Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Disneyland Paris- The Disgrace of Disney


 Recently it was brought to my attention about the disgraceful shape of Disneyland Paris. I've heard the grumbling over the years that the resort was going downhill but never paid it much mind for a few reasons. I've never gotten the chance to travel there myself nor have I had any real interest in visiting France at all (I even tend to by-pass it at World Showcase). However, I've recently seen pictures that show the blatant disrepair and completely shabby state of the park, it shocked me.

  Now, if you know anything about me I'm normally the first one to point at Epcot and raise a stink about getting that fixed. For the moment, I'm going to put my beloved Epcot Center and World Showcase aside because this is a problem just as bad and it needs to be addressed. People need to know about it.

 I understand that Disneyland Paris has been plagued with problems since it's opening. It's a small park, the rides it started with are half-hearted copies of their originals (a few exceptions do exist) and it's a giant debt to the company (and has been nearly since opening). Personally I can't tell you the reasons why this is and I've been reading on it for two days now. It seems like a multitude of problems have hovered over the park since it's inception. I can remember asking "Why Paris? Why France of all places?" when it was announced and again when the park opened. Because I'm sure everyone has heard the story of how 'rude' the French can be to outsiders. Also, before you jump down my throat about that just go check any trip report from Disneyland Paris and I'm sure you see some comment about rude or indifferent people and employees.

 The biggest and most glaring problem I can see with DLP is the simple fact that France just didn't want it. The people didn't want it yet Disney put it there anyways, from everything I've read they resent the park. Just go read a few old articles about it, you'll find them filled with controversy.

 However, that isn't the point here. The point is the park is falling apart.  That is NOT okay folks. When we think of "Disney" we don't think of broken statues, peeling paint, warped wood and faceless animatronic characters. If we wanted to see that, we'd find a carnival to visit.  The level that the Disneyland Paris Resort has sunk to is a disgrace.

Image from Le Parcorama
 No, I'm not kidding that is a REAL photo from a report I found from Le Parcorama about Disneyland Paris. Along with several others which surprised me even more.  I learned the park has ZERO live theater style shows left, and not even a nighttime parade now that it's been cancelled.  That is just mind boggling from a Disney Park, they thrive on live shows!  I'm speechless. I knew it wasn't great but I had no clue it was this bad.

 So, what do we do about it?

 We raise our voices. We draw the Disney Companies attention to this and let them know it's not acceptable.  Will it work? I can't tell you but unless we, the traveling public, the people who buy tickets to their parks, speak up it will obviously go ignored for even longer until things fall apart more.  Someone has begun a very well worded request to get Disney's attention and I hope it works, it needs to work.

 So with that, if your interested, please go sign the petition. The link can be found below.

3 comments:

  1. So you're writing about somewhere you had never been !!! THIS IS ACTUALLY UNTRUE:"I learned the park has ZERO live shows left, and not even a nighttime parade now"

    FOI: I'm living 30km next to the parc, and I go twice a year.

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    Replies
    1. Gil,

      Yes, I am. I try to report on as much theme park and amusement park news as possible. I'm one person working off my own personal money, I'm not backed by anyone thus I am subject to constraints of "it's just too expensive". This is a 2-3 person operation at best and I just can't afford everything, including international travel. So yes, I DO report on places I've never been too.

      Perhaps I was unclear, when I said "No Live Shows" I mean the theaters at the park are unused. To avoid further confusion, I will re-vise the post to reflect that. As for the nighttime parade, I can find no information about it expect what others are saying. The part of the petition I'm referring to states: "The Tarzan Encounter show at the Chaparral Theater, The Legend of the Lion King show at Videopolis, and the iconic night-time parade Disney’s Fantillusion! were all cancelled this year. Meanwhile, other show venues, such as Le Théâtre du Château, have been left disused and empty for years".

      These are the theater shows, correct? All the information I can find online and in English state as much. If that information is incorrect, by all means, let me know and I'll happily fix it.

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