Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of planning a very special vacation for a family of seven at Disney’s Riviera Resort. Sue and her family went to Walt Disney World Resort, staying as guests in a 2-bedroom villa. I knew they would love this resort for its size and proximity to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The villa would provide everyone with enough space to be comfortable, but still spread out enough to enjoy some privacy. Planning this vacation with Sue and her daughter Krystal was a lot of fun for me! They had a fabulous time, and sent me the following story about their time in Florida together. Their story and photos are shared here with their permission. Thank you, Sue and Krystal! 

“We had an amazing time on our Walt Disney World trip! So glad we went when we did too! We did have some cool days, but it made it more bearable to walk around the parks. Walt Disney World is truly a magical place and we never got tired of hearing cast members saying “welcome home” to us or their animated talks. We had amazing service at our resort and at almost every meal service. If there were any issues at all, they were kindly remedied. Mobile food ordering save[d] us so much time. The transportation to and from the resort was great, especially the Skyliner! The Disney PhotoPass gave us some pretty funny pictures too, so I am glad we added that to our package.

Disney’s Riviera Resort was beautiful. The room was perfect for the size of our party of 7 and the amenities within the room were so helpful. The resort restaurant could use some more food options for the quick service meals though, but the food was still okay. Topolino’s Terrace for breakfast was so good for all of us – the characters there were so fun! The kids had a blast in both adult and kiddy pools but they all loved the big slide and were constantly on it. All of us loved the hot tub, even the kids! We had a room with view of the amazing Epcot fireworks too!

We had so much fun in all of the parks and never imagined it would be as busy as it was! The kids loved seeing characters all over and the parade at Magic Kingdom was so fun! The fast passes were definitely helpful to avoid the crazy long lines! We were also able to get a Disability Access Service (DAS) pass for my son in our first park, along with a sticker to put on our rented stroller (which was definitely a good decision to get) that indicated wheelchair as he does have some mobility issues as well. The DAS pass was set up for our whole week and our entire party of 7 was able to be added to it. There are people that say the ‘blue umbrella’ cast members can add you to rides that are in other areas but we found some would add you and others would tell you that you have to go directly to the ride to get a return time. Like the Slinky Dog Dash – I had to go to the front entrance of the ride (which I could do by myself) and a cast member added our party to the list so we did not have to wait in the 3 hour long line! Once we were added there then our return time was added to our My Disney Experience app.

For me, Gannon and my mom, our favourite ride was Avatar: Flight of Passage. It was fun, scary, breathtaking & just surreal. My 5-year-old and my 6-year-old niece loved Journey into Imagination with Figment at Epcot and also Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom. My 8-year-old’s favourite ride was Test Track at Epcot. My 11-year-old nephew’s favourite ride was Slinky Dog Dash and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We honestly all enjoyed every single ride we went on!

We took some walks over to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort next to us and I think that resort might have been better suited for the kids based on the pool area, food options, playground and beach/sand area. So for our next trip (which we are already thinking of for 2022) we will likely look into that one.

Your help to plan and schedule everything, from the resort, to the meals, to the FastPasses and providing your general knowledge of all things Disney made our trip truly magical and we are very thankful for you and your service. We have and will continue to recommend you to our family and friends to plan their Disney vacations.

On behalf of my family, thank you so much!”

Ready to start planning your family’s next Walt Disney World vacation? Please e-mail amy@puremagicvacations.ca to get started, or click here to request a quote.