We love staying at Disney World Resort hotels!
Whether you’re coming from far away or having a staycation, Disney World hotels are fun and enchanting accommodations. They offer many added benefits to your trip and help you feel even more a part of the magic. But there’s one Disney hotel that many people are saying is too pricey and not worth the money — Disney’s Riviera Resort. So we took a look at this resort and came up with a list of why that may be true.
The Riviera Resort is a beautiful, new resort. It opened in late 2019, so if you haven’t been to Disney World lately, you might have even seen it. It’s towering building and gorgeous design is quite breathtaking. Quincy stayed there and filmed a full tour of her visit, which you can watch right here.
Riviera is considered a Deluxe Resort which makes it on the pricey side as far as Disney resorts go. And people just aren’t sure that it’s deserving of that price tag. So here are three reasons why it might not be worth the money.
Not Walking Distance to Any Parks
In many cases, when we see a hefty price tag on a Disney hotel it’s within walking distance to a park. For example, Disney’s Contemporary Resort is certainly on the pricey side, but you can walk right up to the front gates of Magic Kingdom.
Also, the Contemporary, as well as Disney’s Polynesian and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resorts all have the Monorail running to the hotels. This is a big benefit of staying at these three Deluxe Resorts and paying the extra money. But the Riviera Resort has neither of these. It is definitely not walking distance to a park.
Even Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, which is a brief boat ride away from Magic Kingdom, isn’t priced as high as the Riviera. So we’re not sure that it’s worth the extra money when it doesn’t feature this added perk.
Tiny Rooms
Not all the rooms at the Riviera are tiny, but the Tower Studios certainly are. These rooms are just big enough for one person, maybe two. A couple who is really close might not mind how small the rooms are, but anyone else might feel pretty cramped.
For the average cost of a room at this resort, we would not want to feel claustrophobic in our room. This is a fairly big turn-off when we’re spending all that money.
Not Family Friendly
Unlike the other Disney hotels, the Riviera is lacking a Disney theme. Sure there are gorgeous mosaic murals of Peter Pan and Tangled, but that’s pretty much it. Many people say this is an ‘upscale’ fancy hotel, not a family-friendly Disney hotel.
People enjoy being transported into the magic of Disney and that’s a big part of why they stay at a Disney hotel. But this hotel just feels like a ritzy hotel you could find outside of Disney. We could see some great Lady and the Tramp or Ratatouille theming happening here, but it seems like Disney missed the opportunity.
We just expect to have a more family-friendly atmosphere at a Disney hotel, especially one that is costing us a lot to stay there.
We Still Love the Riviera
Even after all the downsides to paying a high price for this resort, we can’t get over all the good things about this hotel. It has a Skyliner station (our favorite mode of Disney transportation) with direct access to Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. It has AMAZING food at Topolino’s Terrace (with a character breakfast). And it is the newest Disney hotel. If you love staying at fancy places then this is definitely your spot!
So it’s not all bad, we still love this fancy resort. We’re just not sure it’s worth the price, especially for anyone partial to having a family-friendly hotel. But we’ll let you determine that!
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Do you think the Riviera Resort is worth the money? Let us know in the comments!
Maybe they built and themed this hotel to be more relaxing and a reprieve from 24 hours of Disney experience. After a long day at the parks it may come as a more relaxing relief from all things Disney.
We love the Disney experience but sometimes you may need a little break. Besides it’s just for sleeping.
Being on the Skyliner makes up for not being in walking range of any parks.
People too freely use “family friendly” and “family focused” interchangeably. Riviera is certainly family friendly, though definitely not family focused. The tower studio is too small for you…? Theeen book a bigger room, yeah? By completely ignoring the fact that the skyliner exists, you should be ignoring the fact that the monorail exists, therefore the Polynesian and wilderness lodge and some would say the grand Floridian aren’t within walking distance of a park either. In fact, wouldn’t boardwalk, yacht club, beach club, and contemporary be the only deluxe hotels within walking distance then? If you have a family, go to one of the, what, 15 hotels that are family focused. If the tower studios are too small, book a larger room. If you want to walk to epcot or Hollywood, book an appropriate hotel. I think we cleared that up.
Grand Floridian and Contemporary are within easy walking distance of the MK. Wilderness not so much. I have not tried to get to the Polynesian from MK but will on my next visit. Contemporary is no more than 10 minutes. Grand Floridian is closer to 20 minutes and in many cases faster than the boat.
The Riviera is massively overpriced for what it is. For that money, I’d rather stay at The grand Floridian, Polynesian, or wilderness Lodge.
I completely agree. They mention the monorail but never mention the skyliner. I feel like the skyliner is more reliable than the monorail. I feel like the riviera is upscale but I don’t find it as stuffy as the grand Floridian. I still think location wise riviera is a better location than any MK resort.