Restaurants at Disneyland Park are closed after 7pm?

[JelleP]

I just read this article on Disney and More and thought is was worth sharing...

Want to eat at Disneyland Paris after 7pm? Don't even think about it.
According to Disneyland Paris fans from the DCP forum something quite unbelievable is happening at DLP. After 7pm there is so many park restaurants which are closed that it becomes extremely difficult (if not impossible) to eat, except if you're a hot-dog or pop-corn fan, or if you had the genius idea to make a reservation hours before at some table service restaurants, like the Walt's on Main Street.

From what i've read on the forum here is what is happening: because of the fireworks elements in the new Disney Dreams show there is a Fantasyland clearance and the Bella Notte
restaurant as well as the Chalet de la marionette, l' Auberge de Cendrillon and Fantasia Gelati are closed earlier. Although these are more or less close to the castle, considering that the night show don't begin before 10pm it's hard to understand why they must be closed at 7pm, but let's say that it's okay.

But, in addition to these, and always according to forum members, others restaurants which are fully open during the day are also closed - and these without any official or obvious reasons. It's the Toad Hall in Fantasyland, the Hakuna Matata and Colonel Hathi's in Adventureland, the Fuente del Oro, Lucky Nugget Saloon, Cowboy Cookout Barbecue and Silver Spur Steakhouse at Frontierland as well as the Pizza Planet and a big part of the Café Hyperion in Discoveryland. Basically it leaves the Walt's, the Plaza Gardens and Casey Corner on Main Street, the Blue Lagoon in Adventureland, the Last Chance Café in Frontierland and the Cafe Hyperion at Videopolis in Discoveryland. But even on this last one only a third of it was open and guests had to wait "40 minutes to finally eat a cold hamburger". Another forum member was finally able to eat at the Last Chance Cafe but complained about a 45 min wait and slow CM service and about the lack of choice as many of the meals were not available. Others who tried the Walt's and Plaza Gardens couldn't eat because they were no seats available because of reservations. And the best one is from another DCP member who complained at City Hall and got the reply "that the best was probably to get out of the park and go to eat at the Disney Village". How some people working in a park which include FIFTEEN restaurants can find normal to say this is something that defy my mind!?!

But here is where it becomes insane: as you now the main new "attraction" for DLP 20th anniversary is a show, and it's the excellent Disney Dreams show. Because DLP must wait for sunset to start the show -and because sunset in paris don't happen before 10pm during summer months, even almost 11pm in June - DLP guests who came to see the new and brilliant show don't have any other choice than to wait for 10pm until it starts, right? Sure, some guests can leave the park and go to their hotel or at the Disney Village and come back later, but most of them are staying in the park. And what do you think they're doing, waiting for the show, after a long day of ride and queue lines? Some are still riding DLP attractions but many, just because it's the end of the day and that everyone gets tired after 6pm, either do some shopping on DLP shops...or just want to have dinner.

Nomally, for any theme park in the world this is a dream situation, the guests HAVE to stay in the park to see the show that will not begin before 10pm at the earliest. Any theme park in the world would be happy with this because, as i've said, guests will spend their time spending money in merchandise or food. As DLP guests are humans and not extra terrestrials, just like everyone they become hungry around 7 - 8pm. Everyone does, but apparently the guys responsible of the restaurants management at DLP must come from another planet and never ever got hungry in their life around 8pm as almost 80% of the restaurants are closed JUST when everyone is hungry! Can you believe that, how insane it is?

Now, why is this happening? If we except the Fantasyland clearance which is understandable even if it is done a bit early, all the others are probably closed to save money. It could be understandable during the cold winter months when there is not a lot of people in the park but the summer now arrived and do we need to remind DLP execs that, hey, it's DLP 20th anniversary this year and you're doing a huge marketing campaign to make sure that guests will come to the park! By the way, it's interesting to note that on the few restaurants that remain open two of them, the Walt's and the Blue Lagoon are table service restaurants, so the most expensive ones and the Plaza Gardens is a buffet restaurant but not that cheap, too. Did i hear someone saying "Hey, if we have to keep some restaurants open, let's keep the one which makes the more money!" ? But may be there is a more cynical choice behind this closed restaurants: if guests can't eat then, as obviously they have to do something, they might go in the shops and buy some merchandise, right? And what you don't know is that DLP margins on the merchandise products are muuuuch bigger than on the food - and the food at DLP is already more expensive than anywhere else for an equivalent meal.

The result is a disaster: not only they're losing money while they try to save some, but the guests who for the most were happy of their day become frustrated and furious - have you ever seen how mad someone can be when he is hungry and can't find anything to eat? And, as the body always remember the bad situations you can be sure that next time they will come guests will remember what happened - "Honey, can you remind me please to pack some sandwiches before we go at DLP to make sure we'll have something to eat this evening?". The last time i heard news about DLP was two weeks ago when the park announced the bad financial results for the first half of the fiscal year. Considering this, wouldn't it be a GREAT idea to give to DLP guests the opportunity to spend their bucks when they wish to do so?

Why would do they something like this?
I'd like to hear your thoughts...

[15MagicalYears]

Most likely down to cost-cutting I'd presume? But then again surely they'd make a bomb out of counter-service restaurants when the park is so busy with people waiting for dreams. I remember the same thing happened to me during the 15th, and the park wasn't even open late! It was May & I was looking for a counter-service restaurant to eat in. 9 out of 10 places I checked were shut. Silly really.

[DedicatedToDLP(Steve)]

I did notice this when we were there a week ago. On nights where we watched Dreams it was a case of walking around looking for somewhere to eat. On the first night that was Videopolis, which worked in our favour as it was a good place for 4 year old Lucas to chill out, watch some cartoons and recharge his batteries ready for Dreams. On another night we ate properly at lunch time, knowing it would be easier to find a snack later than a proper meal.

[ed-uk]

We always have our main meal, late lunch between 3-4pm when eating in the park. Only in the hotels would we eat later, next time we are staying at the SL, so maybe we'll have dinner in the hotel before going to see Fantillusion and Dreams in the evening. On our last visit Restaurant of the Stars in the Studios closed at 4pm, so I would eat in the Studios even earlier.

[esmeralda]

Is this bad restaurant situation concerning high season(summer) too?
I'm really sad to read about this. I noticed already the last couple of years, it's getting more difficult to find a restaurant opened like Toad Hall for example. I do remember one summer season they swopped opened restaurants every evening. My family is not that into pricier restaurants- especially every evening(way too expensive and takes too much time), so it's hard to find food in the evening. And it's also such a pity cause i LOVE to sit a Bella Notte or Colonel Hathi's in the evening!!! I really hope Dlp will notice its big fault!!! Cross fingers!!

[ed-uk]

You could try Disney village for food in the evening, maybe in the future? We like the all you can eat  buffets in Plaza Gardens,  Cafe Agrabah and Restaurant of the Stars, so we only pay out on one meal a day. The park is open later because of Dreams, and it seems that the restaurants haven't caught up. This time of year, in the past, the park used to close at about 8pm.

[Thaliel]

we were pretty shocked to see lots of snack stops and restaurants closing early. like Last Chance Cafe or hakuna matata, the latter already closes at 5pm and a lot of restaurants were even closed all day. It is really hard to actually find a place for just a quick snack when you do not really want an all you can eat buffet or buy a whole menu with sot drink and sides. When you just want some fries for example, it is really hard to get some without anything else

[esmeralda]

@Thaliel: When did you visit Dlp? Was it off or high season? I never experienced closed restaurant that early in high season. So maybe that's the reason. Nevertheless it's a real pity!!!

[dlpfan1992]

I thought the whole purpose of dreams was to get people to stay in the park longer and eat and shop inside the park rather than going to the Village every night.  :roll:

[Elaine]

apparently there are more staff for the restaurants/counter service/stalls who are employed from the end of June each year, so until then this situation may be the norm.

[esmeralda]

This was what i was hoping for!!! :-)

[Thaliel]

We were there last week, so a bit off-season though the weekend was retty packed with ppl from span (big clerical holiday I supposed). We were actually still sitting inside hakuna mata when they started closing, they will pull down a fabric wallaper to hide the counter and close all doors exceot one to let people who are still inside exit after finishing their meal.Even the Railroad closes at 6pm, which I think at least during long days from April till August should be 8pm to give everyone who has been running around in the park already give an opportunity to sit down a little and still get to the different worlds

[ed-uk]

Maybe slightly of topic because I observed this about two years ago when were last in Restaurant of the Stars. The restaurant was closing at I think, 4pm and I noticed the man sitting at the table next to us leave to go out side and use the toilet, at least he was heading in that direction. When he returned a cm had locked the door because the restaurant was closing, so he couldn't get back in to finish his meal, he knocked on the door but it was left to a customer to let him back in. The restaurant really should  have been built with a toilet, but as it wasn't whoever was in charge should have thought of this. Maybe they do now this was sometime ago. I've never had any trouble with the restaurant, we had booked and we went to the top of the queue and a cm lead us to our table, however I wouldn't go in near closing time in case I needed to leave, I might not be able to get back in.

[Riebi]

I think the closing of restaurants AND the closing of attractions in the evening hours is really hard for a guest that payed for a whole day in the park. Last time at DLP it was really hard to find a good restaurant (everything we wanted was reserved or closing) and at least we had no attractions to go cause they closed that early. and that was in the summer season. It´s hard to see such management fails.

[aliscrapper]

I think the closing of restaurants AND the closing of attractions in the evening hours is really hard for a guest that payed for a whole day in the park. Last time at DLP it was really hard to find a good restaurant (everything we wanted was reserved or closing) and at least we had no attractions to go cause they closed that early. and that was in the summer season. It´s hard to see such management fails.

We've never been with extended opening hours - what kind of attractions were open?? thanks :thumbs: