What should happen to Village after the takeover?

[Dingdingding]

Disney Village has lots of problems: it is run down, it is very nineties, there are empty spaces, etc.

This can all be changed with some minor and major changes. First they could build some nice facades to the halls on the north side. It needs to change for the better and become more like Downtown Disney in Disneyland Anaheim and Disney Springs in Orlando. Possible additions could be a real bakery, an ice cream parlor, more variation in the restaurants (something besides burgers and tex-mex, perhaps an upscale restaurant) and a grand theatre.

Another problem Disney has (along with Disneyland Shanghai) is the route to the park from the parking. All kinds of undesirable, sometimes aggressive salespeople, trying to sell you tickets for the park or junk. This is due to the fact that a lot of land in the area isn't owned by Disney (they are trying to buy bits at the moment but the municipality who owns the land isn't that keen on selling because of some conflict with the commuters at the train station). Because of that visitors are hassled on their route and arrive at security posts that are still temporary (for years!); just some tents.

The only problem is: the land of the parking area (and route to the park) isn't owned by Disney but by Sanef (who also owns the French toll roads), the big round square in front of the train station is owned by Disney but due to French laws they can't deny anyone there.

This would be my plan, which also features a hotel (which is rumored for years) like the Boardwalk in WDW with shops underneath. Only question is: is that possible with Paris' tight security?

Yellow: new shops and restaurants
Blue: security checks with the two in the west of a more permanent nature
http://imgur.com/a/bpX3n

 

[cwis]

I would love to see the security border in front of Vapiano move, but I'am not sure it would be allowed. As you mentionned, French law requires Disney to provide a free passage around public areas. If I'm correct, a new exit for the RER train station is going under construction on the following weeks, scheduled to open mid 2018. Obviously, that exit would not be allowed within the security controlled area.

As for your plan for a hotel, this would require Disney to relocate the Disney Areana to some other location. Also, while I would definitively enjoy a new Disney hotel, I'm not quite sure what kind of hotel DLP currently misses. Would it be a deluxe? With the upgrade of the NPBC, I'm not sure there is a need for that. A new moderate? There is already two around the lake (NWY and SL). A value? That would be too close of all the fun.

 

[Dingdingding]

I would love to see the security border in front of Vapiano move, but I'am not sure it would be allowed. As you mentionned, French law requires Disney to provide a free passage around public areas. If I'm correct, a new exit for the RER train station is going under construction on the following weeks, scheduled to open mid 2018. Obviously, that exit would not be allowed within the security controlled area.

As for your plan for a hotel, this would require Disney to relocate the Disney Areana to some other location. Also, while I would definitively enjoy a new Disney hotel, I'm not quite sure what kind of hotel DLP currently misses. Would it be a deluxe? With the upgrade of the NPBC, I'm not sure there is a need for that. A new moderate? There is already two around the lake (NWY and SL). A value? That would be too close of all the fun.

The problem with Vapiano (and Five Guys in the near future) is that it is after security and even then in some remote corner. If they can make it some kind of round walkway it would promote walking the shopping area some more, especially if the route to the parking is trough village.

Their occupancy rate is around 80 % in 2015 (same as in Orlando in 2013 I believe) but that includes months like January and February and with dwindling visitors numbers at the parks. If there will be some expansions, you can expect some growth in the hotel occupancy. There have been plans for two new hotels for some years now, but only (the super ugly) Villages Nature is being build at the moment.

 

[Jonjo]

The DLP occupancy rates are very deceiving as in 2015 for example over 500 rooms were out of circulation due to the refurbishment of the Newport Bay Club Hotel. Occupancy at DLP is around 70% so until the occupancy rates increase there is no need for another Disney hotel at the moment.

There is a solution to the problems the Disney Village has - it's called a bulldozer. The whole area needs to be knocked down and redeveloped. When Festival Disney was first opened it had a good mix of restaurants and night life, now it's just full of burger bars and looks very dated.

The French courts have told DLP to remove the security check point in the Village outside the train station as it is on 'public land' belonging to the local authority and Disney never had permission to erect it. It's be a long on-going court case that went to the high court of appeal last month and Disney lost.

The whole area needs to be re-designed to alow public access to the train and bus station while still allowing a secure transit route for hotel guests to gain access to the two theme parks.