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[jrobin34]

One of my biggest complaints about Disneyland Paris was the very visible maintenance issues. I figured since I had only been there once and for a day, I figured it shouldn't be fair to judge to hard. Maybe I caught DLRP on a bad day... in the middle of July on a Saturday. Ok, that would never happen in the US parks but I am hopeful that this was a fluke.

However, doing some serious research for the past month, I have been shocked to find that DLP has not only struggled with maintenance for years but the situation is getting worse.
And seeing this link posted yesterday....

http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/09/dlp-update-very-bad-news-from.html

.....this was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. No other Disney park in the world (not even the one not owned by Disney even partly - Tokyo) would even come close to this condition.
For anyone from the company looking at this... THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW! This is sad and embarrassing for TWDC and the people of Europe should see a Disney park that is on par with every other park in the world. DLRP is without a doubt one of the most beautifully designed destinations WDI has ever designed period and it deserves much better then this. I still can not get over how dazzling beautiful the park was when I saw it and want to go back very soon.

There is hope for DLRP! I have faith that after the 20th Anniversary, TWDC saw the condition the park is in and will save it. One of my friends in the company has told me that refurbishments WILL happen but it needs to happen on a major scale.

[jimtrim]

.... Yes jrobin, I too read about this and it's a bit sad to say the least....

I didn't know Mark Twain was this bad. How long ago now was it replaced my Molly, maybe 5 years? When I remember riding it in the year before changeover I do not remember it in this bad condition....
I wonder whether the decay of this steamer has advanced significantly, more than it should have, because of where they park/ store it, under the foliage and nearby trees. It's probably just sat there for five years doing absolutely nothing - well, of course it will rot - it's outside!

As for the park, I never feel 'let down' - it is still a brilliant park. What I find myself feeling is... Disney could do so much more than this...   
It's small things that are quite frankly appalling. (I apologise in advance to PM fans) but when I last rode Phantom Manor, I found myself wondering, as I 'omnimovered' along', I wonder how bad the animation/ projection on Madame Leota's face will make me feel this time...?
They had at least replaced the wig, BUT, with what as far as I can tell, looked like a 2 quid white fancy dress wig from the local smiffys store (or whatever the equivalent is in France?) 
It wasn't lined-up correctlty/ half-falling down the side of her head and had had no alteration - it was so shiny and white, it looked like it had just come out the packaging....... this isn't even worthy of a 'fix-up' job!

The number of times I have asked, I wonder when those two pirates swords will actually ever meet and better still hit it time with the sound effects!?

We all know Discoveryland needs re-themeing....

They do keep up with painting, but it's a constant chore - A's Labyrinth is starting to chip already (but hopefully Main Street will require less maintenance when they start to replace the materials?

As for the Studios, ToT was a GREAT addition, so too Crush. They were themed brilliantly, didn't add much space to the park, but still were an important step in the right direction.
However, I personally felt let down by Toy Story Playland and again did not live up to the previous quality of the legends, POTC for example. I know they're different types of rides, but the queue line of Slinky's box packaging could look anything less like cardboard! And the green soldiers looked like the stuff they had been made out of... there was no attention to detail in either of these queues (I feel ) They could have roughed them up, added some dirt and grass growing around them to make it look like they had/ were being played with...... but maybe I'm being picky with this?

Ratatouille area looks very good - concrete/ buildings are also easier to theme and add detail anyway....

.... but as much I would love to ride Toy Story Mania, if this is the next step, then I cannot feel but more sad at what kind of goofy looking 'plastic' built lump of construction they might erect as an entrance in the middle of the already incoherent WDS.

Sorry for the rambling
I would personally like them open up where the geysers have sat years not working and make this into a ride/ themed area and also open up/ use the area between the dead-end frontierland pochahontas village and Adventureland (i.e where Indy was planned) This would add considerable inter-ride time, they could add a (GOOD!) shop etc..

.. oh and also re-theme Discoveryland! er, yes... maybe we could ask Mickey or Merlin to magic up some cash, A LOT OF CASH, from somewhere,asap please
...as none of us know, we'll just have to wait and see what they do next?

[captain rocket]

I'm amazed that Mark twain is in this state, I rather foolishly assumed that it was being refurbished for the last couple of years! It seems barely credible that it could fall into this state of disrepair, being under cover for the last couple of years. The last photo I can find in my collection was taken in March 2011. It seems that DLRP are still following that old path of letting stuff virtually fall apart before starting a refurb, is this a French thing or unique to DLRP?

[moonloo]

Thank you for sharing the article, it made for an interesting read, especialy the comments under it!

[DisneyRon]

Thanks for sharing that article, very interesting to read (and a shame of the Mark Twain, so much damage), and also because I've now ordered a copy of "From Sketch to Reality" through that site, looking forward to getting my hands on that one.

[dejmurph1]

I'm surprised this original post has not received more replies.  This is the type of stuff that Tom Wolber needs to deal with asap. The state that they have let the visible "show" areas around the lake fall into is deplorable. Indeed if you take time to wander around some of the less traveled paths between lands, the one behind the Aladdin Walk Through, for example and you will find rubbish and trash thrown in the waterways and paths.  Its the same when you ride BTM, if you look down and around while on the ride the whole effect is spoiled by discarded park maps and other rubbish and I don't mean stuff that may be landed there on that day. This trash is clearly there a while. Surely every ride should have a walk through before opening times to deal with such items? Management need to up their game and take care of the basics!

[Esti]

Overreacting. MT hasn't been used for many years, so obviously it's not ready for use. It needs to be repainted, basically, but it's not rotting. It was a mistake to leave it there, specially knowing drama queen nerds are always trying to tell us what an awful idea it was to let those Frenchies touch their magical parks. Well, in the US parks they have a couple of nights a year when teenagers just —— everywhere in the park. Now, that's respect for Mickey and guests!

Have you been in the park lately? They're having some major refurbishments, specially repainting. They still need to fix some things, like the trash dejmurph1 talked about (even though the "effects" will only be spoiled if you've ridden it a hundred times and now you're just looking at everything that is wrong with it, like we nerds do), but no need to be a drama queen and pretend it's hell on Earth. If it is, why would you go back?

[Kristof]

Overreacting. MT hasn't been used for many years, so obviously it's not ready for use. It needs to be repainted, basically, but it's not rotting.

Well no, it won't be repainted. They're gonna demolish it completely like they did with Molly Brown, Captain Hook's Pirate Ship and most wooden props in Pirates of the Caribbean. Then they're gonna rebuild it from the ground up with durable materials (avoiding wood as much as possible).


Update from DLP Welcome:

[RockNRoller]

Didn't they put a huge canvas painted like a shed when Molly Brown was being rebuilt? Maybe they could do that here.

[jimtrim]

Yes that's correct RockNRoller:



I thought this was where the renovations were done, but then I read somewhere that it's done in a dry warehouse?
So, I'm not sure whether it stays in the water, or comes above, when (and if) they do do the repair work.....
I assume they would need to repair/check the underside too....?

[Kristof]

I assume they would need to repair/check the underside too....?

There won't be much repairing. Like I said, they will almost completely demolish it, so they can build a brand new one, only reusing the metal frame, some theming, engine, etc. 

[jimtrim]

...ah, right.. so you meant demolish! When you say "they're going to", does that mean 'some' time in the future... but probably not very soon I would presume? - can't imagine this would be top of the list when MB was just done and new ship is not strictly necessary at present...

If so, (and they maybe intend to let it sit there a while?) probably best they do put up that tarpaulin themeing, (which they surely would still have)

I miss River Rogue Keelboats - wish they would start these up again - did they stop because of cost (of running/ extra CM's needed?)

[RockNRoller]

I thought this was where the renovations were done, but then I read somewhere that it's done in a dry warehouse?
So, I'm not sure whether it stays in the water, or comes above, when (and if) they do do the repair work.....
I assume they would need to repair/check the underside too....?

Hey I was right, nice photo. Now something like that would hide Mark Twain and stop all the negative comments about it.

[jimtrim]

Hey I was right, nice photo.

Thanks.. but I didn't take it!

... it's probably just a case of them getting round to doing it.... won't cost much/ any money if they use the same one - just the question of where that small job is on 'the schedule'... where's the handyman when you need him!

[Esti]

Well no, it won't be repainted.

I didn't say it was going to be repainted, I said it needed to be repainted. If they want to rebuild it, then even better,