Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

inspector_monkfish

ijth wrote: »

Hello everyone

I’m afraid we didn't have our usual excellent experience at DLP last week. This was the fourth year in a row that we (a family of four) have stayed for 4 days in February and the first time I’ve had cause to complain. The main issue was the frequent ride closures we experienced over our stay. Without going into laborious detail, we experienced numerous problems:

Buzz Lightyear shut for two lengthy periods
Indiana Jones shut most of the first two days
Big Thunder Mountain shut for various periods
Peter Pan shut from 8.30am to 9.15ish on one day (despite being one of the few rides open in the “extra hours” promotion)
Phantom Manor shut for various periods
Crush’s Coaster shut most of Friday morning
Rock and Roller Coaster shut Friday morning
Animagique performance curtailed (Friday again - ran out of things we could do so went back to the main park!)
Various FastPass machine closures/faults

In addition to these rides that we found shut, the noticeboards were showing other rides shut at other times. When the two rollercoasters in the Studio park were shut together, the queues on the other rides and attractions were obviously enormous. When Indiana Jones and Big Thunder Mountain were both closed together, it effectively closed most of one side of the park for major rides and pushed large numbers of people onto other rides such as Space Mountain.
We did complain and were issued with a pass for a ride of our choice which we used to good effect but it was small consolation to two 8-year-olds who had walked back and forth for three days to rides that were shut.

I can accept that very technical rides occasionally go wrong and that they are closed for safety reasons. It does arouse suspicions that perhaps they are not maintained as well as they might be to reduce costs – I know other theme parks are closing rides or running on reduced capacity to reduce maintenance costs in the current economic climate. It was certainly a poor experience this year compared to the previous three trips. I can only remember Big Thunder Mountain being closed occasionally for short periods on other visits.

We are going to very carefully consider whether we visit next year. I hope that we were just unlucky but the ride closures, in conjunction with noticeably fewer parades and Lion King being dropped make me wonder if DLP are cutting costs. I hope not because we have had three excellent holidays there and have recommended many relatives and friends.

6/10 Disney - must do better.

On the flipside, I was there with my family last week, for the 10th year in a row, and I have to say we probably had our best time EVER !!

It was also the busiest i have ever seen it, but the only time we got affected by any ride closures was on Thurs & Fri with the Rock'n'Rollercoaster, but we had already ridden it several times on Mon, Tues and Weds so were not really bothered.

michellefromessex

We are back, had a lovely weekend despite our son being poorly over there. My main gripe was the checking in of the Eurostar coming home, check in desk was suppose to open 7pm and didnt open until 7.40pm by this time hundreds of families with miserable children/crying babies were queing everywhere - total chaos!!! train didnt pull out until 8.35 (local time) was meant to leave 8.13pm. It then travelled so fast you could hardly stand up and made it back into Ashford for 9.30 (was due to arrive 9.35pm) so actually made up 25mins on route!!!!

I would highly recommend Character breakfast upgrade at Cafe Mickey we went Sunday morning for 7.30am sitting and our son loved it as all the characters visited our table for tons of photos.

I still stand by the fact that I would always have Disney Express, it saved so much hassle, we left luggage at 12.15pm and was in the parks at 12.20pm.

Buffalo Bills show - I didnt like the food, as I am funny about meat on bones and we had chicken leg and ribs as well as very greasy potatoe wedges, we were upgraded from 2nd cat to 1st cat, we did book this before we left, but notice that in the Santa Fe reception they had an advert with 50% off. But as a show, it was good. Our drinks were constantly refilled, we had tortillas and salsa dip to start with, then the chilli with bread, the chicken, ribs, sausage, potatoe wedges, corn on cob, then apple crumble and ice cream which was nice, coffee and little cakes. I wouldnt do it again as we have now seen the show.

The weather was ok, we wrapped up for winter so never felt cold, it was realtively busy but didnt have to queue too long for the rides apart from Crush which we didnt bother with as the time was saying 100 mins!!!!!!!

We hopefully will go back later in the year, but just been on website and its pricing up double what we have just paid.

emweaver

michellefromessex wrote: »

Ive just phoned and added character breakfast at cafe mickey for Sunday morning - called the number that was on my booking form quoted my ref and they added it to it, cost £32 for the 3 of us and they took payment there and then.

Hi,

What number did you ring? Did you book direct with Disney?

My sister has been quote £46 for 2 adults and 1 child for the character breakfast!

michellefromessex

emweaver wrote: »

Hi,

What number did you ring? Did you book direct with Disney?

My sister has been quote £46 for 2 adults and 1 child for the character breakfast!

Is your sister staying in a disney hotel? we stayed at the Santa Fe.

We were charges £12 per adult and £8 child for the upgrade to character breakkie, I phoned the number that came through on my confirmation letter from Disney which is:

08448 003 244

Edinburghlass_2

As per the TV ads, 40% off if you book before 15th April...

http://offers.disneylandparis.co.uk/special-offers/eb-offer.xhtml?

emweaver

michellefromessex wrote: »

Is your sister staying in a disney hotel? we stayed at the Santa Fe.

We were charges £12 per adult and £8 child for the upgrade to character breakkie, I phoned the number that came through on my confirmation letter from Disney which is:

08448 003 244

Yes she staying in seqouia lodge, did you have to pay a booking fee? her agent said disney charge a £6 fee to book

michellefromessex

No I didnt pay no fee, I booked direct through disney, I never use a travel agent anymore, I like to search around myself and get the best deals.

Re the 40% off advert, I noticed its only for selected dates and selected hotels - not every holiday booked will get you 40% off.

cloz

Hi,

I am looking to book a two night/ three day stay in June and was thinking of adding the half board plus option but am slightly confused about it! On the website it had quoted me £104 and Disney on the phone quoted me £92 how do they get to this price as the lady on the phone said it was £21 per adult per night and £10 per child per night for June ??? Also i have read that you get the vouchers for the number of nights so would get enough for two meals each as staying for two nights? Could anyone advise me if it is worth doing or would I be best to just but food there
Thanks

SimbaSimon

We're looking at Disney and have got a price of £350 for 1 night in Santa Fe, 2 days in the park, and travel on eurostar from London to Disney. Can do 2 nights, 3 days for £440 but as we recently visited California disneyland park there isn't quite as much that we want to do for 3 days and then its the extra cost of another days food etc.

Decisions decisions...

michellefromessex

SimbaK2K wrote: »

We're looking at Disney and have got a price of £350 for 1 night in Santa Fe, 2 days in the park, and travel on eurostar from London to Disney. Can do 2 nights, 3 days for £440 but as we recently visited California disneyland park there isn't quite as much that we want to do for 3 days and then its the extra cost of another days food etc.

Decisions decisions...

I just did the one night two day staying at santa fe travelling on Eurostar and paid a lot more than that so I say go for it.