Since 1992 in DLP

[Bastia]

Hello every body , i 'am French , and i know DLP since 1992, 55 travels in the resort , all the resorts , my first visit was for the opening of EDLP and my last for Halloween in 2011.
If you have any question , don't worry i must to help you

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Bonsoir et bienvenue

I think you mean 1992

 

[Bastia]

Bonsoir et bienvenue

I think you mean 1992

Yes merci beaucoup

 

[Woolly]

Bastia, having completed 55 trips since the beginnig, how do think DLP has changed? For better and for worse.

How do the French currently view DLP in terms of it's value for money?

What is your top tip for

places to eat
each of the parks
hotels
rides

Thanks.

 

[jothp]

Welcome.

 

[chmurf]

How do the French currently view DLP in terms of it's value for money?

I'll try to answer that one, since Bastia and I are both on DCP (french forum)

Value for money ... well, more money less value. That's what many think. Of course you will find people who will invariably get excited for everything Disney, so, well, it's hard to say.
I can't say that we have an unbiaised opinion, because we are fans and regular guests, so we're more prone to seeing the little things that make us rant
But one things is for sure, it's that we are still here. So it means we are still enthousiatic and that we get our Disney fill despite some not-so-good things.

As for the general French guest, before talking about value for money, we need to talk about marketing policy at DLRP.
The tendency is to offer deals and bargains in order to fill the parks up with guests. So people will get tickets and packages for pretty much less money.
But on the other hand, rides and attractions are aging, overall maintenance is not what it used to, and we are yet to get new rides, attractions, and shows.
So more people, but the same amount of things to do.
Now how do you measure value for money under those circumstances ?
Prices sometimes go down due to deals and flash sales, and value is on the decline (as you may note on the lows on some TRs here)

So overall the value for money is maintained, but I tend to think it is artificial and cannot last for long.

What fans truely expect is that 20th anniversary will see much improvements in almost everything at the parks. There are some skeptics who think DLP won't be able to pull it out. But many are also really confident that 20th anniversary will make things better.

There is one lingering question on the French forum Bastia and I are roaming (and many more members here actually). Basically it asks if DLRP has lost of bit of its magic ...
I can only give you my answer : yes, it is on a downslope, but is it because I'm a regular ? How would it feel it I only went once a year or even less often ?
DLRP is not as shiny as it was back in 1992, and it's certainly not as glamorous as WDW.
But still we have a better "MK" (even though ours is called Disneyland), and one of the big differences is in distance and how big WDW really is as compared to our Paris parks.

But a visit at Disney's is always something you will enjoy if you come there with the right spirit.

French people, on a general basis, will find that DLRP is overpriced, but we still go, and in numbers.

BUT, more and more french people like me consider skipping DLRP, and using the money to book a trip to WDW. For we consider that it would be better to spend 2 weeks in Orlando every year or every 2 years than going 10 times to DLRP on the same year.
I did 25+ days (max 3 days in a row) at DLRP in 2011, I guess that's why I'd prefer some Florida sun for a change.
But once again, remember that, as a member of disney forums, I may not be representative of the general public who does a one-shot trip to DLRP

But if I were to speak my opinion on what the French general public feels, it would be like "Oh we had a great time, that was awesome, but geez that cost an arm"

 

[jillrobinson]

Just wanted to say thankyou to Bastia and chmurf for joining us
I'm a long time lurker of DCP, can't post on there I'm afraid as I have to rely on google to translate

It's a fantastic forum and my first stop when I'm looking for upto date information.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

I don't know anybody who pays full price though nor anyone who pays the sort of amounts that I get to see on here

We go as our AP's were cheap and we live 13 km away. When we lived in Paris itself we went twice a year on a 27€ 2 park - 2 day ticket (once in May or June and then again in September) that came through my works social committee. I mean when you can go for 15€ for the day it makes sense to use them

I'm there every week, sometimes 2/3 times a week if we go to the cinema or go and do our shopiing and then decide to pop in

So maybe I'm jaded in a sense as I think it is over priced if you pay the asking price and therefore not as "magical" as the person who is going to go once or twice a year or less.

I think most "French"vistors or let's say people who live in France go on cheap deals be them through their work, clubs, flash sales, friends and family deals etc etc and it's intersting and even frightening to see how low some people pay compared to vistors from abroad.

 

[Bastia]

Bastia, having completed 55 trips since the beginnig, how do think DLP has changed? For better and for worse.

How do the French currently view DLP in terms of it's value for money?

What is your top tip for

places to eat The Walt's
each of the parks DP
hotels Sequoia Lodge
rides TOT

Thanks.

I was at the opening in April 92 EDLP was a dream today DLP is a Disney park without dream , very more expansive , and the service the food the cm are no good . At the bigining i make 4 travel of Bordeaux to DLP , last year 1 , and in 2012 i go in WDW.
DLP has no money and no attraction for 2012 20130and more .....

 

[cherrymarzipan]

It’s funny; none of my French friends (from rural France) have been to Disneyland, either in Paris or the US and frankly view our constant visits with incomprehension! To be fair the friends are, like us now, slightly older with teenage or adult children. The only family I know who do parc d’attractions go to Parc Asterix. Our children have grown up with DLP though and it really is like a second home, especially to DS2 (third of four children) who has severe learning difficulties and to whom Disneyland is an obsession.

We are probably in the minority in Britain not to have visited any of the big theme parks there like Alton Towers but I wonder what proportion of families throughout France do visit DLP at least once? My gut feeling and very limited experience is that the idea of visiting such a park is a far less common idea in France and the proportion would be less. What do you think?

 

[Carrie_Cat]

It’s funny; none of my French friends (from rural France) have been to Disneyland, either in Paris or the US and frankly view our constant visits with incomprehension! To be fair the friends are, like us now, slightly older with teenage or adult children. The only family I know who do parc d’attractions go to Parc Asterix. Our children have grown up with DLP though and it really is like a second home, especially to DS2 (third of four children) who has severe learning difficulties and to whom Disneyland is an obsession.

We are probably in the minority in Britain not to have visited any of the big theme parks there like Alton Towers but I wonder what proportion of families throughout France do visit DLP at least once? My gut feeling and very limited experience is that the idea of visiting such a park is a far less common idea in France and the proportion would be less. What do you think?

According to a survey done last January in France and published in Metro 58% of the poll said they'd visited Disney

http://www.metrofrance.com/fr/article/relaxnews/2011/03/31/XHCUvLbSpkrx8T7OI7w72g/index.xml

I know that going by the years end 2010 figures, 51% of the visitors to the park were from France and then you get the Uk following with 12%, Spain with 9% and so on

Interesting to see the 2011 figures and see if they remain this way

Edit - When they had their 250 million visitor in November, 49% were coming from France and the Uk had gone up to 13%

 

[Bastia]

During 20years I'm coming in DLP with my child's , friends and today my childs like DLP and many friends are going 2 or 3 time to DLP but the difference for me it's the fan who is in Paris and who go all we in DLP , and people like me fan , but realist of DLP is a bad trip today.
I was in DLp for Halloween wih 40 members of a french forum and the experience was bad very bad .
For example this year we go to Futuroscope for our meeting.... every body say the same thing DLP change in worse , DLP is very expensive , no dream in the park , and for me in March it's my 3em travel in WDW in 3years and only 2 travels in DLP......

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Interesting article, thank you. I'm surprised at 58% which seems quite high to me. Our friends all visit the more local, smaller parcs de loisirs en famille but Asterix seems to be the park chosen for school trips. Asterix has never appealed to me, I may be being unfair to it but the view from the motorway looks totally uninspiring! Now Futuroscope I have always wanted to go to but never managed yet.

 

[chmurf]

France has some issue with non-French stuff. At one point they even called that "l'exception culturelle" (cultural exception).
Disney is considered as pure American imperialism, whereas Asterix is the pure French character. Disney is not very welcome in France for an undetermined fraction of the population
So this factor comes into play when it comes to visiting one park or the other.

There is also the cost. Regular rate for Asterix is €43 when DLRP is €71 (that's the base price, without any discount). So even with discounts it's plain to see that Asterix will be cheaper than Disney

Rides are also not the same. Asterix is a little more based upon thrill rides, when DLRP is more family style.

But overall there is no way you'd drag me into Asterix again.
If you think people are rude in DLRP, if you can't stand queue jumping, and other rude behaviour, then just imagine that what you see in DLRP is only a fraction of what you'd see in Asterix.

Futuroscope is cool, but nothing to write home about (IMHO). I think it is severely overrated. Of course there are some good, amazing things, but it's not in the same league as Disney.

But I have to admit that in my previous post I used rather diplomatic formulas and euphemisms. I didn't want to go the whole nine yards like Bastia did, but ... well, DLRP seriously needs to get their act together, and make quite a great deal of efforts to win its place back into the Disney spirit and standards. But as was said, there is no money left, which is fairly astonishing since the parks are always packed. Very poor staff management and employment policies, and so on.
Don't worry though you'll still enjoy your stays at DLRP, but if you come back from a 10 years break, or if you made WDW in a recent past, then you'll notice that something is off.

Still I can't completely downplay DLRP, because it's still loads of fun and magic, but the more it goes, the less magic I manage to find.
I'm not sad or full of regrets or sore, actually I'm infuriated, I'm mad at those who are in charge, the higher ups of DLRP, and their very poor management. I just can't believe how they turned our wonderful and magical park into an average state fair thingy

 

[Bastia]

The policy of DLP today is to offer stay with-50%, there is many people in the parks too same, and the experince is no good for DLP People take promotion but spend little or not in the park, for me DLP is in danger and I do not think of going back there for the moment, the prices are raised too much and mediocre quality.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Asterix is very popular with certain people, backgrounds etc but we hated it. It's a lot more geared to teenagers with the rides imho and it's not magical at all. Reminded me of Lightwater Valley where I worked for a while.

Disney next to it has amazing customer service,food offerings and cleanliness and that's not saying a lot

My OH who grew up with Asterix and therefore could have been all for it thought it dismal and sinistre and even though it's cheaper and we could have special offers over there wouldn't return

Never been to Futuroscope even though we've been several times to Poitiers, must try to one day

 

[Donald Ducks wife]

Asterix is very popular with certain people, backgrounds etc but we hated it. It's a lot more geared to teenagers with the rides imho and it's not magical at all. Reminded me of Lightwater Valley where I worked for a while.

Disney next to it has amazing customer service,food offerings and cleanliness and that's not saying a lot

My OH who grew up with Asterix and therefore could have been all for it thought it dismal and sinistre and even though it's cheaper and we could have special offers over there wouldn't return

Never been to Futuroscope even though we've been several times to Poitiers, must try to one day

i have been to futuroscope back in 2002 with a trip with school, really enjoyed it, the shows etc were fab, but in my opinion, its not as good as disney.
would you know how far away futuroscope is from dlp? would like to visit it again

 

[Carrie_Cat]

i have been to futuroscope back in 2002 with a trip with school, really enjoyed it, the shows etc were fab, but in my opinion, its not as good as disney.
would you know how far away futuroscope is from dlp? would like to visit it again

I don't think you can compare the parks as they have nothing in common but I think it must be good to see at least once

By train from Paris (Montparnasse) to Futuroscope it's between 1h21 and 5hrs depnding if you go direct or via places.

There's also Ryanair that goes from London or Edinborough plus a short 15 minute taxi ride

Or you can drive which is what we do and it's 350 km roughly from here

 

[Bastia]

I like DLP but i love WDW, where i can post for my travel in March

 

[Bastia]

In just 50days my 3 travel to WDW