Disneyland Paris CEO Tom Wolber has a tough job, he has to get the French resort back on track. Not an easy assignment considering they just spent a ton of money building the Ratatouille attraction and attendance was still down over 2013. That said, there are some things to be thankful for.
In this video for all DLP cast-members, Wolber offers his best-wishes for 2015 as well as talks a bit about the future of the park (the first minute is in french, but then he switches to english):
We’re hearing that MyMagic+ may soon be coming to Disneyland Paris and its hotels. This should help unify the experience, increase spending, and provide that extra Disney magic that will help build repeat visits and great word of mouth.
Wolber also talks about the recapitalization project. Renovated hotels, renovated parks (including a new Space Mountain experience and much needed placemaking for Walt Disney Studios) and improved maintenance will go a long way to turning the park around.
Have you been to Disneyland Paris before? What are your wishes for the park in 2015?
We go once a year as we live in the UK. It’s not a patch on Florida for a number of reasons. The weather, the size of the parks, the customer service and the lack of friendly fellow visitors all contribute. However, as we love Disney it only a few hours drive through the Channel Tunnel so treat the kids.
I was at DLRP for my birthday in mid-October – I’m British, so it’s my “local” Disney park. Ratatouille is phenomenal. Parc Disneyland is still very pretty. But overall, DLRP is in dire need of some TLC. I wound up riding Ratatouille at the end of my day there, which is a good thing as had I rode it first it would have been opening with a showstopper.
Show standards are way down on when I was last there (2010) – the post show of Star Tours was particularly lacklustre. There’s a room with a bunch of arcade machines in it which I believe used to be retail space and it just looks neglected. Power cables are visible, there’s duct tape on the carpets…But that’s just one example. The Phantom Manor was missing at least one of its signature show elements and all over the resort there were signs of lacklustre upkeep like peeling paint or grubby looking scenery elements.
Essentially, the rumours are true: DLRP looks every bit as cash-strapped as it has been. I went to Walt Disney World for the first ime in 2012, between my two most recent DLRP visits, and I cannot stress enough how far ahead upkeep was at WDW compared to DLRP last year. It bums me out a bit to see DLRP that way, Parc Disneyland is as beautiful as any Disney Park anywhere when it’s standards are maintained.
This financial restructuring is definitely good news. I’m really hoping they double down on doing up those show standards in the years ahead. Down the road Studios probably does need some more attractions and placemaking, and Parc Disneyland could also do with some attraction upgrades even beyond what’s already been promised, but in the meantime just getting started in on giving the report the TLC it’s been starved off in the past few years will go a long way.
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