Poll: Are you going to buy at Riviera

[Katie L]

I wonder about this. People say this about dcl too, that the once in a lifetime guests are where the money is. I am a bit contrarian but it seems to me like it is just the opposite, that they make more money off of the regular guests in lots of different ways.

They have been collecting data like crazy for quite a long time now. I'm sure they can back this up.

I think it's more the revenue spread. They are the ones who buy the $20 balloons. Lol.

 

[MB_01]

They have been collecting data like crazy for quite a long time now. I'm sure they can back this up.

I think it's more the revenue spread. They are the ones who buy the $20 balloons. Lol.

I buy those! No way any once in a lifetime wastes more money at Disney than me. I’ll put my irresponsible spending habits up against anyone!

 

[pineapplepalms]

I buy those! No way any once in a lifetime wastes more money at Disney than me. I’ll put my irresponsible spending habits up against anyone!

We started buying them too after having kids! It actually isn't a bad deal. The inner Mickey balloon popped within a day and we were able to exchange it for a new one. It then lasted the rest of our trip and we passed it along to a kid at DS before we left for the airport and he was thrilled.

 

[jerseyduke]

One of the bigger selling points for me when I first purchased (which I did directly from Disney) I felt that I was not risking much. If I hated DVC, there was a strong resale market, I could hit the eject button and take a small hit, less than 20 percent. With the resale restrictions on Riviera, that is not longer the case. Those resale contracts will be lucky to be worth half. For that reason alone, I would say no.

 

[kboo]

We started buying them too after having kids! It actually isn't a bad deal. The inner Mickey balloon popped within a day and we were able to exchange it for a new one. It then lasted the rest of our trip and we passed it along to a kid at DS before we left for the airport and he was thrilled.

We were the beneficiaries of a passed-on balloon too, and it lasted the remainder of our trip. We tried to pass it on, but everyone we approached was leaving that day, too.

No way any once in a lifetime wastes more money at Disney than me. I’ll put my irresponsible spending habits up against anyone!

And then there was that time that the lightsaber didn't fit in the luggage so it was a carry on, and my then-4yo carried it between her legs while we were waiting to board...

And the spray fans... and the popcorn buckets ... and the stuffed toys ... and princess dresses ...

 

[Katie L]

And then there was that time that the lightsaber didn't fit in the luggage so it was a carry on, and my then-4yo carried it between her legs while we were waiting to board...

And the spray fans... and the popcorn buckets ... and the stuffed toys ... and princess dresses ...

Oh man. I'm still kicking myself about the frozen dress (the Anna in springtime one) we didn't get for my daughter in Norway last year. Totally buying it this year!!!!!!

 

[cedricandsophie]

No. We have over 1400 points at 7 resorts. Don’t need any more. We may try to stay there at 7 months at some point and want to have dinner in the roof top restaurant sometime.

 

[clm10308]

I voted "maybe". We have been planning to add on all along. cCV was an option at first, but with the challenge of getting a studio, I'm not interested in that. We are past the time of a 2 bedroom, and we are thinking of more trips in studios.
We do plan to buy direct. The resale restrictions are not a concern. We would not be buying if we thought we would ever sell. I don't care that the value after I am dead would be lower. We plan to use the heck out of our points, and it seems like our kids would want to keep the points and use them after we are gone.
So we are thinking maybe for Rivera, or Reflections, or even at an older escort. End date is more important to us than resale restrictions.

 

[ljmiii]

The lengths to which DVC is now willing to go to punish its owners gives me pause. Giving extra 'perks' to direct buyers is one thing. But once they breach the core ownership 'rules' of DVC - any owner can book at 11 months home, 7 months everywhere else - there is no reason to think they will stop.

As comments over on the POS thread suggest, DVC has laid the groundwork to shorten the booking window for resale Riviera contracts along with other 'fun' changes. So five or so years from now when resale Riviera prices drop...but not quite enough for DVC's tastes...only allowing resale buyers to book at 8 months seems a logical next step. DVC is caught in a mug's game of increasing the benefits of direct contracts which reduces the value of resale contracts which lowers resale prices which makes buying direct less attractive...and round and round it goes.

Six months ago I thought I might buy at Riviera if the gondolas took me to EPCOT and HS in a reasonable timeframe. A couple of months ago I thought I might buy resale. Now there is no way I would buy any DVC contract outside the 'original 14' unless it was SO special that I could be confident of its value (e.g. a fixed holiday week for a resort that led straight into HS/GE).

 

[CraigInPA]

Oh man. I'm still kicking myself about the frozen dress (the Anna in springtime one) we didn't get for my daughter in Norway last year. Totally buying it this year!!!!!!

Cute dress. My wife just bought one at the disney outlet store for the 2 year old niece. It would break your heart if you knew how little she paid for it.

 

[Katie L]

Cute dress. My wife just bought one at the disney outlet store for the 2 year old niece. It would break your heart if you knew how little she paid for it.

Ooooh. I have a disney outlet store near me (Dallas, TX). Maybe I'll go look tonight!

 

[crvetter]

Figured this might be of interest https://www.disboards.com/threads/riviera-pricing-released.3741699/

 

[Matty B13]

Also here is the link from DVCnews.com

https://dvcnews.com/index.php/resor...ealed-for-disney-s-riviera-resort#prettyPhoto

 

[skier_pete]

Was just coming here to see if price points / point charts change anyone's mind. I think the point charts were on par with what we were expecting. (BLT level point prices, not quite VGF level point prices.)

 

[crvetter]

Was just coming here to see if price points / point charts change anyone's mind. I think the point charts were on par with what we were expecting. (BLT level point prices, not quite VGF level point prices.)

With no GW on Tower Studios so my mind has been changed from a yes with a GW to a no on direct currently. However, if I stay there and love it maybe a small contract and I have some info where resale prices fall. So could be swung resale at that point anyways if low enough and no new restriction twists.

 

[sachilles]

The initial price point peaked my interest. The fees don't intimidate me. Ultimately the points cost for studios, discourages me at this time. We just bought CCV, and are within the 10 day out. That being said, we are thinking about add on points in the future for husband and wife only food and wine trips for October, in that case a tower studio would be fine for us. Curious to see how the Riviera sales coming online alters the economy of the other boardwalk area resorts.
I was expecting something closer to $200 a point initially(not including incentives).
I think I could see us getting a little addonitis and scraping enough together for 50 or 75 add on points, something to use every other fall.

 

[skier_pete]

The initial price point peaked my interest. The fees don't intimidate me. Ultimately the points cost for studios, discourages me at this time. We just bought CCV, and are within the 10 day out. That being said, we are thinking about add on points in the future for husband and wife only food and wine trips for October, in that case a tower studio would be fine for us. Curious to see how the Riviera sales coming online alters the economy of the other boardwalk area resorts.
I was expecting something closer to $200 a point initially(not including incentives).
I think I could see us getting a little addonitis and scraping enough together for 50 or 75 add on points, something to use every other fall.

Watch out on those tower studios - they will be very very popular in the fall and could be very hard to get even at 11 months due to people "walking" reservations. Standard view stuidos at BWV are hard to get during F&W season at 11 months - I know from experience - and there are way more of those (52 standard studios vs I think 22? tower studios at Riviera) I would advise against buying a contract that only has enough points to use in tower studios.

 

[sachilles]

We'd only be doing a long weekend, which would be 68 pts for a standard studio. This would be an every other year, or every third year thing. I'd think 50 pts would cover that.

Though if I'm honest, I think I might rather find a boardwalk resale contract, despite it's shorter contract. If I'm after food and wine convenience, and location is the only criteria I think boardwalk might work better. :shrug:
I don't really need any of this I guess. I didn't expect addonitis to hit me quite so soon.

 

[skier_pete]

More info about Riviera - room distribution

24 Tower Suites
38 Dedicated Studios (up to 186 with Lock-offs)
29 Dedicated 1-BR (Up to 177 with Lock-offs)
148 2-BR Lock-offs
90 Dedicated 2-BR
12 Grand Villas

That actually a pretty decent distribution - with what I've been saying for years is that there should be at least twice as many studios and 2-bedrooms. There's still too many 1-bedrooms, but overall not bad at all.

Now we just need to hear what fraction are standard and what fraction are preferred.

 

[striker1064]

I changed my vote to yes. We have been researching it more in the time since, and although the prospect of resale still bothers me a little if we ever had to sell, I also do not think I believe the price will bottom out. Lower than the others quite possibly so, but not next to zero. And ideally, considering we want an Epcot resort, we will keep this long-term. The incentives are good. The MFs are high but I'm not convinced they will look unique compared to the other resorts in another year or two. We were actually interested in a runDisney fixed week, but they aren't offering that for Riviera, so that's a bit of a bummer. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme.

Maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, I dunno, but we like Riviera a lot, we like the gondolas, and we like the nearby grounds of CBR, so if we are ready it makes sense to do it now when the direct pricing is lower.

I will update this in a year or two if necessary, haha.