Riviera Resort Pricing, Points Chart & Sales
Disney Vacation Club has published the points chart, pricing, and other membership details for Riviera Resort, which will go on sale later this week. In this post, we’ll share some of these details, as well as some analysis and tips for those contemplating owning at this Walt Disney World hotel.
The 15th DVC property at Walt Disney World, Riviera Resort has already proven divisive among fans (look no further than the comments section on literally any of our construction updates or other posts about the resort). Some have derided the lack of theme, proximity to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and resale restrictions.
Others are excited about Skyliner transportation to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (and by extension, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge), the sophisticated dining options, elegant style, and Tower Studio rooms that accommodate two guests. If pricing and point charts are any indication, this polarization is only likely to deepen…
DVC News and members of the Mouseowners forums have uncovered new info about pricing and point charts for Disney’s Riviera Resort. While this hasn’t been officially released by Disney Vacation Club, we’re treating this as news rather than rumor since it’s been discretely posted by Disney, and just not promoted.
Sales will officially begin March 27, 2019. Following that, bookings will begin April 10, 2019 for current members and April 15 for new members. The resort will open December 16, 2019, which is consistent with the cash bookings date. (Quick plug: if you’re thinking about buying at Disney’s Riviera Resort, first be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Vacation Club, which covers a lot of things you should think about before taking the plunge.)
Above is a look at the point chart uncovered by DVC News. I had heard rumors that Disney intended upon positioning the Riviera just below the Villas at Grand Floridian in terms of status, which was something I found implausible. Well, that’s about what we have here, with the exception of the Tower Studio, which has no analogue at other DVC resorts.
Perhaps I’m colored by my bias against this resort, but no matter what the finished product ends up looking like, I don’t view it in the same league as literally any of the Magic Kingdom or Epcot resorts. I’m super hyped for the Skyliner, but it’s no monorail. Nor is it the same as walking to the park. Or being at one of the ‘classic’ and highly-themed resorts.
In fairness to the Riviera, despite not having a theme, it does appear to be luxurious. Moreover, it has a robust slate of sophisticated restaurant and bar options, which should be far superior to any stand-alone offerings at other Disney Vacation Club resorts.
Contrary to early rumors, this is definitely not “Moderate DVC.” It’s very much a Deluxe Resort, just not one that’s to my tastes. I’m still excited to spend a night or two in the Tower Studio, dine at the various restaurants and lounges, and take the Skyliner to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. However, once the new resort smell wears off, I doubt Riviera will join our regular rotation of hotels at Walt Disney World. That’s purely due to our personal tastes, though. Obviously, others feel very differently about the Riviera.
A point chart for 2019 has not been published, but with the resort only being open for around 10 days in 2019, it’s highly likely this year’s calendar will simply mirror 2020 numbers.
Initial per point cost will be $188, with some attractive incentives available for existing Disney Vacation Club members who add on. For a 125 point purchase, the incentive will be $500. For 150 points, $1,750. 175 points gets you $3,150. 300 points equals $6,750. If you do 1,000 points, the incentive is $30,500! These incentives beat what’s being offered for Copper Creek Villas & Cabins.
However, the big number that caught my attention is maintenance fees of $8.31 per point. Those maintenance fees are nearly $2 per point higher than Bay Lake Tower or Grand Floridian, which I feel are the Riviera’s closest counterparts given their design and transportation.
Some of the higher maintenance fees can undoubtedly be attributed to the new collective bargaining agreement in place that will raise Cast Member wages from $10 per hour to $13 per hour by September 2019 and to $15 per hour by October 2021. Many resorts saw significant bumps in 2019 maintenance fees that were largely attributed to this.
However, Disney’s Riviera Resort is still abnormally high, and the easiest explanation for the rest of the difference is the Skyliner. Just as owners at Grand Floridian or Bay Lake Tower pay for upkeep on the monorail, the same should be expected for Riviera owners and the Skyliner.
What Skyliner expenses are being allocated to DVC owners is unclear, but at first blush, it sure seems like “a lot of them” is the answer. It wouldn’t be a surprise if that means everything associated with the station adjacent to the resort (even though it’ll inevitably be used by Caribbean Beach guests). This is because it behooves Disney to pass along as much of those costs as possible to DVC.
For many prospective buyers, maintenance fees are an afterthought. That’s the future, and long-term thinking is for suckers! While it’s an incremental and seemingly less significant expense over time, maintenance fees need to be given serious consideration when choosing a home resort. Over the life of the contract, maintenance fees significantly outweigh the upfront cost.
To illustrate, here’s some quick back-of-napkin math. Assuming you own for 50 years and maintenance fees remain flat, that’s $415.50 per point in maintenance fees over the life of the contract. In reality, maintenance fees will increase by about 4-6% per year, pushing that number–which is already over double the upfront cost–much higher.
When you consider both maintenance fees and the upfront cost, Disney’s Riviera Resort has the most expensive per point cost over the life of the contract of any Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World. Given the resale restrictions that are being implemented for the Riviera, it’s also likely to have the biggest drop-off in secondary market value. This isn’t a problem if you plan on “owning forever,” but most people don’t go into ownership with the expectation that they’ll have to sell in a few years. You never know what the future holds.
Overall, I had zero interest in buying at Disney’s Riviera Resort before learning these details…and have zero interest after. Accordingly, I’m probably not the best person to offer an “unbiased” breakdown on this news. I can understand why Riviera is an attractive property for some DVC Members and prospective owners, but it’s simply not for me. I would also encourage those who are excited about it to give the decision serious thought. Disney Vacation Club is entering uncharted territory with Riviera Resort that could seriously handcuff owners if they ever decide (or are forced) to sell.
If you’re considering joining DVC, first be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Vacation Club. If you still can’t decide whether membership is right for you, “try before you buy” and rent points from DVC Rental Store. If you are convinced a membership is for you, check out the discounted options at DVC Resale Market.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the per point price, incentives, point charts, or maintenace fees at the Riviera? Will you be buying at Disney’s Riviera Resort, or sitting this one out? Do you think the resale restrictions here will have a negative impact on resale values, or is it too early to tell? Any questions about Disney’s Riviera Resort? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
At the current prices I doubt I would be a buyer. Luckily we bought 400 points at Disney Hilton Head Resort in 1999 and when pts became available at OKW in 2000 ( OKW was already sold out in 1999 ) we added pts there. Over the years we’ve had family reunions several times at HH as well as OKW using the Grand Villas and they’ve been great and gone to Hilton Head about every other year. That’s by a wide margin our favorite Disney Resort. Our daughter was married at Aulani 3 years ago which was fantastic. We’ll be returning to Aulani in May 2022 for 8 nights in an oceanfront Grand Villa. Given the current rack rate for those Villas at Aulani , that’s a $30,000+ stay. We’ve saved a fortune over the years by getting in cheap a couple decades ago , it the current point prices make zero financial sense to me ..
Hi Tom !
I have been following your blog since this summer . We love Disney , big time ! We are on the east coast in PA. My husband and I visited Disney for the first time with our children in 2016. At that time we weren’t prepared to make any decisions in regards to purchasing DVC . This past year we were scheduled to visit Disney land Paris ! Covid messed that up for us . When that happened , WDW comped us tickets to replace the ones we purchased for Paris that we were told would be unable to be refunded . Luckily , we scheduled out trip for JULY 13! We had plans to stay at Caribbean beach, since that was closed we were moved to 1 bedrooom villa at RIVIERA! Wow , just wow! Staying at Rivera sold is on wanting DVC membership here . We have no plans to resell because we have 4 children , and we will use the points . We also like that we will be able to stay at RCI locations . We were offered double points to join plus the savings offer . Any advice before we make down payment and sign contract ?? Also , what are some perks ? We will start with 140 points , how does it work when we add additional ones ? I think if we buy more points down the like (60-100) we will go resale ones since they can only be used at Disney , we rented DVC points also this past summer and really enjoyed that experience as well .
Tom Bricker, For those who hear what you are saying and agree, and are considering to wait and buy from the secondary market- does the DVC place any restrictions on points that have been purchased from the secondary market as opposed to those bought directly from Disney? Are all of the same benefits available?
Thank you! Love reading your articles!
Given the per-point pricing (re-sale restrictions, etc.) leading to what I believe will be slow going on the sales front, I can’t imagine the increased room supply from Riviera is anything but a positive for availability here and at the other DVC resorts. I know a certain percentage of units will always be on a cash-only basis, but this resort is large – more rooms is more rooms.
Remember that the rooms only become available to be booked on points as they points for this resort are purchased. Availability will be limited at the start until more are sold.
Wow! I guess we feel fortunate when we purchased Saratoga resale in 2005 for $85 per point. Could not afford these prices today. A US recession is just around the corner, at least a small one. I suppose if people keep buying then the prices keep going up. Must be a lot of rich people out there and that’s coming from someone who make a decent salary and a solid pension when I retire. Guess Disney is going after that lucrative 1% population. Problem with that crew is when recessions hit, their purse strings and wallets are the first to tighten.
I got Beach Club in 2003 150 points at 76 a point so I am very happy about that. Prices have doubled for 150 points these days.
Boy, do I wish I had bought in then. I was going to Disney all the time. I always regret that.
I agree. While I have never been Disney’s prime demographic, there was a time when my children and I were made to feel welcome at WDW. That time is long past. I understand supply and demand, but I also know that, at least for a good chunk of the company’s history, Disney made real efforts to make their experience available to everyone. We haven’t taken a Disney trip for 10 years. My “children” are now young adults, and I really don’t see us ever making the trip again. Maybe, at some point down the road, they will take their own children, but, then again, maybe their kids will not grow in a world where a Disney trip is a right of passage…in their world, it seems, Disney trips might be a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous topic!
I just had a DVC contract get taken by Disney for SSR on the resale market. I was pretty bummed, but if the dues at The Riveria are any indication of things to come, maybe I lucked out. I’ve been renting rooms through Priceline lately, as the express deals have been beating any price I can get through Disney direct using my pass holder discount and less expensive than renting DVC points. I love Disney but the non-stop price increases on food, tickets, DVC points, etc. is actually making me rethink out Disney traveling strategies.
Do you have any insight into the number of standard and preferred rooms available per room type. I haven’t seen anything concrete online up to this point.
Interested in your thoughts on what kind of impact Riviera will have on availability at the other DVC resorts. Will it make things better, worse or about the same? I’m leaning towards “the same” but hoping I’m wrong.
Anything that dilutes the Aulani points should make things better, but I don’t think it’ll have a huge impact immediately. Slightly positive, I’d say.
“Prices” may never go down…, but incentives will probably go up. Just marketing camouflage.
With the separation for Riviera contracts, Disney could easily offer special perks for new Riviera buyers should sales slump. That would aggravate people who bought prior but hey, Disney already has their money.
I think this new DVC resort may be Disney trying to compete with the Hilton and Waldorf. Taller resorts, luxurious, nice restaurants, and pools, no theme. I am looking forward to trying it out but I still like my home resort, The Polynesian, as well as Old Key West, and Bay Lake Tower as my main choices. We are staying at the Boardwalk and look forward to that too so maybe I will have another favorite soon. Regarding our DVC purchase, it’s too bad that I had to make a bunch of mistakes to become not quite and expert but just
a bit knowledgeable. Knowing what I know now, I would have bought re-sale at a BLT instead of Disney direct at the Polynesian. I love the more expensive resorts but the more I visit, the more I come to appreciate the laid back beauty of OKW and the more nights I have due to the lower point charts. I also love that short walk to BLT and the fact that they never have literally hundreds of non guest milling around grounds and lobby, or trying to sneak into the pool.
“I think this new DVC resort may be Disney trying to compete with the Hilton and Waldorf. Taller resorts, luxurious, nice restaurants, and pools, no theme.”
That’s probably the idea, and I’d go as far as to compare it to Four Seasons Orlando in the style and approach they’re taking. I don’t think it’ll end up being on par with the Four Seasons, but that would seem to be the direction they’re going and audience they’re chasing with the Riviera.
Only the rich can afford Disney world these days.
In my head I’ve always liked the idea of DVC, but the money has never made sense to me, along with the idea of ‘locking’ myself into a vacation destination. The resorts are beautiful, but I’ve managed to stay at a couple of them renting points for less money than I would have spent at a high end Disney hotel. We’re Disney people, but I guess we’re not “DISNEY” people…I don’t think I’m in the right tax bracket for that. This one, financially, makes the least sense of any that I’ve seen. Those maintenance fees are insane. Hell, set aside $450 a month and you could almost afford the entire Disney vacation after a year–and then just rent the point from some poor sucker that bought here haha.
I thought the bed in the studio was going to be a Murphy bed (similar to the bed at All Star/Pop)? If it is, it’s super comfortable! But I was still shocked at the prices for those rooms.
I just don’t see people paying these amounts for this property. Would be better to buy original resorts on the secondary market. Even with restrictions I like older resorts better.
I was seriously considering a DVC (resale) purchase but the lack of availability for DVC rooms NINE MONTHS AWAY really left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s impossible to work with those time frames if you’re traveling with a large, extended family as we usually do. Renting points or using promos will be our method I think…
We’ve become annual visitors because our kids love Disney so much, but I don’t see us continuing with such regularity as they get older. After we started going regularly I had read through yours (and other DVC posts) to try and become somewhat informed about DVC. Because I don’t anticipate going with such frequency in 6-8 years, I never gave it (DVC) too much serious consideration.
All that as background to just say, wow…this seems seriously expensive. Like crazy expensive.
We come from a major metro area so I feel like we are somewhat less shocked by Disney prices than those that travel from areas where the cost of living is lower. That being said, the price increases seem like they have really accelerated in the past 3-5 years.
I’m always wrong, and I’m sure there is the market for this property, but I don’t get it. I believe Mr. Bricker is correct and when the recession hits (which will happen eventually) Disney is going to have do some serious lowering of prices.
I would love to see what this will look like first before I make any decision. I have been looking at resale and direct. I already know I should have bought in a LONG TIME AGO but there is nothing to do about that now.
As a prospective DVC purchaser I’m concerned about what these price points mean for future pricing through DVC. The Riviera Resort doesn’t really interest me as a home resort, but if that $8.31 per point maintenance fee is indicative of the level of future costs… that’s really high. Considering we go every 2 years (at best) I’m thinking renting points is the most sensible way to go.
PS – we rented points on our last trip this past summer upon the recommendation of this blog and it was a wonderfully smooth, easy process. Thank you!
Personally, I think that’s a smart route. Rent for a few years and see what happens with resale prices, and with maintenance fees as a result of the wage increases (and any other variables).
While you’ll have a chorus of voices (especially DVC guides) telling you that “prices never go down” I still think taking a wait and see approach here is the savvier move. The policy changes here are unprecedented, and if this resort interested me, I’d want to see how the resale market reacts to those changes before taking the plunge.
$188 per point is a total ripoff. It’s getting to the point where you’re better off just saving up money for a vacation and have your pick of any resort whether Disney or not rather than fork out this kind of money. Even just 50 points is $9,400 and maintenance fees of $415 per year on 50 points which will get you 1 to 3 days at most in the off season. If they keep raising their point prices, it won’t matter how many resorts they have or how nice they are because nobody will buy into the DVC program. If people want to be DVC members, at the very least, they are much better off buying just 50 points from Disney so they have the full DVC benefits and then adding more points from a reseller like DVCResalemarket.com or something like that. You can get 150 Vero Beach points there right now for the same amount as 50 points from Disney!
If you told me a decade ago that the per point cost for an unthemed resort using land reclaimed from Caribbean Beach would be $188/point–over double the price we paid for DVC around that time–I would’ve laughed at you.
However, if you told me what the rack rates of WDW hotels would be, I probably also would’ve laughed. My point here is that so long as hotels continue to increase at a faster clip, DVC will remain a comparative value.
Personally, I don’t think either can continue unabated. There’s a recession looming, and I think that’s going to wipe out a lot of the price gains Walt Disney World and Disney Vacation Club have made over the last decade. That’s another reason I have zero interest in Riviera–in 4 years I think the resort’s secondary market prices will be significantly lower due both to the resale restrictions and the economy. However, I’ve been beating this same drum for a couple of years now, and nothing has happened with the economy yet, so what do I know…
Haha that just means you’re ahead of the game. A recession is definitely coming…at some point. No one is a fortune teller so no one can say when exactly (a lot of recessions are tied to big elections, so I’d look to late 2020 as a possibility) but there is never any harm in preparing for something that is definitely coming….Can I interest you in some term life insurance?
I’d love to do a couples only stay there at some point, though I’m not sure I love the idea that the primary bed is a sleep sofa. I’ll happily use my resale Saratoga points to book that stay in an off-peak period to do it! (I know, I know. It may be hard to get a reservation when I want one.) I don’t think I’ll be adding on at this one.
As a side point, I really would have liked to see a “moderate” DVC resort option.
Same here. My aim is to use points we have banked as soon as the booking window opens, and then not try for Riviera again until the hype (both for it and Star Wars land) cools down.