Did a survey in DLP... Changes afoot

[wbl2745]

I dont understand the whole fast pass bit of it though why take fast passes away from people if this does happen this will probably be our last trip to disneyland paris for a long time.


Disneyland paris is so expensive for the dates we are going Disneyland Paris hotel was only £60 cheaper (and thats with 30%off) then if we were to stay in the Grand Floridian for the same time (I know tickets aren't included in their prices) and the two hotels just dont compare.

Tinks, I'm curious about your comparison of the Grand Floridian and the Disneyland Hotel at DLP. How do you rate them against each other?

 

[tinks_1989]

Tinks, I'm curious about your comparison of the Grand Floridian and the Disneyland Hotel at DLP. How do you rate them against each other?

i just think the grand floridian is a much nicer hotel then disneyland paris hotel.

i dont think any of the disneyland paris hotels compare to walt disney world ones

 

[JohnnySharp2]

i just think the grand floridian is a much nicer hotel then disneyland paris hotel.

i dont think any of the disneyland paris hotels compare to walt disney world ones

We have had a good look around both and are staying at the Disneyland Hotel next year.
There are definitely similarities, the Grand Floridian is probably the nicest looking Disney hotel anywhere but I know there is a feeling you have to stay in the main building to get the best out of it.

It's hard to really compare them both after all one is located in a warm, tropical climate with outdoor swimming pools, pool bars and a monorail sweeping by at regular intervals. The GF also has the romance of being on the lake.

Personally I think the DLH is better than some of the WDW one's. Though for me part of the appeal for ANY Disney hotel is the location and the DLH has a great one, as does the GF.

They definitely have one thing in common , the price! Thankfully we got a special offer.

 

[tinks_1989]

We have had a good look around both and are staying at the Disneyland Hotel next year.
There are definitely similarities, the Grand Floridian is probably the nicest looking Disney hotel anywhere but I know there is a feeling you have to stay in the main building to get the best out of it.

It's hard to really compare them both after all one is located in a warm, tropical climate with outdoor swimming pools, pool bars and a monorail sweeping by at regular intervals. The GF also has the romance of being on the lake.

Personally I think the DLH is better than some of the WDW one's. Though for me part of the appeal for ANY Disney hotel is the location and the DLH has a great one, as does the GF.

They definitely have one thing in common , the price! Thankfully we got a special offer.

i just dont get the same magical vibe in DLRP hotels that I do in WDW. The theming they always feel the need to be updated in DLRP.

But the sunshine does defiantly have a huge impact I dont have a problem with DLRP hotels I wouldn't of just booked my 14th trip if I did x

 

[JohnnySharp2]

i just dont get the same magical vibe in DLRP hotels that I do in WDW. The theming they always feel the need to be updated in DLRP.

But the sunshine does defiantly have a huge impact I dont have a problem with DLRP hotels I wouldn't of just booked my 14th trip if I did x

I had a good look around the lobby, corridors, walkways and even the bar at the DLH, just to see what it was like. I guess it's kind of our wanting to check every minor detail with Joshua's autism.

I think they themed it with the Grand Floridian in mind, the attention to detail is excellent. I can also see similarities from the outside with Newport Bay as opposed to the WDW Yacht Club.

I know what you mean about that "magical vibe", all the WDW hotels are very individual to cater for many tastes.

I don't think overall DLRP is as magical as WDW is but having only been to Paris once as opposed to a dozen Florida trips I am probably not best placed to say as to why - however, it's a lot nearer which is a major plus point.

 

[tinks_1989]

I don't think overall DLRP is as magical as WDW is but having only been to Paris once as opposed to a dozen Florida trips I am probably not best placed to say as to why - however, it's a lot nearer which is a major plus point.

I agree with 13 trips to Disneyland and 11 trips to wdw but Disneyland paris is getting much better xx

 

[belle24]

so are fastpasses in the parks going to stop being free for anyone???!! This is not good at all! Do you think they will allow AP's unlimited FPs? This may determine weather we actually ever stay onsite again as from now on it looks like it will be AP's and offsite hotel.
Belle x

 

[DLPdaft]

I agree Belle, I can't help thinking that with taking away fastpass from an onsite park ticket package, DLP will be seriously shooting themselves in the foot. Even if in future you can only get FPs with Dream Passes, it would still generally be better value buying them and staying offsite, over getting an onsite hotel with no breakfast and no access to FPs .

Do DLP not consider that this re-organisation and sorting out the correct ticket type for each package bought will mean more money needed for the admin of all the different packages?

 

[markpsych]

so are fastpasses in the parks going to stop being free for anyone???!! This is not good at all! Do you think they will allow AP's unlimited FPs? This may determine weather we actually ever stay onsite again as from now on it looks like it will be AP's and offsite hotel.
Belle x

Like A Small World said above, I would imagine it simply means that you'll get a couple of extra fast pass' per person per day.

 

[DLPdaft]

If I'm understanding belle24, and Kizzabel's last post on this thread, there will be 4 tiers of packages for each onsite hotel - the lowest 2 tiers will have no fastpass facility at all on their park tickets, the 3rd has only 2 fastpass per day, and the most expensive tier has unlimited fastpass.
Everyone has unlimited fastpass now, on either a park ticket or an annual pass. So this, for me, would appear to be a major change.

 

[Ms Poppins]

I'm guessing that the 'no fastpass' does not impact on the fastpasses available in the machines in the park, but relate to the free ones issued currently at the DLH?

At the moment you get a fast pass per day, per person when staying at DLH, as a perk presumably as this is the most expensive hotel on site. (they used to do this at HNY too).

If that's not the case, then I'm curious as to how they would do this in general. What about people not staying on site? Would they no longer get to use the machines in the park either?

 

[aj2703]

So i was wandering up thru the Liberty arcade Tuesday morning when two CMs approached us. They asked if one of us would do a survey (and mentioned €50 to compensate as it would take an hour).
I jumped at the chance!

So I was brought upstairs in Walts and explained about the process. My retina movements would be tracked and I would be asked some questions about the layout and ease of use of a new look website (and new price structures/bands)
The idea of the retina tracking was to see where my eyes were drawn to and they would bring me thru a dummy booking with two different website styles.
They said they are changing/updating their site as they dont feel it informative enough or easy to use.

Firstly they did a retina/screen calibration (I was sat infront of a computer which was larger then normal and there were cameras and microphones an the lady conducting the tests was beside me with the controlling computer - I could click with the mouse but not bring up the following pages - she controlled that).

Then I was shown different layouts and pages - all for a dummy booking at the SL.
The new pages are more stream lined and easier to navigate - I was shown two differents styles and chose my favourite. There was more detail on each page, more options to change selections - like room type, dining plans, character meals etc but thats getting away from the main thing i gleamed from this survey.

Expect big changes for those used to their onsite packages.

There will be 4 tiered price bands:
Value: no fastpasses or breakfast included. 1 park/day
Value: plus: no fastpasses but breakfast is included, 2 parks ticket
Magic: breakfast, 2 fastpasses pp - dining options (cant quite remember but dinner or lunch is possibly included, 2 parks ticket
Magic plus: unlimited fastpasses, breakfast and I think dining included, 2 parks ticket

At that stage I was getting bogged down. It seems more like the American site where your base plan was very very basic. Just hotel and tickets.
The stingey side of me says C'mon Disney, seriously you want to take away the breakfast buffet from the budget confined??

The option to add character dining (breakfast, lunch dinner) was there too.

So initially you select dates and hotel. Then room type. (Possibily tickets next) Then additionals - food plans, character dining, fastpasses, BBWWS. A summary page. Then transportation. Then the payment page.

At the end of the hotel selection page they gave a much better additional offers summary - like to change to a different hotel and for different dates. I made the point that its harder to see the cheaper dates on the website - its clearly displayed on the brochure. The summary page also displayed the % saving you were making and you would receive an additional saving on BBWWS and fastpasses/dining if booked now.


They asked for my suggestions and I said the option to pre-reserve dinner times online as they allow to prepay for character meals and I made some wording suggestions too.

For the pleasure of having a good nosey at their webpage plans I received €50 in Disneyland Paris vouchers which we used in Auberge

If anyone wants to ask anything feel free - I'm sure I've forgotten something!

Lets hope the new site is Iphone friendly..!!

 

[otwidalepda]

I think that when the new website goes LIVE they deffinetely need to make the section on Fastpasses extremely clear so people actually know what they are going to get

 

[kizzabel]

Hey guys what I asked re FPs was the Magic tier having two FPs did that mean I could have two FPs at the same time e.g one for Peter Pan at say 11.00am and one for BTM at 11.30am (as in holding two FPs at the same time). No response.
I think I may have had the wrong idea but its all speculative until they reveal their new website!

 

[Ware Bears]

This has been interesting reading what fun to get to do the survey and even better, to get paid to do it!

Like others, I'm also wondering if the two fastpasses per person would mean two each per day like the one you now get if you stay at the DLH? And the unlimited fastpass would be like the VIP one that you get if you stay Castle club, suite or that you can now buy? I can't see them stopping the standard fastpass obtained with the park ticket/annual pass - I would be expecting these ones mentioned in the survey will be 'perks' for paying for a more expensive package.



I had to laugh at this

They said they are changing/updating their site as they dont feel it informative enough or easy to use.

I don't think any of the Disney sites are very informative (apart from DCL which is only slightly better than the others), if not for fan sites and message boards goodness knows where we'd be makes me wonder how people managed before the internet!

We've only been visiting DLP since 2005 but for those who've been going for longer ..... am I right in thinking that DLP didn't originally include breakfast in their packages but had to start including it following guest expectations? I'm sure I've read somewhere that's why they started the fantasyland breakfast in the park as the hotels weren't designed to cope.

It will be interesting to see when this rolls out and also how much of what Kizzy viewed will have been amended as I guess they must be taking your and other guests views into consideration or else why ask you.

 

[kizzabel]

They seemed happy that they'd found me because they said they were having a hard time finding someone who had used the site!! Well I think that in itself kind of reinforces the need for a decent website which is user friendly.

The new site looks alot more streamlined and alot easier to read and there are numberous ways of changing and tweaking your booking.

 

[loladelorean]

Another point which is perhaps related - a friend sent me a link to a DLP recruitment ad, http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/CORP/EN/Neutral/Images/uk-2011-09-13-european-recruitment.pdf

In the one she sent me from her uni website (cant find it now sorry) it also said they were looking for marketing people to revamp their marketing strategy. My absolute dream job, of course, given that I work in marketing but unfortunately i've just started out in my new job. One day....
Thought it added to the picture that they're taking a change of direction quite seriously but also reinforces my thoughts that changes will be quite long term.

 

[kizzabel]

At least they are changing some things for the better but if the price hikes up much more they will alienate alot of their repeat visitors. The under 7 offer is great but the price increases of late counteract the saving.

 

[princessesmegandaisy]

for us I would love to be able to book 2 rooms at once on the website we are a family of 5 and have to phone up everytime which is not always possible to do quietly if your surprising kids.

If it becomes more expensive we definately won't be able to go

Such a shame if they do take away the breakfast the ability to eat lots in the morning and therefore have a smaller lunch really helps with the budget

 

[Ware Bears]

for us I would love to be able to book 2 rooms at once on the website we are a family of 5 and have to phone up everytime which is not always possible to do quietly if your surprising kids.

We book our 2 rooms online and then link the second booking with the first reference number. Is it the second credit card fee that puts you off doing this? Although I agree it's annoying and downright cheeky (!) we go through Quidco so the cashback more than covers both sets of fees.