The Official Riviera Owners & Info Thread

[EYL]

For those who have been recently, can you confirm the style of coffee maker in a 1 bd suite? And will I need to bring filter?

Can’t survive without our morning joe!!️️️

The Joffrey's coffee pack they provide is already in a filter pod, so you won't need filters if you're okay with the brand. I think the pod is for 8 cups, but it was too light for us when we made it per the instructions. We reduced the water the next day to 6 cups and it was better. Otherwise, it was a 10-cup cone-shaped filter for the coffee maker. You'll need to bring it if you have your own coffee.

 

[WendyZQ]

The Joffrey's coffee pack they provide is already in a filter pod, so you won't need filters if you're okay with the brand. I think the pod is for 8 cups, but it was too light for us when we made it per the instructions. We reduced the water the next day to 6 cups and it was better. Otherwise, it was a 10-cup cone-shaped filter for the coffee maker. You'll need to bring it if you have your own coffee.

Thank you! We are definitely fans of bold coffee!

 

[kimmar067]

The lovely photos makes me think I need more points so I can book preferred view villas without the guilt!

....guilt is SOOOOOO overrated....

 

[kimmar067]

We're heading BACK to the Riv in September! My DS and his DW got us 4 nights there AND tix to see Sebastian Maniscalco in Orlando! I'm more than excited!!

 

[Itoddmickey]

The quiet pool, headed to RIV for week in Sept, how quiet is it? How is the hot tub!

 

[Sandisw]

The quiet pool, headed to RIV for week in Sept, how quiet is it? How is the hot tub!

We spend most of our time at this one and enjoy it. It’s pretty peaceful and the hot tub is nice.

 

[Itoddmickey]

We spend most of our time at this one and enjoy it. It’s pretty peaceful and the hot tub is nice.

Great, we are looking forward to it.

 

[Itoddmickey]

Looks like I will be removing a few days from my December trip in a tower studio. Likely going to remove Dec 12-14 (Thur/Fri - 2 nights) if anybody is looking for that timeframe. We can try and coordinate the process or does it go first to people on waitlist? Still a few days out from making the decision but wanted to make the offer.

 

[Leahc117]

We are checking in tomorrow!! How’s the skyliner to Epcot and HS for rope drop? How early should we be there? Those are the 2 parks we are rope dropping this trip!

 

[CarolynFH]

We are checking in tomorrow!! How’s the skyliner to Epcot and HS for rope drop? How early should we be there? Those are the 2 parks we are rope dropping this trip!

The general rule is to be at the station 90 minutes before stated early entry time in order to be near the front of the line for the Skyliner and near the front of the crowd for RD. The Skyliner will begin running roughly an hour before early entry time.

 

[Cindra]

We are staying at Riviera for the first time and have a preferred view room booked for 1 night (Saturday). We would be fine with standard view and/or a longer stay (will be there 3 nights in total) at Riviera but nothing has opened up yet to change to standard view or to add nights. We will be going to Epcot and plan to spend the entire day there other than maybe to go back to Riviera when the room is ready to get bags into room and a quick refresh.

From what we have read it seems like the preferred rooms have pool/lake view rather then Epcot (maybe disappointing??? Epcot view, even if not for fireworks since we will be in the park for those, seems like it would be nice).

Given that the view will only come into play quickly in the afternoon, and then after Epcot park closing, followed by a few hours in the am before checking out is there any view that makes sense to request or just go with what gets assigned and leave the requested rooms to those who will spend more time in the room?

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

We are staying at Riviera for the first time and have a preferred view room booked for 1 night (Saturday). We would be fine with standard view and/or a longer stay (will be there 3 nights in total) at Riviera but nothing has opened up yet to change to standard view or to add nights. We will be going to Epcot and plan to spend the entire day there other than maybe to go back to Riviera when the room is ready to get bags into room and a quick refresh.

From what we have read it seems like the preferred rooms have pool/lake view rather then Epcot (maybe disappointing??? Epcot view, even if not for fireworks since we will be in the park for those, seems like it would be nice).

Given that the view will only come into play quickly in the afternoon, and then after Epcot park closing, followed by a few hours in the am before checking out is there any view that makes sense to request or just go with what gets assigned and leave the requested rooms to those who will spend more time in the room?

It’s cool to get an Epcot view but it’s also looking over the parking lot and you have to request and hope you get a room in the right wing to insure you get that view. I think at nighttime you can ignore the parking lot but in the day time it does hinder the view a bit.

I know it’s not as popular but we really love the preferred view. The skyliner over the water and CBR is so pretty and relaxing we find we’ve spent more time on our balcony with the preferred view than the Epcot view, probably because of what you’ve said about being in the park all day anyway so we’ve never seen the fireworks from our room.

If you’re only staying for 1 night I probably wouldn’t worry too much about the view. I’d recommend asking for a higher floor, the views are always better from higher up and also if you’re by the pool you’ll be further from that noise (not that we’ve ever been bothered by the noise but I know it’s some people’s worry). If you end up staying for more nights and want a more specific request, we prefer the east wing for preferred view rooms and the west wing (Epcot view) for standard view rooms.

Either way, I hope you love your stay-the resort and rooms are beautiful!

 

[J-Dog]

I know it’s not as popular but we really love the preferred view. The skyliner over the water and CBR is so pretty and relaxing we find we’ve spent more time on our balcony with the preferred view than the Epcot view, probably because of what you’ve said about being in the park all day anyway so we’ve never seen the fireworks from our room.

I 100% agree. I thought I was the only one.

I totally understand saving a few points with Standard view, but otherwise it's not even close. With Standard, you get a view of a parking lot, maybe a couple of dumpsters, and if you're lucky a far-off view of Spaceship Earth and the fireworks for a few minutes a day (that most of us have seen before, and from a better vantage point). With Preferred, you get a pretty, very serene view of the RIV activity grounds/pools, the lake, and the Skyliner doing it's thing.

 

[Cindra]

Is there a room request for preferred room that is close to skyliner drop off since we will stay in Epcot until park closes?

 

[lowlight]

I 100% agree. I thought I was the only one.

Add me to the short list. I only book preferred at Riviera. The view is very cathartic for me. Not as good as the view from Topolino’s terrace, but I don’t think they want guests sleeping up there.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

Is there a room request for preferred room that is close to skyliner drop off since we will stay in Epcot until park closes?

Yep! I believe the request literally says something like ‘close to skyliner’ on MDE or when you check in the cast members are usually pretty good at accommodating that request. The good thing is even if that request isn’t fulfilled, RIV is pretty small so even the farthest rooms are no more than 5-7 mins away.

 

[mjmarshall1510]

In your experience, how often is the Skyliner down due to weather in the Summer? Obviously, the correct answer that anyone can get with little effort from Google is "whenever there is lightning in the area or high winds." I'm looking more for answers based on experiences. Like, is it "it's really never been a noticeable issue or an inconvenience" or "all the *$%^&* time, and then we have to march all the way across EPCOT in inclement weather, it's really soured our view on Riviera." We usually stay at Boardwalk, and it has felt like it has been down an awful lot during our stays, which wasn't an issue because we were at Boardwalk and were really trying to get on it for leisure. But now, we have an upcoming stay at Riviera, and I'm concerned about this issue. Any thoughts/experiences are welcome!

 

[Dobermanns]

In your experience, how often is the Skyliner down due to weather in the Summer? Obviously, the correct answer that anyone can get with little effort from Google is "whenever there is lightning in the area or high winds." I'm looking more for answers based on experiences. Like, is it "it's really never been a noticeable issue or an inconvenience" or "all the *$%^&* time, and then we have to march all the way across EPCOT in inclement weather, it's really soured our view on Riviera." We usually stay at Boardwalk, and it has felt like it has been down an awful lot during our stays, which wasn't an issue because we were at Boardwalk and were really trying to get on it for leisure. But now, we have an upcoming stay at Riviera, and I'm concerned about this issue. Any thoughts/experiences are welcome!

I’ve stayed at RIV 5 times (5-7 nights each) in 4 years, but only once in July. During the week there in July, I noticed the Skyliner was down once, and for less than an hour. Now bear in mind this was only because I was paying attention since I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to the after glow event at the waterpark and weather didn’t look favorable.
January of this year, we had a couple days of thunderstorms during marathon weekend. The Skyliner was down for a couple hours (?) one day. Noticed it only because we had VQ for Guardians. It did come back up before we needed it.

 

[NVDISFamily]

As a silly DVC owner I was trying to collect two items for the resorts we own, one being tote bags for carrying around our stuff during our stays or for the pool. As Disney won’t let us order Riviera stuff off the site I had to do a custom order on one.



The collection is complete…. For now



Mug collection to hopefully be complete when we hit up the grand cal in a few weeks….

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

As a silly DVC owner I was trying to collect two items for the resorts we own, one being tote bags for carrying around our stuff during our stays or for the pool. As Disney won’t let us order Riviera stuff off the site I had to do a custom order on one.

View attachment 843019

The collection is complete…. For now

View attachment 843020

Mug collection to hopefully be complete when we hit up the grand cal in a few weeks….

I also noticed that there’s no official Riviera merch on the Disneystore site. The totes look great- gonna have to get some for our homes too! Hopefully they add the merchandise for all the newer resorts soon