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

[airjay75]

I imagine a lot of opinions on RIV vs. BWV vs. BCV is influenced by when and where you bought your points. It's human nature to be a bit more predisposed toward where you decided to put your money! Sort of like if you decide on a particular make/model of car and then, by chance, end up driving something else that you could have purchased for a similar amount of money - you're mentally going to justify to yourself why what you decided to purchase was better.

For me, I do love Riviera, but I've never been to BWV/BCV - I am hoping to book a stay at BCV for one of my future trips. But, even if I decide I love it, I'm probably going to say to myself, well RIV is still better because of X, Y, and Z (and because that's where I have decided to throw in a lot of $$).

 

[RickNJane]

I imagine a lot of opinions on RIV vs. BWV vs. BCV is influenced by when and where you bought your points. It's human nature to be a bit more predisposed toward where you decided to put your money! Sort of like if you decide on a particular make/model of car and then, by chance, end up driving something else that you could have purchased for a similar amount of money - you're mentally going to justify to yourself why what you decided to purchase was better.

For me, I do love Riviera, but I've never been to BWV/BCV - I am hoping to book a stay at BCV for one of my future trips. But, even if I decide I love it, I'm probably going to say to myself, well RIV is still better because of X, Y, and Z (and because that's where I have decided to throw in a lot of $$).

When we bought our first points there was only OKW and BWV. We chose BWV because of its location. That still holds true today. We bought our other resorts for same reason. Location. Except AKV that was done on the vibe. We love the overall feel of Jambo and Kindani. Total immersion. RIV not so much. Location is not great. Skyliner is ok but can be a major pain. It just does not do it for us. I won’t begrudge folks that love the RIV or any other resort. It would be real boring if everyone liked the same thing or we only had one choice. Makes resort hopping interesting!

 

[TCRAIG]

I was all set to buy RIV pre-construction when I saw that they were going to have blue velvet sofas - cause nothing says TCRAIG like a blue velvet sofa! Then I saw the points chart and just could not justify adding points when I already had BC and BWV (and WL and BLT and GF, etc.) and knew that I would have plenty of opportunity to stay using my other points…and since I book 1Brs…I also knew I wouldn’t need the 11month booking advantage. Since then, I’ve stayed 3 times using my other resort points. I travel solo now and use an ECV and I’m CHEAP! - so that may also influence my lack of enthusiasm for RIV. I found the lobby to be small, crowded and kind of a pain to get to and navigate through on my ECV, the pool was meh to me and I really dislike the Skyliner…and as far as food…no way cheapo me is ever going to spend $52 (pre tax and tip) on a Topolino breakfast - not even if they serve me on the fancy blue velvet sofa!
Funny thing though - I was kind of the reverse for PIT…no way was I going to add points there - and then I did the preview on opening day and voila - 154 bright new shiny DVC points!
All of which makes me very happy that DVC offers a variety of resort locations and decor and ambiance so that there’s (hopefully) something for everyone.

 

[lowlight]

When the Skyliner is moving along nicely, the Riviera is my favorite Epcot area resort, tied with BW. I like the small lobby, because I never spend time in busy lobbies and navigating through VGF during holidays is a nightmare. For theming, it literally looks like the Negresco resort in Nice, France they based it off of, so I’m not sure what more you’d expect. The food is the best on property as a whole. Gelato by the pool? Yes please. It just needs a bridge and a back door entrance to Epcot and it would be gold.

 

[Jodo98]

ABSOLUTELY MY FAVE RESORT! I love the room layout, the lobby scent, just everything is amazing.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've never stayed there, but I have questions about the views. I have to add a day to an upcoming trip, so was looking into trying Riviera for one night. However, browsing through the pictures at Touring Plans hotel views, I was less than impressed. One thing I did notice, though, was that the standard views seemed nicer than the preferred views. For anyone who's stayed at Riviera, where are the best views. I don't like a lot of "city" kind of views: trees, ponds, and of course Spaceship Earth appeal to me more.

 

[muppets3d]

I've never stayed there, but I have questions about the views. I have to add a day to an upcoming trip, so was looking into trying Riviera for one night. However, browsing through the pictures at Touring Plans hotel views, I was less than impressed. One thing I did notice, though, was that the standard views seemed nicer than the preferred views. For anyone who's stayed at Riviera, where are the best views. I don't like a lot of "city" kind of views: trees, ponds, and of course Spaceship Earth appeal to me more.

Not a lot of trees or ponds near Riviera as you can tell if you've ever ridden the Skyliner. There is a retaining pond so I guess if you count that as a pond, then you're golden.

The best views of EPCOT are a resort view room near the Skyliner.

The farther away you are from the skyliner, the resort view rooms just look out at the parking lot and buena vista drive.

The preferred view rooms are on the other side of the resort, looking at the pools, Caribbean Beach, and Skyliner.

 

[Mouseforward]

It goes down any time there is lightning in the area.

The boats actually go down before the Skyliner now. When I asked one of the boat pilots, they mentioned that the area in miles for the boat is now larger than the Skyliner for shutting down when lightning strikes. I mean, the monorail goes down for lightning as well.

 

[sndral]

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 felt 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.

We liked Toppolinos initially, but the last couple of times we noticed a real downgrade in both quality & service - this was for dinners - so it’s off the rotation for now.
Toppolinos is not unique, most Disney restaurants seem to go through phases, typically starting out w/ a bang & then slowly the quality erodes, sometimes a redo ups the ante again .

 

[Mouseforward]

We liked Toppolinos initially, but the last couple of times we noticed a real downgrade in both quality & service - this was for dinners - so it’s off the rotation for now.
Toppolinos is not unique, most Disney restaurants seem to go through phases, typically starting out w/ a bang & then slowly the quality erodes, sometimes a redo ups the ante again .

Glad I’m not the only one who noticed, I felt like the restaurant was hectic, and the food was good, but not to the level of flying fish.

I’m gonna give it another try this December hopefully it’s better.

 

[R2Daddy]

We liked Toppolinos initially, but the last couple of times we noticed a real downgrade in both quality & service - this was for dinners - so it’s off the rotation for now.
Toppolinos is not unique, most Disney restaurants seem to go through phases, typically starting out w/ a bang & then slowly the quality erodes, sometimes a redo ups the ante again .

We only go for breakfast. Had a less than great service once, but this past time was good. Food has been consistently great for us (I mostly stick with the steak and eggs).

 

[cruisehopeful]

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 felt 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 need to preface this by saying that I have never seen Riviera in person. I've only seen several videos of it and it hasn't been high on my list to visit. I do intend to eventually stay every resort, but I think because it looks very much like any high end hotel on the outside, I haven't seen the appeal. I've also read too many times about the skyliner being down.

However, after these comments by @R2Daddy it actually sounds like an ideal stay for me. If it had the 2 bathrooms in the one bedroom, it would be a lot higher on my visit list. But, I am the type of person who gets comfy in my room and then the hunger sets in. Being able to get food from the building that I am staying in is extremely valuable to me.

I think it's so interesting how people are so divided on Riviera. There's a lot of love and a lot of not love for it. I don't think I've seen that with any other DVC resort.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

I need to preface this by saying that I have never seen Riviera in person. I've only seen several videos of it and it hasn't been high on my list to visit. I do intend to eventually stay every resort, but I think because it looks very much like any high end hotel on the outside, I haven't seen the appeal. I've also read too many times about the skyliner being down.

However, after these comments by @R2Daddy it actually sounds like an ideal stay for me. If it had the 2 bathrooms in the one bedroom, it would be a lot higher on my visit list. But, I am the type of person who gets comfy in my room and then the hunger sets in. Being able to get food from the building that I am staying in is extremely valuable to me.

I think it's so interesting how people are so divided on Riviera. There's a lot of love and a lot of not love for it. I don't think I've seen that with any other DVC resort.

It’s also super compact, nothing is too far, not the food, pools, skyliner, coffee, all a few minutes away from even the furthest rooms.

I feel like a lot of the original dislike stems from the fact that it was the first resort to really change the system. It just created a negative aura about it that has taken people a long time to get over (maybe still not over? lol). Its subtlety in theming in a fandom that appreciates over the top theming doesn’t help. But I think the theming is really classily done and fits the aesthetic perfectly it’s just a slow burn and not the joyful, in your face theming of AKL or Poly. Of course there are outliers, a few in this thread even, but most who disliked it to begin with and stayed there ended up really liking it

I think the only other really controversial resort that inspires either love or hate is BLT. I remember when I first joined how much hate it got and now it’s back in people’s good graces. Personally, it’s my absolute least favorite resort behind OKE and SSR by quite a bit, but I don’t value walkabilty as high as others, though I understand why many do. I kind of hope RIV stays a sleeper hit for those of us who do love it.

 

[ShaneDJ]

When the Skyliner is moving along nicely, the Riviera is my favorite Epcot area resort, tied with BW. I like the small lobby…

I agree 100%.

I didn’t think there would ever be a post from you that I’d ever agree with.

But I have to confess, I agree with everything you said here.