The Official Riviera Owners & Info Thread

[J-Dog]

Hi,

We are owners at Riviera since late 2023. We finally had our first DVC trip recently and we were very pleased with our stay. We booked 5 nights in a standard view studio. Our room (which I can't remember the number of but I think it was 8827) had a view of the Epcot fireworks and if you squinted you could see Bay Lake Tower, the Contemporary and MK fireworks from the balcony. The downside was we were very close to some of the more industrial, back stage parts of the hotel which you could also see from the balcony.

The main upside to our hotel experience here was that everything is in the same building...within minutes we could be at the pool, the skyline, Primo Piatto or the lobby. No where felt far away.

The biggest downside was the traffic noise, having been at AKL and All Star Sports previously on the trip and not felt like we were anywhere close to any traffic and feeling well inside the Disney Bubble it felt a huge change. Honestly it was difficult to sit on the balcony in the evenings with all the car horns etc.

However we were impressed with the hotel in general and are very pleased to have Riviera as our home resort and the bulk of our points here. We will now have the knowledge to use them wisely and to know what we are getting ourselves in for.

Glad you had a good time on your first stay at RIV!

Your issues are a few of the reasons why I stand firm that Preferred is better than Standard view. I get it about the point-saving aspect, but otherwise I don't understand the supposed "consensus" that Standard view is better.

 

[Disneyjohnny]

Glad you had a good time on your first stay at RIV!

Your issues are a few of the reasons why I stand firm that Preferred is better than Standard view. I get it about the point-saving aspect, but otherwise I don't understand the supposed "consensus" that Standard view is better.

You know while we were there we were trying to figure out what made the Preferred view more expensive than the Standard and I think you've actually hit the nail on the head. Quite probably 90% of the things we disliked are solved by having a Standard room. Maybe next time we will go down that route and see what we actually prefer.

 

[davidhr]

Glad you had a good time on your first stay at RIV!

Your issues are a few of the reasons why I stand firm that Preferred is better than Standard view. I get it about the point-saving aspect, but otherwise I don't understand the supposed "consensus" that Standard view is better.

I’m the same. A parking lot view with spaceship earth in the distance isn’t really better for me lol

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I’m the same. A parking lot view with spaceship earth in the distance isn’t really better for me lol

Same! I need to feel secluded from the outside world. After all, we paid all this money to be in the Disney bubble. So preferred view is better imo, plus I love seeing the Skyliner going by

The only place I find seeing the parking lot acceptable is at BLT theme park view because there's enough to make up for it between MK, the Contemporary, Seven Seas Lagoon and its ferries, etc

 

[Mouseforward]

As an AP holder I don't care about fireworks view , I can just go to the parks and see them. But I don't pay the premium for PV as I don't tend to sit on the balcony at Riv. I like the standard view at Poly since I do like the balconies at that resort ( covered, less direct Florida sun)

It is too early to tell, but it look like the TP view at the Poly tower is not filling up as fast as SV. This reinforces my belief that we DVCers are mostly point sensitive.

 

[FSU Girl]

As an AP holder I don't care about fireworks view , I can just go to the parks and see them. But I don't pay the premium for PV as I don't tend to sit on the balcony at Riv. I like the standard view at Poly since I do like the balconies at that resort ( covered, less direct Florida sun)

It is too early to tell, but it look like the TP view at the Poly tower is not filling up as fast as SV. This reinforces my belief that we DVCers are mostly point sensitive.

I’m not a DVC but I stay a lot on cash so probably not the target audience here. But the reason I really like theme park view right now is because I have little kids. If we don’t have a view from our room we don’t get to see them since the kids go to sleep before fireworks start.

I did get to watch both Epcot and Magic kingdom from my riviera room which was great and a total surprise on the Magic kingdom ones. I had a preferred room but overlooked the skyliner so I could see Epcot

 

[havoc315]

As an AP holder I don't care about fireworks view , I can just go to the parks and see them. But I don't pay the premium for PV as I don't tend to sit on the balcony at Riv. I like the standard view at Poly since I do like the balconies at that resort ( covered, less direct Florida sun)

It is too early to tell, but it look like the TP view at the Poly tower is not filling up as fast as SV. This reinforces my belief that we DVCers are mostly point sensitive.

Point sensitivity is no secret. Studios book fastest. At most resorts, standard views book fastest.

The TPV rooms are a tremendous point cost at Poly. Example; TPV studio for Thanksgiving week at Poly, 236 weeks. For almost the same price, you can get a 1 bedroom in several resorts.
Put another way, most DVCers would rather take 10 nights in a standard studio of 7 in a TPV.

 

[kimmar067]

We go back in a little under 4 weeks, these pictures have made that feel way way too far away! Thanks for posting though, I am definitely just jealous .

...well thank you very much! I hope your stay was as wonderful as ours!

 

[TinkB278]

Since there still hasn’t been word about the Skyliner closure, is it safe to assume it won’t be going down in January?

 

[herewegooo]

We are staying at Coronado Labor Day weekend, but wanted to book one night at RIV on Labor Day (9/1) to try for Moonlight Magic at HS. Would we have a shot on the waitlist for a standard studio or a tower room? Thanks,

 

[crvetter]

We are staying at Coronado Labor Day weekend, but wanted to book one night at RIV on Labor Day (9/1) to try for Moonlight Magic at HS. Would we have a shot on the waitlist for a standard studio or a tower room? Thanks,

Standard Studio, there are more of them.

 

[♥ Mandi ♥]

Hi everyone!
Odd question here, but wondering how the curtains in the Riviera rooms are as far as allowing light in? In other rooms we've had to bring clips to clip them closed as some light peeks in in the middle where they meet so we've had to clip them closed. Is this an issue at the Riviera? My kids are light sleepers so we need to keep the room as dark as possible.

 

[EYL]

Hi everyone!
Odd question here, but wondering how the curtains in the Riviera rooms are as far as allowing light in? In other rooms we've had to bring clips to clip them closed as some light peeks in in the middle where they meet so we've had to clip them closed. Is this an issue at the Riviera? My kids are light sleepers so we need to keep the room as dark as possible.

I can't remember if it lets light through, but just wanted to pass on a hack... We take the clothes hangers with clips and use those to clip them closed.

 

[WhitneyMB]

Hi. Another wait list question (apologies!)—

We own at Riviera, but have never before tried to reserve a Studio in December. Wow, is it competitive! To make things a bit more complicated, we are booking two studios—one for my family and one for my sister’s for a family holiday getaway.

I currently have two Preferred View Studios booked but one of them is not for the whole trip (it’s short two days), as we don’t have enough points for two preferred rooms—although two “Resort” (standard) or one room of each category would work.

If I put in a waitlist request now on both Studios, what’s the chance of getting Resort/Standard, instead of Prefered, for one or both of them for next December? Thanks!

 

[FSU Girl]

Hi everyone!
Odd question here, but wondering how the curtains in the Riviera rooms are as far as allowing light in? In other rooms we've had to bring clips to clip them closed as some light peeks in in the middle where they meet so we've had to clip them closed. Is this an issue at the Riviera? My kids are light sleepers so we need to keep the room as dark as possible.

Thought they did a pretty good job keeping the light out. I do put a chair usually against the middle to keep the curtains together tighter

 

[carli_h]

Hi. Another wait list question (apologies!)—

We own at Riviera, but have never before tried to reserve a Studio in December. Wow, is it competitive! To make things a bit more complicated, we are booking two studios—one for my family and one for my sister’s for a family holiday getaway.

I currently have two Preferred View Studios booked but one of them is not for the whole trip (it’s short two days), as we don’t have enough points for two preferred rooms—although two “Resort” (standard) or one room of each category would work.

If I put in a waitlist request now on both Studios, what’s the chance of getting Resort/Standard, instead of Prefered, for one or both of them for next December? Thanks!

Standard view studios are becoming hard to get any time of the year. I was a day late in August and had to waitlist one day, but it did come through a few weeks later (I’ve since moved my reservation to a 1 bed). It is possible but you’ll probably have to pick up odd days and keep checking. A full week is less likely when waitlisting and I have had more success checking online regularly.

 

[psc85]

Hi everyone!
Odd question here, but wondering how the curtains in the Riviera rooms are as far as allowing light in? In other rooms we've had to bring clips to clip them closed as some light peeks in in the middle where they meet so we've had to clip them closed. Is this an issue at the Riviera? My kids are light sleepers so we need to keep the room as dark as possible.

The curtains do a fine job. HOWEVER....the clock on the microwave facing the bed in the studio, and the intermittent light on the smoke detector next to the bed keep me up at night. So either bring an eye mask, or a couple pieces of electrical tape to cover those up.

 

[WeIcomeHome]

There was a tip how to turn off the microwave clock earlier in this thread. Could probably just Google the microwave brand when you get to the room to figure it out.

 

[mabucco]

Is anyone here afraid of the quality of Riviera possibly going down once it‘s no longer actively sold? I‘m thinking of quality of food, upkeep of rooms and public spaces, service, etc. I find all of that to be superb at Riviera currently.

 

[psc85]

There was a tip how to turn off the microwave clock earlier in this thread. Could probably just Google the microwave brand when you get to the room to figure it out.

Certainly worth looking into for sure.