I just returned from a 4 night trip at the Riviera. We had several groups there who all got rooms all using cash for a family reunion. With so many people and experiences, I feel I can give a pretty good rundown of the place, both the good and the areas for improvement. Short version is we were very impressed, and most of the hiccups are fixable. There was one MAJOR screwup (see at the bottom) but the resolution was more than fair and I guarantee this one issue will never happen again:
Note we stayed in a one-bedrooms villa.
THE ROOM:
In my opinion the nicest room we've stayed in at Disney. We've done BLT and a several deluxe-category hotel rooms over the years and this is the nicest room with the most comfortable beds. While there is plenty of room in my opinion for five older people bed-wise, we do think the single bathroom is a major challenge. We have three high school-to-college age kids and getting ready in the morning is a challenge. If there was a small powder room or if the secondary bathroom area with the tub also had another toilet, our morning prep time would have been much much shorter.
One family thought the single pulldown murphy bed was claustrophobic with the overhanging top when it's open but my 15-year-old tall kid didn't mind at all.
There are small issues that do need addressing, like too few garbage cans, but none of them other than the single toilet are long-term.
We stayed in a "standard" room but still had a view from our balcony of the Epcot fireworks (couldn't actually see Epcot - we were too low a floor, but it was still cool).
THE RESORT GROUNDS AND "FEEL":
Excellent all around. Note we aren't really "Disney fanatics" that need to be surrounded by massive crazy theming - that gets exhausting for us. The Riviera was perfect for us theme-wise. A nice subtle sophisticated European theme, but not being hit over the head with it. Just very comfortable and a great respite from the park. But there's still cute Disney stuff - one of our group discovered the Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy outlines in the carpet near the elevator. Very subtle and cool when you discover them!
We thought the pool was perfect for us as well. Despite the warm days, it was never very crowded, and just a fun, not over-the-top place to be. Slide was great, the 18-month-old in our group adored the kids play area. Again, not crazily themed, but a fun, uncrowded pool in a beautiful area near the water.
We did a character breakfast at Topolino's Terrace. Best character meal we've ever had. It was the exact opposite of the chaos of, say, Chef Mickey's. High quality food, mellow vibe, kids aren't running around waving napkins. Made for a much nicer experience to us.
SKYLINER:
A-plus. It is game-changing. Suddenly a quick jaunt to, say, France in Epcot for pastries is not only doable, but fun! I had one day where I rode from Hollywood Studios after getting a RotR boarding group, rode back to DHS to ride RotR, rode back to Riviera, then later in the morning rode to Epcot to visit World Showcase for fun, then rode back again. Five trips before about 1pm, and all 5 were smooth, we had our own car for 4 of the 5, we never waited more than 30 seconds. Truly magical. Park Hopping between DHS and Epcot in one day becomes easy and fun rather than exhausting, and you can easily take a break between the two for a swim or a rest on the way!
That was a unanimous opinion among our group - we always loved monorail resorts but I think we've converted to preferring the skyliner - it's quicker, smoother, cleaner, more private, and, ahem, smells better. And Riviera is the best spot on the lines - all rooms are a super-short walk to the Skyliner, Epcot is the closest of any resort, and Hollywood Studios isn't very far either. We never had a single issue - maybe stopped for 60 seconds once out of countless trips and had a couple slowdowns but nothing major ever.
One thing that didn't affect us but we did notice - it may be a challenge with ECV's. Once we got there and there was a line of about 5 ECVs waiting to board. Since only a handful of skyliner carts are designated for ECVs I'm sure the last one had to wait a long time. (The non-ECV cars had no wait so we got right on ourselves).
OTHER TRANSPORTATION:
C-minus but hopefully improving soon. First off, the bus tracking doesn't work yet. So you're in the dark on bus arrivals which is frustrating
Only took buses four times, but two of the four were had very poor outcomes. Both were evenings at Magic Kingdom (not closing). The bus took 45+ minutes to arrive two straight nights, and we saw numerous buses for other resorts at the same time. There was a large crowd waiting for the Riviera bus (which for such a small deluxe resort that doesn't share a line, should NEVER happen), and no other resort had any line, so there clearly were major bus communication issues going on.
The second night, after waiting for 20+ minutes (and we were 30 people back, so it had been a lot longer since a bus arrival), I finally gave up and called a Minnie Van. Other people were irritated in the bus line both nights - I heard one person in line saying "I'm never staying there again." I wouldn't go that far, but you would think the brand new deluxe DVC resort in a non-traditional area would have the best bus service from Magic Kingdom, not the worst!
Disney has to fix the bus issues.
THE STAFF:
A-plus. Friendly, helpful, and courteous. I know some of it is that we're in the opening month, but we were impressed.
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS:
As I mentioned, there were some issues that popped up. Most were minor - maintenance came one day saying we called in an issue with the AC - we were confused because we didn't and puzzled to be disturbed. Ultimately we figured out housekeeping had made the maintenance call. Some of the gates at the pool didn't work with Magic Bands. Not enough garbage cans in the room. All minor "shakedown" stuff I'm sure will be sorted out. There were more minor things, but honestly nothing that won't be fixed.
The buses need to be fixed. Until it's fixed, maybe plan on Minnie Van back from MK (or save $ and Uber to Contemporary).
One family in my group did have one MAJOR issue, but I'm confident it'll never happen again so I wouldn't worry about it. In case you're wondering, they briefly left their car at the front with the valet while getting their bags to leave. Somehow the valet accidentally put their car keys in another person's car, who then drove off! They contacted that person, who eventually returned, but it took over 3 hours, which meant the family couldn't leave!
That said, the staff was EXTREMELY apologetic. When they thought it would only be 15 minutes to get the keys back, they bought the family lunch. When it turned out to be much MUCH longer, they eventually refunded their entire 3 night stay! Needless to say, at holiday rates, that is a very significant amount. In addition, though the family was leaving, they gave my family (we're siblings) some free fastpasses for the next day as an additional. So they went out of their way to make it right. And I'm 100% sure that they'll clean up the valet procedures to ensure that never happens again so I wouldn't be worried going forward.
OVERALL VERDICT:
Very positive. If you want to be surrounded by over-the-top Disney themeing this isn't the place for you. But if you want a subtler, high quality vacation resort with great transportation to two theme parks plus the Boardwalk area, it's a fantastic choice. The issues are almost entirely "get the kinks out" kind of stuff, but the staff is going out of it's way to fix things when they're brought to their attention.
Hopefully this helps as people are trying to figure out their Riviera plans and whether it makes sense for them!
