The Official Riviera Owners & Info Thread

[Akck]

Skyliner was down quite a bit for our 3 day stay last July. I think they were being extra cautious about lightning. We could see if it was down right from our balcony and we just headed right to the bus stop. It was kind of a let down the amount of times it went down but the busses ran like clockwork. It stopped one time heading back from HS and they had a bus right away. Not sure if it goes down coming back from EPCOT though since the bus stop is all the way on the other side of the park. One day trying to get to HS there was a huge line at the transfer station about 30 minutes in the blazing sun. Overall, I love the resort and the Skyliner!

They used to run a skyliner resorts bus whenever the skyliner went down. You could catch the bus from the BW bus stop to get to the other resorts. I don’t know if they still operate it now.

 

[DVCsloth]

They used to run a skyliner resorts bus whenever the skyliner went down. You could catch the bus from the BW bus stop to get to the other resorts. I don’t know if they still operate it now.

That would make sense if it was down and you were trying to get back to Riviera or to HS and you were all the way at the Epcot gondola.

 

[summerw]

Hi, everyone! We're back and I think I'm finally catching up with life after our 10 days at WDW!

It was an incredible trip, although I'm so jealous masks are now gone outdoors. This was our second stay at Riviera and I'm even more in love with it now. Since September, we've stayed at BWV, BLT, CCV and AKL. We stayed at BC and PV previously. Although I'd like to give AKL another try once all the activities and cultural reps are back, I can definitely say Riviera had the best CMs and made each stay feel like home.

About the lobby, I think it's perfect. It feels like coming home every time I walk in. It's not so grand that people will make a trip just to see the lobby over and over like they do at so many others. Everything is so perfectly compact, but never crowded due to the size/capacity of the resort.

I agree with the discussion here that RR could use another casual TS, but I think Bar Riva might fill that gap some. It will definitely never be on par with The Wave, but for a smaller resort, the view is beautiful, the staff was exceptional and the food was excellent. Also, I'm not really a rosé drinker, but the frosé might be my new favorite drink. We each had a different sandwich and everyone cleaned their plates. I can't wait until they add back the items Covid eliminated. I'm posting a pic of the view below. It's really worth a stop and I love it's so casual that you never have to worry about getting in.

Some transportation notes we were down at the bus stop around 6:45 for an 8am scheduled opening at AK and the bus was there within minutes. We got in line for the Skyliner to go to HS at 7:10 and were first. They allowed the first 5 groups at Riviera to skip the line once at the CB station. If they had not, I probably would have had us walk to the CB station.
We were heading back from HS one morning right around the time Epcot was opening and the line to Epcot at CB was crazy, like down and up the one ramp and back out the side toward Riviera and so long after that. We ended up grabbing a donut from the Joffrey's stand and walking back. Side note: if anyone else watches Molly on AllEars, I tried the Shakin Jamacain she loves and literally threw the whole thing away. Not my jam. Lol.
The Skyliner line around park close coming home from Epcot was usually around 25 minutes. I think both the crazy line in CB and the end of the night line at Epcot will change dramatically once they are loading more than one party per gondola and more opens up. I'm sure CB is seeing higher capacity than usual with none of the other moderates open.
edited to add: the Skyliner was down for weather when we were there in September. We walked over to BWV and let the CM know we needed to get to Riviera and one offered to stop on the way to DS immediately. Be sure to let talk to someone. It was a little bit of chaos with everyone heading over.

I've posted pics below from La Boutique and some other things around the resort. They were out of Riviera ears when I was there. They said they'd been out for a few months and literally hope each new shipment will bring some but they aren't told what's coming when. They were also out of every size of the Riviera athletic polo except small.

Please feel free to ask me anything. Thanks all, for being an amazing group of owners! You all make this thread awesome!

 

[summerw]

Pics from everything in La Boutique

 

[summerw]

Need another post for all the pics...

 

[summerw]

 

[summerw]

Some food pics. All are Riviera except my son's big eyes seeing the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream. Lol. I'm not always a pancake person, but the lemon ricotta will definitely be ordered again. Mmmmm.

 

[summerw]

I've updated the BOG list. If I missed anyone, please let me know. Or if I put you in the wrong place etc. It always seems so easy until I see I made a mistake.

And we're considering adding on more points, I've got a post over on the DVCFan FB group. I also previously posted more pics there from my trip. Join if you don't already belong. It's a great group!!

And Welcome Home to all the new owners!!

[/QUOTE]

Sorry we missed you. We checked into BC and had our room by 9:40 am.

Sorry we missed you too!

We just plunged into DVC ownership this past week - it’s our one and only YOLO purchase ever! We are now the proud owners of 400 direct RIV points!

Our first welcome home trip is scheduled for august 22-28 in a 1br standard view. Also on waitlist for a studio if we can convince the in-laws to join us. Can we be added to the be our guest post? Thanks!!

September 14 - 17, 2021, 1 & 2 bedroom, family vacation

Hi there! I misunderstood this thread at first and just tried to edit it above.. Whoops!
My dates are June 19 - 26 - staying in a 1 bedroom standard view for our Welcome Home visit (that was postponed for a year). Celebrating my son's 16th birthday!

We'll be there August 13 to the 22nd. Very excited!

Us too! We are brand new Riviera members and will be there for our Welcome Home stay August 14-18--a long weekend that includes my and DH's birthdays and our anniversary, and is a few days before my son's birthday, so going to need a lot of celebration buttons! We're spending wayyyyy more points than we probably should for this short stay given we only have a 150 point contract and had to use all our 2020 points and borrow another 58 from Oct 2021, but the only room we could get so last-minute was one bedroom preferred view. At least we didn't pay dues on the 2020 points. We almost went with another DVC resort for the lower point cost, but we LOVE Riviera so I felt it was worth the splurge, especially since we won't be a Disney again until our 2022 UY. Anyway, points have been borrowed so no going back now...

Someone talk me down from the ledge on my obvious anxiety that we shouldn't have borrowed so many points! The one bedroom at Riviera is my dream hotel room, so a dream-come-true birthday/anniversary splurge can't be a mistake, right?

 

[Bjaiken77]

Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[karen4546]

Does RR offer room service? I know not right now but generally?

 

[Doberge]

I'm a little concerned that strollers will be more difficult when skyliner capacity increases again. Before the pandemic we were asked to fold our tandem stroller even though it rolled on fine with plenty of room.

We had a delay occur twice (different days). They were both short (less than 2 minutes). They announced it in the cars to so people knew of the delay. I think it was due to a rider having issues or adding a gondola from the disability line.

Are the announcements specific to the stoppage or generic recorded voice over that skyliner will "resume momentarily"?

 

[polynor]

Does RR offer room service? I know not right now but generally?

No room service.

 

[Akck]

Does RR offer room service? I know not right now but generally?

No, they have never offered room service. I think when they were opening, they wanted to eventually expand to offering room service, but Covid likely put that off for a long while.

 

[summerw]

I'm a little concerned that strollers will be more difficult when skyliner capacity increases again. Before the pandemic we were asked to fold our tandem stroller even though it rolled on fine with plenty of room.



Are the announcements specific to the stoppage or generic recorded voice over that skyliner will "resume momentarily"?

The announcements are generic. We probably stopped once almost every ride for under a minute. In probably 20 rides only once did I wait over a minute, and even then it was only 2-3.

 

[jerseygal]

Some food pics. All are Riviera except my son's big eyes seeing the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream. Lol. I'm not always a pancake person, but the lemon ricotta will definitely be ordered again. Mmmmm.View attachment 575528

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Those lemon ricotta pancakes look yummy!I read reviews on another site and someone else mentioned the lemon pancakes.. sound sooooo good

 

[Turn the Page]

Is the Toppolino's lounge available for walk up seating? I really want to grab a drink and a snack there one evening.

 

[MellieB]

Is the Toppolino's lounge available for walk up seating? I really want to grab a drink and a snack there one evening.

From DisneyFoodBlog: The indoor bar operates in similar fashion to the California Grill Lounge. It is first come, first served and guests must check in at the podium.

 

[summerw]

Those lemon ricotta pancakes look yummy!I read reviews on another site and someone else mentioned the lemon pancakes.. sound sooooo good

They were very fragrant and tart, soft on the inside. We all loved our sandwiches from Bar Riva too. I had the chicken, my son had the burger and my nephew had the Italian. Clean plates all around and we all brought up how good it was later. Plus the CMs were great! And I have yet to have something I didn't like from Le Petit Cafe.

 

[kboo]

Also, I'm not really a rosé drinker, but the frosé might be my new favorite drink.

Me too! Perfect on a hot day ... but beware the brain freeze...

I'm a little concerned that strollers will be more difficult when skyliner capacity increases again. Before the pandemic we were asked to fold our tandem stroller even though it rolled on fine with plenty of room.

We've taken the Skyliner 3x since it opened, twice during the pandemic. The first time was Christmas 2019, and they said all double strollers needed to be folded. We occasionally shared a cabin with 1-2 other people (family of 4). I think we had a single umbrella stroller that fit easily in the skyliner, but it was hard to move around if 1 group is getting off and the other is staying on.

 

[WIll C]

Just an FYI...Skyliner will be down 1/23/22-1/28/22 so plan accordingly. I switched our weeks to not deal with that issue.