My wife and I were just at Disney the week of Christmas, and we visited Riviera to grab a latte, a pastry, and to explore a bit. We even managed to get in on a DVC tour as a walk-up.
Pros
- It's new, and as it is with most new, shiny objects, the wear isn't showing and the CMs are all excited.
- Clean lines, whatever that means exactly. Seriously, if you prefer a sharper, well, cleaner look then RR has it.
- Location. Granted, the Skyliner doesn't always work, but it is a nice bennie to have staying there. We rode it twice with no issues.
- Grounds, pool side. Lovingly rendered, they will remind you of a European hotel of sorts, Disneyfied, of course.
- Artwork. Lovely, engaging, and playful on occasion. There's not a ton of it which is in keeping with the whole "clean lines" idea, I suppose.
- Not a plus for us, but if you like the artwork, you can purchase prints there.
- The library. Just off the 2nd floor cafe--La Petit?--is a great seating area that has Walt memorabilia. Truly a gem at the hotel.
Cons
- While some like clean lines, we appreciate theming more, and RR is bereft of such except small touches here and there. Again, each to his/her own tastes.
- Coffee and food at QS. Joffrey's quality espresso (not very good) and the pastries were meh. Service was achingly slow at Primo Piatto despite 6 people behind the counter. Twenty minutes for eggs and bacon with the place only half full at best.
- Slippery floors. They use lots of tile at RR, and when it's wet, it's very slippery even in sneakers.
- Point costs. I understand it's a new resort, but it will cost primo points. I suppose that's an argument for all follow on DVC resorts, though.
Miscellaneous
- We took the tour. You start out in a GV, and certainly, those are impressive. However, most people won't stay in those or even 1 or 2BRs. So, we concentrated on the studio look and feel.
- Nice? Sure, it's new. Bland? Yep. . .unless you love that clean lines look. Lots of muted creams, whites, grays. Doesn't look very European, though.
- They did well designing storage for suitcases and clothes, much better than VGF, for example, so they learned from their mistakes.
- I can't say we actually disliked the environment, but we didn't really like it, either. It felt a bit cold, indifferent, non-inviting.
- Don't mistake the non-inviting comment to mean sophisticated--it's not. It is what it is, a new resort where everything is currently shiny. Give it a couple of years.
It's not a resort that floored us. Anecdotally, it appears to be a Disney attempt to recreate European luxury but coming across as more upscale moderate. Nothing made us want to buy more points or even rush to stay there, though I suppose we will at some point. Of all the options I saw, the Tower Studios were the most unique. It's a small space but has a larger-than-expected bathroom, enough storage if you pack lightly, and the pull down bed which seemed nice enough. That might be how we first sample RR, though I suspect those units will be extremely hard to come by unless you own there. In summation, Disney didn't strike out with this resort, but at best, I'd give them a double to left field with little hope of the runner advancing. On a sales note, the DVC agents made a big deal out of buying now before the price goes up, and they constantly reminded you that other legacy resorts don't offer you anywhere near as good a bargain as RR does which I suppose is true if you buy directly from them.