Disney’s Newest “Luxury” Resort Is Not Worth The Price

ever since Disney's Riviera Resort opened in 2019 I've never really seen it as the next big Resort for Walt Disney World or the most luxurious one built on property that's often what people touted as and I've been pretty critical on those claims but today I'm going to try it out for myself and spend way too much money for Disney's smallest luxury room so let's see if it and the whole Resort itself lives up to the hype and equally some of the criticism [Music] Disney's Riviera Resort was first announced at d23 in 2017 it was actually unveiled right alongside the galactic star Cruiser and its location was always a bit puzzling to me Disney decided to construct it on a northern corner of the Caribbean Beach resort meaning nine buildings would be demolished including the entire section of the former Barbados cluster when construction finally began this resort was definitely sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the Caribbean theming with this this massive gray Tower going up the most likely reason why Riviera was chosen to go here was because of the existing infrastructure for a hotel as well as the quality of the land it seems that any disruption to theming would be cast aside and Disney's Riviera Resort opened in December of 2019 now as many will point out this is not a normal Resort Hotel it's a DVC Resort standing for Disney Vacation Club Disney's very own time share Division I won't explain to you how their system works it's kind of complicated and very expensive and probably not a good financial decision Disney will gladly pitch you on it at any time but the basic gist is that people buy into the program by signing multi-decade long contracts which gives them a set number of points to use at DBC Resorts those owners have to pay a massive cash lump sum as well as monthly and annual dues that go to upkeep their selected home Resort which could be Rivier now because this property was built as a DVC Resort all of the rooms within were designed for that purpose that includes a controversial new room category called the tower Studio it's pitched as a short-term alternative for DVC members who might stay on property for just a few nights it's specifically designed for couples as it could only sleep two and while it and all of the other Villas here are mainly occupied by DVC members Disney also offers them for cash fairs essentially treating them as regular hotel rooms so I did just that and booked the cheapest room which was a tower Studio at full price Welcome to our Tower Studio upon First Impressions yeah this is a very small room at 220 ft it is probably one of if not the smallest hotel room I have ever stated as far as regular hotel rooms go you do get the basics like a large TV a sofa some okay cabinet space two storage utans a cured coffee machine and a work desk you do not however get free bottles of water I actually went to to the front desk to ask about this since most four and five-star hotels now offer complimentary water I was instead directed to the gift shop where I can buy one for $4 Disney has also now been implementing a device in each room which essentially is a reskin of Amazon's Alexa where you can talk to it and ask it to do things for you now beside these Basics there are some upsides to this room that I actually liked mainly the bathroom which was surprisingly large for such a tiny room in fact it feels like the bathroom comes close to matching The Living Spaces square footage the shower was particularly a standout with a large standing area and a rainfall shower head which felt luxurious almost as nice was the balcony coming in at a decent size with a pretty okay view here on the fifth floor but that's where the good ends you might be asking yourself where do you sleep well this room isn't big enough for a bed so it's hidden in the wall as a Murphy bed so because of this Resort's price caliber I figured the bed would at least be made for you during turndown service but then I learned there is no turndown service here and guest staying in this room would be responsible for building their own bed so we did that first moving aside the two otter that actually revealed a bit of dust and clumps of hair not sure how this was missed during cleaning since these otter have to be moved before putting the bed down anyways once it was down we noticed that the bed spread consisted of just a thin sheet and a thin W blanket later in the night when we actually went to bed we figured out that this was all that was given to us in the room unlike the Disney promo photos which shows the bed with a full duvet set at least it looks like that ours was not presented the same way I went down to ask the front desk about this and they just gave me the exact same wool blanket the bed itself was okay and not bad for a Murphy bed though it wasn't a great sleep and the loud air conditioning unit in the room didn't help now there were built in Pockets recessed into the frame which sort of acted as your nightstand you can plug in your devices there however both both sides were finicky and the plug had to be in the exact right position to deliver power neither of our phones were charged by morning oh but the problems don't stop there the room is obviously very small and some like Disney and travel agent Affiliates might Market it as a cozy room I like cozy and warm spaces but this was definitely not one of them the lighting inside the room was weirdly dark even with the relatively large Windows during the day the space feels stuffy and a bit claustrophobic at night it's even worse with only three sources of light for the entire room including these small LED strips recessed into the shelves they also provide a little light over the work desk doesn't help that the primary window for the room looks more like a jail cell themed to Mickey from a design perspective the whole Space feels aggressively Bland and not very well themed at all actually the design of this room is weird right down to the way it's laid out with some weird quirks like the closet being inside the bathroom the lack of usable storage here is also a bit of a problem typically we're pretty clean people in fact I like to keep a hotel room looking as clean as possible while I'm staying in it but here there was just so little space to put our stuff that it looked like a disaster Zone this weird use of space Also applies to the added perks of it being a DVC room because it's primarily used for Disney's time shares inside the large cupboard are some items you would expect to find in an Extended Stay room like a microwave some paper towels and a mini fridge there are also dishes and a toaster though I'm not sure how it's supposed to be used as there are no Outlets inside the cupboard so I guess you'll be toasting your bagels on the floor just the whole Space here feels cumbersome and unintuitive on how it's actually supposed to be used and sure you might say that you can just put it up every morning to increase your space but how many people are actually really doing that it's extra work that you need to do just to assemble your own bed in a luxury hotel that you're paying an ungodly sum for it's honestly pretty insane now Riviera only has 36 of these rooms and they're definitely in the minority a category Above This is a regular studio room which is another 200 sare ft larger I toured this model room at the DVC preview area it still feels a bit Bland though it is a much better place to spend your time so too are the one two and three bedroom suites that occupy the majority of the structure they're all on the larger side of the Villas that Disney offers though they are also priced that way speaking of the building itself well it's almost as Bland as the tower Studio we stayed in according to Disney the property takes its inspiration from Europe and the Mediterranean infusing different design elements of Europe and blending them all together into this Resort my first impression was wow this is a very Bland looking Tower from the exterior it does have some nice touches but as a whole it looks very dull and kind of uninspired I did a video over on the main channel on Disney's never-built Hotels and I talked about one concept from the early '90s that was being developed by by famed architect Antoine predo he designed this really spectacular Greek inspired resort to be placed near the Magic Kingdom and every aspect of his design was incredibly thought out unique and beautiful in my opinion it captured exactly what a Disney Resort should be as well as Tastefully used design cues of the Mediterranean when you see something like that and then you look at something like this a resort that's supposed to follow a similar inspiration but then takes the easy route I mean just look at examples of architecture around the French Rivier and the Mediterranean as a whole and this is what they came up with it's a big gray box I mean even the gift shop ornaments depicted as a rectangle I don't think it's too far to say that they went this route because it's easier and cheaper to build despite it being one of the most expensive resorts on property to the consumer just think about that for a second the Interiors aren't much better Disney hotels of the past have always presented a grand lobby with significant architectural details that that draw you into a unique atmosphere here well it's got to be one of the smaller lobbies for a resort of this caliber and while we were told that it's supposed to invoke the designs of hotels that Walt and Lillian visited in the early 1930s and 40s it's somehow still filled with rather generic looking modern furniture with an LED chandelier everything else while aesthetically nice it's just White Walls and appears to be fake marble the only real theming is some admittedly tasteful pieces of original art and some Disney movie posters in different languages some of which were just printed in low quality which is just embarrassing furthermore there are just some weird uses of space in this Resort the staircase that leads you down from the lobby and onto the formal lawn has a room just behind it despite this being a pretty major thoroughfare for the whole Resort it's just a white dead space I don't even really know what this is supposed to be used for I think it's a DVC kiosk but that would be strange since there's already one just a Flor floor above a few meters away in fact that would make it the third DVC kiosk at this Resort which is kind of weird if this property is made for guests who are already DVC members why are there so many sales kiosks like you haven't spent enough money already I will say though that I really do like the one Lounge they have with a bunch of books and artifacts it's actually my favorite part of the whole Resort but that aside all of this is in Stark juck's position to the Caribbean Beach resort just a few steps away which feels so much more vibrant and dynamic despite it being several hundred a night cheaper the amenities that are packaged within the complex are pretty standard for Disney Resorts there's of course a gym area a large family pool with a slide as well as a quiet pool with a flush border around it the seats that surround these pools are very nice and I actually really like the kids water playground just outside the lobby and facing the lake is the formal lawn area with a few European lawn games Riviera also features a Lobby gift shop and Cafe which serves up some pretty expensive yet good items there's also an outdoor bar and a quick service eery which has some really good menu items like this chicken sandwich and some less than good items like this lasagna and a large meatball on the top floor is the specialty restaurant called Topolino's Terrace we didn't get a chance to eat there this trip but I have heard great things about it and despite the very expensive menu it has some really solid ratings the views from the 10th floor are pretty cool as well though the Terrace outside is a little small and has some awkward seating perhaps the best amenity and the one that a lot of people deem this Resort worth it is the Skyliner station you can easily walk out your door hop on a gondola and get transported to Hollywood Studios or Epcot all of the other Parks have complimentary bus transportation as for other amenities well there isn't much else there is that Cozy Lounge room that I mentioned earlier to get some work done and because it is a DBC Resort it also has a flex space for family activities other than that this Resort doesn't doesn't give you much else in public spaces to explore okay so the resort is a little cheap feeling definitely not of the same caliber as other premium Disney hotels and our room sucks so how much do you think I paid for this oh boy well the total cost for our Tower studio room for one night was $541 yeah it is truly unfathomable how this product is priced this is $540 for a room that has a bed that you need to pull down from the wall and build yourself it's $540 for a room with less space than one at Disney's value Resorts built 30 years ago now I State here during one of the cheaper times of the year but it can go slightly cheaper than that and the cheapest rack rates available for this room can come down to a not much better $423 a night that's without any of Disney's promotional discounts which I have read have gone down to $250 but I wasn't able to find anything near that for the next year and I do suspect that discount was had over the pandemic as for the other rooms well they only increase from there Deluxe Studios range from 520 to $1,250 a night one bedroom Villas come in between $660 and $1,800 two bedroom Villas between 1,500 and 2800 and the three-bedroom grand villa is priced between a staggering $2,950 to $516 a night but let's go back to our Tower studio for a second if you were to stay here for a week don't do that but if you were you would be well over $5,000 with a hotel your Park tickets Genie plus and everything else you know what else you can do for $5,000 go to the actual French Riviera I priced it out with a week traveling around the coast flying from America and staying in some pretty nice hotels you would still be paying less much less in fact with this trip rather than staying in this Disney Resort in Central Florida but even if you compare the value you can get in the area it still doesn't make sense either you can stay at really nice hotels like the JW Bonnet Creek or the swan reserve for much cheaper Than This plus you're getting a whole lot more room even the Ritz Carlton while it is far from the resort it's not far from the price point of the tower studio and that's an actual luxury resort not a Disney hotel cosplaye this one even if you want to argue this is mainly for DVC people the value proposition still sucks at its cheapest times this room costs 10 points per night whereas all of these other Resorts offer more room a better Resort arguably and all cost less all right so let's give Riviera a jake isn't any good score it's based on five categories each out of 10 for a potential perfect score of 50 out of 50 we'll start with the location Riviera is close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios connected by the Skylander system and it is very convenient bus service to other Parks isn't bad and it's also connected to Caribbean Beach for added food options I'll give it a 9 out of 10 amenities however are just okay you have two pool options a few eateries and not a lot else the basics are there but this hotel doesn't offer much on top of that there isn't the vast grounds and the unique architecture to explore like in other Disney properties I think it's a 5 out of 10 luxury is pretty lacking here at this price point I hear people gawk over the fact that the floors and bathrooms are lined with Mar not realizing that they're likely fake and just ceramic tiles sure that's all about Aesthetics and maybe that's a bit nitpicky but to me that just shows that Disney skimped out on making this an actual luxury experience the rest of the resort just feels pretty run-of-the-mill Hotel these days and didn't invoke the wow factor that a resort at this price caliber should especially at Disney it's a five out of 10 service surprisingly and unfortunately wasn't great nobody stood out to us and we had a few encounters that should not have happened I won't clarify on what those were however since Disney has been known to retaliate on their objectively underpaid staff instead of taking accountability for poor management up at the top I don't want to be responsible for someone losing their job for fixable mistakes it just wasn't up to the hotel category you would expect and it's a 4 out of 10 value as you probably would expect is by far the worst category here this feels like a cynical cash grab and should not be offered as a cash Fair even as a DVC member I have no idea why anyone would want to spend their points or their money on this room and by extension this lackluster Resort $500 plus dollar here at night is an Abomination and it's a 1 out of 10 that brings the total scorer to 24 out of 50 that's a little bit better than Disney's contemporary resort but it's far worse than any real luxury hotel I've stated in the end I think Riviera is a fine Resort and has some nice touches that I do like here and there in a vacuum it could be a good hotel if it were somewhere else but in the context with the Legacy Disney has with their incredible Resorts and the price point Disney has positioned this resort to have it fails to deliver when stacked up against any of its competition on or off property our room for $541 a night was a complete joke it felt like we were staying in the world's most expensive dorm room it is simply not a competitive product and no one in my opinion DVC or cash paying guest should ever pay full price for this room I keep hearing people saying how much they love this Resort how beautiful it is and some even calling it their favorite Resort on property if you're one of those people that's totally fine but after staying here and especially in this room I could not disagree more all right this review got a little negative but subscribe to this channel for more videos like this in the future just hopefully not as outrage inducing as this I have some more exciting videos planned including more Disney reviews other hotels like another iconic Fairmont and a few other cruises anyway guys my name is Jake and thank you very much for [Music] watching

Channel: Bright Sun Travels

Views: 1,330,774

Keywords: walt disney world, disney world, disney, disney parks, disney hotels, disney resorts, disney riviera resort, disney contemporary resort, histroy, bright sun films, jake williams, orlando, ritz carlton hotel orlando, florida, florida theme parks, disney parks florida

Id: MQFceo4gzGg

Length: 18min 14sec (1094 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023