DLP needs help from U.S. parks

[sweeper]

I just returned from Europe and visited DLP twice in July. Having seen the park several times over the last 20 years, I am amazed at the mismanagement. DLP is literally losing money because management doesn't know how to run the place. Teams from Anaheim and Orlando need to get over there and retrain everybody in the park on efficiency. I know there are cultural differences to deal with, but the pace of service is worse than any Six Flags park I have ever been to! I cannot imagine how much money Disney is losing from inefficiency. There is no excuse for them not making money.

Examples:
1) There were literally 10 people ahead of me at a restaurant to order a meal. It took 45 minutes! People at registers would rather talk to other cast members and the service was generally poor. Most of the time the register workers were starring at the kitchen, waiting for food to arrive and chatting with the kitchen crew.
2) Crowds were crazy on my first trip, and the number of vendors and shop help did not increase to match.
3) The Phantom Manor was only operating one lift, so the ride capacity was cut in half.
4) BTMR was only operating two trains with a stand by wait of 90 minutes and Fastpasses sold out by 1pm.
5) The queues do very strange things too. Besides a love affair with multiple turnstiles in each queue, they were split into 4 lines at points and sometimes merged again into one or two before approaching the station. No reason, just split and cram. It was bizarre. And them the ride ops would scream incomprehensible orders through microphones and nobody seemed to understand. I didn't.
6) Crushes Coaster, which was great as an attraction, had the most bizarre queue to me. No Fastpass, but hordes of people kept going through the exit to a special line that was loaded before everyone else. We asked and the CM said it was the baby switch line and VIP line. When asked what a VIP was he pretended not to speak English suddenly. That special queue was being loaded twice for every 1 for the standby line. Just annoying. How can you have thousands of VIP's?
7) Fastpass machines were so inefficient and broken, many times cast members were just handing out the tickets by hand without scanning the park ticket. Of course we took advantage of that as an unlimited Fastpass and who knows how many others.

I love the DLPR and I can't believe how hard the park is trying to lose money. I love France and the French and this American style park needs American training. Why should DLP be just like all other European amusement parks in terms of service? Makes some money Disney!

And I can't even begin to address the smoking problems. There are designated places in the park and people smoke everywhere, including the queues. Nobody cares. That seems to be the theme of the park generally. Someone in management doesn't care. Out of touch. Disney could literally hire any American Park fan and they could point out the obvious areas to address. How inept is the management at DLPR? I don't keep up with that part, but the head of the resort is obviously in over his head. Time for someone new!

The one area that DLPR seems to have its act together is custodial. As a former sweeper in Anaheim I am always looking down for trash, habit really. DLPR was clean! Even those blasted cigarette butts were swept up. Great job!

[dlfreak]

I hear this consistently from people all the time. It's not performing at levels Disney expects but it's also not living up to the levels people expect from Disney. Granted, it's more complicated than that but such an unbalance of quality between destinations is not a good thing.

That said, I'd be happy to go if anyone would like to show me otherwise. Never been!!

[ratoncita]

I went to DLRP about 5 years ago and I was pretty disappointed. The
parks have good bones, but they seem neglected when it comes to upkeep.
Most of the cast members were aloof and not helpful. It's too bad,
because the parks have a lot of potential. But maybe only the American
tourists are annoyed by DLRP? When I was in Spain a few weeks ago I saw
lots of advertising for the DLRP. It seemed pretty popular. I'm going
to Tokyo in the spring of next year, so it will be interesting to have
another foreign Disney experience!