Back in 2021, we stayed at the recently opened Riviera Resort and reviewed it shortly after. I stand by most of that review but, you know, 2021 was a weird time. 2025 isn’t all that easy either but in a different way. With the memory of 2021 being a little foggy, Melissa and I wanted to stay here again to see if our opinion had changed at all. In this post, I’m going to detail what I think the Riviera Resort got right and what it didn’t.

Like I said, most of that initial review captures my current feelings. But on our second stay there, plus multiple drop-ins each time we’re at Walt Disney World, my thoughts evolved. The Riviera Resort remains Disney World’s newest hotel for at least another year or two, before Disney Lakeshore Village opens. Reception to the Riviera has been mixed but leaning positive, including our own. The hotel does some things exceptionally well but has never crept into the elite category of WDW hotels for me.

Wondering why that was is part of the reason we booked another stay here. Like most everyone, Melissa and I love the Skyliner and we stop off at the Riviera often. Was that because the grounds and hotel have grown in our estimation or just because we really like Primo Piatto and having some iced tea from there? Let’s break the Riviera down into positives and negatives. The glass looks half full today so we’ll start with the positives.

Riviera Resort’s Positives

Dining

We’ve already sang the praises of Primo Piatto. This is one of the best counter-service restaurants at Disney World regardless of if you’re having breakfast, lunch or dinner! Topolino Terrace (the hotel’s table-service restaurant) and Bar Riva aren’t far behind, each excelling at what they set out to do. All three of those places are reason enough to visit the Riviera Resort even if you’re not staying there.

Rooms

Riviera Resort’s rooms are lovely, striking a nice balance of lavish and theme. While I prefer the deeper dive into theme that can be seen at the Poly or the two lodges (Animal Kingdom & Wilderness), this is probably a more global approach. There’s still touches of theme and Disney artwork throughout the room, and they’re well executed in adding color and setting. None of that gets in the way of how modern and chic the design is.

As far as the ‘lavish’ resorts go, I’d put these rooms above those at the Grand Floridian or Bay Lake Tower. That’s especially true in the studio rooms, as those feature great practicality without crossing over into being generic. Staying here can feel truly like a splurge in large part thanks to rooms.

Voyageurs’ Lounge

Continuing inside of the Riviera Resort, Voyageurs’ Lounge is one of the best public places to read, work or just sit in Disney World. There’s a coffee shop nearby that’s decent (although I’m not a fan of Joffrey’s) but sitting in this little lounge is a perfect place to relax on checkout or check-in day. Admittedly, this is up our alley as we usually are working while on Disney World trips. Finding places to do that on travel days is a little hard but this is a great spot. There are plenty of plugins and tables, set against a study and library backdrop. Inside spaces like this are appreciated and something the Riviera excels at.

Still Good But Not Elite

Location & Skyliner

We love the Disney Skyliner! It’s our preferred form of transportation while in Walt Disney World. Why does this not fall in the elite category then? Because there’s value resorts and a moderate, all of which cost much less than the Riviera, on the same line. While I like the area that the Riviera is in, it doesn’t measure up to Magic Kingdom or Epcot resorts.

Riviera’s Pool & Grounds

Again, good but not great! Riviera has a truncated space to work with relative to most other deluxe resorts. That is a benefit when it comes to walking to your room after a long park day but it does limit the outdoor options some. That said, the resort does really well with what it has. The pool ranks 6th for us out of the Disney World resorts.

There’s also a bocce ball court, a quiet pool and a beach off to the side of Riviera. Walking outside at the resort is calming, with the lake resting right there. We do run into the same issue with the location. Most of what is offered here is also at Caribbean Beach! Even with it being quite nice, it’s hard to file this under the elite category.

Artwork

Upon opening, Riviera Resort made guests well aware that much of the artwork throughout the hotel was original. That stretches from the rooms to the oft-Instagrammed Tangled and Peter Pan mosaics. Much of it looks great and adds color to a resort that needs it. Once in a while, the Disney tie-ins feel forced and that stretches into some of our negatives. But by and large, the Riviera does well with the artwork.

Negatives

Outside Aesthetic

That was a lot of positives! Good job, Riviera Resort! Unfortunately, so many of those get washed away, at least for me, by the look of the hotel. First of all, there’s the shape of the hotel in the first place. The Riviera takes part in a recent Disney World trend of making hotels look like, well, hotels. That’s not a big deal until you factor in everything that came before it. Seeing the Grand Floridian feels unique. Contemporary, Polynesian and the Boardwalk resorts all follow suit. Heck, even the spread out resorts like Saratoga and Old Key West feel different than most places guests stay out in the real world.

That has not been the case for any of the recent towers, including the Riviera. This could pass for a well dressed Hilton in some ways. Obviously, some people don’t care about that at all and just want a nice place to stay. Riviera has you covered in that regard. But there’s something generic about the look of this hotel that turns me away. I don’t think the gray helps and would love to see it with a different color. This complaint about the aesthetic stretches into the next…

General Theme

You could call this the same issue as the previous one but I think there’s a difference. For as lovely as I find the Riviera Resort, I don’t think the theme is executed all that well. There’s nothing about the experience there that feels like the French Riviera to me. Some of that is because right next door is Caribbean Beach Resort. I’m no geography expert but those areas aren’t close to each other! Because of that, the area feels a little disjointed.

There’s an argument to be made that this critique should be leveled against the Polynesian Resort as well then. The difference for me is that the Poly makes a real effort in immersion and the neighboring resorts reflect the nearby Magic Kingdom. Yes, you can see the Grand Floridian and Contemporary from the sandy beach, but at least that sandy beach is at the forefront of the hotel much like it would be if you stayed at an island hotel. On top of that, the architecture at the Polynesian feels very much inspired by what it’s trying to emulate, new tower notwithstanding.

The Riviera Resort just doesn’t look like the actual Riviera. Some of that is the drab color, other portions are the architecture and then the shoehorned location doesn’t help either. For some people that won’t matter. But with so many transportive resorts at WDW, the Riviera falls short in that regard.

Lobby

Our final stop in the ‘what doesn’t work section’ is emblematic of the whole Riviera Resort experience for me – the lobby. For many Disney World fans, this lobby isn’t grand enough. I get the complaint and, compared to other WDW deluxe hotels, the complaint is right. But I don’t actually mind the lobby here. In fact, I think this and the comfortable lounge are pretty on theme for the European hotels we’ve stayed at.

But as a complete package, it doesn’t all come together. If this is a Disney hotel with touches of the French Riviera, I think a more grandiose lobby was needed. If this a French Riviera inspired hotel with touches of Disney then there needed to be more interesting architecture, color and grounds. As is, the hotel settles somewhere in the middle on being one of those two things. Despite having a lot of aspects we love, the drawbacks keep Riviera Resort away from being among our favorite hotels at Walt Disney World.

Have you experienced Disney’s Riviera Resort? Let us know your thoughts or questions below in the comments! Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our planning guide for help! Looking for discount tickets? Check out this site! If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney, please subscribe to the blog and like our social media pages. You can do both of those things on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!