Mickey with Minis
Real-life advice for touring Disney parks with littles in tow, from two sisters who've done it and lived to tell the tale.
Mickey with Minis
Deep Dive on Disney's Riviera Resort - Episode 196
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This week Danielle and Hayley are talking all things Riviera! Apologies for the time jump, we got our weeks mixed up!
Want to plan your own adventure? Danielle would love to help! Reach out to her today at daniellegriggs@fantasticalvacations.com to get started!
Mickey with Minis podcast outro music
Hey guys, Danielle here. Um, just a heads up, we recorded this episode before the race, and I thought it was gonna publish while we were gone, but I was wrong. It was gonna publish after we were gone for the race. So I talk about getting ready for the race in this episode, but um just kidding, we already ran the race and we won. No, that's a lie. We just finished, which was just as good. Um, but so yeah, sorry about the time warp, but um, here you go. Hello, hi, how are you? Good, how are you? Um, I'm good. Listeners, by the time you hear this, we're in Disney World. You'll be in Disney. Oh my goodness. Hooray! You know what I don't feel ready for? What? A trip to Disney. I'm very ready. I'm not like logistically ready, but I think that I can get there pretty quickly. You're mentally ready. It's so much easier when no kids are coming. It's so easy. So ready mentally, so ready mentally. Yes, yes. Oh my god. I had like a super crazy week last week, so I'm just like, I'm I'm just ready to check out a little bit. I'm just ready. Yeah. Sorry, there's a small amount of very noisy construction going on directly above my head. Oh my god. Sorry about that, friends. I can't I can't hear it yet. Can't hear it? Okay, good. Not so far. So far, so good. Okay, that's great. And Danielle gave me my favorite kind of news today, which is that we might be able to create some travel chaos and catch an earlier flight. This is my favorite thing ever. When you book a flight, I feel like an airline like has to do a chain of events where they like prepare for what you're gonna do to them. Yes. No, so what happened was we, you know, usually on Sunday morning mornings, um, you know, my husband and I will do a check-in about like what the week ahead looks like logistically, because we have a lot of logistics um in our life. And I did not realize that a, sorry, I still have a cold. I'm super stuffy, I'm so sorry. Um I did not realize that A, Ella has a doctor's appointment on Monday morning at 9 45. Booked well before I decided to get a full-time out-of-the-house job. Um that's that is a time that it's really difficult for John to get away from his meetings. He has a lot of meetings in the mornings because everybody he works with is in India. So the first half of his day is very meeting heavy because of their time zone. Um so mornings are bad for him. So it's like, oh shoot, I really have to do that one. My boss is out of town anyway. So I was like, what if I just work from Monday? And then the other kids have a checkup also in the morning, but on Thursday, which is the day we're leaving. And I had been doing all kinds of mental gymnastics about how I was gonna get from Worcester to Logan for our flight in time, and then they have this appointment and John can't bring them, and it's a checkup, so it's like you schedule it so far in advance. Right. I don't want to reschedule it as a nightmare. So I was like, what if I just use one of my cute little wellness days that I have at work? Um and she's so smart because as soon as she texted me that she was taking Thursday off, she was like, But it's because the kids have doctor's appointments, don't get any ideas about why Wednesday night. We can't go Wednesday night. And like she just said like dot, dot, dot. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, stop it. I know what you're gonna say. We can't do it. And then you were like, but what time is the appointment? The appointment is at 9 a.m. So I could be done and back home by like 10:30, 11. So if you could be possible that we could be on the 252. Okay, 252. Okay. So you looked at it. Oh, I looked at it before I even told you because I knew that it was gonna happen. You love it. But Hayley, I like don't know how to change my flight because I booked it on points with my credit card. When you go in your JetBlue app, does your flight show up? I don't have an app. You should download the app and then log in, and then like it will populate with the thing that says manage trip, and you should just be able to do it through there. I shouldn't be better at this or something. Not today, but you can do it like closer to. Um, so I actually have a doctor's appointment that morning from 9 30 to 12:30, but I'm pretty sure I could probably leave early um to get to Boston. I'll have to ask. It's not an appointment. I'm starting a postpartum um OCD program. Yes. Um for the anxiety. Yes, for the postpartum anxiety that I have been experiencing. So I I'll be doing a program several times a week, but um they know that I'm they know that I'm away next weekend. So if I had to leave like maybe an hour early, it would probably be okay. Okay. Um they're not gonna kick you out of your like help program. I don't think they will. No, I don't think they will. I feel like that would be counterproductive. Yeah, very bad for anxious people to be like constantly in fear of getting kicked out of your anxiety program. Yeah. So TBD, everyone, right now our flight is scheduled for 7.15 p.m. But we have some lofty goals. It is late. 2.52 p.m. I think there's a 4.15 p.m. You think there's a 4.15 p.m. You think? I know. I know. Do I know and do I know how many seats are left on it? Yes, I do, Danielle. How many seats are left? Right now, so JetBlue is tricky. Right now it shows as seven seats, but they're all um even more space seats. So it's never clear if those seats are like really available or if they're just trying to like get people to upgrade. Uh Jet Blue is always a little confusing. Um, so it will be a true midnight game time situation, which I'm personally ready for. Wait, at midnight? At midnight. Wait, what happens at midnight? At midnight is when you can change the flight. Just for freebie? Uh no, it's $75. Do I have to do it through my my credit card though? Because that's how I booked it. I didn't punch at blue points. I booked on credit card points. I don't think so. I think you once you put it in the app, I think it will just go forward as normal. But we'll look. We'll we'll get you the app after this and we'll figure it out.
unknownOkay. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Holy moly. Um, extra hours in Disney. Hooray! I know, although I don't have a ticket for that day, so we'll just be vibes. That's okay. We'll be soaking in the vibes and relaxing and preparing to take on the world the next morning. In other news, it is presently predicted to be 90 degrees on the day of our cute little 10 mile race. Yes, it is, but we'll be there in the night time. We will. We will. Like 3 a.m. is not the morning, 3 a.m. is it's nighttime. Yeah, but by the end of the race, it will be daytime. All one wait, wait. So wait, hold on. What time do we start running? Okay, the race begins at 5, but we are gonna be all the way at the back of the pack. So um we are predicted, according to the little race guide, we're projected to start between 5 45 and 6.30. Okay. And we think we're gonna maybe probably do like five of the 10 minutes. Yeah, I mean, we'll try to do them all, but we'll be happy with five. We'll be happy with whatever. You are lying is what I tell myself so hard. And it's what I if we say a 15-minute mile, that's five miles would be an hour 15. Okay, I think I'm not good at math. Is that true? I'm not good at math either. All I know is the last finishers are projected for 9 15. So, yeah, so it's it's gonna be daytime, but it's soytime early. Yeah, so I feel like we'll be fine. Okay, it'll all be fine. It'll all be fine. This is gonna be fine. It's gonna be great. All right, what are we talking about today? We are going to change it up a little bit and we're going to get back into our hotel deep dive series. And today we're going to talk about the Riviera Resort. The Riviera. We've stayed here. You and I stayed here. Have you stayed there with Nick? No, no, just the one time with me. Yes, and I did a um a room tour, a DVC tour of a bunch of other room types as well. So we kind of got the kind of got the lay of the land. The lay of the land. Yeah. So what are the vibes here? Um I go back and forth. The first time I went to this resort, we had like the best breakfast at Topolino's, and I was on like a Riviera high and was like, I love this resort. It's so great. But then we stayed there and I kind of didn't love it. It felt a little flat for me. But some people absolutely love it. So your mileage may vary. It's it's supposed to be um like a European-esque hotel. Um, it is it is all like one large tower, sort of a resort.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, I don't love the exterior of it. It doesn't do a whole lot for me, but I think logistically it has a lot going for it. So what are your what are your thoughts? Yeah, so vibe-wise, it is supposed to be like it's in the name Riv Riviera. The Riviera and the the countries that are sort of involved in that. So it is kind of vaguely European. Um, it feels fancy. Yes, it feels upscale for sure. Yeah, but the theming is, I think, a little funky. Like they have those gorgeous tile mosaics that are um over towards where you get the skyliner, and they're beautiful and colorful, it's very Disney. But then inside does it feels very understated in terms of the Disney stuff, and the artwork and all of that is all like fancy, it's like a fancy version of Disney artwork, kind of um lots of like the old classic cartoon stuff done in like a fancier style kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Um and uh yeah, so um, so this one is on Skyliner, uh, which I already mentioned. Um it's right next to Caribbean Beach. So um sometimes people will walk back and forth because they want to get on a different Skyliner loop. Yes. Um but so that's you know super convenient for Epcot and uh Hollywood Studios and all of the other Skyliner resorts. Um it has some really stellar dining options. So I already mentioned Topolino's Topolino's might be my favorite character breakfast in Disney World. I'm trying to think certainly the best food I've ever had at a character. Very good, yeah, really good. And I like the the view, it's on the the top floor of the hotel, so you got a nice view of everything. Yeah, um, so I really love Topolino's, and then I've had some phenomenal dinners at Topolino's, and they also have a good, a good cocktail menu as well. Like if you want to go an adult's night out, Topolino's is fabulous. A good one. Um, it should be noted it's only character dining for breakfast. So the rest when you go, it's just a normal restaurant. Yes, and it's a signature restaurant, so it's definitely a bit on the pricier side um in the evenings. For sure. Um, hi baby. Is that funny? Is that so funny? Um, it also has like one of the fancier pool bars I've ever seen, which is uh Bar Riva, um, which is a little funny because it's not actually like at the pool. You know what I mean? Right, it's um adjacent, um, but it is within like the main structure of the building. So do people go in there like like in their swimsuits, like from the pool, do you know? No, or I don't know. Okay. I've never seen anybody, but I haven't really been there during the day either. Yeah, and we when we stayed there, we weren't there long enough to even bother with the pool that was on a particularly chaotic adventure. Hard tour trip, yes. Yeah, but like for Bar Riva, like yes, they have a burger, but they also have like pizza and sharperie kind of stuff, and yeah, um, a shrimp cocktail and orangini. Um different kinds of salads. So it's it's definitely like an elevated pool bar for sure. And then we did not get any cocktails there, but they actually have a uh pretty tailored cocktail menu as well. They've got the Apera Spritz, they've got uh pineapple mule, they've got a Negroni, like it's just it's not the stuff you get at every other pool bar, you know? Right. Um, which I think is interesting. We only had wine from there, I think. But yeah. Um, but it is awfully pretty. It's got this gorgeous blue tile, it's just like a really nice one. Yes. Um, in terms of other uh dining options that you have, there's also what is the name of this? Oh, the petite cafe. Petite cafe, yes, which has a lot of fancy looking pastry kind of stuff. Um you know, fancy good coffee, like uh, you know, if you want like a latte or cappuccino kind of thing. Um, they have some cocktails as well that are also different than what you're gonna get at um Bar Riva, so all kinds of good stuff. Um, and then there's also what's that one called? Primo Piatto, right? Yes. And that my I have not eaten here, but I've heard fabulous things about it. Yeah, yeah. So again, it's like, you know, all just a little bit elevated. This is a quick service and they have um grab and go. But in terms of like what they have for food, um I'm just looking at there's a they have the grab and go stuff, but they also have um let's see, entrees, they've got baked pizzas, hearth baked pizzas, they've got a bologners, you've got your chicken fingers, you know, they've got some hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches, salads, like a tuna ni soave's, you know, that's a fancy one. You can get your stuff, you can get your breakfast here as well in the morning. They do some um blueberry lemon pancakes that sound really good. And then your of course your Mickey waffle, a croque madame, um, a pretty good, a pretty solid breakfast menu. I mean, a lot of some of the deluxes, it can be a bit of a bummer that they don't have as good of quick service options, and and you definitely don't have that complaint here. I think this is like a very solid quick service place. Totally, totally. Um yeah, that's I now I want to go to here. I know. Maybe we'll we'll be there, we'll be there next week. You never know what we're gonna do, Daniel. Oh my god. Um I do think the grounds are very beautiful, like it always looks very green, and there's like a life-size um chess game that looks fun. I bet kids would be really into that. Um, the pools don't blow me out of the water. Um it does look really big, which is nice. Um, and there is like a kids' play area, but other than that, the pool is kind of nothing to really write home about. It does have um a water slide, which is kind of it looks like like a like a turret type thing. Um, so you know, a water slide is a water slide, kids will love that. But um but yeah. Not the most themed, yeah. I do like the art that's all around the resort. I do think a lot of that's pretty. And then one cool thing is in the gift shop, there's like a kiosk where you can order, I think, any of it. So I think that's pretty cool. Yeah. Um, one thing that I don't love about it, I love in the deluxe resorts like a statement lobby. And this doesn't really have that. No, that's true. It's just kind of a regular lobby, and I've always found it to be like almost a little echoey, like it always feels kind of loud in there, even when it's not super busy. Um it definitely feels to me more like an upscale regular hotel. Yes, yeah. If you're not looking for like super Disney vibes, right? You want to be on property, like this feels like a really fancy Marriott to me. Yeah. A little bit. Yeah, definitely. Um if that makes sense. Yeah. Um, yeah. So anyway, they've got the they have the big pool, they also have a quiet pool, and there's a splash play area called C Vu Play, which is funny. That's very cute. Um, and let's see, what else do we need to say about this one here? The rooms themselves, um, they are all like DVC style rooms. So it's all gonna be studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, grand villas. They do have the tower studios, which I think, I think this might have been the first hotel to have those. Don't quote me on that. But they're the studios for just two people with the pull-down bed and they're teeny tiny. Um, but they're pretty good points value if you're booking on points. Um, and if it's just, you know, two people, those can be a pretty good option. Um, I think the rooms are, again, nothing to write home about, but they're I find them pretty. Um, they're very like clean looking, like not a ton of color happening, but they're but they look sort of elegant to me. Nothing like super fancy, but I do um I do like them. And I remember when I toured the um, I think the one bedroom, the um soaking tub looked quite lovely. Oh, I do love a soaking tub. I do love a soaking tub, yes. Um, so I think anybody who listened to our on the goes from the last trip knows because I recorded from the soaking tub multiple times. Oh my goodness. Yeah, so overall, I mean, I think the pros of the resort, the transportation is awesome, the food options are great. Um, it just theming-wise and like aesthetics-wise does not blow me out of the water. Yeah, no, I would I wouldn't. I would agree with that. But if you know you want to hit Topolinos, you want to be on the skyliner, especially if there's just two of you for that tower studio. I feel like those, I almost never feel like those are available. Like there's nothing very many of them. They can be hard to get. So if you're interested in that, hey, you should reach out to me, Danielle Griggs at fantasticalvacations.com, and I will help uh stock the tower studios for you. Yes. Um, yeah. Anything else on this one, Haley? This is a short and sweet one after like a bunch of one-hour long episodes. I know. Um, I can't think of anything else. They do all the normal like resort activity kind of stuff. Yes. Um, you know, campfires, movies outside kind of thing. Um, one thing I feel was a real missed opportunity, and I don't want to sound like I'm hating on the Riviera here because I don't hate it. That like little library area behind Le Petite Cafe. Yeah, I wish it was like a little cocktail bar or something. That would be cute. They should look a little bit like a missed opportunity there. It's kind of you see people like working in there a lot on their laptops and stuff, but I feel like it could have been a cute little uh cocktail spot. Cute little cocktail spot. They do have a gym, it looks really small. Yeah. Umright, that's why I don't go. That's that's that's in particular why Haley does not love the Riviera as much. Um she loves all the other gyms, all the other gyms. Don't need a gym on this trip. Gonna be outside running 10 miles in the 90-degree weather. I am not planning to gym on this trip um myself. I've been hitting it pretty hard, and yeah, I feel like I can take a few days of a break and not be waking myself up as early. Today I slept until like 10:30. I had accumulated so much, and I feel like I could nap right now. I accumulated so much sleep deficit. Some people do a calorie deficit, and that's for losing weight. I do a sleep deficit. That's for losing my mind. Um I slept until 10 30 this morning. I woke up early to go to the bathroom and I was like, oh, I'm not gonna fall back asleep. And then I did, and then John even got up at 9 30 and I kept sleeping. Oh my goodness. Crazy. Because I usually on the weekend now I start waking up when I wake up during the week because I have such So it was right, right. I definitely needed it. I had a couple of late work nights this week. And yeah, um I'm recovering from this stupid cold. So I'll tell you what, I was feeling extremely sad about not bringing Luke with us to Disney World, which I'm still kind of sad about. But um, when I made that decision, he was still sleeping really well through the night, and we seem to have hit a rough sleep patch. I don't know if it's his teeth coming in or a sleep regression. He's on a new formula. Maybe that's not keeping him as full. But now that he is getting up in the middle of the night and then also at like 5 a.m., I'm like, I'm I'm okay with this. I think this is gonna be good for everybody for the day with to stay with daddy for a few days. This is for the best. This is for the best. Oh, I did cry a little. I had to um get in touch with Jet Blue to remove him as my lap infant. I know, and I did, I did cry a little about that. I don't even know if I had to do that or if I could have just showed up without him, but I didn't get so oh my goodness, yeah. Oh my god. I'm like unhinged. I'm chatting with the agent, and I'm like, I just decided it's better for him to stay at home with the staff this trip. They're like, we don't, we do not care. You don't need to give a reason.
SPEAKER_00Ma'am, it's it's no, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, it'll be a simpler trip for you.
SPEAKER_00For sure will. Yes, definitely. And not pumping and just doing a normal regular old sister's insanity 10-mile race trip. Just normal one of those. Just normal.
SPEAKER_01Well, I can't wait. I think right after this, I'm gonna start putting stuff in a suitcase, actually. I'm gonna start. I need to figure out what I'm bringing for a bag. You're checking a bag, right? I think I am. How much does it cost to check a bag? Mine is free because I have a jet blue card. How many do you get to check for free? Uh, I think just one. Oh, okay. If you were on my itinerary, you would get a free check bag, but we booked separate, so you don't do you know how much it costs? I think it's $35, but I could be wrong about that. And that's one way. Yeah. It's like, should I just it's really just my liquids. It's not that I think I need to bring that much stuff. I'm just like, uh, how much effort do I want to go through getting down to not that many liquids? I so the last couple times I've flown with just a carry-on, no, they don't even have you take them out anyway. Really? Yeah. Um and I think what I'm gonna do, I can't now because Audrey's in the shower, which means I can't get in the bathroom for the next, I don't know, hour and a half. But um the my like big my jumbo ziplock full of uh travel-sized potions and potions is in the bathroom, still packed from last time. Nice. So I think what I'm gonna do is audit that. And if I have enough things already ready to go, yes, I might just bring just a carry-on. But if I don't, and it would involve a whole lot of like transferring things to smaller bottles and all of that, then I might just pack my regular stuff. Question: I got a little luggage set from Amazon and it's a little um, it's like a carry-on size suitcase. But then we're recording, honey. Oh no, that's okay, not right now. Thank you, sweetie. I appreciate you. She was trying to give me the Ziploc full of stuff. Oh, cute. Audrey, she's best, she's so sweet. So sweet. She's so sweet and so helpful all the time. She always loves I love that. Um so I got a a like roll little rolling carry-on suitcase, but it came with a little um like bag that you can carry in your hand that would like sit right on top of it. But I can't bring both of those on the plane, right? Like with a backpack, that would be too many bags. I think that's too many bags, yeah. Okay, yeah. I'm confused about why what why would one want that? I just thought if I needed more space and they go together, so I was like, why would you want things that go together if you're trying to carry on? Was my what I was confused about. Yeah, no, I'm confused by that. Yeah, but that's okay. Okay, you have me convinced. I'm gonna try to carry on, is what I'm gonna try to carry on. Oh no, don't, don't, don't be influenced by me. I I'm I'm a de-influencer. My medicine cabinet says otherwise with my new my new skincare routine. John this morning was like, Oh, I'm looking old. And I was like, No, my friend, you just need a moisturizer. And he was like, What? And I was like, Okay, here's the deal. Yeah, and now we're gonna get John a skincare routine. Nice not interested in this at all. But like, why? Just because you're a dude, like your skin is still aging, you have to take care of it. Yep, definitely, and this happens to me. He's getting like papery eyes, like around skin around his eyes. Oh, okay. Like I also have, especially if I haven't gone hardcore on the moisturizer. Yes. So I have been going crazy with moisturizer, and my eyes are feeling much less papery. But like sometimes if I when I wake up on one eyelid, it gets like folded over a little bit, like skin. And John had that like under his eye today, and I was like poking at it, trying to fix it for him, and he was like, Why is this happening? And I was like, It's because you are devoid of moisture, must moisturize. So I'm gonna get full setup that he doesn't really want. Helping us all age gracefully, so gracefully. Right, absolutely. I'm very, very graceful, especially today because I destroyed my butt at the gym yesterday. So I'm basically like stumbling around my house. Oh my gosh. Oh boy. Um, the next time I'm gonna see you is probably at the airport. It's at the airport, I believe. I'll bring your I'll just bring your tank top, right? Yeah, and I'll bring I'll bring a backup tank top in case it doesn't fit. Okay, okay, it's not a big deal. Yeah, so I'll give you them. Hooray! Well, hey, um, see you real soon. See you real soon.