Riveria closeout

[kgou]

Summer 2023 VGF2 sale was really good, possibly lower than the opening offer which is rare (at least for 150 points). I wish I bought even more points, they make really good SAP+ points with the low dues.

same. will forever kick myself for not getting more during this sale!

 

[E2ME2]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

 

[tx911]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

I love it so much. I wouldn't mind a gateway to Epcot next to Germany

 

[Brian Noble]

I hope you enjoy it for a long time.

The Good Lord willing and the crick don't rise.

 

[jolynne28]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

To each their own. The skyliner is usually only down for that one week every year due to maintenance. I used to loath Riviera, but we kept going back to check it out and ended up buying resale there. It is very relaxing and never feels overcrowded, has really good food, it's incredibly easy to get around, and the dedicated buses are a major plus. Agree with tx911, a gateway through Germany would be even better, but the skyliner is just so dang easy and we love the privacy that form of transportation offers.

​

 

[mkatsy]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

I’m sure I judge a resort by a very different criteria than many others. I love Riviera and spend a good chunk of my VGF points there. I love how close the splash pad is to the bathroom. I love that there is almost always a cast member in the splash pad area keeping the big kids off the toddler slide. (A mustache is a mustache, I don’t care if it’s peach fuzz … go back to the pool). I love that the bar is only an elevator ride away, it’s comforting knowing their parents are in the same building when you have the littles in a room by yourself. (Poly Tower has this set up too - minus the CM in Moana - but most of the rowdy kids prefer the other pool). I also like that there is very little to attract day guests there.

 

[ah10is]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

I didn't think I'd like the Riviera - especially because of the Skyliner....I have a fear of heights. Then I stayed there! I travel solo a lot! The small footprint, the ease of getting from your room to the quick service, to the pools, to the gym, to the gift shop etc. etc. etc. I love the studio set up! I love having a walk in shower! I love that even if my room is over by the skyliner it still only takes me 2 minutes to get anywhere. I love that it doesn't draw the craziness of people like the monorail resorts. I find those way too hectic! I love it so much that I'm selling my lxxxx (removed details)to subsidize my purchase of FW 49!

Mod deleted details of what is for sale

 

[VGCgroupie]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

See how you feel about RIV is how I feel about SSR where you own a chunk of points. Granted it’s not restricted, but wouldnt matter because I’d never own SSR.

 

[J-Dog]

I still don’t see the appeal of Riviera?? It’s a “pretty” resort, but it looks like it belongs on the Amalfi Coast. The pool seems kind of small? And I don’t get the attraction to the Skylinet. We hopped over there once from Epcot’s Intl. Gateway, and once from DHS. Both times we encountered long lines getting back, and we didn’t like having to transfer lines. Also - we are here at BWV now, and the Skyliner is down for a week for maintenance. That makes it an isolated resort. Throw restrictions on top of that, and I don’t see us ever considering Riviera. The beauty of DVC is that it offers such a variety of choices. So to the Riviera-Lovers: I hope you enjoy it for a long time. You will not have me competing for your points or bookings!

For whatever reason, Riviera seems to be the most "love-it-or-hate-it" resort. Not really sure why - maybe the resale restrictions turned people off, and then excuses needed to be made to justify why they don't want to buy there because of that? It seems to generate hate about everything from the restrictions (which is probably somewhat justified), to the Skyliner going down, to bland theming, to one podcaster saying that the building was "too gray".

It's personally my favorite resort by a long-shot.

 

[tidefan]

For whatever reason, Riviera seems to be the most "love-it-or-hate-it" resort. Not really sure why - maybe the resale restrictions turned people off, and then excuses needed to be made to justify why they don't want to buy there because of that? It seems to generate hate about everything from the restrictions (which is probably somewhat justified), to the Skyliner going down, to bland theming, to one podcaster saying that the building was "too gray".

It's personally my favorite resort by a long-shot.

For me, it's the value proposition. For instance, when DD turned 21, we splurged for 6 nights in a GV. I could have actually booked RIV, but it was about 300 more points than the GV at SSR, and (I know this goes against conventional wisdom) we prefer the renovated SSR GV better than the RIV GV, especially for our party, since all of the kids could be upstairs and had their own entrance. I mean, RIV is fine, I just don't see why I should spend extra points for it.

 

[Patmcpsu]

For whatever reason, Riviera seems to be the most "love-it-or-hate-it" resort. Not really sure why

The luxury angle draws obvious comparisons to Grand Floridian, but Grand Floridian beats it pretty handedly. Riviera may be better-appreciated if it was compared to The Contemporary instead:

• Subdued theming when it could have been over-the-top
• Only a handful of restaurants (but really good ones, though)
• Lackluster pools
• Underwhelming check-in area
• Transportation is part of its identity
• Walking distance to a park
• Classic Disney vs. Modern Disney

Come to think of it, I would like to see Chef Mickey's razed and have California Grill do a Topolino's style breakfast instead.

 

[airjay75]

For whatever reason, Riviera seems to be the most "love-it-or-hate-it" resort. Not really sure why - maybe the resale restrictions turned people off, and then excuses needed to be made to justify why they don't want to buy there because of that? It seems to generate hate about everything from the restrictions (which is probably somewhat justified), to the Skyliner going down, to bland theming, to one podcaster saying that the building was "too gray".

I was thinking a similar thought. I find it amusing that, more so than other resorts (or maybe I just notice it more), a thread or conversation can be started about something having nothing to do with personal DVC preferences (e.g., when do we think RIV is going to sell out?). And, then people will come on just to state why they really don't like or get RIV. I mean, cool, that's not really what we were discussing. I also don't really take any offense, and I don't really mind people expressing their opinion, it is just mildly amusing to me. It happened over on another thread recently where folks were just discussing the order of contacts folks would sell if they wanted to and someone just randomly shows up to tell the OP to sell their RIV points first because they're worth so little. Ok, cool, cool, you don't like RIV, we get it.

 

[byurick]

I was thinking a similar thought. I find it amusing that, more so than other resorts (or maybe I just notice it more), a thread or conversation can be started about something having nothing to do with personal DVC preferences (e.g., when do we think RIV is going to sell out?). And, then people will come on just to state why they really don't like or get RIV. I mean, cool, that's not really what we were discussing. I also don't really take any offense, and I don't really mind people expressing their opinion, it is just mildly amusing to me. It happened over on another thread recently where folks were just discussing the order of contacts folks would sell if they wanted to and someone just randomly shows up to tell the OP to sell their RIV points first because they're worth so little. Ok, cool, cool, you don't like RIV, we get it.

It's because the internet tricks people into thinking that their opinions matter when most of the time they really don't. Just look at YouTube and all the reaction videos people post (not just for DVC but everything).

 

[walt34]

It's because the internet tricks people into thinking that their opinions matter when most of the time they really don't. Just look at YouTube and all the reaction videos people post (not just for DVC but everything).

Well, opinion content does matter on YouTube: it's cheap to produce and generates feedback that the algorithm likes. We have no algorithm here but the rest of the statement seems to hold true.

 

[J-Dog]

The luxury angle draws obvious comparisons to Grand Floridian, but Grand Floridian beats it pretty handedly.

I would disagree with this statement.

"Fancy" Victorian era vs "fancy" European riviera is too subjective to quantify.

Clearly, VGF has much more food choices, and a better restaurant if you count V&A's. Topolino's is just as good as any other restaurant at VGF.

Otherwise, the other "luxury" components are all subjective as well. Certainly, the quality of the materials used in the rooms is on par or even slightly better at RIV compared to VGF. The lobbies are quite different, but I'm not sure there are specific criteria on that as far as luxury is concerned.

Transportation is also subjective but I wouldn't consider the Monorail more "luxurious" than the Skyliner.

IMO they are very close as far as the "luxury angle"

 

[MikeOhio]

Riviera is hard to fully appreciate until you actually stay there especially with the extremely underwhelming lobby. It's not a grand destination in and of itself like some Disney hotels. But when you stay there everything is just so compact and convenient. For example, I love the ability to order a meal and not even leave my room until it's actually ready and then it's a two minute walk/elevator ride away.

I also think it has the best counter service on property, the best character meal, and one of the best dinners.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Riviera is hard to fully appreciate until you actually stay there especially with the extremely underwhelming lobby. It's not a grand destination in and of itself like some Disney hotels. But when you stay there everything is just so compact and convenient. For example, I love the ability to order a meal and not even leave my room until it's actually ready and then it's a two minute walk/elevator ride away.

I also think it has the best counter service on property, the best character meal, and one of the best dinners.

I’ve visited but never stayed. My first stay is in April. Watch me start lowballing some RIV resale when I return. Cant say I don’t think it has a tiny chance of happening.

 

[AstroBlasters]

See how you feel about RIV is how I feel about SSR where you own a chunk of points. Granted it’s not restricted, but wouldnt matter because I’d never own SSR.

SSR…. the “buy where you want to stay” peeps and the overwhelming majority of “SSR resale” peeps are on two different planets…

 

[RuntheMouse]

Riviera is hard to fully appreciate until you actually stay there especially with the extremely underwhelming lobby. It's not a grand destination in and of itself like some Disney hotels. But when you stay there everything is just so compact and convenient. For example, I love the ability to order a meal and not even leave my room until it's actually ready and then it's a two minute walk/elevator ride away.

I also think it has the best counter service on property, the best character meal, and one of the best dinners.

Also the CMs there are top notch!

 

[Canchaser143]

I’ve visited but never stayed. My first stay is in April. Watch me start lowballing some RIV resale when I return. Cant say I don’t think it has a tiny chance of happening.

I think the coffee in the lobby will be the game changer!