edmartin
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2003
My wife & I did a quick trip to WDW Saturday-Wednesday (Labor Day weekend). I thought people considering going might like a review on what it's like there right now...
When we booked the trip, we decided to "book-end" DVC - meaning we wanted to stay at the oldest (OKW) and newest (Riviera)... these were the only 2 DVC resorts we had never stayed at. We booked a 1BR in each resort.
ONLINE CHECK IN. Worked flawlessly. We drove to WDW from NC and just before 1:00 on Saturday we got notification that our room at OKW was ready. When we arrived at the gate at around 5:00, we gave them our name and drove directly to building 42. The app opened the door. And we were surprised to find that we had been upgraded to a 2BR! The room was impeccably clean. There was a sign in the room listing the enhanced cleaning procedures that were in effect.
POOLS & HOSPITALITY HOUSE. We went to the pool near building 42 on Saturday night. A few people there but not very busy. Masks are not required in the pool area and everyone just automatically spread themselves out. I can't speak to what it was like during the day, but at night, it was great. We went to the main building a couple of times. My wife had left her magic band at home so we went to the registration desk to get one. There were only 2 other people in the room and everything is well-marked with the obligatory "6 foot" lines. We dropped into the store to check it out. They monitor how many people are inside at any one time. We felt everything was done very well throughout the stay at OKW.
TRANSPORTATION. The bus system has been COVID-ized. There are plexiglass partitions and numbered sections. If the bus is "busy", the driver tells you which section to sit in. If it's empty, you get to pick. The volume of buses at OKW seemed more than enough to handle capacity and leave plenty of room for guest groups to spread out.
On Monday AM, we checked out of OKW as we were moving to Riviera. We decided to go to Disney Springs for a while and wait for our RR room to be ready. It ended up taking until almost 4:00 to get the message it was ready.
ONLINE CHECK IN. Not quite as flawless at RR. We got to the gate and the guard told us where to park. We were in the west side and he told us the closest door to the elevator and our room so we didn't need to go through the lobby. Great plan, except... When we got to the outside door, neither the app nor our magic bands would open it. I *think* the issue was that we had not yet entered our room (which would tigger the "check in") so our bands and app were no yet active. If that's the case, DVC needs to fix that if they are going to try to scoot people around the public areas like the lobby. The bands and card worked right away on our room door and they worked on the outside doors for the rest of our stay - so it was just that pre-arrival issue.
TRANSPORTATION. Obviously, a big draw for RR is that it is on the Skyliner line. So it's the 21st century version of the original hotels being on the monorail line. That's great, but... There is an insurmountable issue: weather. Particularly rain... and even more so, lightning. The rule is that if there is a thunderstorm within 10 miles, they shut Skyliner down and it remains shut down until no thunderstorms come within 10 miles for 30 minutes. Good rule from a safety perspective. We lived in central Fl for about 4 years - so we have some good experience in this area. But guess what tends to happen all the time in that area in the warm weather (so pretty much 9 months of the year)? Yup... thunderstorms. My wife and I tried to use Skyliner 3 times during our stay at Riviera (about 36 hours). It was unavailable because of weather 2 out of 3 times. But let's dig even deeper...
The 1 time we were able to use it was Tuesday morning. We had DHS reserved and wanted to be through the gate as early as possible to make sure we were poised to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. We were told by people at the resort that the best bet was to walk over to the Caribbean Skyliner station and go from there. You see, they don't start boarding the Skyliner until about 9:00 (at any station). The station in front of Riviera goes to Caribbean but you have to transfer lines. So, if you get on a Skyliner car at 9:00 at Riviera, you'll get to CBR at, let's say, 9:10. Then, you have to transfer - which puts you in another line... which merges with the long line already at CBR. But, if you walk to CBR and get on Skyliner there, you are on your way immediately to DHS at 9:00. So it's about 30 minutes faster to get to DHS in the morning if you make the short(ish) walk from RR to CBR.
And then there were the 2 times it was not available because of weather. The first time, we just grabbed an Uber from the hotel to get over to Boardwalk so we could go into Epcot through International Gateway. We didn't feel like waiting for a bus and we had already dealt with walking through the construction zone formerly known as Future World at the front of Epcot. Then on Tuesday, the skies opened as we were getting ready to leave DHS. Skyliner was closed so we went toward the bus area. Riviera was not listed anywhere on any signs. So, we walked back to the Skyliner station (it would have been easier in a jetski) and asked the CM's. They told us that when it rains, the bring in more buses to handle RR and it would be at stop #6. So we swam back to the bus area and waited.
My point is this... if you are placing a premium value on Riviera because of the access to Skyliner, you should temper your expectations. There are going to be times when weather takes it offline. It is a gorgeous resort! It's Grand Floridian-class... without the monorail. And it's premium points. We loved everything about Riviera... except the Skyliner "upside". It's a fantastic resort on the bus line.
One other thing that struck us once we got to RR. Because OKW is set up as a series of small-ish buildings, it feels like a neighborhood. Riviera felt like a very nice big hotel. Depending on your sensitivity to COVID, a big hotel might not be exactly what you're looking for. Even using side doors and such at Riviera, it has a central core (lobby) and elevators just like most hotels. But OKW doesn't have any of that (or a very minimal version of it). So if you are looking to feel like you are staying away from people more these days, OKW was a great option.
When we booked the trip, we decided to "book-end" DVC - meaning we wanted to stay at the oldest (OKW) and newest (Riviera)... these were the only 2 DVC resorts we had never stayed at. We booked a 1BR in each resort.
ONLINE CHECK IN. Worked flawlessly. We drove to WDW from NC and just before 1:00 on Saturday we got notification that our room at OKW was ready. When we arrived at the gate at around 5:00, we gave them our name and drove directly to building 42. The app opened the door. And we were surprised to find that we had been upgraded to a 2BR! The room was impeccably clean. There was a sign in the room listing the enhanced cleaning procedures that were in effect.
POOLS & HOSPITALITY HOUSE. We went to the pool near building 42 on Saturday night. A few people there but not very busy. Masks are not required in the pool area and everyone just automatically spread themselves out. I can't speak to what it was like during the day, but at night, it was great. We went to the main building a couple of times. My wife had left her magic band at home so we went to the registration desk to get one. There were only 2 other people in the room and everything is well-marked with the obligatory "6 foot" lines. We dropped into the store to check it out. They monitor how many people are inside at any one time. We felt everything was done very well throughout the stay at OKW.
TRANSPORTATION. The bus system has been COVID-ized. There are plexiglass partitions and numbered sections. If the bus is "busy", the driver tells you which section to sit in. If it's empty, you get to pick. The volume of buses at OKW seemed more than enough to handle capacity and leave plenty of room for guest groups to spread out.
On Monday AM, we checked out of OKW as we were moving to Riviera. We decided to go to Disney Springs for a while and wait for our RR room to be ready. It ended up taking until almost 4:00 to get the message it was ready.
ONLINE CHECK IN. Not quite as flawless at RR. We got to the gate and the guard told us where to park. We were in the west side and he told us the closest door to the elevator and our room so we didn't need to go through the lobby. Great plan, except... When we got to the outside door, neither the app nor our magic bands would open it. I *think* the issue was that we had not yet entered our room (which would tigger the "check in") so our bands and app were no yet active. If that's the case, DVC needs to fix that if they are going to try to scoot people around the public areas like the lobby. The bands and card worked right away on our room door and they worked on the outside doors for the rest of our stay - so it was just that pre-arrival issue.
TRANSPORTATION. Obviously, a big draw for RR is that it is on the Skyliner line. So it's the 21st century version of the original hotels being on the monorail line. That's great, but... There is an insurmountable issue: weather. Particularly rain... and even more so, lightning. The rule is that if there is a thunderstorm within 10 miles, they shut Skyliner down and it remains shut down until no thunderstorms come within 10 miles for 30 minutes. Good rule from a safety perspective. We lived in central Fl for about 4 years - so we have some good experience in this area. But guess what tends to happen all the time in that area in the warm weather (so pretty much 9 months of the year)? Yup... thunderstorms. My wife and I tried to use Skyliner 3 times during our stay at Riviera (about 36 hours). It was unavailable because of weather 2 out of 3 times. But let's dig even deeper...
The 1 time we were able to use it was Tuesday morning. We had DHS reserved and wanted to be through the gate as early as possible to make sure we were poised to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. We were told by people at the resort that the best bet was to walk over to the Caribbean Skyliner station and go from there. You see, they don't start boarding the Skyliner until about 9:00 (at any station). The station in front of Riviera goes to Caribbean but you have to transfer lines. So, if you get on a Skyliner car at 9:00 at Riviera, you'll get to CBR at, let's say, 9:10. Then, you have to transfer - which puts you in another line... which merges with the long line already at CBR. But, if you walk to CBR and get on Skyliner there, you are on your way immediately to DHS at 9:00. So it's about 30 minutes faster to get to DHS in the morning if you make the short(ish) walk from RR to CBR.
And then there were the 2 times it was not available because of weather. The first time, we just grabbed an Uber from the hotel to get over to Boardwalk so we could go into Epcot through International Gateway. We didn't feel like waiting for a bus and we had already dealt with walking through the construction zone formerly known as Future World at the front of Epcot. Then on Tuesday, the skies opened as we were getting ready to leave DHS. Skyliner was closed so we went toward the bus area. Riviera was not listed anywhere on any signs. So, we walked back to the Skyliner station (it would have been easier in a jetski) and asked the CM's. They told us that when it rains, the bring in more buses to handle RR and it would be at stop #6. So we swam back to the bus area and waited.
My point is this... if you are placing a premium value on Riviera because of the access to Skyliner, you should temper your expectations. There are going to be times when weather takes it offline. It is a gorgeous resort! It's Grand Floridian-class... without the monorail. And it's premium points. We loved everything about Riviera... except the Skyliner "upside". It's a fantastic resort on the bus line.
One other thing that struck us once we got to RR. Because OKW is set up as a series of small-ish buildings, it feels like a neighborhood. Riviera felt like a very nice big hotel. Depending on your sensitivity to COVID, a big hotel might not be exactly what you're looking for. Even using side doors and such at Riviera, it has a central core (lobby) and elevators just like most hotels. But OKW doesn't have any of that (or a very minimal version of it). So if you are looking to feel like you are staying away from people more these days, OKW was a great option.