Just Back - Stayed off site

[crazyfordisney2000]

We (my husband, adult daughter and I) went March 26 and 27th and stayed March 25-28 at Hotel Elysee Val d’Europe. Wow, we are accustomed to Disney World so this was a change for sure. We found wait times were so much more reasonable and we had a fantastic time. I was unsure since we didn’t have early entry, but that didn’t affect our time in the parks at all. The Hotel had free shuttle and we utilized it and loved it. It was 5 min to the parks. We even used the train once and it was so convenient since it’s 50m from the hotel. I thought it was perfect for us. We got a suite with breakfast, so had lots of space in the room and the beds were soooooo comfortable. It was cheaper (when you add hotel cost plus tickets) than staying on site and I don’t think that after this experience I have any interest in staying on site. We got on things multiple times. The food surprised me, I read how horrible it is in comparison to Disney World. We ate at Pims Kitchen and it was delicious, and other than that just did quick service. Had Mickey pizza and the best chicken bites yum! We are discussing going back again instead of Disney World. It was such a nice way to end our European vacation. Felt like we got the best of both worlds.

 

[Teamubr]

We are discussing going back again instead of Disney World.

Thanks for the TR.

We are from the US and also love DLP. While we will still do WDW (just spent 2 weeks there last November), we will probably cut back on the Florida trips and substitute with DLP trips instead. A DLP trip, even including airfare, is about half the price of a similar stay in Florida. Plus we get to spend extra time seeing parts of Europe we haven't been to. I'm not a big foodie, but I found the food at DLP to be "good enough". Are there better places at WDW? Certainly!, but I don't do Disney for the food.

j

 

[Cyberc1978]

IMO I think DLP sucks. We visited in 2011 and there was absolutely no magic at all.

The cast members or in this case maybe I should say grumpy employees had a hard time smiling, and I got the feeling that working at DLP could might as well had been any other job, like working at a 7-11.

And what's up with their popcorn? instead of salt they put sugar on them, dang that had a bad taste.

Back then the wait times was horrible like 60-90min or more was common.

So even though DLP is much closer than WDW I much prefer WDW anytime over DLP.

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

IMO I think DLP sucks. We visited in 2011 and there was absolutely no magic at all.

The cast members or in this case maybe I should say grumpy employees had a hard time smiling, and I got the feeling that working at DLP could might as well had been any other job, like working at a 7-11.

And what's up with their popcorn? instead of salt they put sugar on them, dang that had a bad taste.

Back then the wait times was horrible like 60-90min or more was common.

So even though DLP is much closer than WDW I much prefer WDW anytime over DLP.

Funny you mention the popcorn, they had the choice of sweet or salty, we chose salty and it was better than most popcorn we got in Florida. To begin with, it wasn’t stale. I feel like at least 50% of the time we always get stale popcorn in Florida and find it very annoying. We also just liked the flavour better.

As for the cast members, that hasn’t really changed. But I had read about that, so I knew what to expect. We did run into the odd one that was more in their role, but that was a rarity.

 

[Karin1984]

I got the feeling that working at DLP could might as well had been any other job, like working at a 7-11

Because it is? Working at Disney is not a lifelong dream in Europe as it is for many castmembers in the US. It is a job like any other and with high unemployment rates, a bad job or an unsatisfying job is better than no job.

We all know that Disney is not a great employer, but in the US you can probably get fired over not-smiling, so they smile till their cheeks hurt over there.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Because it is? Working at Disney is not a lifelong dream in Europe as it is for many castmembers in the US. It is a job like any other and with high unemployment rates, a bad job or an unsatisfying job is better than no job.

We all know that Disney is not a great employer, but in the US you can probably get fired over not-smiling, so they smile till their cheeks hurt over there.

Just like a customer service employee your job is to help the customer and smile while doing so.

When customers visit DLP they expect to experience the Disney magic. That’s not happening when the employees are not smiling are acting all grumpy.

But true it’s a job like any other job, however I’d expect that the job description says that you are expected to smile and appear happy while they work.

That’s why it would be more than fair to let those people go who doesn’t have what it takes - just like any other job.

 

[Woodview]

hen customers visit DLP they expect to experience the Disney magic. That’s not happening when the employees are not smiling are acting all grumpy.

Europeans dislike the false smiles They just wish to do the Theme Park things

It just happens to be a Disney park

 

[Cyberc1978]

Europeans dislike the false smiles They just wish to do the Theme Park things

It just happens to be a Disney park

No we Europeans don’t dislike the false smiles. Maybe some do but definitely not everyone - I think it’s the same for the Americans.

But I think everyone regardless of where they come from dislike grumpy customer faced employees.

I work for a Bank and all customer faced employees are expected to behave a certain way and dress a certain way. All non customer faced can more or less do what they want.

I’d expect nothing less from Disney regardless if the park is located in Europe or U.S.

With that said, I know that the French are grumpy by nature but it’s never too late to learn a dog some new tricks.

 

[Karin1984]

With that said, I know that the French are grumpy by nature but it’s never too late to learn a dog some new tricks.

Yeah... that is never going to happen. If it ever will be, it will not happen in any of our lifetimes. It will take another decade or so before smoking is to an "acceptable" level, but the fake smiles, not going to happen in the coming century.

It is not in the culture.

To me it really comes down to nostalgia where the difference lies between the US and Europe. When you look at the biggest themepark in the Netherlands, Efteling, there I see more of the smiles you probably are looking for, because the park is such a part of our history, especially to those who live in that area.

When I worked in customer facing jobs for our national airline, it was required to be friendly when interacting etc. But smiling was not part of the job description.

 

[Cyberc1978]

Yeah... that is never going to happen. If it ever will be, it will not happen in any of our lifetimes. It will take another decade or so before smoking is to an "acceptable" level, but the fake smiles, not going to happen in the coming century.

It is not in the culture.

To me it really comes down to nostalgia where the difference lies between the US and Europe. When you look at the biggest themepark in the Netherlands, Efteling, there I see more of the smiles you probably are looking for, because the park is such a part of our history, especially to those who live in that area.

When I worked in customer facing jobs for our national airline, it was required to be friendly when interacting etc. But smiling was not part of the job description.

You are probably right it’s not happening in our lifetime.

The U.S has always or for very long time been the front runners for the good but also the bad when it comes to customer facing jobs.

It’s been my experience that more and more companies here in Europe are now using a job description - what is expected from you and what your job entails.
Being “friendly” could be interpreted to that you need to smile - because even if you are friendly with the words coming out of your mouth but if you look über grumpy people will not say that you are “friendly” solely because of your looks.

Going back to DLP discussion we are not going back to DLP and when we eventually have grandkids we are not bringing them to DLP only WDW and DLC

 

[Teamubr]

No we Europeans don’t dislike the false smiles. Maybe some do but definitely not everyone - I think it’s the same for the Americans.

With that said, I know that the French are grumpy by nature but it’s never too late to learn a dog some new tricks.

This conversation fits with the stereotype Americans have of the French. Thankfully, I haven't seen too much of it when I travel. Or maybe I just expected it, so I wasn't surprised. I'm also one that finds the "fake", overly dramatic, smiles a bit annoying. If you want to be grumpy, have at it.

Yeah... that is never going to happen. If it ever will be, it will not happen in any of our lifetimes. It will take another decade or so before smoking is to an "acceptable" level, but the fake smiles, not going to happen in the coming century.

It is not in the culture.

This cracked me up. I had a conversation with a Frenchman last year about cultural differences. This came up and he said they were proud if it. I think he was partly joking, but he didn't deny it.

When you look at the biggest theme park in the Netherlands, Efteling, there I see more of the smiles you probably are looking for, because the park is such a part of our history, especially to those who live in that area.

Nostalgia may play a part, but I just found the Dutch to be happier.

Either way, I try to be polite, learn some basics of the local language and play "dumb American" if all that fails. In the words of Elsa, I let it go.

j