The Official Riviera Owners & Info Thread

[Girlstar30]

it’d be easier to rent points or book cash with discounts than swapping. There’s not much incentive for a direct owner to just swap. A resale owner might be interested, but it’s still easier in my opinion to rent your points and then rent points that can be used at riviera.

This. I was able to book a studio at Riv with no issue from dvc rental store and it's worth the extra cost not to stress yourself out trying to find someone legit imo. Totally justify the extra amount i will pay with all the money is saved on resale whenever I want to stay there.

DVC rental store allows you an option to cancel and get your money back, but it costs more for this option and both davids and dvc rental store offer a credit for future as a standard option if you can't make it.

This is flexible enough for me but some don't think it's flexible enough. Up to the individual what works for them

DVC rental store is more stingy with room requests, changes on reservations with room requests. They only allow one and then charge $50 i believe after which is ridiculous.

Booking with the rental stores 7-11 months in advance gives you home resort priority.

Now i don't know what would happen if you got a shady renter that just cancelled on you last minute. You'd be screwed out of a room I'm sure so that's pretty lame but I'm sure you'd get your money back. I've done it four times with Davids with no issue. Doing it with dvc rental store in September

 

[peder]

Just completed our first stay at Riviera. The DW and I had a one-bedroom for three nights last week. The resort is very nice and access to the Skyliner is great for those Epcot or Studios visits. We enjoyed our stay except for ..........

the terrible view for a "preferred" view room. There was nothing Preferred about it, unless they consider the shrubs outside the window to be "preferred" shrubs. We were on the ground floor, with the walkway from the lobby to the Skyliner right outside our window(s). Since this walkway gets a lot of traffic, we kept the drapes closed almost all the time. As has been the case in many resorts, Disney overrates the views on many rooms, most likely to allow more points to be sold.

Would we stay at RR again -- maybe. To avoid the risk of getting a bad "preferred" view room we would probably so Standard view.


mac_tlc

We've been in a similar "preferred" room, and I just don't know what Disney is thinking putting some of these rooms in more premium categories. The only thing it creates is frustration for those that have spent more points and probably got a worse view and more noise and less privacy than someone that had a "resort" / standard view.

 

[mac_tlc]

That is an unfortunate room assignment. I had a similar studio but up a floor and I enjoyed my room view of the skyliner and pond. The path did see lots of action though.

I recommend bringing up this stay at your next check-in and I would expect you to have a much better room assignment.

I did mention it to the front desk when we checked out -- since I had to go to the front desk because the app was not cooperating. I don't think I was the first one to mention it. She said if it doesn't have a parking lot view , its preferred.

I will follow up with a letter to MS just so they hear it too.

One floor up would have made a big difference.

 

[MomOTwins]

Just completed our first stay at Riviera. The DW and I had a one-bedroom for three nights last week. The resort is very nice and access to the Skyliner is great for those Epcot or Studios visits. We enjoyed our stay except for ..........

the terrible view for a "preferred" view room. There was nothing Preferred about it, unless they consider the shrubs outside the window to be "preferred" shrubs. We were on the ground floor, with the walkway from the lobby to the Skyliner right outside our window(s). Since this walkway gets a lot of traffic, we kept the drapes closed almost all the time. As has been the case in many resorts, Disney overrates the views on many rooms, most likely to allow more points to be sold.

Would we stay at RR again -- maybe. To avoid the risk of getting a bad "preferred" view room we would probably so Standard view.


mac_tlc

We had a ground floor room once with standard room and it was equally dreadful, with people walking by on their to the parking lot/buses. Then again we’ve had that happen at other resorts with ground floor rooms too like BRV and Poly. Whether preferred or standard, we always request a high floor now.

 

[tx911]

I did mention it to the front desk when we checked out -- since I had to go to the front desk because the app was not cooperating. I don't think I was the first one to mention it. She said if it doesn't have a parking lot view , its preferred.

I will follow up with a letter to MS just so they hear it too.

One floor up would have made a big difference.

This was my recent preferred view. I thought it was phenomenal. Were you similar just on the first floor?

 

[csmommy]

We were just in a “preferred” room & will never waste the points again.

 

[peder]

We were just in a “preferred” room & will never waste the points again.

The preferred view from the middle of the complex looking out onto the lake with the skyliner in the distance is my favorite view at Disney World. But it feels like such a gamble.

 

[peder]

And I should note the only time we got the best view from the middle of the complex was when we paid rack rate before we had our DVC contract

 

[lowlight]

The preferred view from the middle of the complex looking out onto the lake with the skyliner in the distance is my favorite view at Disney World. But it feels like such a gamble.

This sums it up well. Riviera preferred has some views that are some of the best on property and a whole bunch of “this isn’t even a good standard view” views. It really is a gamble. I’ve heard the PIT theme park views are suffering the same issue. DVC is to blame for wanting to sell more points.

 

[DVCsloth]

This sums it up well. Riviera preferred has some views that are some of the best on property and a whole bunch of “this isn’t even a good standard view” views. It really is a gamble. I’ve heard the PIT theme park views are suffering the same issue. DVC is to blame for wanting to sell more points.

From someone who pretty much only books Standard "resort" view. I look at the owners booking window as allowing me to book the lower point rooms. I totally understand why some people choose proffered view, but some of the resorts are not worth it if you have the option.

 

[sethschroeder]

The talk about the views really has me going back to why Disney has not adjust the room assignments.

They should add a "fireworks" view for Epcot and move a number of those rooms from the front of the resort over to Preferred and tank some of those rooms on the far side facing CBR as Standard.

I like the benefit of getting a standard view but just seems misaligned still.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

I’ll be the contrarian… I don’t think the standard Epcot “fireworks view” is very good at all unless you’re floor 8 and above, and as an owner I’d be quite annoyed to pay extra points for that.

Also, a lot of the Preferred view does stink. Both things can be true at once.

 

[sethschroeder]

unless you’re floor 8 and above

Nothing stops them from only putting it on the top couple floors. They do specific floors at BLT as an example and even changed it in the past because some people were too low.

I dont mean the full front of the resort. I just mean some of those top floor rooms. I also say "Fireworks" or "Epcot" view simply so that people know what they are getting compared to Preferred View which shouldn't be facing a parking lot.


Which one of the below is a Standard vs Preferred View? The goal would be to move the good Standard to Fireworks (where people know it can be hit or miss view of parking lot as well) and move the bad Preferred to Standard (where people might be paying top points for a very bad view)

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

Nothing stops them from only putting it on the top couple floors. They do specific floors at BLT as an example and even changed it in the past because some people were too low.

I dont mean the full front of the resort. I just mean some of those top floor rooms. I also say "Fireworks" or "Epcot" view simply so that people know what they are getting compared to Preferred View which shouldn't be facing a parking lot.


Which one of the below is a Standard vs Preferred View? The goal would be to move the good Standard to Fireworks (where people know it can be hit or miss view of parking lot as well) and move the bad Preferred to Standard (where people might be paying top points for a very bad view)

View attachment 957683View attachment 957684

Yup, I’m aware. The east wing preferred in particular stink.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I’ll be the contrarian… I don’t think the standard Epcot “fireworks view” is very good at all unless you’re floor 8 and above, and as an owner I’d be quite annoyed to pay extra points for that.

Also, a lot of the Preferred view does stink. Both things can be true at once.

I agree! I don't want to see the parking lot and get road noise most of the day from the balcony just to get a distant view of EPCOT fireworks (which imo are not as impressive from a distance as MK's)

The rooms facing Caribbean Beach on the East wing are not as nice and I always asked to be moved if I get that room assignment. I like having the Skyliner view, even from a low floor.

 

[sethschroeder]

I agree! I don't want to see the parking lot and get road noise most of the day from the balcony just to get a distant view of EPCOT fireworks (which imo are not as impressive from a distance as MK's)

They would likely be the quickest to be booked up so you could likely avoid it.

Meanwhile preferred will be last booked and you might not have a choice regarding getting that corner room that showed above for the high price.

Really just trying to come up with an idea to remove those bad rooms from the normal preferred group.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I would just add a tier called theme park view for the top floors of standard. It can cost the same as preferred. Then use that room allocation to recategorize the worst preferred views as standard (namely, the East Wing facing East). Not sure if there are enough rooms that have a good EPCOT view to match the number of East-facing East wing rooms.

 

[Brian Noble]

Just completed our first stay at Riviera.

We had a ground floor room once with standard room and it was equally dreadful

This is why my first (and often only) request for any resort, anywhere, is "higher floor." I might not be in the upper half, but hopefully I won't be on the ground floor.

Whether preferred or standard, we always request a high floor now.

This is the way.

I would just add a tier

I am not a fan of adding a new view category. The more categories there are, the more fragmented the resort becomes, and the harder it is to string together a stay of consecutive nights. I don't have a strong opinion about which preferred views do/do not qualify, but if there are some rooms that no reasonable person would agree is "preferred", I'd rather move those to Standard, and move maybe the top floor of the Epcot-facing spine to Preferred.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I am not a fan of adding a new view category. The more categories there are, the more fragmented the resort becomes, and the harder it is to string together a stay of consecutive nights. I don't have a strong opinion about which preferred views do/do not qualify, but if there are some rooms that no reasonable person would agree is "preferred", I'd rather move those to Standard, and move maybe the top floor of the Epcot-facing spine to Preferred.

I like having the different categories at BLT. Yes, it makes it more difficult to string together a reservation if you're booking at 7 months, but for owners it gives them more certainty about what they'll get. Similar to Boardwalk. At Riviera, I would not want the EPCOT-facing high floor rooms because it's still too much parking lot/road, but am okay with most preferred besides East wing facing East and I know I would get that with 3 categories.

But doesn't matter, I don't think DVC will change this!

 

[sethschroeder]

harder it is to string together a stay of consecutive nights

Would you think that Standard and "Epcot"/"Fireworks" would just be sitting there when Preferred is sold out?

A number of resorts have 3 categories and typically you have a specific category always left over it seems. Example at Boardwalk where I own as well Boardwalk/Standard are always gone first with the Garden always being last. I dont think this would be any different really.

I would guess BLT is the same with their Theme/Standard views going first and their normal view left over.