IF I were shopping for resale RIV…

[DanCali]

That said, the resale prices would have to decrease even further for me to bite

That was exactly my point. I'm also in the same group (can book RIV at 7 months) and paying $100+/pt on the resale market for a 1-resort contract that I already have access to is not going to happen. A RIV owner who goes annually and needs more points makes a different calculation and there are plenty of examples of RIV owners on these boards who added resale. We'll see what happens in 2-3 years after it sells out...

We actually recently completed a stay at the CFW and loved it (first booked that stay at VGF, then switched to RIV preferred view at 7 months, and then decided to try the cabins, which actually cost less to book than RIV preferred view studio). Obviously not as convenient to get to the parks like VGF or RIV, but it was great to have all that extra space, the full kitchen, that front deck to relax on, and the private grill which we used daily. Definitely not buying resale here with $12/pt dues (the "blended" dues at our 7 resorts are $8.20), but it's a great place to use the direct points for a very relaxing stay!

 

[havoc315]

I think about it this way- if BCV and BWV expired tomorrow, and DVC turned around to sell new 50 year associations/contracts while keeping everything about the two resorts exactly as is, what do we think the points charts would look like? Your analysis suggests DVC would have to keep the same points charts based off of rack rates; I think they would significantly bump them (and the contracts would still fly off the shelves).

They would be kept in line with rack rates. That’s been universal across recent DVC.

By your hypothesis, they would have significantly bumped up the point chart at the Poly tower, given the massive popularity of the Poly.

Let’s compare Poly vs RIV vs BCV:

I’ll use Independence Day rates.

Standard view studio:
Poly- $857 - 23 points - $37 per point
Riv- $854- 20 points. - $43 per point
BCV-$775 - 18 points - $43 per point
1 BR
Poly-$1243- 46 points - $27 per point
Riv- $1184 - 48 points - $25 per point
BCV-$987 - 38 points - $26 per point

As we see, for 1 bedrooms… value is almost identical across the 3 resorts. In fact, the newest Poly tower has the best value point chart among the 3, for 1 bedrooms. (Though nearly the same).

In studios… Poly is the worst value point chart of the 3. But that may be due to the massive proportion of studios at Poly, pushing down the rack rate. In other words, the studio rack rate feels low at Poly.

To test this theory, let’s try the other views:
Poly studio preferred view - $1086- 27 points - $40 per point
Poly studio theme park view- $1223 - 33 points - $37 per point
Riv preferred view: $938- 26 points - $36 per point
BLT theme park view: $1080- 26 points - $41 per point

So again, no huge differences. In fact, for Poly studio preferred view, we see the point chart actually has above-average value, while it has below average value for standard view.

Taken all together, we see studios consistently in the range of $36 to $43 per point value — with standard views getting the best value, regardless of resort.

Unsurprisingly, 1 BRs have the worst value, at only around $25 per point.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Personally, I have never found anything about the Skyliner annoying. Only smooth sailing and good vibes. It’s our favorite form of Disney transportation by far. Having it be just steps outside of Riviera is the icing on that particular cake!

Edited to add: And I actually enjoy it when we end up sharing a Skyliner cabin with a couple of strangers. I have had some of the nicest and most memorable “Disney” conversations in those instances. There is something about sharing a Skyliner cabin that encourages friendliness, as opposed to the buses or monorail, which I feel have more of a “mind your own business” vibe more often than not.

I agree with this - and I’ve met so many DVC families en route back to Riviera from EPCOT. Even though the convos are brief, it’s so pleasant!

 

[atthebeachclub]

Note Fidelity’s March update for resale Riv pricing on contracts over 200 points: $85/pt. That begins to seem a reasonable option for people who love the resort.
https://www.fidelityrealestate.com/blog/march-2025-average-dvc-resale-price-per-point/

 

[intamin]

Note Fidelity’s March update for resale Riv pricing on contracts over 200 points: $85/pt. That begins to seem a reasonable option for people who love the resort.
https://www.fidelityrealestate.com/blog/march-2025-average-dvc-resale-price-per-point/

Welp time to do 3BRs only at RIV I very well might do a resale RIV down the line to free up my direct RIV points

 

[DVCsloth]

Note Fidelity’s March update for resale Riv pricing on contracts over 200 points: $85/pt. That begins to seem a reasonable option for people who love the resort.
https://www.fidelityrealestate.com/blog/march-2025-average-dvc-resale-price-per-point/

Doesn't look like the have any listed near that price though.

 

[byurick]

Doesn't look like the have any listed near that price though.

It was probably one giant contract that skewed the numbers down.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Doesn't look like the have any listed near that price though.

No, but listed and sold prices do differ, which is why negotiating is important!

 

[jolynne28]

Welp time to do 3BRs only at RIV I very well might do a resale RIV down the line to free up my direct RIV points

Oh god I wish this were true! I've been tracking RIV for 2025 and through March I'm getting an average across all brokers of $109 for 200+ pts. There was 1 contract for 85, so it's making their report look really good from a buyers perspective, not so much sellers!

 

[DVCsloth]

Oh god I wish this were true! I've been tracking RIV for 2025 and through March I'm getting an average across all brokers of $109 for 200+ pts. There was 1 contract for 85, so it's making their report look really good from a buyers perspective, not

Sounds like they have enough sellers and are looking for buyers. Now is a good time to hold on to you contract unless you really want to get out. OTOH, this could be a good time to negotiate a resale contract at any resort.

 

[R2Daddy]

“Go for it if you want to be locked into one resort for 40 years.”

These types of comments make my skin crawl. You aren’t locked into anything. You can sell it at any time. Since the first buyer took the depreciation hit, you could buy it, use it, and resell it for likely no loss. If you use it for 10-20 years and then sell it, you’ll come out ahead.

Buying resale RIV is a ~50% discount off buying direct. That puts you only about 3-5 trips to break even. Do the math to find your savings over a period of time. We calculated our 1 bedroom trips to be under $3k when factoring in selling the contract after 20 years. Those same trips direct from Disney are between $7-10k at current prices.

“Do you really want to stay at the same resort every year?”
With RIV - yes! - it’s beautiful, fresh, and relaxing! But we don’t stay every year. We bought a 200 point contract and only ever stay in 1 bedrooms which cost around 216 points. This means we borrow some from the next year until we need to skip a year to replenish points. We may even skip a year just to bank points for a bigger trip the next year. And if we really want to book a different resort (unlikely since we love RIV), then we can rent or bank our points for that year.

 

[NVDISFamily]

That's a long way of saying that a "good deal" for Group (1) is probably a "mediocre deal" for Group (2) and a "bad deal" for Group (3). But unless supply stays artificially low (it won't because as the resort ages you get more sellers) or the buyers from Group (1) are infinite (they are not), prices have more room to fall.

I think there are a few other wildcards to consider. Mostly, how does RIV do now and in the future with regards to rental of the rooms and points. And for that, there is a few wildcards. How long will Disney continue to market and treat the resort well, and will people who are not DVC fans like us want to stay there. Even at 110 ish a point I think as a rental option it would make money and for 80 to 90 a point it would be even more so.

I've had two family friends talk to me about a potential family trip to WDW in the past year ish and both families had already heard about and wanted to stay at the RIV cash, not even knowing they could/would save on points. Will this still be the same in 10 years.... time will tell.

The other thing I'm monitoring is how quickly the staff at RIV clean the tops of the trashcans after the rain storms. During our last trip I saw the staff out there cleaning them within less than 5 min after the rain stops. We were just visiting from Jambo and I have to say they took way longer to do anything like that there. I joked with the cast member doing the cleaning and asked, "hey will you still do this a few years from now when the guides aren't trying to sell this place...." this response was a smile, wink, and a nod that acknowledged that the attention RIV is getting now, may not last forever.....

 

[AstroBlasters]

No more negative comments about Rivera from me.

We preferred Boardwalk because of its location and other pixie dust, but I get why people would really like Rivera and if you buy direct with incentives you still have access to the entire DVC portfolio.

 

[Cfabar1]

At $85/pp I think many people would change their tune on Riviera very quickly!

If I were in the market for a second resort, despite the points chart I dislike, the restricted use of resale points, etc. I would STRONGLY consider buying a RIV contract for our second week. Our first is at the MK, so this could be a nice alternative to S/D.

 

[DVCsloth]

I do think Riviera will always be a little less resale than some other the other newer less resale restricted resorts.
If Riviera continues to drop like some are predicting, I think all of DVC will drop along with it. I tend to see improvement in the economy and prices will start to go up within the next six months or so. I also think Riviera resale can be excellent choice for people who already own points at other resorts, especially MK resorts. Personally, I don't own or want to own any restricted points, only because I don't want to deal with restrictions.

 

[NVDISFamily]

I do think Riviera will always be a little less resale than some other the other newer less resale restricted resorts.

I do agree with your statement with a few * I'd put in there. I think this is bound to be true for the next 8 to 12 years. What happens in 2043 and beyond IF Riviera becomes the "value" EPCOT area DVC resort. Imagine BCV2 and BWV2 going for 350 dollars a point and their point charts adjusting north to where Riviera looks like a value. What would Riviera even with it's restrictions be going for at that time? If those standard RIV rooms with their EPCOT firework views cost less points per night than BCV2 or BWV2, Riviera could have a fairly strong demand in the resale market. Add the likely (this is my gut feeling) chances to wash points with a direct purchase and that could help too. It's going to be a fun journey. My only fear is having to make the flight every few years so I have to stay at RIV if I own resale there. All my other points can at least be used at VGC (there is almost always a few nights in a GV there open during a high points season that can nuke your points if you have to burn them....). But then again, rental demand can fix that problem......

 

[jolynne28]

I'm dropping our trip report here since we signed our RIV resale contract while in the parking lot of Blizzard Beach. Which btw was so much fun, we all loved it. I tried margaritas from 4 different places this weekend and BB was my fav.

We spent 2 nights at GF and did lots of resort hopping. The new IT is nice, we enjoyed dinner there the first night. Walked all the way to BLT the next morning to check out the outside/pool area. We all disliked the outside area with the weird trees in metal cages.

We bussed to Yacht/BCV and walked around to the take out window for Beaches and Cream. The nicest thing about the pool closure is how easy it was to our brownie sundaes. We saw what appeared to be hundreds of giant bags of new sand, so the mega litter box will apparently live on. We rented the Surrey bike and made 3 laps around, those bridges are no joke, I remember it being hard 20 years ago, but even with our oldest pedaling too it was pretty brutal.

We love RIV, but seriously someone needs to just rip out that bocci ball court. The kids launching those balls and cracking the sides was nonstop. Bar Riva was nice.

We ate at 1900 Park Fare, our daughter's bday request. The food is good, but the character interactions were weak. I think my kids are just getting too old to care, but they basically rushed us one after the other the second we sat down and hurried through the convos/photos. We'd done it pre covid with the stepsisters and that was so much more fun. We won't go again.

We hit up MK Monday, and had a very successful day. We got my daughter her birthday pin, she got lots of "Happy Birthdays" from cast members. But she also grew a pair (she's super shy) and decided to negotiate with the lightning lane cast members by telling them a joke, and said if they liked it they should let us through. She went 4 for 4 and we avoided the long lines on Jungle Cruise, SDMT, HM, and Buzz. So take advantage of those special occasions people, you never know what you might get!

 

[intamin]

I'm dropping our trip report here since we signed our RIV resale contract while in the parking lot of Blizzard Beach. Which btw was so much fun, we all loved it. I tried margaritas from 4 different places this weekend and BB was my fav.

We spent 2 nights at GF and did lots of resort hopping. The new IT is nice, we enjoyed dinner there the first night. Walked all the way to BLT the next morning to check out the outside/pool area. We all disliked the outside area with the weird trees in metal cages.

We bussed to Yacht/BCV and walked around to the take out window for Beaches and Cream. The nicest thing about the pool closure is how easy it was to our brownie sundaes. We saw what appeared to be hundreds of giant bags of new sand, so the mega litter box will apparently live on. We rented the Surrey bike and made 3 laps around, those bridges are no joke, I remember it being hard 20 years ago, but even with our oldest pedaling too it was pretty brutal.

We love RIV, but seriously someone needs to just rip out that bocci ball court. The kids launching those balls and cracking the sides was nonstop. Bar Riva was nice.

We ate at 1900 Park Fare, our daughter's bday request. The food is good, but the character interactions were weak. I think my kids are just getting too old to care, but they basically rushed us one after the other the second we sat down and hurried through the convos/photos. We'd done it pre covid with the stepsisters and that was so much more fun. We won't go again.

We hit up MK Monday, and had a very successful day. We got my daughter her birthday pin, she got lots of "Happy Birthdays" from cast members. But she also grew a pair (she's super shy) and decided to negotiate with the lightning lane cast members by telling them a joke, and said if they liked it they should let us through. She went 4 for 4 and we avoided the long lines on Jungle Cruise, SDMT, HM, and Buzz. So take advantage of those special occasions people, you never know what you might get!

Some nice long fountains to replace the bocci ball court would be really nice. I wish Disney made water features a part of resorts more often like how they used to have the waterfall in GCH at Poly. I was really disappointed that the island tower was lacking the water feature shown in the rendering.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Some nice long fountains to replace the bocci ball court would be really nice. I wish Disney made water features a part of resorts more often like how they used to have the waterfall in GCH at Poly. I was really disappointed that the island tower was lacking the water feature shown in the rendering.

Nice idea.

I keep telling my guide that they are leaving $$$ on the table by not adding a tad more holiday at the resort. As they don't have an epic open lobby like some of the resorts an easy solution.... put a big 3 to 5 story tree and decorations outside. Make it beautiful like the holiday trees on main street and have a photo person out there to take photos. It would be like a beacon pulling in guests from CB and the Skyliner and guides can stand out there and hand out info and hot coco in an effort to allow you to "save" money by spending 30K+ on points.....

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

Nice idea.

I keep telling my guide that they are leaving $$$ on the table by not adding a tad more holiday at the resort. As they don't have an epic open lobby like some of the resorts and easy solution.... put a big 3 to 5 story tree and decorations outside. Make it beautiful like the holiday trees on main street and have a photo person out there to take photos. It would be like a beacon pulling in guests from CB and the Skyliner and guides can stand out there and hand out info and hot coco in an effort to allow you to "save" money by spending 30K+ on points.....

No thanks, keep overrunning the Grand