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[Phil]

Just returned from dlrp last night after a very disappointing birthday weekend - the parks were not that busy (longest queue all weekend 75m for Crush's Coaster) however i didnt feel i enjoyed the weekend as much as previous trips. Having just come back from WDW in December it is like going from one extreme in Customer service to the other. i have been to DLRP 6 now and this was by far the worst.

Day One

Me (16), My Mum, My Sister ( and My Aunty took The 0953 Eurostar which pulled in to Marne La Vallee at 1331 on Friday afternoon. We walked straight out of the station with our cases and walked through disney village to drop the cases off at the Newport Bay. We had to walk the long way around the lake (past HNY and SL) because of the construction of the Earl of Sandwich Restaurant next to rainforest cafe. Even so, We arrived at the Newport Bay and were checked in by 1400. Our room was quite a long walk from reception but on the same floor - it took about 10 minutes to walk from reception to the room down a maze of corridors which all seemed to look the same !

After unpacking and getting ready we headed to the parks at about 1500. We spent our first evening in Disneyland Park. The first thing we did was go to City Hall and pick up a Guest Assistance Card. We then headed to Frontierland to reserve a time (sort of like a fastpass) for Big thunder mountain. We then headed to Phantom manor where we were ushered into the stretch rooms and then boarded our "doom buggy" just before we reached Madame Leota the Ride stopped. We thought this was just to load a wheelchair user or something else but after about 2 minutes all the Emergency lighting came on. We were told to remain where we were and that we would be moving again shortly - after about 10 mins we started moving again and the rest of the ride continued as normal.

We then headed to Central Plaza to see Disney Showtime Spectacular. Me and my sister thoroughly enjoyed the show which was made even better by the dancing cast member who was stood next to us. We stuck around after the show to wait for the All Stars Express to make an appearance. When it did, we were very disappointed that it didnt stop and instead continued to the gates at It's a small world.

Many of you may know that disney has four "Keys" or Core values that they must stick to at all times in the parks.
they are (Listed in order of importance) Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. Within the first hour of being in the parks, all four had either been compromised or broken. -

Safety was not particularly good as most of the rides seemed to be short staffed with cast members performing multiple roles at a time.
Courtesy was appalling ! when approaching a ride and showing them my Guest assistance card i was greeted multiple times with either "YES" or "What do you want !"
Show was easily ruined as seen frequently in the park - the lack of entertainment, the poor condition of rides, being able to frequently see backstage areas, cast members wearing frontierland costume in discoveryland
Efficiency was poor with most rides loading incredibly slowly and while we were waiting for rides being forgotten about by cast members.

We had a dinner reservation at Cafe Mickey at 1930 so we left the park at 1920 and just missed the parade heading down main street. This has got to be the worst meal i have had here. When we booked the restaurant back in October we told them it was my Birthday weekend. However, although i may have been wished happy birthday by the greeter on arrival at the restaurant there was nothing special about the rest of the meal.

We were seated in the "outside" area of the restaurant - the characters did not come out very frequently and when they did the attendants seemed annoyed that they had to go out of their way to come and see us and the experience was very rushed. The characters that did come out to us were very minor characters like the genie and gepetto - the big characters like Minnie, Goofy and Pluto stayed inside. When mickey came over to us, the attendant told us that he was in a rush and there was only time for one photo and no autographs. after visiting our table he was escorted back inside in a hurry. Even the food  was rushed. Our main course arrived before we had even finished our starters ! The main courses were not that tasty, i had the Pinocchio Pasta which cost €19,80 which is very expensive for some pasta and a bit of chicken. I understand that you are also paying for the characters which are included in the price of the food but the interaction was so minimal ! When we asked at the front desk whether any of the major characters would be coming out the cast member dissapeared and didnt return.

After dinner we headed back to the park to watch Fantilusion and The Enchanted Fireworks - we got a very good spot in town square and wondered at 22:30, 5 mins after the published start time why the parade had not yet started - it turns out that they have yet again reversed the direction so that both parades now begin at It's a small world and end at town square.

Day 2 to follow shortly

[tubbsy]

Oh such a shame! Hope there were some good times had too.
I am a bit worried about Cafe Mickey as my 7 year old wants his birthday there and I am reading its not as friendly as it used to be .....

[dagobert]

I'm very sorry for your bad experience at Cafe Mickey. That's the reason why we always go to this restaurant for lunch. in the early afternoon. During this time the CMs are more relaxed and the restaurant isn't so packed with guests.

We have been there two times for lunch and we had always a great time with good food.

Can't wait for the rest of your trip report. Hopefully you are going to post some pictures.

[peep]

Fantillusion has always started at It's a small world when I've been, haven't known about it starting the other way before. Same for the Once Upon a Dream parade.

Shame you had such a bad time. I was there over the same period of time and had no bad experiences with staff and didn't notice any issues that you seemed to have spotted. Although what is this 'Guest assistance card'? Not heard of that before.