Are all Disney World hotels created equal? We’ll let you be the judge of that! One thing’s for sure — most of the pricier Disney hotels offer more transportation options and fancier restaurants, but are those benefits worth the cost? That’s up to you.
If you’re interested in staying at a fancy Disney World hotel that’s close to two Disney parks, come with us as we show you around Disney’s Riviera Resort!
Resort Atmosphere
Disney’s Riviera Resort is one of the newest hotels in Disney World. This is a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Resort, but anyone is welcome to stay at the hotel — for a price!
The Riviera Resort has five types of rooms: Tower Studios, Deluxe Studios, 1-Bedroom villas, 2-Bedroom villas, and 3-Bedroom grand villas. In terms of dining options, Topolino’s Terrace: Flavors of the Riviera is the main sit-down restaurant. (Spoiler alert: it’s incredible!)
On a hot Florida day, you can cool off at one of the resort’s two pools! The main pool has a twisty water slide, and you’ll find the hot tub over by the quiet leisure pool.
Arguably, the biggest perk to staying at the Riviera Resort is the direct Skyliner access! This hotel has its own Skyliner station that takes guests straight to EPCOT. If you want to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you can hop on the Skyliner and transfer gondolas over at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
Now that you’ve got an idea of the charming atmosphere, let’s check out our room!
Room Tour
We stayed in a tower studio room — room 8119, to be exact!
Right when you enter, you’ll notice that this room is pretty small and compact! Looking around, there’s no obvious bed, either.
Despite the lack of overall square footage, our tower studio room still felt pretty open! Disney managed to fit all the necessities into the room — the layout is just a little different than a normal hotel room.
Right next to the door is the microwave and mini-fridge. This is the perfect area to keep all your water bottles, leftovers (which you can reheat in your room!), and treats!
In the larger cabinet, Disney provides guests with an extra pillow/blanket as well as some utensils, paper towels, and a small toaster.
The mini-fridge has one small shelf and a large open bottom area for drinks. We’ve seen many Disney mini-fridges, and this one is definitely on the smaller side.
We’re not sure who’s making toast on a Disney vacation, but go for it if you want! You’ve certainly got all the tools to make it happen.
Our room was very light and bright! Between the large window and the glass door to our patio, there were plenty of opportunities for natural light to shine through. Looking at the “living room” area, you’ll see one small sofa and two little ottomans.
This room is really made for two people at most, which is pretty obvious when you take a look at this little loveseat.
The ottomans can move and slide around, but there’s another secret to these little guys…
There’s room for extra storage inside! Looking at the tops of the ottomans, you’ll see that you can flip the lid upside down to create trays!
To the left of the loveseat is a small desk with some extra shelving and drawers.
The drawers aren’t very large, but you could probably stuff your bathing suits or pajamas inside!
The coffee station has a Keurig machine and some complimentary coffee, creamer, and sugar.
We also need to point out that adorable Aristocats artwork — it’s inspired by the Riviera Resort, too!
Across from the sofa is the TV and access to the patio. We stayed in a ground-level room, so we could walk right outside!
While we love that natural light during the day, we don’t need to see it at night. Luckily, the door has a cover that blocks all the light.
As we work our way through the room, we can see our first peek of the bathroom! We’ll get there in a second.
First, we need to show off the bed! The loveseat folds down to reveal a pull-down queen-size bed, complete with some pretty Peter Pan artwork!
Lately, it seems like Disney’s been on a murphy bed kick! We’ve noticed murphy beds in several Disney resorts around property. They free up a ton of space!
Moving into the bathroom, you’ll find one sink with a large mirror, a smaller makeup mirror, and lots of shelves and extra storage under the sink. For being a relatively small bathroom, Disney made sure to give you lots of space to keep your things!
This is one of the rare instances in a Disney hotel where the sink area is in the bathroom with the toilet and shower!
The shower has plenty of room and comes with two shower heads — it’s a very luxurious bathroom!
Next to the shower is a small closet…
…that opens up to more storage, hangers, a safe, and more! There are even more pillows tucked in this closet, as well as a mini ironing board and iron!
Now let’s check out the patio! Like we said before, we stayed on the ground level, so our room opened right up to the outdoors! The patio is pretty small, but there’s room for two people to sit and take in the views.
Speaking of views, look how stunning ours was! To the left you can see the Skyliner in action, and straight ahead is a little pond. Gorgeous!
We’ll leave you with that view as we conclude our room tour! What did you think of our teeny tiny little studio room?
Overall impression
Our room at the Rivera Resort was (obviously) pretty small, but it’s perfect for couples! The little touches of French-inspired artwork felt unique and special to the hotel, and that shower was amazing! These rooms are still pretty expensive, but if you’re looking for a hotel that’s close to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Riviera Resort is a great option.
PHOTOS: We Stayed at An Underrated EPCOT Resort Hotel
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Do you have a favorite Disney World hotel? Let us know in the comments!
We are staying at the Rivera next month, but in a Deluxe Studio (sleeps 5). We got the room by renting someone else’s DVC points–which is still expensive, but much less if we booked direct. Looking forward to even more after this review!
In previous videos, Quincy stated that the pull down beds are not as comfortable as a conventional mattress bed. That’s in her video of the Animation family suites. If you need a good bed due to back issues, this shoe box room may not be for you.
My wife and I stayed there for the Festival of the Arts in January. We loved it so much that my wife said it was her favorite place to stay. Tried to book for a return visit in June and was booked! I think this will be a very hard reservation to get.
So great to see this review. Since they are billed as tower rooms I thought they were all on the roof. Nice to know about the ground floor option!
Riviera is our home resort and we spent two weeks in a Tower Studio aroune Christmas. Never found it cramped or small, everything we brought fit excellently, and loved the Skyliner views. So happy to hear “welcome home” knowing this is our home resort.
I love that small room with the Murphy bed in the Riviera resort. If I had the money, and they let me bring my dog, I’d be there.
I want to stay there!!!!!