Riviera or Grand Floridian

[JonT36]

Hello

deciding between the 2, a family of 4 with a 3 and 2 year old. Any pros and cons other than if wanting more magic kingdom days to stay at GF? Food varieties,pool comparisons, nicer dvc rooms, easier transportation?

 

[Tigger's ally]

I know I will be in the minority, but our family would definitely vote Riviera. We stayed there last year for a week and fell in love with it. Just love the 'all in one building" setting and the skyliner. We are Epcot people though and usually end the night there so the quick ride home does suit us better. While we have never stayed at the GF, we have spent quite a bit of time there whether it be for Park Fair, Narcooses or the cafe, we just have never seemed to like it enough to pay the price to stay there. Riv we did. I found hanging out at Bar Riva very relaxing and PP was great for breakfast (loved the banana bread). Topolino's has that wonderful view and we had a great dinner there too. Room had everything we needed and all of it was located exactly where you want it to be. Grandtinker loved the bottom bubble up tub. She also loved the kiddie pool area with a couple different slides. We ordered a drink from Bar Riva and sat and watched her play all afternoon. We had a standard 1 bedroom. Wife and I had the master and our daughter and grandaughter each had a pull down in the living room. Daughter said the murphy was more comfortable than her bed at home and grandtinker loved the cute Mickey pull down under the TV that had a light on it. She rolled over each night so she could look at Mickey and fell asleep in five minutes.

 

[Marthasor]

Hands-down, Grand Floridian. The rooms at RIV are beautiful, but the pool is pretty boring and there are limited food options. If the Skyliner goes down, your one transportation "perk" is gone. When staying at GF, you have a ton of dining options, including those at Poly which is a short walk away (and CR on the monorail), the ability to walk, boat or monorail to MK and monorail (via TTC) to EP. You also have better pools, IMHO, to choose from. We've stayed at both and, as I said, RIV is lovely, but when the Skyliner went down, we felt a bit trapped. I actually don't think we'll stay at RIV again. If we want to be in the EP area, we'll stick with BC/YC, BWI, Swan or Dolphin.

 

[Sarahslay]

I've stayed at both an equal amount of times, and while I love the location of GF I LOVE everything else about Riviera far more. I've stayed at both 3 times, and I could go the rest of my life never staying at GF again and be happy, but Riviera is now one of our favorites. It's gorgeous, quiet (GF always seems packed with wedding parties, people coming to just see it, and folks coming to eat), has easy access to three parks via the skyliner, great dining, and I love the coffee bar there. We stayed at Riviera last Christmas (2020), and for the same price as I've paid for a normal room (or very discounted club level) we had a very roomy 1 bedroom villa. The only issue was only having one toilet for the bathroom configuration, but we would have only had one toilet at GF too so it's not a big deal. Both kids, 12 & 9 at the time, loved the sleeping arrangements and said they were comfortable in both pull down beds, and my husband and I loved having our own room. Also, the spa/"bubble" tub in the villa can't be beat....or the giant shower at the end of a long day.

 

[Sarahslay]

and I'll say the skyliner only went down once while we were at Riviera, and they had a bus there quickly. We've stayed twice during winter months and once in May/June, only issue was at the very end of the May trip when there was a huge rain storm, but they sent buses quickly.

 

[Tigger's ally]

and I'll say the skyliner only went down once while we were at Riviera, and they had a bus there quickly. We've stayed twice during winter months and once in May/June, only issue was at the very end of the May trip when there was a huge rain storm, but they sent buses quickly.

We used the skyliner the whole trip last year and it never was down (as opposed to having the monorail down 2 of our days and actually watching them tug yellow monorail through the Contemporary on the way to visit the mechanic). I think the winter months do not have the storms like the spring/summer months so the skyliner is very reliable from November through February.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

If it were me, I’d pick grand Floridian with little kids. I’ve stayed at GF a couple of times, I’ve only visited riviera. The rooms at GF are huge, and the extra space at the resort spreads the people out more, so it never feels crowded. The pool at GF is very cool, and there’s a great splash pad. On-site dining is better at GF, and you have easy access to the rest of the MK Resorts if you want extra variety.