Riviera Resort Update – April 2019
Riviera Resort is the next stop in our ongoing Walt Disney World construction updates, as we take a stroll around Caribbean Beach Resort to check out progress on the new Disney Vacation Club hotel being built on Barefoot Bay. Here we’ll share construction photos and thoughts on the latest news at this resort.
Since our last construction update, Disney Vacation Club has published the points chart, pricing, and other membership details for Riviera Resort, which is now on sale for both new and existing members. You can read all the details on our Disney’s Riviera Resort Pricing, Points Chart & Sales resource page.
As the project races towards completion, we were also able to see the finished rooms and share the experience in our new Photo Tour of Disney’s Riviera Resort Rooms from our walk-through of the studio and 1-bedroom units. Suffice to say, these rooms look better in person than Disney’s concept art and our overall opinion of Disney’s Riviera Resort is now a bit more favorable.
While I like the texture, detail, and the whimsical touches in the guest rooms at Disney’s Riviera Resort more than expected, I’m still disappointed by the exterior design. For that matter, I’m also not impressed by the concept art of common spaces that looks overly modern.
I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but this doesn’t evoke any of the French Riviera’s quintessential architectural styles. That region has varied designs, but the commonality is lavish and ornate workmanship. By contrast, Disney’s Riviera Resort is pretty much a boxy modern hotel with a bit of Mansard roofing as ornamentation.
Compare that to Walt Disney World’s best themed resorts, which are idealized exemplars of what inspired them. Those resorts are usually one-upping what inspired them, whereas the Riviera is a weak imitator. The design is no more Riviera-themed than an older McDonald’s.
We’ll start with a distant look at Disney’s Riviera Resort from the bridge between Trinidad and the rest of Caribbean Beach Resort.
This gives a rough idea as to the scale difference between the Riviera and Caribbean Beach.
Moving to the other side of the Caribbean Beach pool area, this provides a more accurate depiction of the spacing between the two resorts.
The placement and scale here are not nearly as jarring as Coronado Springs and the new Gran Destino tower, but it’s still far from ideal.
Now let’s zoom in on some details, as the finished exterior of Disney’s Riviera Resort is starting to emerge from behind the scaffolding.
You can also see that the waterfront promenade is progressing, and other landscape work is occurring.
Another close-up view offers a look at progress being made on other sections of the resort. The exterior is coming along at a swift pace, and we’d expect the scaffolding to be gone by summer–months ahead of the December 2019 opening of Disney’s Riviera Resort.
It’s tough to tell from the photos, but there are tasteful Mickey Mouse heads in some of the balcony railings. It’d be nice if there were even more ornamental railing designs, as that’d be one way to give the resort some character and depth.
The water slide tower for the S’il Vous Play kid’s pool is progressing.
You can’t tell from this photo, but when I zoom in closer, there’s a weathered look to this, similar to Fuentes del Morro Pool at Caribbean Beach, actually. It looks totally different from–and better than–the concept art.
Here’s a look at the Riviera Skyliner station from Building 56 of Aruba at Caribbean Beach Resort. The rooms in this building will be an approximately 5 minute walk to the Riviera Skyliner station, or about a 15 minute walk to the Caribbean Beach Skyliner station.
Suffice to say, I suspect the rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort in Aruba, Martinique, and part of Jamaica are going to primarily use this Skyliner station instead of the larger Caribbean Beach station.
In semi-related news, ground and pavement work continues along the path that connects between the Caribbean Beach and Riviera Resort Skyliner stations.
As we cover in our newest Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort Update, this is for Skyliner evacuation, and could be what’s holding up the Skyliner project, which otherwise seems way ahead of its slated “Fall 2019” opening target. We’ll have more on that soon…
Otherwise, that wraps up this update on Disney’s Riviera Resort. Despite all of my criticism, I’m still very intrigued by the newest Disney Vacation Club Resort. I’m curious about the logistics and comfort level of the Tower Studio rooms. I’m interested in seeing what DVC member feedback will be towards the new policies that will be implemented with the Riviera, and also how people will respond to the style. Finally, I’m hopeful that the response to both helps shapes the design for Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge…for the better.
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.
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 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 plan on buying at Disney’s Riviera Resort? What do you think of the design, both inside and outside? Any particular details or thematic elements you love or hate? Will you be buying at Disney’s Riviera Resort, or sitting this one out? Any questions about Disney’s Riviera Resort? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
I think this hotel is WAY over priced, especially for what you’re getting. Think about it, a 1BR Villa in Bay Lake Tower in March is 36 points per day on the weekdays, you’re 5 min. walking distance from Magic Kingdom and it’s one of the best Resorts in Disney. The same room in Riviera is 43 Points! That’s CRAZY! It’s almost as expensive as Grand Floridian and even if they can match the Posh feeling you get from staying at Grand Floridian, you can’t match the location.
Ugly building. Disney dropped the ball on this and it shows. Those who don’t understand design won’t see the things some of us do where Disney cut corners. I am DVC member and may stay here, but it is not going to be my favorite. It has ruined the view and now makes CB look less than being in the Caribbean. The bean counters have won again, only to be blinded by false design. Sad.
I did not realize just how massive the new resort was. Seeing it tower over CBR gives some perspective. By room count it’s only ~1.5 the size of CBR and less than half of contemporary, but I guess the compact footprint makes it loom higher and larger.
Tom–don’t worry about sounding like a broken record, the design deserves as much criticism as you can give it. There is clearly a movement underway at WDW to “de-theme” the properties from the bland interior updates of hotel rooms to the generic design of Riviera and Reflections. I don’t like hoping that anything that Disney does fails, but that’s how I feel about Riviera…failure is the only thing that will send a signal to management to reverse their design direction. I’m dreading Reflections in particular since it looks like it will be another dull design dropped down in between two of the best themed properties (Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge).
We stayed in CB at the end of Jan this year, were woken up every morning at 4am by constructions vehicles and actual construction!! When we complained to Disney they advised they didn’t need to tell us of the Riviera project because it wasn’t on CB property – trying to tell them they built Riviera on old CB property and so we should have been forewarned of this disruption was a waste of time. All official complaints have been ignored despite video evidence of the 4am wake up construction!! Front desk could only offer us a room move but that would have been closer to the skyline construction so we were in a loose-loose position. As UK guests we were there 14 nights so this put a dampener on the (very expensive) trip. They have destroyed the feel of CB with the Riviera monstrosity 🙁
How likely will it be the resort opens early? We are there a week earlier and if it opens early want to check out the new rooftop restaurant. Does Disney ever do soft / early DVC openings after releasing dates for it?