The Riveria

Several years ago, Doug and I decided that we would try to stay at every Disney World resort hotel. We had already visited most of them and after checking our list of past stays, we realized that actually only had five left. Since first making this a goal, we have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Yacht Club, and Art of Animation as well leaving only two resorts on our bucket list.  We decided that we wanted to save The Grand Floridian for last as it was the best of all of the Disney resorts.  Thus, I started looking for deals at the Riviera.  Because it was one of the newest resorts it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to find something affordable. Fortunately, I got it booked for last March to coincide with Cameron's spring break trip to Florida. I was super excited for a three-day vacation at the resort until I figured out that I had booked the wrong week and I had to cancel.

Thankfully, I did finally find a room at the Riviera that was extremely affordable for this week. I booked it right away and today I arrived at the Riviera excited to give it a try. It was in the deluxe category, which kind of surprised me after checking into the resort. It was a lot smaller than all of the other deluxe resorts with only a couple places to order food and a very tiny pool. That didn’t stop me from enjoying the pool area, however as I spent the afternoon reading and spending time in the water. I also enjoyed the activities around the pool and the enthusiasm of the Disney cast.  Although I had a lot of fun, I couldn't believe that my room still wasn't ready at 4 p.m.  I had never been to deluxe resort where I had to wait until after check-in time for my room to be ready.   The room was nice, however. and I had to a chance to change and relax before Doug arrived from work.

Once Doug arrived, we headed to the Skyliner. That was the best feature about the resort as it made for a quick trip to Epcot. Meg and Nick met us at the theme park, and we all enjoyed riding Soarin' and the Gran Fiesta Tour before eating our way around the countries. After making our way through World Showcase, the four of us decided to go back to the Riviera and enjoy the amenities there. We were pleased to find an outdoor bar where we could order drinks and even get a bite to eat if we wanted. We absolutely loved the mosaics that we found on our walk around the resort as well.

Overall, the Riveria was a very nice place, and I was really glad that we tried it. Even so, I don’t see us returning there. We have grown fond of a few moderate resorts on our quest to stay at all of the Disney World hotels. We prefer to stay at those and as an added bonus they are quite a bit less expensive. There was a huge bonus in staying at the Riveria, however.  They gave me a bounce back offer so I will be able to book the Grand Floridian at a discount and finish our Disney resort bucket list.