What would you do/recommend in my position?

[RamblinWreck]

Congratulations! DH stayed at Riviera a few months ago, and loved it! We bought 10 years ago when kids were 7 and 4, in strollers, majority of time in MK, etc......10 years later, teenagers, their favorite park/rides HS, our favorite Epcot, no strollers, going during school holidays only, kids want thrill rides elsewhere, etc, etc. Things change for sure, but we LOVE DVC. Owning BWV has been great, and I think RIV is such a great location for HS/Epcot.
We've stayed at BLT 3 times, and we loved it. That extra bathroom there (and Kidani,) pushes the resort way up the list. We've had no issues in the past getting 1 bedrooms at BLT, and Kidani, (just not standard views.) We've stayed about half the time at BWV, and half elsewhere.
Congrats again!!!!

Awesome, thanks!

Since I've been an owner for a few years, I'm at least somewhat familiar with how available certain resorts are at the 7 month window at the times of year we travel. I like to check, even though we have something booked!

And I know they're outdated at this point, but that awesome thread that was made a few years ago about predicted DVC booking patterns really has us feeling like between a 1-Bedroom at BLT, VGF, or BWV... at least one of those will almost certainly be available as long as we plan exactly 7 months ahead. And having the Riviera as a "fall back" is not too shabby!

 

[cellomom]

Congratulations on becoming Riviera owners. Hard to pass up the incentives🏝

 

[cruisehopeful]

I think you made a great choice. Since you already own GFV, a resort closer to other parks is a good plan.

 

[jimmymc]

Just saw you bought at Riviera, so congratulations!

In case anyone reads this thread in the future, Wilderness Lodge has boat transportation to MK, which might be easier than busses. And both resorts there are cheaper than GF right now.

And go Jackets!

 

[Jelly563]

You will never be able to take a trip with just the 2 of you. If you do, the guilt will surface and you will wish your kids were with you. Trust me

Also, BLT is NOT the Contemporary. You might need the cafe, but thats it

You said 1br is your preference, I hope you bought a lot of points because your going to need them at Riv. Reading this thread made me realize that I could never be a guide.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I appreciate everyone weighing in on this, you all provided a lot of things to think about that we hadn't yet considered.

Ultimately we pulled the trigger on a direct RIV contract for now, taking advantage of the incentives before they expired! (our guide actually extended the incentives for us by 2 days because when we first reached out to talk to her, it was 7 days ago. They approved giving us a full week to think about it).

I suppose we still have 10 days to change our minds though!


We feel good about the decision.

We really like the Riviera.

We also have a list of 4 other resorts that we will be perfectly happy with, even on a relatively Magic Kingdom centric trip. And we feel comfortable about getting at least one of them at the 7 month mark, especially since June is our typical travel month.

And we do really like the Riviera, and the idea of taking advantage of the tower studios for a bonus getaway for the 2 of us every once in a while.

Congratulations! RIV is a beautiful resort. Did you opt for 50 or 100 there? Are you keeping your GFV or selling that one. I would also keep GFV as I think it will become more difficult to book there without owning there.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Congratulations! RIV is a beautiful resort. Did you opt for 50 or 100 there? Are you keeping your GFV or selling that one. I would also keep GFV as I think it will become more difficult to book there without owning there.

We got 150

What a difference a couple years makes.

I was trying to convince my wife a few years ago that 100 VGF points was going to be the right way to go, and could only get her on board for 50.

Then, toward the end of our deliberations on this purchase, she starts talking about how much fun the girls had on this past trip, and maybe we’ll start wanting to go even more often, so maybe it makes sense to bite the bullet now.

I do think we may ditch the VGF contract, but that hasn’t been decided yet!

 

[dvc lover 1970]

We got 150

What a difference a couple years makes.

I was trying to convince my wife a few years ago that 100 VGF points was going to be the right way to go, and could only get her on board for 50.

Then, toward the end of our deliberations on this purchase, she starts talking about how much fun the girls had on this past trip, and maybe we’ll start wanting to go even more often, so maybe it makes sense to bite the bullet now.

I do think we may ditch the VGF contract, but that hasn’t been decided yet!

Nice! Congratulations! I love RIV and have thought about buying there. I would still keep VGF. It will get you a studio there which is near impossible.

 

[Best Aunt]

She likes the lobby and grounds, which are a big improvement over the god awful Contemporary lobby (apologies if you actually like it).

Nobody seems to have mentioned that the Contemporary is in the middle of renovating the lobby. I don't think anybody knows what it will look like when it's done. So I wouldn't have ruled out BLT based on what the Contemporary lobby used to look like. If the lobby was a deal breaker, I would have waited to see what it looks like when done, then decided where to purchase. But I think I'm commenting too late for OP.

 

[AnnaS]

Congratulations!!! Riviera is a beautiful resort!!! Enjoy and happy planning!

 

[kboo]

Congratulations! I think VGF and RIV is a great combination. (They are our favorite resorts!) And only in comparison to VGF does the RIV point chart look reasonable. Hehe. But I do think RIV standard is like VGF standard where it's really hard (virtually impossible?) to get a bad room. And you can get decent fireworks views (from VGF, RIV, ... and BLT standard). I would hang on to the VGF - it is enough for a studio, and we still occasionally do a VGF or RIV studio with the girls to save some points.

You will never be able to take a trip with just the 2 of you. If you do, the guilt will surface and you will wish your kids were with you. Trust me

Also, BLT is NOT the Contemporary. You might need the cafe, but thats it

DH and I finally took our first trip - a long weekend - for our 25th anniversary (we married young and had kids really late). It was great and the kids forgave us, but it did take a while. We did a HS after hours event (before SWGE opened), had dinner at California Grill and V&A. Drank lots of free champagne, didn't rope drop anything, drank and shopped our way around the world (we only made it halfway) ... it was so much fun and so different from our family vacations. We stayed in a BLT theme park studio and realized we probably wouldn't stick all 4 of us in a BLT studio. We also "wasted" the TPV because we were not in our room for either night of fireworks. Oh well.

Also: when we stay at BLT we never go through the contemporary unless we have a reason. At BLT we are either walking to MK or uber/bus to AK, so the only time we go to the hotel side, is to eat at California Grill or The Wave. Or sometimes to shop. The shops are good.

 

[RamblinWreck]

You will never be able to take a trip with just the 2 of you. If you do, the guilt will surface and you will wish your kids were with you. Trust me

Also, BLT is NOT the Contemporary. You might need the cafe, but thats it

You said 1br is your preference, I hope you bought a lot of points because your going to need them at Riv. Reading this thread made me realize that I could never be a guide.

As much fun as it was taking the kids for the first time, at their current ages it was also a very different experience in the sense that we never found an opportunity to do most of our favorite things in the parks.

In a few more trips, when they are old enough to do most of those things too, I'm sure I won't come away feeling like I missed out on something. But right now I wouldn't feel guilty at all spending a weekend down there without the kids running around like a kid myself. A man needs his Rock N' Rollercoaster time!

 

[mustinjourney]

Although I did convince my wife that if we owned at Riviera, the rooms are very similar to the GF and having the Skyliner that could take us to 2 different parks would save us from stroller hassles on multiple days of our future trips as well. She also loves the idea of the tower studios if the 2 of us ever want to plan a weekend where we just run away to Disney. So Riviera is an option.

keep in mind that the double strollers (at least side-by-side style) do NOT fit into the skyliners with the kids in them -- so you'd have to get the kids out of the stroller and break it down in order to board.

 

[mustinjourney]

I appreciate everyone weighing in on this, you all provided a lot of things to think about that we hadn't yet considered.

Ultimately we pulled the trigger on a direct RIV contract for now, taking advantage of the incentives before they expired! (our guide actually extended the incentives for us by 2 days because when we first reached out to talk to her, it was 7 days ago. They approved giving us a full week to think about it).

I suppose we still have 10 days to change our minds though!


We feel good about the decision.

We really like the Riviera.

We also have a list of 4 other resorts that we will be perfectly happy with, even on a relatively Magic Kingdom centric trip. And we feel comfortable about getting at least one of them at the 7 month mark, especially since June is our typical travel month.

And we do really like the Riviera, and the idea of taking advantage of the tower studios for a bonus getaway for the 2 of us every once in a while.

I own at RIV, BCV, and VGF...and I think RIV might be my favorite.

 

[RamblinWreck]

keep in mind that the double strollers (at least side-by-side style) do NOT fit into the skyliners with the kids in them -- so you'd have to get the kids out of the stroller and break it down in order to board.

Thanks!

We have these little super compact ones that we use when we are traveling. Zoe brand. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zoe double stroller actually would fit in, but we don't use double strollers at all anyway!

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Congratulations, @RamblinWreck on your RIV purchase! I’m sure you will love it

You will never be able to take a trip with just the 2 of you. If you do, the guilt will surface and you will wish your kids were with you. Trust me

Haha!!! It’s time to “let it go!” I love trips with my kids, definitely! But I also love trips with my hubby, trips with my sister(s), trips with dear friends, and even just a few days on my own are always welcome & totally enjoyed!!

We play “where in the world” as a family whenever someone is in Disney… it’s a little game I made up where the person/people in Disney snap pics/send polos, and the people back home try to guess where we’re at. We keep score, and the person with the most points at the end of the trip wins! It’s seriously so much fun!!

Now- I’m not saying you need to feel like you have to go without your kids if you wouldn’t enjoy it, but I for one embrace it! & trust me when I say, it’s a really good thing for some of us ☺

DH and I finally took our first trip - a long weekend - for our 25th anniversary (we married young and had kids really late). It was great and the kids forgave us, but it did take a while.

Congratulations! Sounds like a fantastic trip!! We celebrated our 20th in Disney (it was our first couples only trip to Disney- 2 years ago). Our kids are older, so they were happy for us & even held down the fort while we were gone …only the youngest one (still under 10) was a teensy bit jealous

But right now I wouldn't feel guilty at all spending a weekend down there without the kids running around like a kid myself. A man needs his Rock N' Rollercoaster time!

And you shouldn’t. No guilt necessary!! & I highly recommend it

p.s. those tower studios will definitely make a great getaway for you & your wife! My hubby & I are finally going to be staying in one this Nov- I’m super excited!!

 

[Meem93]

I don’t love the theme of BLT, but you can’t beat the walk to magic. And the 1 bedrooms have 2 full bathrooms, which is so nice. I’d try and convince your wife to consider there. No getting a stroller in or out of transportation.

if she is dead against it, I would buy another 50 point contract at VGF and I wouldn’t wait because prices just keep increasing. Even if it’s sold out you can ask to get on a waitlist for direct to purchase, or they might have the points from exercising their first right of refusal. I would do it direct because because it’s so simple. If you cant get direct then you could add on when the new VGF2 goes on sale. Or buy resale if you are okay not using those points at RIV. Also, on a small contract the savings aren’t that huge compared to what they would be on like a 200 point one.

we don’t know what the VGF2 will be. it could be like Boulder ridge and ccv where it’s separate condo associations, or it could be like AKL Kidani and jambo where even though separate buildings it is the same expiration and you can book at either one 11 months out if you own at one. I just added on last week and asked my guide for info about VGF2 and he said they haven’t gotten any information yet, just that one building is being turned into studios only. I personally think there will be a price increase when it goes on sale, or at least not long after.