Riviera Room Categories/Views

[WDW Traveler]

Does anyone have knowledge of the room views at the Riviera? We are staying there for the first time in 2 Deluxe Studios - Preferred View. It states, "Views of Courtyard, Lake, Landscaping, Pool, or Disney Skyliner." Does this mean it possibly faces Epcot? And you could possibly see Fireworks (if high enough)? (Standard View rooms state, "Views of Parking Area", so guessing that is the front of the resort.) I was just trying to get a feel of where we might be in the building.
Disappointed as I believe the Skyliner will be closed while we are there based on previous January refurbishment dates. We will be there January 20-25, 2025. Bummer.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Does anyone have knowledge of the room views at the Riviera? We are staying there for the first time in 2 Deluxe Studios - Preferred View. It states, "Views of Courtyard, Lake, Landscaping, Pool, or Disney Skyliner." Does this mean it possibly faces Epcot? And you could possibly see Fireworks (if high enough)? (Standard View rooms state, "Views of Parking Area", so guessing that is the front of the resort.) I was just trying to get a feel of where we might be in the building.
Disappointed as I believe the Skyliner will be closed while we are there based on previous January refurbishment dates. We will be there January 20-25, 2025. Bummer.

I was just there and had a standard view. I could see the fireworks nightly. I had a low floor overlooking parking lot, but my mom was on the 7th floor and she had an amazing view of Epcot fireworks nightly. (both standard view) Not sure what make preferred better than that!

 

[WDW Traveler]

I was just there and had a standard view. I could see the fireworks nightly. I had a low floor overlooking parking lot, but my mom was on the 7th floor and she had an amazing view of Epcot fireworks nightly. (both standard view) Not sure what make preferred better than that!

This makes me wonder the same thing! I booked Preferred because that was all I could get at the 7-month mark, but seeing the Pool vs. Fireworks does not mean "Preferred" to me. Oh well. We are staying at a nice resort. 3rd world problems I guess lol

 

[jennypenny]

Strangely at RR, some standard view rooms face epcot with views of the fireworks while preferred view rooms do not. They face the courtyard, skyliner station, or towards Bonnet Creek.

Is there a reason you booked two studios instead of a 1 or 2 bedroom? The amenities in those are really nice (although we like the studios a lot),

eta: You might get lucky with the HS part of the skyliner. I think that line finishes first every year. You'd have to walk to the CB station to catch it but it's a pleasant walk. Depends what the dates are for the refurbishment.

 

[WDW Traveler]

Strangely at RR, some standard view rooms face epcot with views of the fireworks while preferred view rooms do not. They face the courtyard, skyliner station, or towards Bonnet Creek.

Is there a reason you booked two studios instead of a 1 or 2 bedroom? The amenities in those are really nice (although we like the studios a lot),

eta: You might get lucky with the HS part of the skyliner. I think that line finishes first every year. You'd have to walk to the CB station to catch it but it's a pleasant walk. Depends what the dates are for the refurbishment.

Stange to me how they categorized them. That's a bummer.

We are going with another couple, and we are not sure they will actually carry through with the trip. So, the studios guaranteed us both rooms and if they end up not going, I won't be stuck with a 2 Bedroom because I know if they don't go, it would be too late to get a studio/1 bedroom for just us. (Usually, my husband and I will book a 1 bedroom if it's just him and I, but if they DO end up going, I didn't want to book a 1 bedroom right out of the gate (with the thought that maybe they won't go lol) because I don't want to tell people they are sleeping on the couch in the living room.)

That's good news about half the Skyliner! Guess we will see what the dates end up being.

 

[tjkraz]

Standard is standard because it overlooks a parking lot and main road 24/7. Preferred has a view of the courtyard, pool, lake, skyliner and other WDW structures. I posted my thoughts here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/post-covid-room-availability.3949579/#post-65600149

There is a very small number of Preferred View rooms near the skyliner which have some view of Epcot. It's only about 10-15% of the resort. It's apparently popular for requests. And if those rooms are filled before you even arrive, they simply aren't an option. Getting 1 room in that section is difficult. Getting 2 rooms is incredibly unlikely.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

Does anyone have knowledge of the room views at the Riviera? We are staying there for the first time in 2 Deluxe Studios - Preferred View. It states, "Views of Courtyard, Lake, Landscaping, Pool, or Disney Skyliner." Does this mean it possibly faces Epcot? And you could possibly see Fireworks (if high enough)? (Standard View rooms state, "Views of Parking Area", so guessing that is the front of the resort.) I was just trying to get a feel of where we might be in the building.
Disappointed as I believe the Skyliner will be closed while we are there based on previous January refurbishment dates. We will be there January 20-25, 2025. Bummer.

Ahh yeah you’ll find a bit of of “debate” around this lol Some SV rooms in the west wing do look out toward Epcot but your most prominent view is the parking lot for 85% of the day. PV, guarantees prettier views of a pool/skyliner (and sometimes if you’re lucky enough, a bit of AK/HS).

I think Disney hedged that if they called a mostly parking lot view with views of Spaceship Earth way out in the distance “PV”, they’d get called out for it. I like SV to save points but I would never choose it for the view. We’re almost never in the room in the evening for fireworks and the one time I did see it was super far away and with no music being pumped in, kinda boring the daytime views are fine but it really is mostly just parking lot (the people watching can be fun though!)

 

[jennypenny]

Tim, I agree with most of your views on preferred vs. standard rooms at RR, but there are some preferred rooms in the corner by the splash pad that are not appealing (and some standard are much better than others). They probably should have designated three categories ... courtyard, preferred, and standard.

 

[WDW Traveler]

Ahh yeah you’ll find a bit of of “debate” around this lol Some SV rooms in the west wing do look out toward Epcot but your most prominent view is the parking lot for 85% of the day. PV, guarantees prettier views of a pool/skyliner (and sometimes if you’re lucky enough, a bit of AK/HS).

I think Disney hedged that if they called a mostly parking lot view with views of Spaceship Earth way out in the distance “PV”, they’d get called out for it. I like SV to save points but I would never choose it for the view. We’re almost never in the room in the evening for fireworks and the one time I did see it was super far away and with no music being pumped in, kinda boring the daytime views are fine but it really is mostly just parking lot (the people watching can be fun though!)

This makes sense. Thanks for your explanation. Definitely would have booked SV to save points but my fingers were moving as fast as they could at 8:00am on the 7-month mark trying to get the two rooms lol. (I'm not even actually sure they were showing SV when I booked just the PV.) You are right, we aren't in the room much anyway. Still happy to be trying a new Resort regardless of the view!

 

[WDW Traveler]

Standard is standard because it overlooks a parking lot and main road 24/7. Preferred has a view of the courtyard, pool, lake, skyliner and other WDW structures. I posted my thoughts here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/post-covid-room-availability.3949579/#post-65600149

There is a very small number of Preferred View rooms near the skyliner which have some view of Epcot. It's only about 10-15% of the resort. It's apparently popular for requests. And if those rooms are filled before you even arrive, they simply aren't an option. Getting 1 room in that section is difficult. Getting 2 rooms is incredibly unlikely.

Very valid points you make in your posted thoughts. We will have a great time no matter the view! Thank you.

 

[tjkraz]

Tim, I agree with most of your views on preferred vs. standard rooms at RR, but there are some preferred rooms in the corner by the splash pad that are not appealing (and some standard are much better than others). They probably should have designated three categories ... courtyard, preferred, and standard.

Yes, I agree there should have been 3 views. Though I also think those "splash pad" rooms, which have a serene view of beach and pond, are objectively better than a parking lot view.

What Disney underestimated is that a significant portion of their customer base believes that ANY view of live fireworks trumps all else, even if that view is kinda rotten 23.5 hours per day.

 

[jennypenny]

We don't choose standard for fireworks views. We book standard because we don't want to pay the premium for preferred views when some views are much better than others and I'd be annoyed to end up in the dark corner again. If they do a re-org of the points chart to add a courtyard view, I'd pay a higher premium to guarantee that view.

But I agree about people wanting fireworks views above all else... having stayed in all three categories at BLT, the view categories confound me a little.

 

[Sandisw]

This makes me wonder the same thing! I booked Preferred because that was all I could get at the 7-month mark, but seeing the Pool vs. Fireworks does not mean "Preferred" to me. Oh well. We are staying at a nice resort. 3rd world problems I guess lol

While we book SV to save points, the view from most preferred rooms is far better, IMO, than the fireworks since we not always back in the room by then.

Other than those 20 minutes, the view is of thr parking lot. For PV, looking over the lake is really nice and much better when we want to hang out in the room!

 

[crazycatlady]

DH and I had a standard room view in May to save points and as others said, if you are in the room during fireworks, it was a cool view of them. We could see Spaceship Earth and their fireworks and then off in the distance, we could see the MK fireworks. During the day the view was parking lot, and it wasn't a bad view since we were high up and there were lots of trees, but it was not a place we spent a lot of time.
DD and I booked standard a few weeks ago and were upgraded to preferred view (I think) and I don't know that I will book standard again. It was beautiful with the sun shining on the water, the gorgeous courtyard, charming CBR buildings, and skyliner. We spent a lot of time on the balcony.

 

[mikeuno]

Great pics - thanks for sharing

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

This makes me wonder the same thing! I booked Preferred because that was all I could get at the 7-month mark, but seeing the Pool vs. Fireworks does not mean "Preferred" to me. Oh well. We are staying at a nice resort. 3rd world problems I guess lol

For crazy Guests such as myself who will sit on the balcony for hours with a bottle of wine, I'd rather look at a pool/lake than a roadway.

 

[gmi3804]

For crazy Guests such as myself who will sit on the balcony for hours with a bottle of wine, I'd rather look at a pool/lake than a roadway.

Same here. I never understood why people think the BLT/CR "theme park" view is so enchanting. It's all parking lot! I also don't think a far-off out of context fireworks view is anything exciting.

I think RR's categories favor a water view (Preferred) over a far-away theme park glimpse over the parking lots (STD).

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

Same here. I never understood why people think the BLT/CR "theme park" view is so enchanting. It's all parking lot! I also don't think a far-off out of context fireworks view is anything exciting.

I think RR's categories favor a water view (Preferred) over a far-away theme park glimpse over the parking lots (STD).

I recently stayed at BLT - I booked a Lake View, but they had an issue with my room and upgraded me to Theme Park due to lack of Lake View availability. I honestly preferred Lake View. The sunrise in the morning is wildly beautiful. I would never spend the extra points on Theme Park View.

Mods- sorry for going off-topic.

 

[gmi3804]

I recently stayed at BLT - I booked a Lake View, but they had an issue with my room and upgraded me to Theme Park due to lack of Lake View availability. I honestly preferred Lake View. The sunrise in the morning is wildly beautiful. I would never spend the extra points on Theme Park View.

Mods- sorry for going off-topic.

View attachment 886867

My favorite LV is looking south over the CR marina and pools, with the lake to the left, CR to the right, and WL straight ahead in the distance. Great natural light all day too, due to the south-facing elevation.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I recently stayed at BLT - I booked a Lake View, but they had an issue with my room and upgraded me to Theme Park due to lack of Lake View availability. I honestly preferred Lake View. The sunrise in the morning is wildly beautiful. I would never spend the extra points on Theme Park View.

Mods- sorry for going off-topic.

View attachment 886867

Can you give a room number, please?