Disney's Riviera Resort
Disney's Riviera Resort is a Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, inspired by the grand hotels of the French and Italian Rivieras. Standing beside Barefoot Bay, next to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, it was the fifteenth Disney Vacation Club property and the first new resort built to be served by the Disney Skyliner gondola system.
History
The Riviera was announced in 2017 as part of a wider expansion of Disney Vacation Club and of Walt Disney World transport, alongside the Disney Skyliner itself. It was built on a portion of the grounds of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, whose northern villages were removed to clear the site, giving the new resort a compact footprint quite unlike the sprawling layout of its neighbour. It was the first entirely new standalone Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World since Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa opened in 2004.
The resort opened on December 16, 2019, following a dedication ceremony on its promenade. Its arrival coincided with the opening months of the Skyliner, which had begun carrying guests that September, and the two were promoted together: a deluxe villa resort whose principal transport link was an aerial gondola rather than a bus or boat.
Theming and layout
The theme draws on the European travels of Walt Disney and on the Mediterranean coast that gave the resort its name. The main building is a single, relatively tall block in a pale, elegant style, with arched windows, porticos, towers and terraces intended to recall the resort hotels of the Côte d'Azur and the Italian lakes and coastline. Inside, the lobby is deliberately intimate for a Disney resort, decorated with artwork inspired by Disney films with European settings and by vintage travel posters.
Accommodation ranges from Tower Studios, a compact category for two guests introduced at this resort, through Deluxe Studios and One- and Two-Bedroom Villas to Three-Bedroom Grand Villas, many with views over Barefoot Bay. The grounds are formal and compact, with lawns, fountains and a promenade along the lake leading to the Skyliner station. A notable detail is the station approach, where large mosaic murals depicting scenes from Peter Pan and Tangled line a tunnel-like passage. The resort's main leisure pool, the Beau Soleil Pool, sits in a courtyard, with the S'il Vous Play interactive water play area nearby for younger children.
Dining and amenities
The resort's signature restaurant is Topolino's Terrace – Flavors of the Riviera, occupying the rooftop of the main building. Topolino is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse, and the restaurant serves a character breakfast, Breakfast à la Art with Mickey & Friends, at which Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy appear in artist-inspired outfits unique to the resort. At dinner it becomes a signature dining location serving French- and Italian-influenced dishes from an open kitchen with a wood-burning grill, and its outdoor terrace is popular for views of fireworks at nearby parks.
Primo Piatto, near the lobby, is the quick-service restaurant, while Le Petit Café serves coffee and pastries in a Parisian style, and Bar Riva, by the pool, offers drinks and light food in an open-air setting decorated in Mediterranean blues and whites. Transport is the resort's headline amenity: its own Disney Skyliner station gives a direct ride to the International Gateway entrance of EPCOT, and a ride via the Caribbean Beach hub to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Buses serve the remaining destinations, including Disney Springs, the Magic Kingdom and connections onward to Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
See also
- Disney Vacation Club
- Disney Skyliner
- EPCOT
- Disney's Contemporary Resort
- Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa