Just back today... lows + highs...

[anthony2k7]

As there's been a few of these threads recently I thought I'd have my own as well

Its been two years since we've been so wasn't too sure what to expect with the recent fairly negative threads on here. Oh, and this was our first trip with the dining plan.

Lets start with the positives!

• Parks looking very good! lots of painting going on and on the face of it very clean as well.
• Acceptable level of breakdowns - I'd heard maintenance had been slipping and lots of ride down time, but we did not experience this. SM was down one evening and BTM was down all today. But otherwise all ok!
• Dreams is awesome! - first time we've seen it
• Smoking - there seemed distinctly less people smoking in the parks - and none in queues etc. Not sure whats changed but its much appreciated!
• SL is great - first time there and absolutely would stay there again.

Now for the negatives, which unfortunately is a longer list!

• Toilets in the parks were consistently absolutely disgusting!
• Whilst rides were running, there were obvious maintenance issues as if they're desperately trying to keep stuff working over peak season. eg.. SM has a badly patched up roof, and quite a few effects missing. Rock n roller coaster, rode twice, first time sounded like speakers were blown and couldn't hear it at all, 2nd time music kept cutting in and out. Plus I'd guess around only half the lighting is working.
• Meal plan - what a mess!! They're desperately trying to get people to make reservations, yet when you come to make a reservation they tell you most are fully booked - yet when you walk up you seem to get priority over the people with reservations anyway?! Meal plan options on the menus are way too restrictive at the better restaurants whilst not value for money at the lower restaurants. No clues what to do about tips so assume most people no longer tip? - probably explains the mood of most restaurant staff! We ate at Plaza one dinner and saw three separate CM's flip and storm off from separate incidents! The restrictive opening times are definitely not helping the situation either. Compared to the meal plan at WDW, this is a disaster!
• McDonalds - what on earth were they thinking with those easy order kiosks?! they're in the way so its just carnage in there. Stood in line for 15 minutes without the crowd moving at all (there were no clear queues). We only wanted some quick late night munches! Definitely not what I'd call fast food. If they must have those kiosks they should be waterproofed and mounted outside to allow for clear queues inside.
• Pricing - prices of drinks/merch seem to have gone up considerably. Paying almost 10¬ per pint is NOT good!!
• Attitude of guests. We witnessed several occasions where guests were having full blown arguments with CM's- two of which I thought were going to get physical but luckily didn't. One of which was in Gibson girl ice creams caused by a ridiculous situation where apparently the main door cannot be locked (poor maintenance again?) so at closing there was one CM trying to stop people entering through both entrances and failing miserably. She eventually started piling the trash bins and chairs in front of one door to try to keep it closed - meanwhile Mr Angry comes in through the other door and does not see why closing time should apply to him. Oh dear.
• Following on from above, guests respect for the parks seems to be getting worse. People where trampling the grass and flowers to get the spots they thought they deserved to view the parades and dreams. Plus now there seems far less CM's around during parades and none at all for dreams to stop those guests.
• No sign of Wifi in the parks, Village or SL hotel. I wonder if the wifi implementation has stopped due to that immediate halt on all new projects?
• Concierge at SL very unhelpful with blunt un-engaging responses to questions. In hindsight, actually wish we'd taken a note of her name and complained. When asking for help on a day trip to paris responding with a are you stupid kinda look with "you need to get on the train, its in the big glass building" and when enquiring about restaurants "you need to book a table" ... "ok can you recommend one?" ... "no they're all booked" (see previous comment about walk ups!). Not helpful, not what I'd call a concierge service and not what disney service should be like.

 

[moorhunhe]

The patched up roof from SM might be from last July, while we were there, a part of the side, I think near the fast pass entrass (?) came down :/

Tipping is also not a common thing over there I've heard (France in general? Don't know), so I guess that's why hardly anyone does it.

Odd, you would think McDonalds would go quite fast.
Most of the time when you go to Videopolis to get a burger/fries, it can also take up to 20 minutes, while there are only like 6 people in front of you *sigh*

Totally agree on the drinks ... a bottle is now 3,09 €
Water is 20 or 30 cents less.

I've also noticed people not respecting the grass parts etc ...
Last months, OK, it was super hot 1 day, and everyone was just lying on the grass behind the little gates, like if they were sunbathing in their own backyard :/


I hope that overall you had a great stay though!

 

[chmurf]

Tipping is also not a common thing over there I've heard (France in general? Don't know), so I guess that's why hardly anyone does it.

Actually you don't need to tip in France

In French restaurants, it is required that a 15% service fee be included in the bill.


when you pay for your meal, there is an automatic 15% for service (aka tip). On most (if not all) restaurant checks, you'll see the mention of "service 15% compris"

whatever you choose to tip at a French restaurant is on top of that automatic 15% service fee.
Tipping is neither mandatory nor expected (which is rather different from the US for example)

So the waiters' "bad mood" is not related to a tipping issue. They get 15% no matter how bad their service is.

 

[anthony2k7]

Actually you don't need to tip in France

In French restaurants, it is required that a 15% service fee be included in the bill.


when you pay for your meal, there is an automatic 15% for service (aka tip). On most (if not all) restaurant checks, you'll see the mention of "service 15% compris"

whatever you choose to tip at a French restaurant is on top of that automatic 15% service fee.
Tipping is neither mandatory nor expected (which is rather different from the US for example)

So the waiters' "bad mood" is not related to a tipping issue. They get 15% no matter how bad their service is.

Interesting! Any idea how that works with the half board plan? Are the staff getting 15% of the list price of the food still?

 

[chmurf]

Interesting! Any idea how that works with the half board plan? Are the staff getting 15% of the list price of the food still?

2 possibilities : the waiter has a fixed wage which accounts for "service", or the waiter has a variable wage, which accounts for a minimum guaranteed wage plus a portion calculated on the restaurants income.

either way, this is paid in full by the restaurant.

The guest is free to add a gratuity

the "15% of the list price" is a bit more complicated.
Think of it as a "tax" on the total amount of the bill, designed to be integrated into the employee's salary.

CMs at DLP have a fixed salary, which is at least SMIC + 1% (SMIC = minimum wage in France = 9.43 euros per hour)
this salary will increase depending on position and on how long a CM has been employed.
There are also bonuses for wearing a costume (roughly 25% of the base salary), overtime, bank holidays, and so on.

This is very different from places like the USA where the minimum wage is very low and the waiters earn most of their living from tips.

So the issue is not to know if 15% of the list price go into the waiter's pocket, that's not how things are done. Those 15% you pay (wether OOP or in the meal plan) is integral part of the restaurants earnings, it's like a tax (another tax) and staff get paid based on a different calculation by the restaurant. And CMs get a fixed salary at the end of the month.
There might be bonuses for those who perform well, but their salary does not depend on how much food they have sold.

I hope this is not too confusing.

 

[DLPaddict]

I am not sure why you think the parks & village have wifi? Only the DLH and HYN offer free wifi at the moment.

So I'm not sure how this is a negative? You don't get free wifi in the parks at Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland either. It's not like DLP is behind the times with this one.

 

[anthony2k7]

I am not sure why you think the parks & village have wifi? Only the DLH and HYN offer free wifi at the moment.

So I'm not sure how this is a negative? You don't get free wifi in the parks at Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland either. It's not like DLP is behind the times with this one.

Maybe a little unfair to list that as a negative rather than just an observation.

Its been quite a few weeks since HNY was finished and rumoured that SL was next so was just hoping it would appear while we were there.

Progress on this seems very slow!

 

[Lisa_C]

I've just spent 8 days after we decided to extend our holiday - will respond later but I majorly disagree about the smoking, to the point we complained at City Hall. EVERY queue, including the beautiful carousel had smokers in it. It was purely disgusting how disrespectful a certain country was towards other guests and the disregard for the beautiful lawns was disgraceful