Disneyland Paris is in Trouble, and Fans Are Worried
Even though Orlando Theme Park News mostly covers only the park in the Central Florida area, there are going to be some exceptions every now and then. In fact, today we are going to talk a little bit about one of the best Disney Resorts ever created: Disneyland Paris, located in the heart of Marne-la-Vallée, in France (near Paris).
If you have ever been to Disneyland Paris (as a whole), you will agree with us when we say that it is a great Disney Resort. Unfortunately, it has always had major economic issues since it opened (think about the fact that the resort's second park - then known as Disney-MGM Studios Europe - was scheduled to open within two or three years after the grand opening of the Euro-Disneyland park, which happened in 1992. Instead, they had to wait TEN years to have a smaller version of that park, now known as the infamous Walt Disney Studios Paris).
Now, the entire resort is having even more trouble, as it looks the Walt Disney Company officially cut all the future investments for the resort for the time being. And - of course - fans are worried. Very worried.
We want to make sure our Readers understand that we never side with anyone when it comes to protesting about something (protest is never the answer, especially when it comes to these private companies), but it looks like some fans have just written a friendly letter that can be used to remind the Walt Disney Company that they have a magnificent Disney Resort in Europe, and that it definitely needs help. Personally, I (the OTPN Administrator) grew up with Disneyland Paris, and I still love it. I will never forget all the fantastic yearly vacations that I spent together with my family enjoying some of the most beautiful versions of classic Disney rides like Pirates of the Caribbean or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. That's why we want to share with you an e-mail that was recently sent to us by one of our Readers, Guillaume:
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Hi,
I'm a long time OTPN reader and I'd like to share with you this story:
You may have heard that Disneyland Paris is in very bad state, and it became even worse for the last months. Countless breakdowns, bad condition, closed attractions, restaurants, boutiques and no stage show and night time parade anymore. This situation is very sad and we want to raise the attention of the Walt Disney Company, which remains endlessly blind on that issue.
For that reason, along with a few other DLP locals/regular visitors from various European countries, we launched an open letter to The Walt Disney Company, asking them to finally step in at DLP. More than 3000 people have already signed it, I invite you to read it here: www.change.org/petitions/mr-bob-iger-ceo-the-walt-disney-company-save-disneyland-paris
We know it probably won't make Bob Iger say "Hey they're right, let's fix this and spend $2 billion in Paris!". We're just trying to make our voice heard.
Unfortunately it's not easy to reach overseas audiences with this project. However we think every person who cares about the Disney quality standard, the Disney parks/WDI, or the Disney brand in general should care about this situation and help us solve it for good. If you can help us promoting it, that would be fantastic.
Thank you very much, keep up the great work!
Regards,
Guillaume for #SaveDisneylandParis
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What do you think? Is the Walt Disney Company still interested in maintaining Disneyland Paris, or are they just trying to find excuses to... well, sell the entire resort (writing that made me feel so bad.)? Share your comments, opinions, and any personal experience you have had at Disneyland Paris in the past! Thank you very much.
Let us work on saving Disney World first
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with Disneyland Paris is the price. The main visitors are from the UK but booking 4 nights there is just as expensive as going to Florida for two weeks!!
ReplyDeleteDisneyland Paris needs some TLC. Instead of Disney building a new park in China, they should have divided that money for the Paris Resort, Disney World and maybe even a new attraction for Disneyland park in CA.
ReplyDeleteFix their Studios in Paris, its a mess, they really need more rides and the Ratatouille ride isn't going to cut it!
ReplyDeleteGive Paris a water ride!
ReplyDeleteI recently went on DLP website. There saying there top 5 attractions in the Disneyland Park is: Its a small world, space mountain mission 2, pirates of the caribbean, thunder mountain and buzz lightyear.
ReplyDeleteFor buzz light year to be in your top 5, the park as some problems. I agree, they something new!
Disney Studios Park in Europe is easily the worst Disney park there is. Not enough headliners and too many abridged clones of successful rides. That park needs the most work ahead of any Walt Disney World park.
ReplyDeleteAs someone mentioned above problem is the price
ReplyDeleteThere are MANY problems with DLP. As a visitor from the UK, the cost of a stay at DLP is only slightly less than travelling to Orlando for WDW.
ReplyDeleteThe staff at DLP are indifferent and some of them just downright rude.
The Hotels are not only overpriced, but haven't been upgraded since they were built. I stayed in the New York last year, and everything was the same as when I stayed 10 years ago, but grubbier and more expensive. And the standard of the food in the hotels has REALLY dropped.
The location is wrong. It should never have been built in France, and especially not in the area it is. Once the new theme park in Kent opens, I can see UK visitor levels dropping significantly.
Agreed, building this park in Paris was the first mistake. I would have picked Italy or something a bit warmer
ReplyDeleteMaybe if the disney company is put in the situation where they have to sale the resort, a company like the oriental land company will buy it up. Yes they are based in Japan but considering how well they run tokyo disney resort I think they could do the same thing in Paris.
ReplyDeleteIt's a horrid park unfortunatly. The sad thing is, its nothing to do with the park. It's the crazy prices (its actually CHEAPER for us to go to Florida from the UK than it is to go to DLRP).
ReplyDeleteThen you've got the cast members. It's shocking how rude they are.
As someone else said, once this new 'super theme park' opens in Kent, UK - nobody will bother going to a (smaller, and much more expensive) park in Paris.
I dont see DLRP surviving under its current ownership much longer. It'll eventually be sold off to someone new, who can carry on using the Disney name under license. I dont think it'll close completely, just be majorly reduced in size and cost.
Frankly, it's a disgrace from what I've seen. While I've never had the pleasure to travel to DLP personally I've heard a lot of folks enjoyed it in the past. I've seen several of the pictures and no Disney park should ever look like that. It's beginning to resemble Epcot but on a resort-wide scale which doesn't look promising unless something is done soon to fix it.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I can't see Disney selling the property or licensing it out. That just isn't their style, I suspect they'd bulldoze it to the ground before allowing someone else their product.
I've signed the petition myself and plan to add it into my blog also this week. I can't say if it will do anything but maybe if enough voices are heard, some improvements might happen.
I am French, and I also feel concerned about the state of DLRP.
ReplyDeleteLet me explain how is see it.
I have to agree with some of you that the prices are pretty expensive. But nonetheless, when you compare them to Disneyland CA's (which is also a 2-parks resort), it's more or less equal.
The issue, is that there is not enough offered for the price. But, until now, Euro Disney, the exploiting company had many issues with its debt (private banks, and all shareholders had to agree for investments to be made)...
Hence the lack of new rides.
Another major issue is that the Euro Disney company has to buy the WDC the rides they want to build (as technically they are two different companies) and this makes the construction prices extremely higher for our resort.
Because of that, they are saving as much money as they can to bring new attractions once every ten years (lol. it's not funny though).
As a result, the resort is falling apart: no refurbishments, no upgrades (Star Tour, Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor...), clear lack of live entertainment in the parks, less stage shows, less parades...
It's a vicious circle. People won't come unless there is new entertainment, and if people do not come, they won't build new entertainment as they don't get enough money.
BUT now the WDC bought the whole debt of the DLP resort, it's all in their hands. They are the ones who now decide of the new rides...
Still, I think, a buyback followed by a DCA's style makeover is the only thing that would solve the problem in the long term.
And it's getting extremely important to switch to long term strategies now.
Concerning, CMs being rude. Some are nice, some aren't that nice. But one person being rude, doesn't make all the CMs rude.
Anyway, I have visited both WDW and DLP and you can't deny, that CMs in WDW felt much more in the Disney mood. I just can't explain why.
But this is details, though details are important, they should start fixing the most important, then stick to these details.