Final thoughts.
I always have trouble with this part. I think this one is especially tough. I’m going to give it my best shot. Enjoy my ramblings.
Hotels- We stayed at OKW and Riviera. OKW’s strength is its overall laid back vibe. This is carried out by both CMs and guests. We love the resort and will continue to stay here on a regular basis. It’s weaknesses are the somewhat dated rooms, and transportation. Bus service is actually better than you’d think here, but there are 5 stops so it can still be a pain. It was nice to have the boats to DS back this trip. The QS options are limited here, but Olivia’s is good and so is gurgling suitcase.
This was our first stay at Riviera. There’s a lot to like about the place. The rooms are very well done, skyliner transportation to two parks is a huge plus, as is only having one bus stop. I actually liked the compact size. The small lobby doesn’t seem to bother me as much as it does others. If I’m being honest I don’t pay that much attention to hotel lobbies that aren’t WL or AKL. The lobby at riviera is small but functions as intended. There are no restaurants attached or large shops, so it’s not as crucial to have a large space here as it is at say the poly or grand. The feature pool here is a dud. My least favorite I’ve been too. The quiet pool however is my favorite one on property. I do agree with those who complain about the weak theming here. It definitely isn’t on par with some of the other deluxe resorts on property(or the Italian riviera themed hotel down the road at universal). I really liked the pool bar here, as well as the QS location. We would definitely stay here again, but the price/points charts here will make it less likely to happen.
Parks- The parks are a mixed bag. Sometimes things felt “normal”, and we’d just briefly forget we were at the parks during a global pandemic. Other times you could tell that CMs were burned out. We never had any particularly negative cast interactions though. There were lots of issues with ride breakdowns this trip, and general park maintenance just seems to be not great at the moment. Maybe I should cut them some slack because of staffing/Covid/whatever, but they didn’t cut me any slack on the cost to visit. Whatever the issue is they need to figure something out. DHS and DAK both still need more attractions too. Epcot makeover is moving way too slow. I hate having to navigate the front of that place.
Of course the biggest new addition to the parks is genie +. We didn’t use it and had no issues getting on every attraction we wanted. We were there a week though. Had we been on a shorter schedule things might’ve been different. If you’re staying on site at a deluxe I’d recommend just taking advantage Of the extra park time offered. I touched on my biggest issue with genie + earlier in the TR. Why are they charging $15 per person for something that appears to be worse than the product that it replaced, which was “free”? The continuous added costs with less perks is starting to get old. With the removal of DME I don’t see much benefit to staying on site now.
We still managed to have a good time, but I couldn’t help but try and see things from a first timers POV, and they weren’t great. We’ll continue to visit and have fun, but the urge to go back just isn’t as strong as it once was.
Thanks everyone for following along. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed living it. Our next planned trip will be may 1-7. Which will be here before we know it!
We're supposed to leave this coming Monday and I'm not going to believe it's happening until we step foot in our first park. Between sickness and flight insanity, I feel like there's only a 30% chance we'll actually make it there...
when you mention Texas.... And I also may have started the cheese thing too, so I'll see myself out now. Wishing you a speedy recovery and many more happy, healthy trips to WDW!
