GF direct over Riviera direct is a no brainer

[Nabas]

I love when it rains and they have to shut down the skyliner. If your at Epcot you have to walk all the way to the other end of Epcot to catch a bus.

Our most unpleasant experience ever at WDW occurred less than 2 years ago when exactly this happened.

We were at Epcot with a forecast for a heavy thunderstorm later in the evening. We left early and made it to the Skyliner, only to have Cast Members tell us that there was reports of distant thunder so the Skyliner was being closed just as we arrived. They directed us back to the front of Epcot (long walk!!!) to get a bus.

We almost made it to the bus stop before heavy rains started.

A bus was arriving just as we got there and we thought we had gotten lucky. But this was in the early days of COVID and even though there was plenty of room on the bus, the young woman before us got the last spot (4 seats for 1 person). Of course, they could not seat us next to her (despite there being MANY empty seats on the bus) due to COVID protocols.

But we were first in line for the next bus and under cover so we thought it would not be too bad.

We ended up waiting almost 90 minutes (!!!) for the next bus. It was a driving rain and some around us were getting soaked. (Because of the driving rain, even we were getting a bit wet under the bus stop cover.) We watched dozens of busses drive by:



The line behind us kept growing and growing, with those at the end of the line left to stand in the rain:



When we finally got on the bus, the bus driver had left the roof hatch open and we ended up getting very wet on the way back to Riviera while sitting inside the bus!

 

[pianomanzano]

I love when it rains and they have to shut down the skyliner. If your at Epcot you have to walk all the way to the other end of Epcot to catch a bus.

Man, grow up. You started this thread as a troll and got people go give honest answers one way or another about RIV and the only thing you've had to say since is this? The monorail shuts down in inclement weather (albeit rare), as it did during our last trip and it was not fun. I wouldn't take joy or wish that upon anyone, even you (or the people that would be stuck with you for that matter).

Signed,
Foolish RIV (& VGF) Owner

 

[Sandisw]

I love when it rains and they have to shut down the skyliner. If your at Epcot you have to walk all the way to the other end of Epcot to catch a bus.

I have been to RIV many times..over 10 stays and the Skyliner has been down just once..and we were not going to/from the park at all. So far, haven’t had an issue. And yes, been in the summer.

But if it raining and the Skyliner is down, we’d be walking in that rain to the front of the park with all the VGF guests so not sure how it’s different?

Or, you do like we plan to do..walk to BCV and Uber back.

 

[BeachClub2014]

Man, grow up. You started this thread as a troll and got people go give honest answers one way or another about RIV and the only thing you've had to say since is this? The monorail shuts down in inclement weather (albeit rare), as it did during our last trip and it was not fun. I wouldn't take joy or wish that upon anyone, even you (or the people that would be stuck with you for that matter).

Signed,
Foolish RIV (& VGF) Owner

Yes.

I hope people keep hating on the Riviera. Makes it easier for people that like it to book standard rooms

 

[RoseGold]

We Uber/Lyft’ed last rainstorm for -$10, NBD, and Minnie Vans now have an ECV option.

I mean, you could do that from SSR for a lot less points. RIV is a hair under VGF’s point chart.

 

[Sandisw]

I mean, you could do that from SSR for a lot less points. RIV is a hair under VGF’s point chart.

But SSR requires it all the time. RIV only does if the Skyliner is down at the exact time you go to need it.

You can’t compare RIV to SSR as equivalent locations.

 

[jppeek]

I love when it rains and they have to shut down the skyliner. If your at Epcot you have to walk all the way to the other end of Epcot to catch a bus.

I knew they shut it down for thunderstorms, but didn’t know for rain. Is it any type of rain or only heavy?

 

[CarolMN]

I knew they shut it down for thunderstorms, but didn’t know for rain. Is it any type of rain or only heavy?

AFAIK, it's when lightening is in the area. - within about 5 miles.

 

[Yankee626]

Man, grow up. You started this thread as a troll and got people go give honest answers one way or another about RIV and the only thing you've had to say since is this? The monorail shuts down in inclement weather (albeit rare), as it did during our last trip and it was not fun. I wouldn't take joy or wish that upon anyone, even you (or the people that would be stuck with you for that matter).

Signed,
Foolish RIV (& VGF) Owner

No need to be nasty !

 

[Yankee626]

I have been to RIV many times..over 10 stays and the Skyliner has been down just once..and we were not going to/from the park at all. So far, haven’t had an issue. And yes, been in the summer.

But if it raining and the Skyliner is down, we’d be walking in that rain to the front of the park with all the VGF guests so not sure how it’s different?

Or, you do like we plan to do..walk to BCV and Uber back.

This is True . But if the Monorail shuts down the busses are right there at Epcot .

 

[BeachClub2014]

I knew they shut it down for thunderstorms, but didn’t know for rain. Is it any type of rain or only heavy?

AFAIK, it's when lightening is in the area. - within about 5 miles.

The impact of weather on the Skyliner is an oft-mentioned reason for people not liking Riviera, which is certainly understandable. My question is how often does it really go down because of the weather? 1% of operating hours? 5%? 10%?

Really curious, not looking for a drawn-out debate on the vicissitudes of the Skyliner.

 

[Yankee626]

You guys have me all wrong . Im not saying the Riviera sucks. Im just saying that the resale restrictions suck. There was no need for DVD to do it and us as educated DVC consumers we should not stand for it. I have stayed at the Riviera . Its one of my top 6 DVC resorts. Has anyone here bought a Riviera resale ? Just asking .

 

[NVDISFamily]

I mean, you could do that from SSR for a lot less points. RIV is a hair under VGF’s point chart.

Seems like it’s more than a hair. Similar 8 night stays in a grand villa at VGF were about 90 points more than RIV.

Stays where I was looking at a few less days but more rooms for a larger family reunion also saw increases of ten to low teens percent higher point costs for bookings. That means I’d need at least 50 more points on top of the 500 to safely try and book at VGF if my family ever wanted to stay at a premium resort near a park. Note - we plan on going less often but for longer trips to WDW so we view our points as 1000 ish to use every other year for WDW trips….

I’d guess that more people in the family would vote to be in the EPCOT/HS area vs MK anyways as we are the ones who waited the longest to have kids so our batch is the youngest. That’s why we added a small CCV contract anyways….we’ll go early and spend a few nights at CCV to get our WL and MK fix when we plan these trips.

 

[BeachClub2014]

You guys have me all wrong . Im not saying the Riviera sucks. Im just saying that the resale restrictions suck. There was no need for them and us as educated DVC consumers we should not stand for it. I have stayed at the Riviera . Its one of my top 6 DVC resorts. Has anyone here bought a Riviera resale ? Just asking .

Welllll, when you start the thread by calling all Riv owners fools, it tends to be a bit off-putting. Now to be fair, you did amend your original comment from calling us fools to just having been foolish.

We haven't bought Riviera resale. We bought our points directly.

 

[Stargazer65]

a lager family reunion

Mmmmm...

 

[Nabas]

The impact of weather on the Skyliner is an oft-mentioned reason for people not liking Riviera, which is certainly understandable. My question is how often does it really go down because of the weather? 1% of operating hours? 5%? 10%?

Really curious, not looking for a drawn-out debate on the vicissitudes of the Skyliner.

I think most summer days in Orlando have thunderstorms.

We've had bad luck with the Skyliner. Been stranded by the Skyliner 3 times because of weather, once because it just broke down.

We've only stayed at the Riviera twice, although two of the times we got stuck, we were using the Skyliner to transfer from Epcot to DHS. (We also got stranded at the Swan once when using the Friendship boats.)

The most recent was in June when we were transferring from Epcot to DHS and the thunderstorms came as we arrived at the transfer station. They said busses were coming, but we decided to Uber the rest of the way and beat the busses.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Mmmmm...
View attachment 685612

I should not write such long things on my phone LOL.

Edit - long resort days will be a lager, scotch, and tequila reunion

 

[Wakey]

I have to say, I agree VGF over RIV is the best choice (albeit I wouldn’t call any RIV buyer a fool). Not because of Riviera itself, but because of resale restrictions. I‘m pretty sure in 10 years if you sell that contract, the VGF one will make you substantially more on resale. For that reason, as a head over heart buyer every time, I would not buy RIV over VGF.
I am no fan of the monorail though, which has the slowest load and unload times. The Skyliner is much better ‘if’ it doesn’t go down. Love the VGF path though. I walked that at Xmas. Why don’t more resorts have walking paths, they are very popular and healthy and cut costs? AKV desperately needs one down to the parks.

 

[NVDISFamily]

We ended up waiting almost 90 minutes (!!!) for the next bus. It was a driving rain and some around us were getting soaked. (Because of the driving rain, even we were getting a bit wet under the bus stop cover.) We watched dozens of busses drive by:

Hate to say but this happened twice at our last visit to WDW. Once trying to bus back to RIV from MK and once from EPCOT to SSR. On one of the times a bus showed up but the driver said he wasn't allowed to drive us as he was almost at the end of his shift and was waiting for a backup driver. He sat there for 10 min with about a few hundred pairs of eyes staring at him and then drove off empty. In both occurrences the issue wasn't fixed until someone in the crowd went and complained to someone who appeared to be the bus wrangler (I was guilty of doing this at MK). It was fun to see multiple busses to other resorts make the trip during our long wait at the bus stops.

I guess in general, WDW transport is just something to deal with and can have it's downsides. I didn't hate it so much. I'm not planning on getting a car for the whole time this next trip and will gamble with busses, boats, and the Skyliner.

 

[BeachClub2014]

I have to say, I agree. Not because of Riviera itself, but because of resale restrictions. I‘m pretty sure in 10 years if you sell that contract, the VGF one will make you substantially more on resale. For that reason, as a head over heart buyer every time, I would not buy RIV over VGF.

Which works for many folks, but not all.

When we buy points at any resort, it is with the expectation to use them for vacation, not as investment. Given that I won't be around when our Riviera points expire, then death is the exit strategy, not resale.