Beach Club Villa or Riviera

[laurenfratt]

Help please!

We’re currently booked for 10 nights at Beach Club Villas in a standard view studio. We just looked online at current prices and Riviera is about $500 less expensive for the same category- same dates. I’m leaning towards switching but I don’t know how I feel about relying on the skyliner for our transportation where we could just walk if we stayed at beach club. The other thing is the food options for the Riviera QS lunch/dinner seem sort of boring to me. The pros are the new rooms, double shower bathrooms, Topolinos and all around gorgeous theme. What would you do in this situation??

 

[VandVsmama]

Stay at Beach Club

 

[HiStitch626]

Beach Club and take the skyliner over to visit Riviera

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

You're staying 10 nights. Have you considered doing a 5/5 split stay?

 

[Deadp00l]

You're staying 10 nights. Have you considered doing a 5/5 split stay?

The last time I went to Disneyworld (a year ago), I did a split stay where the first half of the trip was at Riviera and second half was at Beach Club.

I don't regret it at all. Then again, I love trying out new hotels...

 

[Marthasor]

We stayed in a 1-bedroom at RIV last December. The resort is very nice, the room was GORGEOUS and we had a good experience with the Skyliner. That being said, nothing beats the location of BCV (which happens to be my favorite resort). Especially for a 10-night trip - I would want the proximity to restaurant availability that being in the EP resort area provides. I think you will get tired of RIV food pretty fast and tired of having to constantly take transportation to eat elsewhere.

 

[ForceofWill]

I thought about Riv for a second or two also, but still ended up with out 10 day BCV book next. You can't beat the location. Epcot and HS are our two favorite parks, being able to walk to both is worth a lot of money to us. Walking to HS for rope drop and hitting Smuggler's run with zero line. Have Epcot as the park hop for the back half and you can walk in and out of the back exit as much as you want all night from Hotel for food/whatever.

 

[sullyfam]

Riviera doesn’t look all that appealing to me for some reason. I would go Beach Club, can’t beat the location with the convenience of getting to HS and Epcot quickly. And it’s just a really fun, laid back resort atmosphere with lots of dining options all over with the boardwalk nearby too.

 

[Marionnette]

Help please!

We’re currently booked for 10 nights at Beach Club Villas in a standard view studio. We just looked online at current prices and Riviera is about $500 less expensive for the same category- same dates. I’m leaning towards switching but I don’t know how I feel about relying on the skyliner for our transportation where we could just walk if we stayed at beach club. The other thing is the food options for the Riviera QS lunch/dinner seem sort of boring to me. The pros are the new rooms, double shower bathrooms, Topolinos and all around gorgeous theme. What would you do in this situation??

Will you make use of the sofa bed? If so, I would choose RIV. The sofa beds there have regular mattresses and are more comfortable. BCV has a traditional, pull out sofa bed. The studios are larger at RIV than those at BCV and even the standard views are nicer than BCV views (BTW, there is no such thing as a "standard view" studio at BCV - they are all the same booking category).

At BCV you can walk to Epcot and the Skyliner station there. And there's boat transportation to/from both Epcot and HS if you don't care to walk. TBH, the walk to the boat dock from the villas is almost as long as the walk to Epcot.

The Skyliner from RIV takes you right to the entrances to both parks. Less walking overall. You still need to take a bus from either resort to get to AK or MK.

RIV is only a year old and the shine has not worn off. BCV had a hard good refurb in Jan. 2016 and is due for a soft goods refurb but that has been pushed back to 2022. Rooms are beginning to look a little bit tired.

As for dining options, I think the Boardwalk area beats out RIV due to the number of hotels there (YC, BC, BW, S/D) plus Epcot if you have a park hopper ticket. If dining is a top priority for you, then BCV wins out. RIV's advantage is that you never need to exit the building to get to a restaurant or quick service location. BCV is a separate building from BC and is connected by a covered walkway.

If for no other reason, I would choose RIV now. The likelihood of it being available at a decent price once the resort is sold out is extremely low. If you have any wish to stay there, now would be your best opportunity.

 

[DreamsCrusher]

As much as I love BC, saving almost $500 isn't a bad trade-off in this situation. I don't know your dates but right now the EPCOT resorts (BC, YC & BW) are practically a ghost town compared to pre-COVID times - not many QS or TS places open. If you don't mind not having the SAB pool, and using Skyliner to get to HS & EP, Riviera is fine.

 

[MomOTwins]

Note: not sure when your trip is, but the slide at stormalong bay is undergoing some construction. That alone would make me switch!

Have stayed at both and really found Riviera to be much better all around. Bigger/nice rooms, nicer room views. Actually much preferred the quick service there as well (the Croque Monsieur is incredible). The main pool at BC is bigger/better, but we actually preferred the quiet pool at Riviera to the one at BC and found it was really serene and beautiful.

Also agree with what others have said: I think now is a good time to try out Riviera because it is not close to fully sold on the DVC side. Once it fills up, the DVC owners will be booking it at the 11 month mark and there won't be as much inventory for cash reservations or rental (and rooms will be higher priced).

 

[gillep]

Beach Club, no question for me. I love the ability to walk to Epcot and DHS plus you have all of the food options at the various resorts around the area. Ale and Compass Restaurant has a takeout option now that is really good if you want to eat by the pool. We love SAB and you can rent a cabana there for some extra relaxation. You can also take the skyliner if you want to have dinner at Riviera. That said we don't care at all about room views and it is just the two of us so room size isn't much of a factor either. I liked the look of the Riviera when we have visited but I, personally, much prefer the theme of BCV.

 

[Angie_Ohio]

Help please!

We’re currently booked for 10 nights at Beach Club Villas in a standard view studio. We just looked online at current prices and Riviera is about $500 less expensive for the same category- same dates. I’m leaning towards switching but I don’t know how I feel about relying on the skyliner for our transportation where we could just walk if we stayed at beach club. The other thing is the food options for the Riviera QS lunch/dinner seem sort of boring to me. The pros are the new rooms, double shower bathrooms, Topolinos and all around gorgeous theme. What would you do in this situation??

I would stay at Beach Club. We stayed at Riviera in October. We Ubered over and had breakfast at Ale and Compass at Yacht Club. Then walked to HS. On our Epcot day the Skyliner had issues and we waited at least 30 minutes if not more at Riviera and consequently arrived at Epcot after opening. We enjoy staying close to Epcot and all the dining options around Crescent Lake. Quick service at Riviera was limited and had long waits.

 

[laurenfratt]

You're staying 10 nights. Have you considered doing a 5/5 split stay?

Funny you should ask, we’re actually there for 18 nights total, the first 8 nights at Grand Floridian Villas. As much as I would love to add another resort, 2 seems like plenty lol

 

[laurenfratt]

Note: not sure when your trip is, but the slide at stormalong bay is undergoing some construction. That alone would make me switch!

Have stayed at both and really found Riviera to be much better all around. Bigger/nice rooms, nicer room views. Actually much preferred the quick service there as well (the Croque Monsieur is incredible). The main pool at BC is bigger/better, but we actually preferred the quiet pool at Riviera to the one at BC and found it was really serene and beautiful.

Also agree with what others have said: I think now is a good time to try out Riviera because it is not close to fully sold on the DVC side. Once it fills up, the DVC owners will be booking it at the 11 month mark and there won't be as much inventory for cash reservations or rental (and rooms will be higher priced).

Thank you! Yes, the pool is what made me think about switching. We’re there at the end of April. Although they’re saying the slide should be done end of March - via a Disney chat online, we all know refurbs can pushed out. We’re leaning toward Riv as it’s just us, no kids!

 

[laurenfratt]

Will you make use of the sofa bed? If so, I would choose RIV. The sofa beds there have regular mattresses and are more comfortable. BCV has a traditional, pull out sofa bed. The studios are larger at RIV than those at BCV and even the standard views are nicer than BCV views (BTW, there is no such thing as a "standard view" studio at BCV - they are all the same booking category).

At BCV you can walk to Epcot and the Skyliner station there. And there's boat transportation to/from both Epcot and HS if you don't care to walk. TBH, the walk to the boat dock from the villas is almost as long as the walk to Epcot.

The Skyliner from RIV takes you right to the entrances to both parks. Less walking overall. You still need to take a bus from either resort to get to AK or MK.

RIV is only a year old and the shine has not worn off. BCV had a hard good refurb in Jan. 2016 and is due for a soft goods refurb but that has been pushed back to 2022. Rooms are beginning to look a little bit tired.

As for dining options, I think the Boardwalk area beats out RIV due to the number of hotels there (YC, BC, BW, S/D) plus Epcot if you have a park hopper ticket. If dining is a top priority for you, then BCV wins out. RIV's advantage is that you never need to exit the building to get to a restaurant or quick service location. BCV is a separate building from BC and is connected by a covered walkway.

If for no other reason, I would choose RIV now. The likelihood of it being available at a decent price once the resort is sold out is extremely low. If you have any wish to stay there, now would be your best opportunity.

Thank you! We are leaning towards Riv for sure, especially because of the savings in cost and also because of what you mentioned- the BCV are starting to look tired to me as well. When you compare the two, the new shiny (bigger) rooms and double showers at Riv are something to get excited about at the end of a long Disney day lol

 

[laurenfratt]

Thanks everyone for your input and ideas! We’ve decided to switch to Riviera. $500 is a big savings and now we can put that $$ toward trying more new foods and buying extra souvenirs lol this trip was supposed to be our dream Land&Sea Honeymoon starting at the Villas at GF and ending with a 7night cruise on the fantasy. Although we’re sad to be missing the seas, we’re excited we get to leave Massachusetts at all lol Since we still have our Grand Flo reservation for 8 days beforehand, this portion will probably be spent relaxing by the quiet pool and going with the flow more than anything. The newness of Riv really pulled us in. I can’t wait to have a glass of wine on the balcony watching the sunset