Marne-la-Vallée

Day One

My colleagues and I took morning TGV train at 0601 hours from Neuchâtel. The cost of the return train tickets cost EUR 86.40, which was cheaper this time as we bought our tickets 2 months ahead. We had to change to another train at Lausanne about an hour and half later from Neuchâtel, which then took us straight to Gare de Lyon in France at 1103 hours.

After arrived in France, we then bought our one-day ticket for Zone 1 to 5 at the train station for EUR 13.65, after which took RER to Val d'Europe station. Reached the station at about 1158 hours and we then checked in Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe. Marne-la-Vallée is a new town near Paris that consists of Val d'Europe and Chessy - Disneyland.

Centre Commercial International Val d'Europe

Centre Commercial Val d'Europe (left photo below) is a large shopping complex that is just opposite our hotel. It consists of 130 shops (right photo below) and even an aquarium with about 300 marine species. The complex is open from 0830 to 2200 hours daily.



Decided to have our lunch at this Le Dragon d'Europe Chinese restaurant (left photo below). Dining atmosphere was good at this restaurant especially if want to people watch shoppers in the mall (right photo).



Ordered a Dim Sum set meal at EUR 12.17 per person. The first dish was fried shrimp dumplings (left photo below), followed by dim sum (right photo below). After staying in Europe for more than 4 months, this is the best authentic Chinese food I've tasted. The main course was fried rice (bottom left photo), and ended with a cup of rich coffee (bottom right photo).





Vallée Village Outlet Shopping

After a satisfactory lunch, we then shopped at La Vallée Village Outlet Shopping (left photo below). The outlet village is just opposite the Centre Commercial International Val d'Europe. Over 90 prestigious boutiques are located in this shopping village (right photo below).

Non-EU visitors can even claim a refund of VAT on all purchases under the tax-free shopping scheme. The price was rather attractive and my colleagues even bought three large bags of items back, including Longchamp, Timberland, Agnes B, Puma and Nike, just to name few.



Opening hours from 1000 to 1900 hours daily, but closes only on Christmas, New Year's Day and Labor Day.

Transport to Disneyland

After some fulfilling shopping, we walked back to our hotel to put our bags before going to Disneyland. Took bus number 50 (left photo below) outside our hotel where the journey was only about 10 to 15-mins. The bus reached the bus terminal (right photo below) at the park where most buses will drop visitors and pick them up during their departure.



Disney Village

This village stands in front of the main entrance of Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios (left photo below). This is a shopping, dining and entertainment transitional area to allow visitors to spend time with family and friends. Needless to say Disney Store (right photo below) is one of the shops in this village.



Disneyland Paris

Opened in 1992, Disneyland Paris, or Parc Disneyland in French, is the second Disneyland Park outside United States after Tokyo Disneyland. Occupying 566,560-meter sqaure, it is the largest Disneyland Park based on the original design in Anaheim, California. Due to the limited time we had, we only choose to visit Disneyland Park instead of Walt Disney Studios.

Park Entrance

All visitors first have to pass through security screening (left photo below), which is nothing but just a visual check of bags carried in by visitors. After the security check, the most prestigious and priced Disneyland Hotel can be seen (right photo below).



Disneyland Hotel is built over the entrance of the park with the claim to have a good view of the whole park. Built in the style of luxurious Victorian in a palette of cream walls and pink roof; there is even a Mickey Mouse Clock Tower in which the clock surface remains me of my childhood Mickey watch (left photo below). Its ground floor contains 42 ticket booths and turnstiles (right photo below).



One personal advice is to buy the admission tickets online as the queue can be long during peak periods. And there is no price difference between online and those bought from the ticket booths, so why waste time queuing instead of spending more time inside the park?

Second advice is to bring drinking water into the park because they can be pricey; for example a bottle of coke can cost EUR 2.50. However water coolers are located throughout the park for visitors to drink or refill their bottles.

Disneyland Railway

Main Street Station of Disneyland Railway is the first attraction that all visitors will notice (left photo below). For a start, we decided to take a ride on this train (right photo below) to see the perimeter of the park. Disappointedly view from the train wasn't that fantastic as it was blocked by trees and shrubs most of the time.

Main Street USA

Main Street USA is an area of shopping arcade and information centre (left photo below). This is where USA flag can be seen flying in the land of France. Basically the buildings are built according to style of US (right photo below) and named after many famous places there.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

This is a dominating structure in the park (left photo below). The design is probably the best I've seen, comparing with those in Tokyo and Hong Kong Disneyland, which brings out the Disney fascination. Attentions are paid to the exterior building details, such as the exquisite tower (right photo below), glided roofs (bottom left photo) and even Tinker Bell at its top (bottom right photo).

Snow White Ride

It is located at Fantasyland section of the park, this is considered to be "kiddy" ride for young children. Nevertheless, there was still long queue of young children with their parents (left photo below). As there are turns during the ride, all visitors are secured to their seats by the handle bar (right photo below). At the waiting area, the columns (bottom left photo) are decorated with squirrels to depict the forest that Snow White lived in, and of course the wall painting illustrated all the characters in the Snow White story (bottom right photo).

It's a Small World Ride

This is a cute ride for all ages (left photo below). All visitors will have to take a boat ride (right photo below) to enter the colorful world of dancing dolls. The catchy tune: "It's a Small Small World" played in different languages will remain on visitors' mind even after the ride.



Here's the video taken during my ride:

Phantom Manor

Also known as Haunted House (photos below). This ride is recommended to first timer to Disneyland. The animatronics and special effects will make visitors believe that ghosts exist! However the whole narration is in French, so the plot may be hard to understand.

Welcome Princess Tiana to Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade

This is the most popular Day Parade that can see most Disney Cartoon characters. Crowds already packed the walkways at both sides of the road before the show (photos below) and waiting for their favorite character to appear. This parade began rather late at 1915 hours during my visit in summer.



Here are name of some characters that appeared: Pluto, Chip 'n' Dale, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh (photos below).





The parade is enhanced with the fascinating floats accompanied with the characters, such as Alice in Wonderland (left photo below) where the evil queen is seen dancing with her poker cards (right photo below).



The next float is the Toy Story (left photo below) where characters like Buzz Lightyear (right photo below), Sheriff Woody (bottom left photo) and Jessie (bottom right photo) appear and waving to the crowds.





And not to forget Peter Pan float (left photo below) where Peter Pan was played by a cast member (right photo below).



Speaking of cast members, I do observe that the Princes and Princesses in Paris Disneyland have more resemblances to the actual character than those played in Asian Disneylands; perhaps it's the Caucasian look. Judge them for yourself from the photos below:

Disney's Fantillusion Night Parade

On the contrary to the Day Parade, the Night Parade focuses on lighting effects (photos below). The parade began at 2225 hours during the Summer period.

The Enchanted Fireworks

Soon after the Fantillusion show, the Enchanted Fireworks began above the castle. The whole fireworks display lasted almost 10-mins with some colorful fireworks using the Sleeping Beauty Castle as its background (photos below).

Admission cost to the Disneyland Park was EUR 53 per adult, and its opening hours from 1000 hours till 1900 hours, with exception of cafés and restaurants and parades till late. Refer to the actual day schedule distributed at the entrances for more accurate timings.

We waited till the show ended before taking the last bus no. 50 back to the hotel to have a good rest. The wait can be rather long as all visitors came out of the park almost at the same time. Overall the experience of visiting Disneyland was fun as it brings out my childhood memories.