Riviera is the nicest resort I've stayed at so far

[DisMomNCM]

That’s actually interesting I always felt like they were the most functional and spacious rooms out of most we’ve stayed in. Aren’t the RIV studios the 2nd or 3rd largest in the WDW system behind Poly longhouses and maybe BPK?

And as much as I love them, I actually find the longhouses to be a bit deceiving in size since they’re only slightly larger in sq footage but a-not-so- insignificant amount of the size is wasted in how unnecessarily large that full bathroom is. The living spaces feel more cramped to me than it does in BPK or RIV But we haven’t stayed in a studio in PIT yet, maybe they feel roomier. We’ve only stayed in a duo at the tower and those do feel spacious for what they are, especially in comparison to the tower studios at RIV.

What bothered me most about them I think was the width of the room. My daughter liked sleeping on the little pull out bed below the tv, but if that was down then the path between her bed and our bed was so narrow and tight. Between that and what I felt to be a logistical nightmare of a bathroom (there was no counter space and also no wall space because of the three doors), I just was not into that studio

 

[robinb]

I’m really not a fan. I like that it’s on the Skyliner and I like the restaurants but the hotel is boring. The pool is boring. The theme is boring. Yawn.

 

[DVCjj]

We visited to see if we’d like it and this is 100% what we felt. Very boxy closed off feeling. Slightly lost-ish navigating various hallways. We couldn’t understand why?

We stayed several times and did like it because we did feel upscale (and thought the DVC studios were lovely) as I mentioned but in the beginning, we did wander around several times and lost track what level we were on for Primo to eat and also which side the Skyliner was on. We kept making a mistake.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

What bothered me most about them I think was the width of the room. My daughter liked sleeping on the little pull out bed below the tv, but if that was down then the path between her bed and our bed was so narrow and tight. Between that and what I felt to be a logistical nightmare of a bathroom (there was no counter space and also no wall space because of the three doors), I just was not into that studio

Ahh that makes sense then. We never have that bed open so never noticed it being in the way. The bathrooms don’t bother me but I can see how they could be annoying. I find the 1bdrms+ in some of the older resorts to have the most insane door/bathroom situation. It makes the 3 doors at RIV seem rational lol

 

[Shellyred8]

We enjoy taking an afternoon break and going to Primo Piatto for lunch. We've always enjoyed their quick serve. It wasn't until last year that we actually stayed there for a couple of nights. I was a little hesitant about it, but I ended up really enjoying it. All of the CM's we encountered were so nice. I thought it would be a little too "fancy" for us, but once we were actually staying there it just felt "nice". I won't hesitate to stay there again if our points balance allows it.

 

[VicarJT]

Riviera is one of our favorite resorts. It is just the two of us, so we have plenty of room. The sofa is comfortable, and the bathroom is strange, but we like it. We like all of the restaurants, and love the atmosphere at the pools. Of course, we prefer the one-bedroom, but our funds do not allow for that.

The only issue we’ve had is that we have not had the best balcony views. We had the dreaded east wing low floor parking lot view, and on the next trip, our preferred view was again east wing, east facing, tucked into a corner. I don’t usually request a room change, but I might do so if we’re in another such room.

 

[R2Daddy]

We are enamored with RIV. Stayed there with our young kids on a cash stay in a 1 bedroom for a week, then again for another cash stay for a week, then tried BCV. We ended up buying 200 points resale at RIV since we don’t want to stay anywhere else. The vibe, it’s very chill and not a lot of foot traffic which is what we don’t want at our resort after long days at the busy parks. You also don’t have to walk through rain or humidity to grab food.

In our recent stay last month we had our first “resort view” 1 bedroom. The view was spectacular to say the least!

 

[KCMA]

We have 11 nights booked there in August and can’t wait.. we have visited a few times just to wander the grounds/check out the murals/go to Topolinos but this will be our first time staying there

 

[TCRAIG]

We are enamored with RIV. Stayed there with our young kids on a cash stay in a 1 bedroom for a week, then again for another cash stay for a week, then tried BCV. We ended up buying 200 points resale at RIV since we don’t want to stay anywhere else. The vibe, it’s very chill and not a lot of foot traffic which is what we don’t want at our resort after long days at the busy parks. You also don’t have to walk through rain or humidity to grab food.

In our recent stay last month we had our first “resort view” 1 bedroom. The view was spectacular to say the least!

Very nice view - but I’ll take BWV (and this view and the points chart and walkability) over RIV anyday!

 

[Tatebeck]

Very nice view - but I’ll take BWV (and this view and the points chart and walkability) over RIV anyday!
View attachment 977890

*anyday until Feb 1st 2042

 

[R2Daddy]

Very nice view - but I’ll take BWV (and this view and the points chart and walkability) over RIV anyday!
View attachment 977890

Definitely like the walkability of BWV and the boardwalk feature itself, but for us RIV beats it as a resort hands down.

RIV has:
- Best food on property. Can’t convince me otherwise.
- Best 1 bedroom floorplans on property. BWV like BCV have the funky 1 bedroom floorplan. We didn’t care for it at BCV with our kids, it felted too cramped.
- Beautiful views from the room, tall building = higher broader scenery views.
- No need to walk outside to grab a bite to eat. This is a small detail that’s understood after a long day at the parks, just after a shower, you don’t have to get smacked with FL humidity to grab your TOGO order. Also great if there is a storm.
- Less foot traffic from non-resort guests makes it a quiet resort, perfect calm after waiting in lines all day at parks.

 

[TCRAIG]

*anyday until Feb 1st 2042

Well - I’m old so 2042 doesn’t bother me one bit!

 

[muppets3d]

Definitely like the walkability of BWV and the boardwalk feature itself, but for us RIV beats it as a resort hands down.

RIV has:
- Best food on property. Can’t convince me otherwise.
- Best 1 bedroom floorplans on property. BWV like BCV have the funky 1 bedroom floorplan. We didn’t care for it at BCV with our kids, it felted too cramped.
- Beautiful views from the room, tall building = higher broader scenery views.
- No need to walk outside to grab a bite to eat. This is a small detail that’s understood after a long day at the parks, just after a shower, you don’t have to get smacked with FL humidity to grab your TOGO order. Also great if there is a storm.
- Less foot traffic from non-resort guests makes it a quiet resort, perfect calm after waiting in lines all day at parks.

I feel like Riviera gets a ton of non-resort guest traffic, Primo Piatto gets overrun with skyliner layovers around meal times. My main complaint with Riviera is simply that Primo Piatto is too small.