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[DutchBrit]

Daily Mail having a bit of a go:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rench.html

Looks a bit like some usual DM French-bashing, but the comments are also pretty unfriendly. Florida is certainly getting the main vote.

[DopeyDad]

What, Daily Mail readers unsympathetic to something foreign? I can't believe it!
Anyhoo, I'm off to my new toadstool in the clouds to have tea with Chairman Mao and Levis, toodledoo.

[Pete's Dragon]

Typical Daily Mail readers response "Who the hell wants to go to something so quintessentially american, IN FRANCE"
 :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

[Anthony]

Clearly someone in the Mail Online office has been given leave from churning out trash about whether female celebrities may or may not have put on weight/look happy/look unhappy/are about to leave their partners/have worn a dress and have decided to visit Disneyland Paris, presumably not realising that it's France.

I do actually somewhat agree with France seeming to have more and better offers where tickets are concerned, but their argument will never hold up as they're "special offers", only available in advance. If they segregated people out the ticket booths at the entrance and charged everyone different amounts it'd be another matter, but surely a travel company like DLP has the right to target specific promotions only at the countries where they're needed?

Because conversely, the article only mentions via a statement from DLP at the end (in traditional Mail style, completely negating the article above) that the UK has had endless Save 25/30/40/50% campaigns for holiday packages over the past few years, many of which were looked jealously upon by other visitors and would save you far more money.

Anyway, thank you Mail: it's not often DLP actually manages to make the papers! And just in time for the 20th launch!

[DedicatedToDLP(Steve)]

Apparently if you phone and ask for the French prices they are not allowed to refuse you the same offers as they advertise on the French website.

Always entertaining to visit the Daily Fail website and see the comments and it's always nice to see that their website is as shocking as their 'news'paper.

[Anthony]

Obviously a hit for the Mail anyway, as they've now reworded and republished it in their Travel section!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/artic ... l?ITO=1490

[DutchBrit]

The article was clearly biased and unfair, but Disneyland does kind of ask for it with their pricing policies. I can't really see why certain offers only apply to some countries: there is no reason why you need, say, more Dutch people in the park as opposed to Germans. If people book on the net it doesn't matter where they are coming from.

And as for the special offers....they are getting to have more than a hint of Allied Carpets about them. I'm thinking of going in early July, so have been keeping an eye on the prices for several months. In that time there have been several offers of different percentages, but in direct contradiction to the normal rules of maths, the actual prices don't seem to be much affected. For example, last week the reduction was 15%, this week it's 30%. But the price given in each case is exactly the same!

[Someguy]

You can get every offer that is currently available, through phone reservation or directly booking online on the local webpage where you see the offer.

Having different prices for different regions is standard procedure for travel operators. Centerparcs is exactly the same for example and you can also book on any country specificity homepage.

This article is lying to stir controversy and get page hits. Nothing new here...

Also, what about the overwhelming hate and xenophobia in the comments section  :shock: ?

[thebritishfrog]

The Disney Parks in the america do different prices for each state!
No surprise.
My advice to all who buy things on the internet is to always check the other countries, it's very much not just Disney who do this!

Like mentioned before if you catch them out and phone them, they will give you the offer.
A couple of years back the French had the same article the other way around!

[DutchBrit]

Like mentioned before if you catch them out and phone them, they will give you the offer.
A couple of years back the French had the same article the other way around!

Well that's pretty much my point: WHY make it that complicated? Why do you have to "catch them out"? What kind of customer service is that?

If everyone can have the offer, then stop trying to pretend it's country specific. But then stick to that way of working. It is not customer-friendly for them to give certain offers if customers take the time and trouble to find the details, but then make others dependent on having a french address (like the example quoted in the article).

I guess I would just like to see some more honesty about the prices and how they are applied.

[pussinboots]

I had no idea Matt Bomer was gay and Adele was feeling a bit tired.

But I'm slightly surprised that people here even have to deal with the regular offers. Aren't we all Annual Passport holders and shareholders with insider knowledge of how to smuggle croissants from out of Salon Mickey? Surely there's nothing Disneyland Paris can offer you that holds up against our sneaky, monolingual friend the Passeport Annuel.

Because going through the front door is nearly always asking to pay too much, whether it's Disneyland Paris or any other company, and only Daily Mail readers should be stupid enough not to realize this.

Look, by the way, as the outrage continues in the comments section:

"Someone told me that they went to Disneyland Paris and bought macdonalds for 4 people which cost in excess of £35..."

[thebritishfrog]

The truth is it works for them... It's not fair and it's not honest, but it works.
Certain countries at certain times prefer different offers... fact.  
(I'm not taking sides, I think it's not right but it's a typical business model.)
The UK market loved 'All your meals for free' but the french didn't...
In general they prefer the '40% Off' and it costs disney less money to give away meals than reduced hotel prices..
Why is coming on a thursday cheaper than coming on a friday if you are both there for weekend? Because most people don't have a choice so they charge them more money!

Here's an imaginary example:
for the past 5 years - roughly 500 visitors from the UK have booked the 3rd Feb but only 100 from France book the same day.
what do you do?
You know the UK visitors will come regardless of price on that day.
You have 1000 rooms to fill and are missing 400 rooms.
If you lower the prices for everybody you will fill the hotel with more people from the UK but make less income and sell the rooms cheaper.
If you only lower the price for France, you already know you will sell half the rooms full price and hopefully the offer is interesting enough for France to fill the rest at half price and make more money.

For park tickets, if you live in France you have a choice to go to other theme parks nearby, futurescope, walibi etc...
If you are coming from the UK you are more likely just to visit just disney and spend more money because it's a bigger trip than just a day out...

Why do the same plane tickets get more expensive the closer you get to the date? Because they know more people book last minute than reserve in advance. It's a very similar principal.

It's very clever... but is it moral...

[Anthony]

DutchBrit makes a good point about the carpet or furniture store-style discounting.

It's like the constant DFS bank holiday sale now. Was [strike:qmz68k5t]£999[/strike:qmz68k5t], was [strike:qmz68k5t]£799[/strike:qmz68k5t] now £599! I mentioned this in a recent DLRP Today post about the latest financial results: ultimately, many of these offers simply seem to devalue the brand and the value of a trip to Disneyland Paris itself. The continuous Save up to X% offers have become meaningless. Perhaps there's some fabulous business sense in putting hotel prices so high that the only way to get people to book is to then immediately offer 25% off, but it's only a short term gain. I think they're really harming the image of the resort.

They really need to explore more imaginative promotions like those for Walt Disney World. Get free Half Board, or a free €50 gift card for the boutiques, for example. Something that adds value to a visit rather than cheapens it, and encourages better visiting habits than scrounging around for money off exorbitant prices. (That's the fans' job, as we check into Etap at Val d'Europe with our AP Dream, bought with Shareholder discount...)

[thebritishfrog]

Perfectly put Anthony!

(This made me write a blog too! - The sneaky tricks of special offers!!
http://www.thebritishfrog.com/blogs/11)  

[DutchBrit]

The continuous Save up to X% offers have become meaningless. Perhaps there's some fabulous business sense in putting hotel prices so high that the only way to get people to book is to then immediately offer 25% off, but it's only a short term gain. I think they're really harming the image of the resort.

And particularly when a claimed 30% is actually the same price as a 15% offer, for example: it's treating people like fools. It can't be good business to make your customers feel like they are being ripped off before they even get there. At least leave it until they order their first meal.... :?