New Details & Reservations Open for Riviera Resort
Walt Disney World has released new details about the dining and amenities at Riviera Resort, and the hotel side (non-DVC) is now accepting reservations for stays beginning December 16, 2019. In this post, we’ll share the press release details, a look at the guest rooms and restaurants, and offer some thoughts on Disney’s Riviera Resort.
We’ll start with the basic background info that has been released by Walt Disney World, and then follow that with a section offering our commentary about how everything looks, price points, etc. (As basic background before this, see our latest Skyliner Gondolas Construction Update and Disney’s Riviera Resort Construction Update.)
Disney’s Riviera Resort will be the 15th Disney Vacation Club and a Deluxe Resort, with approximately 300 family-friendly vacation homes, including deluxe studios, one- and two-bedroom villas, and grand villas that sleep up to 12 guests each.
Adding to the unique accommodations at Disney’s Riviera Resort will be an all-new room category: Tower Studios, which sleep two guests each. The Tower Studios aim at balancing efficiency and luxury, a unique new class of rooms debuting with Disney’s Riviera Resort.
Here’s a look at the Tower Studio:
Built into the wall, you’ll find a kitchenette, drawers, and hidden pull-down queen-size bed that easily tucks away to reveal a comfortable lounge-worthy sofa.
Each Tower Studio will include a private balcony with scenic views and seating for two, offering a more intimate, modern setting.
The deluxe studios will sleep five, and also feature kitchenettes. One-bedroom, two-bedroom and grand villas will offer large, fully equipped kitchens with dining space open to a living area.
Villas will also feature an en-suite luxury bathroom, including a freestanding soaking tub and walk-in shower, a private porch or balcony and a laundry area with a washer and dryer.
Throughout Disney’s Riviera Resort, and inside the guest rooms, a unique art collection will celebrate beloved Disney characters and icons with one-of-a-kind pieces influenced by the works of master artists who also found inspiration along the European Riviera.
The new signature table-service restaurant perched on the rooftop of Disney’s Riviera Resort will be called Topolino’s Terrace — Flavors of the Riviera, named after the Italian name for Mickey Mouse.
Topolino’s will feature authentic dishes infused with French and Italian flavors, and will offer picturesque vistas of the nighttime spectaculars of nearby Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Topolino’s Terrace will also offer an exclusive Disney character breakfast inspired by the Riviera.
Other dining options at Disney’s Riviera Resort will include Le Petit Café, an inviting lobby locale with fresh-brewed coffee aromas by day and a bustling wine bar by night.
The new quick-service location, Primo Piatto, reminiscent of chic dining venues found along Riviera promenades, will be conveniently located near the feature pool, and Bar Riva, an open-air pool bar with a seaside vibe featuring crisp white tiles and cool blue accents, will offer your Clients a place to relax as they enjoy a cold beverage and poolside views.
Our Commentary
We were recently at the Four Seasons Orlando, and that luxury hotel was my first thought when seeing these rooms. (Take a look at the Four Seasons Orlando’s accommodations page.) It’s impossible to tell from the images whether the finishing and attention to detail will be on par with the Four Seasons, but that’s a favorable comparison regardless.
The low hanging fruit here would be to criticize the lack of theme. We’ve been down that road many, many times. With Disney’s Riviera Resort at this stage, it seems sort of pointless. We criticized the exterior concept art and have mentioned the nebulous ‘riviera’ style countless times now.
At this point, if you expected a bland exterior but interiors oozing with theme, your expectations were unrealistic. I’m still not wild about the exterior, or Walt Disney World’s trend with themed hotel design, but clearly there’s a market for this type of ‘classic luxury’ Disney resort.
If anything, these interiors are better than I expected. The newly-released images show rooms that are not simply a type of barebones accommodations you could find at a mid-grade chain, and the fact that they can even draw comparisons to the Four Seasons definitely says a lot. Now, we don’t expect the finished product to be on par with the Four Seasons, but no Walt Disney World resorts are at that level.
Beyond Walt Disney World and Disney Vacation Club potentially chasing the same audience as the Four Seasons, what’s most interesting here is the new “Tower Studio” category of room. We anticipate much will be written about this in the coming months and even years, and this signals a few interesting things.
First, that Walt Disney World is chasing the ‘efficient luxury’ trend. This is something the hotel industry at large has been doing for a few years, shrinking square footage of guest rooms in order to trim costs or offer more compelling common areas and shared amenities. This is supposedly popular with millennials, but I have no clue whether that’s true. (I think half the things the world attributes to millennials is just guesswork.)
Second, this is yet another sign that a key demographic for Walt Disney World is guests without children. More guests than ever before are visiting Walt Disney World without kids, and this is a pattern that Disney expects to continue. Designing spaces with these guests in mind certainly makes sense.
Finally, the anticipated fan angle on this will be the cynical “giving less while charging more.” I don’t buy this one. There was never any doubt that Disney’s Riviera Resort was going to be really expensive. Upward pricing trends are something we’ve witnessed for the last several years, and they are going to continue unabated until there’s an economic downturn, or Disney loses its brand cachet. If the Tower Studios were larger, they’d cost more in dollars or points.
Speaking of pricing, it’s staggering at first blush because the dates that are available are all peak holiday season pricing. The lowest price right now is a Tower Studio at $486/night the week before Christmas. Standard Deluxe Studios start at $662 for that same timeframe.
However, this is rack rate the week before Christmas, when the pricing all around Walt Disney World is fairly bonkers. To put these numbers into perspective, standard rooms at Wilderness Lodge for this same time frame start at $546/night. Over at Grand Floridian, you’re looking at starting prices of $790/night.
From my perspective, all of those rates are absurd and in monopoly money territory, but as far as comparisons go, Disney’s Riviera Resort slots in “nicely” among the existing Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World. While it’s not a monorail ride from Magic Kingdom, it is a Skyliner ride from Disney’s Hollywood Studios–and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge–which will arguably be more advantageous come December 2019.
Overall, the new details and room images from Disney’s Riviera Resort are a pleasant surprise from my perspective. Granted, this is a resort that is not to my thematic preferences and at which I have zero interest in owning as a Disney Vacation Club member, but for what it is and who it’s targeting, I think some good decisions have been made with the interiors. We’ll definitely try to stay here in December 2019…albeit with DVC points, as there’s no way on earth I’m willing to pay those prices.
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
Do you agree or disagree with our perspective on the guest rooms and style at Disney’s Riviera Resort? Does this new Deluxe appeal to you? Think it’ll be a good option for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? 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!
I still would love to find out square footage if anyone has seen it. I can’t find it anywhere.
A heads-up on the technical details of your site, Tom… the expectation is https these days, and your site supports that… but your image hosting is only http. That means the images don’t load by default, requiring me to click on a prompt to display insecure content. The fix is to host your images somewhere that supports https. Keep up the good work, your site is my go-to for Disney info and opinions (and corny jokes).
Rack rates for the entire year in which a hotel is open at any point, ie., 2019, have to be published. And you can, indeed, see the rates for Riviera throughout the year, from today forward, on the Disney site by accessing the rate calendar for each room level. Good info to have for trip planning, and to check how much discount one is actually getting.
To see the rate calendar, pick dates, then the property, then a room level – with no discount selected, room only. Under the “Avg/Night Excl Tax” price is a link, Rate Details. Click that, and you’ll get a pop up window that shows the price per night. In that window is a link, View Rate Calendar. Click that and you can view the rack rate for each night of the current calendar year from today forward.
Miss the theme designs. I stayed at Wilderness Lodge w/DVC pts this Fall. It’s gorgeous and the boat ride to MK very nice and convenient; however, I did miss having a cool Disney-themed room like Art of Animation.
Commenting as a millennial to confirm that half the things the world attributes to millennials is DEFINITELY guesswork. Most of us are poor and while yes, we are looking for efficiency, we’re much more interested in getting our moneys worth.
Am I the only one who wishes they’d copied the Art Deco theme from HKDL’s Hollywood Hotel? I’d have thought that would be a fair balance of simple theming and generic luxury?
Much as I’d love for them to dust off the never-built plans for the Venetian/Persian/Thai resorts, those days are long gone.
“(I think half the things the world attributes to millennials is just guesswork.)” My favourite kind. Too true. That skyliner station is rather an eyesore. Hope it doesn’t look like that at the International entrance to Epcot.
The interiors are definitely more promising than I expected, especially given the “new look” studios at Old Key West you showed a few days ago. (Those look like a Hampton Inn)
I wasn’t expecting much in the way of “theme” given the exterior, but I like the headboard and the pattern on the throw pillow and carpet in the Deluxe Studio. I prefer richer theming, but these are better than some of the other recent rooms and “updates.” That said, my dream WDW stay is still Animal Kingdom Lodge.
I’m not a fan of the direction of theming when it comes to the new resorts or room refurbishments. The idea that this was going to be a moderate DVC resort has been thrown out the window. They are going all out luxury by the look of it. I like the idea of the tower studios for my wife and I but at first glance, they look like they are priced as much as a Polynesian studio. If that’s the case, I’ll stay there (my home resort) or at one of the originals with even lesser point costs. I have to see that point chart.
I understand that there must be a market for this kind of resort (mainstream luxury, I guess I’ll call it). But when I’m in Disney what I want is…. well, Disney. And I want the fun theming that goes along with that. I don’t see anything wrong with Riviera (and actually I’m excited to try Topolino’s), but I don’t see myself staying there anytime soon, if ever. I’m sad to see Disney turning away from the theming that makes it special, and I hope that this is a trend that peters out sooner rather than later.
Put it this way, the Star Wars resort is the most anticipated ever. Theming pays. The economic arguments for a lame French Riviera on the Caribbean are bonkers.
As a newer DVC owner with a small contract, I’m curious to see what the point charts are going to look like for these Tower Studios.
And I meant to add, “and inventory numbers for those rooms as well”
Me too! Those would be perfect for me and my husband, so I am very curious how the point charts look.
Agreed. Hubby and I bought at the Polynesian in May 2016, and part of the pitch included “…and we are currently building our first moderate-level DVC resort!” Hmmm. We shall see, I guess!!
Interesting. I find it to be on par with a Wyndham property here in the states. Not sure that ‘Riviera’ comes out in the design. I would like to have seen a bit more edge to it like you would see in a European property.
i find the lack of a distinct theme that shouts Disney is disappointing. I think the allusion to some vague trip along the european riviera was a deliberate copout to provide generic luxury amenities and decor. theres plenty of other places to get a resort stay that looks like this, but personally im gonna stick with my favorites that tell me “yes, you are at DISNEY WORLD.”
I think the reaction of most people seeing these most recent concept art would say that this place looks pretty promising, but wouldn’t realize it was at WDW until you told them. So, it looks good, it just doesn’t look Disney. As expected, the pool has picked up the water slide.
But the lack of theming is getting way past overboard. It’s almost as if they’re ashamed that the designs might be recognized as a Disney property.
I agree with you about the Tower Studios. What happens with those is going to be fascinating, especially the selling of them, and how well they’ll be able to use those points elsewhere for the original DVC owner.
Thanks for the update!
“That this place looks pretty promising, but wouldn’t realize it was at WDW until you told them. So, it looks good, it just doesn’t look Disney.”
Spot on. I don’t know why they have stepped so far back from theming…be it theming to the “theme” or to Disney. I have been to the Italian Riviera, and it is breathtakingly gorgeous. They had plenty of opportunity to apply that and still be luxurious. Top it with the art mentioned, and they could have made a beautiful “Disney” hotel.
While I want and appreciate updates to keep things nice, clean, and functional, I also want charm and whimsy. I expect it. The price for staying on property seems to come solely from the amenities these days. It certainly doesn’t come from immersion and “the bubble”. Yes I want to stay at nice places. However, I don’t know when or why “nice” became “bland and generic”.
I’m totally fine with having more modern and clean rooms as long as the common areas and exterior are highly themed (i.e. Copper Creek). In this case, the rooms, lobby, and exterior are all very generic.