So, we own Riviera . . . here comes our lengthy reasoning and background on it.
We finally pulled the trigger in April 2019 and bought at Copper Creek (direct - a Guaranteed Week studio). We wanted to own at Wilderness and that was just before the coming price jump to "sold out" prices. We were also pretty sure at that point that we would NOT want to buy at Riviera.
Last February we did a split stay with 4 nights at Riviera (4 at Poly). That really changed our minds for us - and we started strongly considering adding on there at that point, basically all but deciding that at some point we would add there.
Since we own at Copper Creek, we wanted our second contract to be near Epcot and DHS. Proximity to parks and transportation is really big for us.
Now I am actually not as big a fan of Riviera as my wife is - I'm more in the middle on the resort itself. I'm not that big on the theming - don't dislike it necessarily, but could take it or leave it. While some of the mosaics and art are nice, I don't see how they fit the Riviera theming - a London scene from Peter Pan makes no sense with theming. I'm not someone who thinks theming means more Disney characters. Good theming, to me, should transport you to the place or time within that theme. That's why I like Wilderness Lodge so much (Polynesian too).
On the other hand, the rooms are outstanding. Our kids are currently almost 7 and 8-1/2. The Murphy bed makes such a difference. Plus the brightness of the rooms, size, and overall aesthetic are really nice. I think they're the best rooms we've stayed in (have stayed for at least 1 night at: Caribbean, Polynesian -
DVC & Villas, Wilderness - bunk bed room which is gone now so doesn't really count, Coronado - not tower, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, CCV 2-BR). The grounds are pretty nice, despite my opinion on the theming. The Skyliner, for us, is a game-changer. It would be nicer if the hours were better and hopefully they continue to increase their reliability, but the line moves fast if there is one, and just being able to get on and be at Epcot or DHS in 10 minutes is great.
As I said, we wanted a contract at an Epcot/DHS resort. We did a 4-night stay at Boardwalk in Oct. 2019, and honestly we were not impressed (my wife actively dislikes it). Putting aside some issues with our specific room that, while it had to have some influence on us, isn't a big reason for our opinions of the resort (our room had a pretty strong mildew smell, and their solution wasn't really the best, but we also realize that was likely a one-off kind of thing). My wife really disliked the long, confusing hallways, and we found it frustrating with how to get in and out of the resort. Some ways you could only get out but couldn't come back in that way, so would have to go a roundabout different way to come back. QS eating there is just terrible. I probably prefer the Riviera pool, but at best, it's a wash.
That puts it between Riviera and Beach Club for us. While we haven't stayed at Beach Club, we have stayed at Yacht Club, and loved it, and from videos of the rooms, the rooms do look pretty nice at Beach Club, although I'd still likely prefer Riviera (again, Murphy bed is huge, and I realize eventually all resorts will probably get that, but it could be a decade before that happens).
However, in comparing price, Riviera actually wins out in that category for us. Putting aside for the moment the resale restrictions, and ignoring the direct price for Beach Club because that's outrageous given the length of the contract, Riviera still wins on price/value for us. I'll get more into the specifics of price/value that we got on Riviera in a moment, but for the purposes of this paragraph, we paid about the same or a touch more than a similar price Beach Club contract was going for - and got twice the contract length.
So, when we were down at WDW in August, we decided to jump ahead on our timeline and add a Riviera contract while we were there. There were a few reasons for the immediacy - the incentives were excellent at the time. On a 200-point contract, we saved $35/point (ended up costing us $160/pt.). Also, because of some specific state laws, we can only finance a purchase through DVC if we sign the contract while at WDW. They're not registered to give financing in Delaware, where we live, so they cannot mail us a contract here (was an issue when we bought into CCV), so we knew we'd need to do it during a trip down there. We figured incentives would not likely be as good the next time we went (and we were right).
A lot is made of the resale restrictions, but I think too often it seems owners are more angry about it on principle than on how it truly affects them if they were to purchase a direct Riviera contract. While the ability to resell a contract and at least not lose a ton of money is a factor in purchasing DVC, we are not buying with the intention to potentially ever sell. It's a consumer product, not an investment. I also don't see how the appreciation could possibly continue as it has in the past, but that's an entirely separate discussion. Suffice to say, we went in from the start not expecting to ever make money off of DVC. While I think the restrictions are shortsighted and ill-advised, most of the problems with it don't affect us as owners of a direct contract and only affect the resale value of the contract, which as I said is not a considerable factor. If you can get 60-70% of what you paid for a timeshare back, that's better than almost any timeshare out there. (Many of those that complain about the resale value will also include in DVC purchasing advice that you don't buy it for the purpose of reselling.)
With the incentives, we paid $160/point for 200 points. At the time, from looking a few times, similar Beach Club contracts seemed to be about $145-$150/pt (although saw several listed at the time for about the same price) and Boardwalk seemed to be $125-$130/pt. You get 28 more years with the Riviera contract, so the price per point per year was significantly lower, less than half in some instances. So, even if looking at resale values, say 10-15 years out, it's hard to fathom that Riviera would lose much more value than Beach Club or Boardwalk, because at that point, people will only be purchasing contracts with 7-12 years left on them. At that point, paying $150/point for a contract with 10 years left on it seems unlikely (or at least not that advisable). At $15 per year per point at that time, plus dues, one would be paying likely $23-$26 per point per year, or more. Throw on top of that the fact that the points, for us as original owners, have no restrictions and we'll be able to use them at any future new resorts (unlike resale points at Beach or Boardwalk), there was much more value in the Riviera contract long term. The one caveat being the one mentioned by others with the
points charts - it takes more points to book a room at Riviera, which does lower the dollar value of the point a bit, but not if using those points at another resort 7 months out - then the points are equal in that instance and the comparison reverts to the above - price per point per year.
So, taking all of that into account, we really thought Riviera was a good purchase FOR US. Obviously it's not for everyone, but if you like the resort (probably the most important factor), it makes sense compared to the other Epcot/DHS resorts.
The last factor in our purchase does actually have to do with the resale restrictions, and the one area in which I think we, as Riviera owners not trying to resell our contract, will be most impacted. As contracts begin to be sold on the third-party market, there will be an increasing number of owners who can only book at Riviera. This will begin to make it harder for us, even as direct owners, to book at our own resort as there will be more competition at 11-months, especially for those Standard View rooms that are more reasonably priced but rarer. This is one aspect in which Disney's tact is particularly shortsighted and they are actually hurting those who do purchase directly from them.
To try to counter this (and in turn potentially slightly increase the value of our contract if we did need to sell), we split our 200 points into two contracts, a 70-point contract and a 130-point Guaranteed Week contract. We got a Guaranteed Week ("GW") in a Standard View Studio for the first week of October. That was particularly valuable because there already is NO GW premium for that contract due to point chart increases in October. We don't intend to use the GW any time soon since our kids are in elementary school and we wouldn't take a week to go down there that early in the school year. Maybe once the kids are grown the two of us would go for the week. We have it though as a hedge against difficulty getting that room during early October, and that could become a very desirable contract if we had to resell. Already with the point changes as well, that week is 130 points to book regularly. If the point charts continue to shift a bit, we could actually have a Food & Wine October week at a discount.
Sorry for the extremely long post, but I've never actually posted the full rationale that led to our purchase and I thought the level of detail might help others.
let me take this opportunity to clarify my eye watering comment, same room (sleeping 5) is 35pts AKV savannah or 42pts BLT Lake view. I would expect it to sit nearer BLT than VGF.
. On the years we don’t want to use it we will either rent it out or use them as regular points. With the way prices are rising who knows what 2070 will bring. I agree that the standard view is great as long as you are on a high enough floor and it’s definitely comparable to BLT theme park view and we can see the fireworks when they come back. My guide told me to put in a room request is at least one month before your stay as that’s when they start assigning rooms, if you do it closer to check in they probably won’t be able to honor the request.
