As widely reported France reduced its value added tax (VAT) as applicable to food and drinks and the related service in restaurants (but NOT for take-way foods and drinks) effective July 1, 2009 from 19.6% to 5.5%. While restaurants are not obligated to hand the reduction down to customers early reports indicated up to 80% planned to do so. So what about the restaurants at the Disneyland Resort Paris? There is a mixed answer here - but guests can save some money.
The resort has decided to hand down the tax reduction partially. In each restaurant the resort has selected certain meals or set-menus for which the price has been reduced. On the other hand for other meals the original (pre VAT reduction) price has been retained thereby in effect increasing the profit margin of the resort. This selective price reduction has been executed at the counter service restaurants just as at sit-down table service restaurants including the resort’s gourmet dining location “California Grill” in the Disneyland Hotel.
Also it has to be noted that the price reductions do not fully equal the savings that the reduction in VAT would have allowed. For example the Menu Timon at the Restaurant Hakuna Matata was priced at EUR 12.95 prior to the VAT reduction and now (after the VAT reduction) has been reduced to EUR 12.30 for a saving of EUR 0.65. Considering the original price and the original VAT rate of 19.6% the net price of the menu originally was EUR 10.83, while the net price of the menu taking into account the new price and the new VAT rate now suddenly is EUR 11.66 – in other words, there was some extra room left for a price reduction…
There seems to be no obvious logic which meals were chosen for the offer. E.g. the various pizza’s at Buzz Lightyear’s Pizza Planet Restaurant have been reduced in price while the (in)famous Pizza Burger has not benefited from the decrease in VAT. A similar picture over in Adventureland at the Restaurant Hakuna Matata, where two of three menus saw a reduction in price - the kid’s menu “Menu Simba” and the three course “Menu Timon” – while the medium priced two course “Menu Pumba”‘s price has remained unchanged.
Pricing for the buffets at Restaurant de Stars (in the Walt Disney Studios Park) as well as at Cafe Agrabah (in the Disneyland Park) on the other hand has been reduced as well.
To indicate the new (selective) price reductions and attract guests new menues were prepared and are displayed at the various restaurants inside the parks as well as in the Disney Village and the Disney Hotels with a little balloon as indicator next to those prices that have been reduced. An according box at the bottom of the menue explains the meaning of the balloon and the reasoning declaring “LOWER VAT MEANS LOWER PRICES“.
However, the statement that only “certain products [...] partially benefit from the decrease in VAT“ seems questionable in so far as certain guests may come to the conclusion that the VAT reduction from a legal point did not apply to the other offers on the menue – which, as long as the other offers are not specific take-away offers, shouldn’t be correct but is only an arbitrary decision by the resort. However, the statement is correct in so far as it mentions a “partial benefit” as the reductions are not equal complete amount that would equal the reduction in VAT but only a fragment of that.
In the end, however, guests at the resort can now save money on selected meals in the resort’s restaurants – which guests certainly will welcome, even so only time will tell whether it helps increase sales again – while the resort still increases profits … however, any such selective and partial price reduction is always running the risk of being to limited and selective to actualy have a measurable positive effect on sales numbers…
Shame on you Disney. This would be a great chance to lower that outrageous high prices.
Hmm, i will just go on eating and drinking offsite.
As far as I can make out the Credit Crunch has had little effect on DLRP food sales this year so this may explain why the reductions are not more widespread across all menu’s.
Studio1, I am not sure whether the resort really isn’t feeling any impact in this business area. While certainly lines at the counter service locations are still rather long during the traditional lunch hours, I did notice during my past visists that on most days many table service restaurant werer able to accomodate guests walking in without any reservation, 2 years ago guests without a reservation stood no chance at all or even after inacceptable long waiting times. So this – to me – seems to indicate that at least the table service restaurants have been negatively impacted.
The Link from the small “Buzz Lighyear Restaurant” pic is wrong, he linked to the agrabah large pic