attempt to justify.
We frequently stay at the grand Floridian and the beach club. We are not DVC members but got a great upgrade to a 1 bedroom villa at riviera in August. Amazing detail in the rooms. Everything feels solid and substantial and sound proofing was great. I love evenings in the gf lobby and storm along bay, but our next stay is back at riviera in the same 1 br suite. The space is really well done and felt more like a substantial apartment than a hotel room. Plus the staff in the lobby went above and beyond to help. Everyone we encountered provided concierge level service for even the smallest hiccup. Only problem we had was long lines for the bus to magic kingdom . After learning that mistake, the second day we took an Uber to contemporary. Much better way to start the day.
That’s awesome you got an upgrade!! We are staying in November at Riviera! So excited Any tips on staying at the resort? It will be a first for us. Any dining/food recommendations to order there? Is it convenient to drive to Disney Springs for dinners?
Tom, that bed conversion was MAGIC!!
We did a 9-day stay in August, and to answer your question on buses, I was always very impressed with bus service. We never waited more than about 10 minutes and we were often either the only family or one of two families on the bus. The only bus that was full was the one back from Disney springs after dinner–which makes sense given the early closures are pushing a lot of folks to DS. I have a feeling the resort is a bit quiet given the points restrictions and the high cash price (we were staying cash, but with a “recovery” discount). Honestly, given how empty the halls/elevators were, we suspected that a lot of the pool crowds (which were much worse in August) were actually folks from CBR–we saw quite a few people reach over the gate to open it from the inside. The resort was clearly nowhere near occupancy
Was there no pool attendant to check magic bands to enter the pool? That’s not cool, guests staying At CBR Pool hop to Riviera.
Were you able to use points to book at Riviera? I toured there a couple of weeks ago and loved it, but was under the impression that only people who bought Riviera direct or Riviera Resale could stay there. I thought if you bought direct or resale at the older resorts, you couldn’t stay there. Thanks for sharing your impressions of staying there! The rooms and dining really are spectacular!
It was earlier this year that DVC announced that any new resale purchase would not be able to book RIV with those resale points. Grandfathered in points and any direct points would be able to book RIV.
My understanding is if you are grandfathered in via a resale purchase or made a direct purchase you can book there. The only group that cannot book are those that bought resale more recently.
Totally off-topic question. In this temporary abnormal, do you recommend renting a car rather than relying on Disney transportation (specifically buses)? We’re thinking about booking a Boardwalk DVC stay.
We always rent a car just for convenience. When we want to leave a location we don’t want to waist time waiting on transportation. We even rent a car when we stay at monorail resorts. Plus if you want to visit the mini golf locations and/or resort hop it’s just so much easier.
Thanks for the video tour Sarah and for letting Tom out from within the wall and the murphy bed so he could file this report. Or maybe Sarah filed the report and Tom is still at the RR stuck in the Murphy bed?
Thanks Brian, that would be a much shorter walk from the back entrance of EPCOT.
Nice room tour, complete with ninjas!
What has me curious is the concept of staying at the CBR, but for dining, using RR. From your video, it mostly answered the major questions I had about room comparisons between the CBR rooms and the RR Deluxe Studios: It looks like the vanity/bath area is more cramped at RR, with the loss of a vanity sink, but, of course, there’s also a full bathtub/shower and a walk-in shower at the RR. Most people would trade a vanity sink for a walk-in shower…most people are not married to my wife, so your mileage may vary. Other than that, clear advantage for the RR rooms.
So, yeah, how would a room stay at CBR work with a food stay at RR?
“So, yeah, how would a room stay at CBR work with a food stay at RR?”
That’s pretty much what we did with our recent stay at CBR.
I think it really depends upon how much time you’ll spend in the room, and how comfortable you are with CBR’s room quality and size. I like the rooms at CBR…but the lack of a balcony is disappointing and would be harder to stomach over the course of a longer trip. Then again, the cost/points of Riviera would also be hard to stomach over the course of a longer trip.
I feel like I read somewhere that if you are going to HS from Riviera, it is best to walk to CB to get on the skyliner. Do you have any thoughts on that? We are going next weekend and staying at Riviera for the first time!
Yeah, that was the recommendation in our CBR transportation post from a few weeks back: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/caribbean-beach-stay-report-dining-transportation/
It really depends upon how busy it is during your visit. That approach would’ve been totally unnecessary during this stay, as occupancy at both resorts was low. On a weekend, it’s a different story.
That’s where I read it! We are going to HS on Saturday so it sounds like it may be a good idea for us. How long is the walk from Riviera to the CB station?
My family and I absolutely love the Riviera Resort! The restaurants (quick service and table service) are both fantastic! Huge fans of the spacious rooms as well!
Tom, when the Skyliner is down and you are leaving Epcot at the International gateway does Disney provide a bus back to the Riviera? And if so where do you catch the bus? I cannot imagine waling all the way to the front of Epcot to catch a bus. Ugh!!!
I’m not Tom 🙂 but if the Skyliner is down, you’re directed across the bridge to Boardwalk and a bus is there. Coincidentally, I was at the CBR transfer station and the Skyliner closed before I could board – CMs there indicated that they were offering bus service to both the front of Epcot as well as the “back” of Epcot, which was Boardwalk also. Either way, you shouldn’t have to walk too far in the event it closes!
Oh, almost forgot. Toplinos is now our favorite restaurant at WDW, hands down. This was the second time we have eaten there and food and service was outstanding. Sole meunière was fantastic. For comparison, we tried the California Grill at the Contemporary and were underwhelmed by both the food and service.
The “ninja like conversion” was most impressive! And compliments to the videographer for catching such impressiveness!!
So we recently became DVC members (bought into Animal Kingdom Jambo House in July) and were invited to the DVC open houses while there in our August nonDVC trip. We got to see DVC rooms at Animal Kingdom, Boulder Ridge, Bay Lake Towers. And since we had reservations for dinner at Topolinos one night we arrived early and got to see several different types of rooms at the Riviera. All were very nice. The 3 Bedroom grand villa was awesome and huge. We could live there full time! The tower studio was very small, it seemed overcrowded with me, my wife and our guide all in the room at the same time. Seemed like the bathroom was bigger than the room. Have to say that Riviera is definitely on the list of resorts we would like to stay at in the future.
Agreed on the Tower Studio. Such a weird/poor use of space (see our full review: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/review-riviera-resort-tower-studio/).
Tom: Hi, Did I see a connecting door in your room? How sound proofed are the rooms? I love Wilderness Lodge, but the guests rooms, if connecting, are super noisy. Don’t know why they don’t do separate rooms and then the connection can be a set of doors outside the doors to the rooms–so they can be connecting if a large party or just a regular room if not. The Kalaha Resort on Oahu as well as the Pfister in Milwaukee have the outside connecting rooms, and they are wonderful. With so many kids at Disney, it would be great not to have to worry about having sleep interrupted because of connecting doors. Thanks
Riviera Resort Villa Types
– 24 Tower Studios
– 38 Dedicated Studios
– 29 Dedicated 1BR Villas
– 90 Dedicated 2BR Villas
– 148 Lockoff 2BR Villas (this means 148 lockoff studios and 148 lockoff one bedrooms)
– 12 Three BR Grand Villas
Total = 341 Villas with a maximum of 489 Villas
Tom I have a dilemma I’m hoping you can help me with! I’ve decided to rebook my Feb back up trip that we moved from this December. We’re Canadian, and the logistics of getting there while Covid restrictions are still full tilt are just not doable and I think February is cutting it close. So now it’s btwn April 2021 and first week of dec. 2021. The pro’s for April in my mind are probable continued low crowds, decent weather and not having to wait until a year and change to go. The pros for December are the holiday season, and having covid restrictions well in the rear view mirror. But I’m concerned about crowds with it also being the 50th and entry or rebooking cancelled trips for fall/as season.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I consider you an expert! Thanks!!!!
Just remember that April will have the Easter crowds. And while many US schools have spring break in March, several have them in April as well. One way I look to guestimate crowd size is to compare prices. That whole supply and demand thing. And December can be one of the most crowded months of the year, depending on when you go in December. The first week is the lightest, but it’s also Pop Warner Week when all the high school football players & cheerleaders from around the country converge on Disney for competitions at the Wide World of Sports Complex.
Hi Laura,
Fellow follower from a “Freeze your butt off” location lol (Michigan!!). I would vote for April for your trip! It’s a great time to go!! Most kids are on spring break in March/April but it varies and we have never had issues doing everything we intend to do, even with the crowds in April. Planning helps! Also, by the time April rolls around, we are more than ready to escape to warmer weather with a trip “home”!
You’re hitting on the key considerations, so that’s good. I can’t really make the decision for you, but I would recommend either going late in April (or early in March) to miss the bulk of Spring Break/Easter crowds if you choose that option.
I’d also add that it’s really difficult (downright impossible) to predict what’s going to happen with December 2021 more than a year out. Pent-up demand from postponed trips is one possibility, but slowness from the lingering effects from a delayed recession is another. We know that DVC will be fully booked then, but that’s only a small percentage of all guests, and not reflective of overall trends.
So glad to read this review!!
We check into a 2 bedroom villa 2 weeks from today
we are excited just to try a new resort
Our favs are the Poly and Grand Floridian, but with everything being different, we thought might as well try a different resort
We are not dvc members, just got a good deal.
Magic is here for Southern states 30% off
Not in the prime location but that’s ok because we love the skyliner for transportation
so excited