Post by PirateLinda on Nov 5, 2024 12:08:43 GMT -5
This is my better late than never trip report.
This was a girls trip with my three daughters. It was a little tricky finding dates with everyone’s work schedule, but we got there.
We stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroom, preferred view at the Riviera. This was our first stay there. I was hoping for standard view to save points, but that didn’t work out.
Thoughts on Riviera:
It’s a beautiful resort. The rooms are lovely. I feel DVC really went upscale with this resort. They seemed to have used better quality materials. Even the closet doors were heavy duty. As opposed to the ones at the BW. We were just at the BW in September and I thought the cheesy door to the washer and dryer was going to fall down.
We ate at Primo Piatto several times and were very happy with the food. We tried the pool. The water was a little chilly. (there had been a lot of rain). Did not get to stay very long, due to an unscheduled cleaning. yuck. Went to the quiet pool. Also very nice.
Our room overlooked the skyliner station. When we looked to the right, we could see Space Earth lit up at night. We could even see it from the sofa. We loved the room location.
We also loved the access to the skyliner. The only bad thing is leaving Epcot at closing. We waited 30 minutes one night and 40 minutes the next night. The good thing is the line does keep moving.
Halloween Party:
We went Sunday night (October 6th). Unfortunately, we got rained on. It was only sprinkling when we got there, after the parade it just settled in.
We did get to do most of our must do’s. Got our picture with Pooh and friends, got our headless horseman special shot, saw the parade (no headless horseman due to weather) and the fireworks. After the fireworks, we were done. By then the rain was steady and we were soggy.
We tried some of the special desserts. Most of them were disgusting. The best one was the Oogie Boogie cupcake.
The line at Sleepy Hollow was ridiculous to get the Minnie sipper cup. We did not get one.
Food & Wine:
We had a list of the booths we wanted to try. We did not get to them all. This is what I remember.
* The lobster at Coastal Eats was a disappointment. It must have been sitting because it was extremely rubbery and tough.
* Hawaii was a hit. The slider and the spam rice bowl were good.
* The beef in Belgium was okay.
* The chocolate pudding cake in America was good.
* Noodle Exchange: Ramen with beef was not great.
* Brew Wing Lab; wings were okay, pickle milkshake had mixed reviews.
* Flavors with Fire: Burgers were good.
Epcot:
We had lunch reservations at Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya on Monday. This was my third time there and it was the best. The food was delicious.
Since Monday was extended hours, we had planned to ride Remy after the fireworks. But, it went down just as we got there and was going be 45 minutes to restart. So, we just headed back to the Riviera since we had to be up super early the next day.
Hurricane Milton:
We arrived on Thursday the 3rd. On Saturday, I saw the Milton had formed. ugh. On Sunday, I received a text from Southwest about possible delays, cancelations, etc. Our original flight home was Tuesday evening, but I was getting nervous. So, we changed our flight (no charge to do it) to Tuesday morning instead. It was a 7am flight, so Mears picked us up at 3:25am. ugh At 5am, security was already taking 30 minutes or so. One of the daughters did not have TSA precheck. So, we got through security pretty quickly, but it took a while for her.
I was glad we switched to the morning flight.
Even though we had some rain and there was the hurricane coming, we had an awesome trip.
This was a girls trip with my three daughters. It was a little tricky finding dates with everyone’s work schedule, but we got there.
We stayed in a dedicated 2 bedroom, preferred view at the Riviera. This was our first stay there. I was hoping for standard view to save points, but that didn’t work out.
Thoughts on Riviera:
It’s a beautiful resort. The rooms are lovely. I feel DVC really went upscale with this resort. They seemed to have used better quality materials. Even the closet doors were heavy duty. As opposed to the ones at the BW. We were just at the BW in September and I thought the cheesy door to the washer and dryer was going to fall down.
We ate at Primo Piatto several times and were very happy with the food. We tried the pool. The water was a little chilly. (there had been a lot of rain). Did not get to stay very long, due to an unscheduled cleaning. yuck. Went to the quiet pool. Also very nice.
Our room overlooked the skyliner station. When we looked to the right, we could see Space Earth lit up at night. We could even see it from the sofa. We loved the room location.
We also loved the access to the skyliner. The only bad thing is leaving Epcot at closing. We waited 30 minutes one night and 40 minutes the next night. The good thing is the line does keep moving.
Halloween Party:
We went Sunday night (October 6th). Unfortunately, we got rained on. It was only sprinkling when we got there, after the parade it just settled in.
We did get to do most of our must do’s. Got our picture with Pooh and friends, got our headless horseman special shot, saw the parade (no headless horseman due to weather) and the fireworks. After the fireworks, we were done. By then the rain was steady and we were soggy.
We tried some of the special desserts. Most of them were disgusting. The best one was the Oogie Boogie cupcake.
The line at Sleepy Hollow was ridiculous to get the Minnie sipper cup. We did not get one.
Food & Wine:
We had a list of the booths we wanted to try. We did not get to them all. This is what I remember.
* The lobster at Coastal Eats was a disappointment. It must have been sitting because it was extremely rubbery and tough.
* Hawaii was a hit. The slider and the spam rice bowl were good.
* The beef in Belgium was okay.
* The chocolate pudding cake in America was good.
* Noodle Exchange: Ramen with beef was not great.
* Brew Wing Lab; wings were okay, pickle milkshake had mixed reviews.
* Flavors with Fire: Burgers were good.
Epcot:
We had lunch reservations at Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya on Monday. This was my third time there and it was the best. The food was delicious.
Since Monday was extended hours, we had planned to ride Remy after the fireworks. But, it went down just as we got there and was going be 45 minutes to restart. So, we just headed back to the Riviera since we had to be up super early the next day.
Hurricane Milton:
We arrived on Thursday the 3rd. On Saturday, I saw the Milton had formed. ugh. On Sunday, I received a text from Southwest about possible delays, cancelations, etc. Our original flight home was Tuesday evening, but I was getting nervous. So, we changed our flight (no charge to do it) to Tuesday morning instead. It was a 7am flight, so Mears picked us up at 3:25am. ugh At 5am, security was already taking 30 minutes or so. One of the daughters did not have TSA precheck. So, we got through security pretty quickly, but it took a while for her.
I was glad we switched to the morning flight.
Even though we had some rain and there was the hurricane coming, we had an awesome trip.
