Disney Disaster - Just back from Disneyland Paris - It was not a good trip!

[SpottyDog]

PS Am I the only one who is sad to see the anti-French feeling in this thread?

Since I started it, I have to point out that my comment was slightly tongue in cheek.
However, having had nothing but poor experiences whenever I've encountered French people in a busy public place (ie one requiring patience and consideration for others - never mind, simple 'taking your turn' courtesy) the result has been one of dismay and not little displeasure on my part- the upset this apparent National indifference has caused has tended to spoil my day.

So while my comment was meant slightly tongue in cheek it was a valid expalnation as to why I chose not to visit DLP and I did acknowledge that the weather too would be below par and not help me to enjoy a holiday of a lifetime.

I accept that many here have much more experience of France in gerneral and DLP in particular and bow to their better knowledge and recommendation.

I apologise for any offence caused - particularly to any polite and considerate French DISers looking in.

 

[richard3330]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your problems, Sue. Like everybody else has said make sure you write to DLRParis and sort it out with them.
However, We love DLRParis, especially for a short break, we have never had any problems there in the past. I think that DLRParis is much more beautiful and relaxed compared to WDW and everything is so close together which is great, we also love the DLRParis hotels and Disney Village. Some people may have had bad experiences and just because they have not enjoyed some where it doesn't mean that you wont. We have been to DLRParis before in the pouring rain and IMO the park had excellent undercover areas and provision for when typical North European Rain occurs. Steph, IMO you can't say you don't think you would like DLRP until you have tried it

Richard.

 

[KiwiSue]

I am sorry that I seemed to have caused a bit of a debate here. I would like to just clarify a few points with regard to my holiday. I fully realise that a lot of what happened to us was a mixture of bad luck and bad timing. I do not hold Disney entirely to blame for the weather! Rob, I know that you love DLP especially and I hope I don't ruffle too many feathers here. But although there may be some ways of getting around the park relatively dry, these places are only known to a few, not the majority. Yes, many of the queueing areas are undercover. But if the queue is over 20 or so minutes (common in peak season) then it will usually spill outside the covered areas and then we are forced to queue in the rain. The majority of the pushchair parks are not covered. This may seem picky to some of you. But to me Disney is a park which markets itself to families. Families mean children and children mean pushchairs. I know that I chose to visit in the winter. But Disney sells this as a peak season visit and charges peak season prices. Therefore I think they should make more effort to cater for the rain. I would have been more understanding if I was paying low season prices - you expect low season treatment and having to put up with a bit of inconvenience then! With regard to the people. I know I will ruffle feathers here! The park staff and the hotel staff were absolutely charming and I cannot fault anyone one associated with Disney in terms of courtesy and politeness. Outside the park I found it quite disturbing the amount of contempt that I was often treated with. My husband speaks fluent French but we still encountered a very unfriendly attitude that I found difficult to ignore. I have traveled a lot overseas and I am used to being a 'fish out of water' in a foreign country. But I was astounded at how rude many of the locals were. I have had Zino (7 years) physically pushed over by a woman rushing to get past him in a shopping centre. I have had Zak (20 months) left in tears after a woman stood on his foot and then wacked him in the face with a shopping bag. Accidents always happen in crowded places, but what astounded me was the simple lack of apology or 'excuse me' or any sign of courtesy. Zino even made a comment on our first day 'Mum, I think the people in this country haven't been taught any manners.' I'm pretty thick skinned when it comes to taking offence, but I was left furious on many occasions at just a lack of simple courtesy. Sorry if I have added fuel to the fire of this debate. Oh - and I must point out. Today Zino said to me 'Mum, when can we go back to Disneyland Paris, I really liked it there.' I told him I have started saving for Florida........now I just have to figure out how to convince my husband!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

No feathers ruffled here Sue. I'm not blind to DLP's faults, and have probably written to DLP to complain more times than most people on this board in the 8 years that I've been visiting the park. Why not write to DLP to explain your frustration at the insufficient covered areas for pushchairs (the address is at the end of this post). I've also been endlessly frustrated by the lack of what I consider to be common curtesy (by all nationalities) in queues while skiing in France or visiting DLP - although this is no worse than I experience when commuting into London or visiting Thorpe Park, to name but two examples. I'm sure that this also happens from time to time in WDW (check out the latest Jim Hill article on Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom).

For me, all of this pales into insignificance when compared to the beauty and wonder of the Disneyland park in Paris. Sure it's not perfect, and neither are the guests who visit it (including me, no doubt), but bad weather or behaviour which falls below my expectations aren't going to stop me from having a wonderful time when I visit.

Regards

Rob

Guest Relations
EuroDisney SCA
BP 103
77777
CEDEX 4 Marne-la-Vallee
Paris
France

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Just wanted to add Sue, after reading your comments, I think that whether or not your were in Peak season or Low season EVERY Disney guest, regardless of what they've paid, should feel that they've been well treated - that after all is s'posed to be the "Disney way" IMHO

 

[BevS97]

hi Sue,

I know where you are coming from, we encountered many of the same problems, particularly the pushchair in the rain problem, although for us this was in Orlando. It rains a lot in Orlando too (albeit it's warmer rain), and the pushchair areas are not covered there either. We tried to make sure we always left the pushchair covered with a poncho before we left it, but sometimes we forgot and a soaking wet pushchair is not particularly pleasant for a child to sit in.

Bev

 

[lisag1]

Just to add I have also experienced extreme rudeness from the french when outside the Disney Parks. We were turned away countless times to restaurants when we visited France last year. I don't speak very good french, for which I apologise and I understand the language barrier can be difficult but I do understand "non" and the fact we were refused entry to restaurants and five minutes later people were walking in made me reach boiling point!!! Maybe it's because we have young children but I just didn't find it very child friendly. Plus when we visited France it rained constantly for five days and whilst in DLP we only managed an hour there because of the TORRENTIAL rain even the Disney poncho's couldn't save us and this was in August!!!

I'm not anti-french and we're looking into booking another week in the half term caravanning - hopefully the bad weather will hold off for us. In the meantime I'll start polishing up my French!!

Lisa

 

[KarenUK]

Hi everyone

I am a great lover of DLP and it will always hold a special place in my heart as much as I love WDW. However, as Rob also said, I am not blind to its faults and have writted to customer services on several occasions.

One thing that I will say is that the fact that we generally only visit DLP for a few days, if you do hit a bad spell of weather it can be totally off putting and can cloud your judgement of the whole park. When we visited WDW last time we had 1 - 2 days of rain in the middle of our stay (I have never been so wet as I was going round Epcot!) but after that the sun came out and everything was lovely again. But what if those 2 days had been our entire stay (like a short break at DLP?) and our first visit? Maybe we wouldn't have gone away with such magical feelings about WDW. If the rain takes up a couple of days of a 2 week stay you can put off certain activities until the weather is better an perhaps not choose to wait in that long queue that is not under cover. But if you only have 2 days what do you do? And the pressure to see and do 'it all' in a short time and in th reain and cold can get you down!

Sadly though, I can understand that those that have had this sort of experience being put off trying again. I'm sure I would under the circumstances also.

We visited DLP between Christmas and New Year last year and, although we did enjoy it and were glad we went and saw the decorations etc, we said that we would not go back again at that time of year while the children are still young (youngest currently 8 so not very young even then). We didn't have all bad weather but one day there was a blizzard and every day was bitterly cold. And very crowded and expensive! No spring or summer for us in future I think!

Karen

 

[Olaf]

This thread calls in to question the location. I remember (years ago) when Disney decided to build in France. Just about everyone thought it was a poor decision, for a myriad of reasons--chief among them was weather. I mean why didn't they build in Spain? I guess France is more centrally located, but the weather is awful.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

The French government offered more money (by way of infrastructure costs/lower taxes/etc) than the Spanish government. Paris is also easy taravelling distance for a very large population, by road, rail and air.

One of the sites that Disney also looked at was east of London. Sadly Disneyland Romney Marshes (DRM!) doesn't have quite the same ring to it as DLP...

Regards

Rob

 

[Olaf]

No kidding (about the UK), I didn't know that! Now that would have been cool. But . . . the weather still would have . . . well you know.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Originally posted by lisag1
Just to add I have also experienced extreme rudeness from the french when outside the Disney Parks. We were turned away countless times to restaurants when we visited France last year. I don't speak very good french, for which I apologise and I understand the language barrier can be difficult but I do understand "non" and the fact we were refused entry to restaurants and five minutes later people were walking in made me reach boiling point!!!
Lisa

This reminds me of a situation a few years back. At the time some Brits were getting a bad reputation for getting drunk on the cross channel ferries and causing trouble in restaurants in Calais. Someone reported in the papers, having seen a sign on a Calais restaurant door saying 'Ouverte' and under this, the translation 'Closed'.

Andrew

 

[SimonV]

Just to add a quick thought of my own (and I think Rob sums up my general opinion on DLP pretty well), but if there is one thing that will colour your opinion of any holiday it is the weather, and bad weather is an absolute killer. As a quick eg, we did MVMCP at the MK last month - in torrential rain. I have never been so wet (or cold!) in Florida, and every outdoor event (except the FITS fireworks) was cancelled. We practically had to wade out at the end and all four of us were pretty much soaked through. Now, if this had been our only day at the MK, I think our opinion of the park would have been less than complimentary (to put it mildly) as there were few places to keep dry, and the rain kept going (heavily) all evening. Fortunately, we were able to return two days later (without the rain!) and it was a very different story. I'm afraid Paris is always likely to be a gamble in the winter, hence the need to be ready for it (waterproofs, galoshes, wellie boots, flippers, etc!) and to study the park in advance for the attractions that are under cover, the ways to get around under some kind of roof or shelter and the alternatives when the weather is really nasty (SeaLife, Val D'Europe, etc) (and no, this is not an advert for a forthcoming DLP book ). So sorry you had a bad time Sue, but your thoughts are still worthwhile.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by SimonV
(waterproofs, galoshes, wellie boots, flippers, etc!)

Waterproofs are always on our packing list when visiting DLP, although I have to say that on occasions in Orlando I had wished I had also packed a snorkel the rain has been so heavy!

Regards

Rob

 

[Olaf]

Whaaaaat! You guys don't like our downpours?! We just do everything big over here.