Disneyland Paris Maintenance Update

[Malin]

I have recently come back from a trip to Disneyland Paris. I intend to write a full Trip Report when I get the time. But for now I would like to share with you some pictures showing some of the latest Maintenance updates going on around at the Resort. Including several areas of neglect I sadly encountered. I would like to point out I did not go looking for any of this stuff and it was clearly in view of all the Guests inside the park during the days that I visited.

Lets start with with Captain Hook's Pirate Ship out in Adventureland which is in clear need of a full refurbishment.

One of the walking Bridges over in Adventureland on the other hand appeared to be recieving a full refurbishment from top to bottom. This kind of cover up looks ugly but it was nice to see some TLC being given to a park which has faced thanks to bad financial results and poor Management years of neglect.

Taking a cruise of the Rivers of America I spotted the Molly Brown docked and completely covered up recieving a full refurbishment.

Sadly I was than reminded of a Disneyland Paris in another era when I found the Geyser's sat there not working. A cold reminder that we'll unlikely ever see this effect working again.

During my last visit in 2008, Phantom Manor was in serious need of a refurbishment. This time the attraction was closed so I did not get the opportunity to ride one of the signature attractions at this park. But I did see quite a few maintenance workers and Management walking around the grounds.

Leaving Frontierland I came across a small pond full of coke bottels and Maps. Would it take to much time for someone to fish out the crap in one of the parks water features.

So making my way into Fantasyland, I was suprised to see Alice's Curious Labyrinth in such good condition. Well except for the poor White Rabbit!

Where's his hand?

The following day I returned expecting to find the figure removed. Nope it remained on show minus no hand. Although Maintenance did notice the problem as the clock was picked up.

Yes I had to pinch myself to know if I was still inside a Disney Park or having some kind of nightmare.

Waiting in line for the Peter Pan attraction I was kept entertained by reading the hundreds of graffiti messages that people have writen over the years. Some of this stuff dates back to 94 and is all over the walls. Would it hurt to go over it with a lick of paint. I know times are hard but really is not excuse for this lack of respect by both the park Guests and Management who are quite happy to allow this stuff to be seen.

Mean while over at the Studios. The stickers were starting to peel off the Toon Studios Security booth.

Now TSPL had not been open more than a month and already Rex has been damaged.

However a few days later the damaged done to Rex had been addressed.

Thats it for my Park Mentenance update. I hope by posting these shots online you'll see just how happy Disney and its hand picked Management team are to let the standards continue to slip in Europe. There was of course the usual trash cans overflowing with litter. And Cast Members who's job it is to sweep the floors leaned up against a wall, while used cigeratte's were left on the floor. But I think you have seen enough horror for one day. Despite the negative post's I did actually have a good time. And I hope to share my good experiences with you very soon. Well all except for Toy Story Playland.

 

[wideeyes]

The moving Queen of Hearts was also in a right state, I remember looking at it and feeling embarrassed that American visitors would be seeing our park look like this! The paving stones in Fantasia Gardens also need some care.

Adventure Isle is one of our favourite parts of DLP so while it was disapointing parts of it was closed we are glad it is getting some attention.

 

[flortlebap]

Wow. Not great, is it?

However... To those people who haven't seen DLRP - it's not all like this. I suppose some degree of decay is inevitable!

I guess people have different tolerance levels. I mean the kids would be unlikely to notice most of those things. I've been to places where my enjoyment hasn't particularly been hampered by things like the above, we noticed that our hotel room once at WDW actually had cereals stuck behind that looked a year old but we'd still rate the hotel as great in general.

It is sad to see those things but I really hope people don't look at the thread and think it's all that bad!

Just out of interest - I note that LOADS of people have said the lighthouse near NPB needed a polish - did you happen to notice if that had been done? Just wondering what the refurb timescales are

I do think the scaffolding and nets look rather yucky though - what were they thinking

Hope you still had a nice time regardless!

 

[flortlebap]

Ooh btw - where was the graffiti? I don't remember seeing anything that bad but it's absolutely disgusting! More like something we'd see at Alton Towers over here...

 

[disney_princess_85]

Eek, not good. Thanks for sharing.

 

[DLPdaft]

Aww poor white rabbit

 

[noodlesmum]

I'm shocked at the white rabbit!! That's appauling!! Lets hope he gets fixed up ASAP!!

 

[ben1993]

The graffiti shocked me most tbh! I can't believe theres anything liek that in DLP

 

[kizzabel]

I agree about the queen of hearts and the NPB lighthouse is in a bad state of repairs. have they done anything with the pavement fron the rainforest cafe down to the DLP gates? they were in need of attention in may aswel

 

[Neta]

Did you take into consideration maybe sending them (DLP customer service or something) these photos and complaining?

I think it is significant they will know that people do notice all of this and that it definitely spoils The Magic...

 

[otwidalepda]

I don't think that this is Disneyland Paris' fault however, it seems to be children allowed to run wild and break everything because of the parents not caring. If Disneyland were to fix it all, the same thing will happen and show to be an expensive nothing.

 

[lisuhut]

Oh please ! You can not blame all that on children ,some yes, children did not make the hole in Hooks ship, they have not made all the pot holes in the paths,one of which i fell down when i was there last week,the park and hotels need a good clean and paint ,NPB childrens play area is disgusting and verydangerous, we were even treating to a worker in NPB urinating in the bushes by the loading bay ,a lovely sight from our balcony.
This is the reason i did not do a trip report as a lot of it would have been very negative, i have finished with DLP for a while and save my money for wdw.
The staff do not even try and enforce the rules about smoking ,they look on as people smoke in queues ,waiting for parades etc and no i am not an anti smoker as i smoke myself .
I feel DLP needs a good kick up the backside ,before all the magic has gone and with it park visitors

 

[wideeyes]

Well at least the swinging Pirate on POTC was actually swinging last week! A rare sight on my previous visits.

 

[otwidalepda]

Oh please ! You can not blame all that on children

Just to make it clear, I didn't mean that all of the damages had been the fault of children and their parents; only alot of it. By no means is it acceptable for Disney standard and Health and Safety wise but you have to understand from a financial state that if damages are caused by disruptive children constantly - they would be in even more of a loss each and every year than what they are now.

So it is understandable and you cannot deny that children are allowed to run riot due to uncaring parents but still it is not acceptable and no I am not saying all parents - just a small minority damaging the magic for the many.

 

[adr2.8i]

Wow!! i must have been walking around with my eyes shut last week because i didnt see half as much mess and decay has you have photographed!
although i did notice the graffitti in the peter pan section.

our walk from the santa fe via the disney village to the parks was also smooth and quite plesant, we didnt notice any issues with poor pavements, and im sure we would have noticed issues because we walked there everyday with a pushchair!

i thought the park looked pretty clean and tidy, although the pirate ship did look a tad rough to be honest.the toilets were spotless and i think its nigh on impossible to eradicate every single piece of litter in such a big area.

to us newbies it seemed in good clean condition but im sure if there are people who have been visiting the park since its opened then your bound to be seeing the park ageing......

smoking is the big issue though i feel......after only one visit i can see that already. theres areas to smoke for smokers but no-one adhears to it. and when security and cast members dont enforce the rules then it will never change. too me being a non smoker its simple.......the parks should be all non smoking....if you wanna smoke,go outside of the parks and smoke. There werent enough cast members around the parks to be able to stamp out the problem of smoking even if they wanted too from what i could see.

 

[mommy2ash]

Just to make it clear, I didn't mean that all of the damages had been the fault of children and their parents; only alot of it. By no means is it acceptable for Disney standard and Health and Safety wise but you have to understand from a financial state that if damages are caused by disruptive children constantly - they would be in even more of a loss each and every year than what they are now.

So it is understandable and you cannot deny that children are allowed to run riot due to uncaring parents but still it is not acceptable and no I am not saying all parents - just a small minority damaging the magic for the many.

i have to agree with you. i have seen countless children behaving horribly while their parents look on. look at how many photolocations have been placed behind barriers and why? they cant keep up with the amount of destruction caused by guests.

now dlp have fallen behind on a lot of maintenance. they tend to let stuff get so bad it is literally falling apart. i believe the blame should be placed both with guests and dlp management.

the ship is a shambles and the graffiti is disgusting. i know they recently painted over the graffiti in the peter pan ride. certainly from what i saw it was clear in march so i would be interested to know what part of the queue line that was in.

 

[wideeyes]

I have been going to DLP since 2005 so not as long as others here. TBH while I still love DLP, this trip was the first I felt a decline in the park. As well as issues of maintenance there was an obvious lack of quality entertainment. There is no shows like Tarzan and The Lion King anymore, the new generation show in the main plaza was just cheesy, the choreography was cringe worthy! The DLH looks like the only hotel that is maintained.

On my first visit to MK @ wdw I felt proud of DLP, because it looked aesthetically miles better, MK looked cheap and plastic and lacked the themeing of DLP however now I went around DLP thinking I would never see that at WDW! DLP can be so much better!

I thought the DLP cast members were fantastic, they are no worse or better than WDW cm. I saw lots of them picking up litter and sweeping up, they can't pick up every piece of litter as it is dropped though!

I think very little of the damage is caused by children, children can't damage stuff they can't reach or loosen paving stones!

 

[wideeyes]

the ship is a shambles and the graffiti is disgusting. i know they recently painted over the graffiti in the peter pan ride. certainly from what i saw it was clear in march so i would be interested to know what part of the queue line that was in.

It is just before the boarding the ride bit. My DBF commented on it. I think the 94 is probably the kids date of birth as it wasn't there before.

 

[jillrobinson]

There is a lot of work required around the park, I can't argue with that, poor Capt Hook won't get far in that boat, but just to redress the balance a little here's a couple of pics of current maintenance projects
( courtesy of Mouetto on DCP 23/09/2010 )

The geysers were damaged by the severe freezing temperatures earlier this year and apparently will cost 100 000 euros to repair, added to which there is speculation that to do so will require draining of the lake, so I wouldn't expect to see those working again for sometime.

 

[Neta]

There is a lot of work required around the park, I can't argue with that, poor Capt Hook won't get far in that boat, but just to redress the balance a little here's a couple of pics of current maintenance projects
( courtesy of Mouetto on DCP 23/09/2010 )

The geysers were damaged by the severe freezing temperatures earlier this year and apparently will cost 100 000 euros to repair, added to which there is speculation that to do so will require draining of the lake, so I wouldn't expect to see those working again for sometime.

These photos make me feel SO much better!
Neat and clean as it is supposed to be!