Disneyland Paris fined €400,000 for misleading ticketing practices
The park’s ‘anytime, all-access’ passes had restrictions that were not clear to holders, the French fraud watchdog has found
Access to Disneyland Paris was not quite as easy as the previous passes suggested
Rifqa.j / Shutterstock
Disneyland Paris has been fined €400,000 for misleading commercial practices in relation to its ‘anytime, all-access’ passes, the French agency for fraud repression announced on June 24.
Disney’s European subsidiary, Euro Disney S.A.S, was found to be restricting access for its annual pass holders according to quotas that were not revealed to the public, to the pass holders themselves, or otherwise indicated in the terms and conditions.
The DGCCRF (Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes,or General agency for competition, consumer rights and fraud) announced the €400,000 fine on its official website on June 24.
‘Inappropriate communication’
An investigation in Seine-et-Marne (the department in which Disneyland Paris is located) by the state consumer protection watchdog, Direction de la protection des populations (DDPP) "revealed inappropriate communication", that was “contrary to the provisions of the Consumer Code relating to misleading commercial practices”, the DGCCRF said.
The investigation came after consumer magazine 60 millions de Consommateurs claimed that the park’s Infinity, Magic Plus and Magic Flex passes had more restrictive conditions than advertised. The passes allow access to the park for 365, 350 and 300 days a year respectively, at prices from €319 to €499.
However, the magazine claimed that the passes did not technically offer holders the chance to enter as promised, because their use required "compulsory pre-booking for each visit date chosen".
Plus, some pass holders reported that they were unable to visit the park on the dates they wanted.
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One group of pass holders even held protests outside of the park at the end of 2022, under the moniker ‘les Oreilles Jaunes’, or the ‘Yellow Ears’, in reference to both the Gilets Jaunes protest movement, and the Disney icon Mickey Mouse.
The park says it has redesigned its range of passes, and removed the system of daily quotas.
However, the passes - Bronze, Silver, and Gold (€289-€699) - are still limited to “3 simultaneous bookings and subject to the maximum capacity of the Parks”, the conditions now state.
The new fine comes after the DGCCRF had already fined the park €1.3 million in 2022, for “failure to comply with supplier payment rules” after it failed to pay certain suppliers on time.
