Originally Posted By dagobert Yesterday an accident happened at DLP's POTC attraction. A five year hold was seriously hurt. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2013/10/breaking-five-years-old-child-seriously.html">http://disneyandmore.blogspot....sly.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Wow, that must have been pretty scary for him and his dad. It sounds like the park has no blame in this matter, but I'm sure that it will eventually spawn changes to all of Disney's boat rides. It's only a matter of time before guests need to be strapped in to be protected from themselves
Originally Posted By dagobert DLP's official Twitter account has posted a very interesting article by the Attractions Management about Joe Schott, DLP's COO. It seems DLP is going to spend over 400 Million Euros over the next five years. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.attractionsmanagement.com/digital/index1.cfm?mag=Attractions%20Management&codeid=28478">http://www.attractionsmanageme...id=28478</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert It seems 2013 wasn't such a good year for DLP. After a record attendance in 2012 with 16 Million visitors, 2013 only brought 14,9 Mio guests to DLP. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/CORP/EN/Neutral/Images/uk-2013-11-07-euro-disney-sca-reports-annual-results-for-fiscal-year-2013.pdf">http://corporate.disneylandpar...2013.pdf</a> EURO DISNEY S.C.A. Reports Fiscal Year 2013 Results • Despite the continued economic slowdown in France and Southern Europe, revenues only declined by 1% to €1.3 billion, as guest spending increases, growth from the United Kingdom and higher real estate activity partially offset declines in attendance and hotel occupancy • Costs and expenses increased 1% in line with inflation, consistent with the Group's continued focus to limit cost growth • Net loss was reduced by €22 million to €78 million, reflecting the positive impact of the 2012 debt refinancing • Higher guest spending reflects the Group's continued investments in the quality of the parks and hotels • Launch of the rehabilitation of Disney's Newport Bay Club hotel and debut of a Ratatouille-themed attraction at the Walt Disney Studios Park® in 2014
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's exciting that they're planning to spend that much in coming years. I can't get the article to open right now, but it sounds promising for what's next Is it a big surprise that there were fewer guests this year? There were no real additions, and it didn't even look like there was much of a promotion going on. When they're dealing with an audience that has probably been before, and competing with everything else there is to do in Europe, they need to constantly be keeping things fresh
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>That's exciting that they're planning to spend that much in coming years. I can't get the article to open right now, but it sounds promising for what's next<<< The article itself isn't that great. It's just one sentence that mentions the spending. If I'm not mistaken the 400 million Euros also cover Les Villages Natures and Ratatouille. So there isn't that much left for new rides when you consider all the hotel makeovers, which of course is fantastic. >>>Is it a big surprise that there were fewer guests this year? There were no real additions, and it didn't even look like there was much of a promotion going on. When they're dealing with an audience that has probably been before, and competing with everything else there is to do in Europe, they need to constantly be keeping things fresh<<< I didn't expect so many visitors like during the 20th Anniversary, but I'm surprised that the attendance number fell below 2011. There are so many different countries with so many different cultures and that means there's so much more to do in Europe than visiting a themepark. Disneyland is great and we try to go there as often as possible, but I would never make it my main holiday. With five weeks of vacation every year, it's not so hard to cover DLP as well, but I can't imagine visiting only Disney parks. The world has more to offer. And I guess most europeans think that way. For us DLP is a short vacation in addition to other vacations. It's also bad for DLP that theri main markets are hit so badly by the economic crisis.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I didn't expect so many visitors like during the 20th Anniversary, but I'm surprised that the attendance number fell below 2011." How's tourism and travel in Europe right now? The US' economy and job growth is rebounding, but I hear stories that many European countries are still mired in high unemployment. Surely that has something to do with it.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>How's tourism and travel in Europe right now? The US' economy and job growth is rebounding, but I hear stories that many European countries are still mired in high unemployment. Surely that has something to do with it. <<< I can only speak for Austria and we are still doing fine, but we didn't have any big problems with the unemployment rate. We were stable during the last years. This year Austrians have spent the most on vacations since many years. The problem is, that DLP's main markets, like Spain, are in a terrible shape.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt ^^ This is what I'd assumed. The cost of traveling has also increased as oil prices, fees, and surcharges have escalated in past couple of years. I'm going to Rome at the end of the month and it took me about 4-5 months to finally find a round-trip coach fare under $1,200 from San Francisco.
Originally Posted By u k fan I was having a conversation with someone today about how the prices of trips to WDW and DLP have rocketed recently. I could spend roughly the same for a weekend at DLP in the summer now as I did for 2 weeks at WDW back in '99. Even with promotions the cost is starting to get prohibitive whether you've been hit by the economic downturn or not!!!
Originally Posted By u k fan Just checked - 5 days at DLP in August 2014 (staying at Sequoia Lodge) without transport is around £50 cheaper than 2 weeks over Christmas was (staying at All Star Movies) in 1999 including air fare from London to MCO. I realise there's a 15 year gap between the two, but that's a huge change!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's a new DLP update by the French Disney Gazette. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/gazette-bonfire-2013-ratatouille-merchandising-small-world-phantom-manor-news-1375.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/ga...375.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Looks like everything is moving along nicely at the Ratatouille ride. If the exterior is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if it opened a little earlier than expected And those small world-inspired dolls look like a lot of fun. I wonder if they're also selling them in the US parks, and which country is the most popular
Originally Posted By dagobert These dolls do indeed look nice. I have to say recently dLP is doing a better job when it comes to merchandise. I also like the PM merchandise and finally DLP started to release attraction inspired pins. It's even possible to buy DLP merchandise online in the UK Disney Store.
Originally Posted By LindsayC I’m not sure about the parks - but the Small World dolls are Disney Store - and they are on the US Disney Store site.
Originally Posted By dagobert The dark side of DLP: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/exclusive-the-dark-side-of-the-magic-kingdom-fairytale-may-be-over-for-disneyland-paris-8960762.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/n...762.html</a> It seems a DLP CM tried to commit suicide recently due to the bad working conditions. And the financial situation of DLP doesn't look good as well. Sometimes I wonder why Disney doesn't shut the whole thing down.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>The travails of Disneyland Paris stand in stark contrast to the “service with a smile” the staff at Disney’s US parks are renowned for. This has not been lost on theme park fans.<< Interesting that it mentions the service difference, but doesn't bring up the CM suicides. About 3-4 years ago, there were 2 suicides at DL fairly close together, one jumping from the top of the parking structure and one from the top of the Disneyland Hotel; think that only one of them was a CM, but I'm sure there have been other issues that weren't reported because they didn't happen on property. It's certainly a sad situation, but I don't see how Disney can be entirely to blame
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>but I don't see how Disney can be entirely to blame<<< Me too. Usually there is more than problems at the job to do such a horrible thing.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "It seems a DLP CM tried to commit suicide recently due to the bad working conditions." Didn't that happen before at DLP?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Maybe if I took the time to read the article before posting.... "Disneyland Paris declined to respond to union’s claims when approached by The Independent, but the attempted suicide is not the first incident of its kind involving park staff. Two chefs took their own lives in 2010. A Disney staff and management health committee investigation found no evidence of work harassment after the first suicide, and Disneyland Paris directors denied that the second suicide was work-related." So, yeah, it's happened before. Are working conditions that bad at DLP? I know the US parks have union flare ups now and then, but I've never heard of anyone at DL or WDW attempting to kill themselves because their job sucked.
