Though thorouhly tired after a hectic day of moving around Paris, we managed to step out of our beds early. Perhaps the eagerness to visit another Disneyland turned us into early birds. After completing all the check out formalities, we hired a cab to Gare De Lyon which was the nearest station to board a RER to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy.
Marne-la-Vallee Chessy is probably the most frequented station by toursists in Paris these days as Disneyland has replaced Eiffel Tower as the most visited tourist spot in Paris. The weather was quite cold and I left P n P to collect our tickets to Venice once again. No points for guessing that I had misplaced it. The lady at the counter handed me the duplicate without making any fuss (yeah, certain things aren't so fussy outside India) but warned me that our travel was now at the Train Manager's (our good old Ticket Collector) discretion.
Marne-la-Vallee Chessy is probably the most frequented station by toursists in Paris these days as Disneyland has replaced Eiffel Tower as the most visited tourist spot in Paris. The weather was quite cold and I left P n P to collect our tickets to Venice once again. No points for guessing that I had misplaced it. The lady at the counter handed me the duplicate without making any fuss (yeah, certain things aren't so fussy outside India) but warned me that our travel was now at the Train Manager's (our good old Ticket Collector) discretion.
Filled with a sense of suspense related to our journey to Venice later, I returned to find P n P shivering in the cold breeze in spite of having added layers of winter garments. We then boarded the bus to Santa Fe, which was one of the best budget options available. Another attraction was its Meet the Disney characters concept which kind of becomes a ‘must’ if you are travelling with a kid.
We were checked into our rooms quite swiftly even though there was considerable crowd. Our room was towards the far end of Santa Fe layout. After relaxing for a few minutes we headed towards Disney Park. We took a detour to check out the Disney store at the hotel for the small trolley that I had promised Prisha. She found one with almost all her favorite Disney Princesses. I managed to convince her to buy it at the end of the day after checking out the other options at the park.
We were checked into our rooms quite swiftly even though there was considerable crowd. Our room was towards the far end of Santa Fe layout. After relaxing for a few minutes we headed towards Disney Park. We took a detour to check out the Disney store at the hotel for the small trolley that I had promised Prisha. She found one with almost all her favorite Disney Princesses. I managed to convince her to buy it at the end of the day after checking out the other options at the park.
We were welcomed by the familiar hospitality at the entrance (where you are frisked and ushered in through a mechanical routine). We decided to prioritize the rides that we wanted to take so that we could utilize our time to the best possible extent.
While we were making up our mind on the first section that we wanted to visit, we stumbled upon the first of many dances that we were to see on the day. It featured Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto & a few other characters. It was a great start for Prisha. This was close to the iconic castle for Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant - also identified by a simpler name, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle - which was where we went next.
Once outside the castle, Prisha was relentless to get her hands on a big candy. Had to give in to her persistence, knowing pretty well that we would be making a comic site for the rest of the crowd as she would start but not finish this colorful candy. Kids always have their way!
We decided to take a couple of rides as dusk set in. We took Peter Pan's Flight and Disneyland Railroad before going for a stroll in Main Street, U.S.A. It was collection time for our own little princess who was prompt in choosing her own set of Minnie cutlery. After picking a few souvenirs, we headed out of the park.
We decided to have dinner elsewhere but then ended up eating in an adjacent McDonald’s as we were too tired to contemplate on the options available. Finally we took a bus back to Santa Fe. It was time to keep up my promise to Prisha. We headed straight to the Disney store & picked up the trolley that was shortlisted earlier. It was a sight to watch as our girl trudged along full of pride pulling her empty trolley. It was dream come true for the little princess.
Day two started early as we wanted to make the most of the early visitor pass that was part of the stay. As we covered one ride after the other, we felt happy at our decision to stay at the resort rather than try to squeeze in everything in a day. This was a lesson well learnt from our trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Satisfied with our coverage we headed for our breakfast at Plaza Gardens Restaurant. The breakfast was a spread of typical French breakfast. By the time we were done, it was close to the scheduled checkout time and we rushed back to Santa Fe. Prisha by now was angry with Mickey & Minnie for not showing up anywhere in the park. It was matter of bad timing as Minnie was the Meet the Disney character for the morning but unfortunately we missed her by the time we rushed back with our luggage.
We then completed the formalities & dumped our luggage in the cloak room & waited for Goofy who was the next scheduled Meet the Disney character. Prisha had her few moments of ecstasy playing & posing with Goofy. We headed towards the park once again.
We then completed the formalities & dumped our luggage in the cloak room & waited for Goofy who was the next scheduled Meet the Disney character. Prisha had her few moments of ecstasy playing & posing with Goofy. We headed towards the park once again.
Prisha was so excited to meet Mickey and could not wait when he had to take a break. We photographed ourselves along with Mickey to showcase for later and moved on to the various shows hosted within the studios.
Among the different shows we did make it to, Animagique & CineMagique were impressive.
In between these two shows, P n P managed to board Les Tapis Volants – Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. Having enjoyed the rides & shows since morning we were looking forward to a delightful lunch at the Restaurant des Stars. The lunch was adorned by Chef Remy of Ratatouille fame. It was good to see the kids enjoy the little chef. Prisha enjoyed the food as well as the new additions to her collection of souvenirs.
In between these two shows, P n P managed to board Les Tapis Volants – Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. Having enjoyed the rides & shows since morning we were looking forward to a delightful lunch at the Restaurant des Stars. The lunch was adorned by Chef Remy of Ratatouille fame. It was good to see the kids enjoy the little chef. Prisha enjoyed the food as well as the new additions to her collection of souvenirs.
We decided to check out the Frontierland and Adventureland post our lunch. We took the Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing which lasted for about half an hour. The clock was ticking and with the fading light we had decided to cover a couple of final areas before heading back to Paris. Our first stop was at Woody’s Roundup Village. Prisha tried her hand being Jessie.
After she successfully mounted Bullseye, we decided to pay a visit to Santa. The whole area was covered with ‘snow’. As Christmas was just over, people were keen on paying Santa a visit. Santa was patience personified & gave ample time to all the kids. P n P had their moments with Santa and Prisha had her share of secrets with Santa. Having bid adieu to Santa, we rushed back to Santa Fe to collect our luggage and head back to Paris.
Little did we know then that our real adventure was yet to begin! We were welcomed with a long queue at the Marne-la-Vallee Chessy RER station and it took about an hour to get our tickets to Gare de Lyon.
Our train was to depart at 2030 hours local time and we were running out of time as well as energy. Taking help from the fellow passengers we managed to board the metro to Bercy from Gare de Lyon. Unfortunately Bercy Metro & Gare de Bercy were not housed in the same building but were about 400m apart. It was quite a challenge to walk-run-walk-run with the entire luggage, locate the proper exit and reach Gare de Bercy. As if this was not enough the station was one level up & we literally run up the stairs with the luggage only to find a couple of trains standing on the platforms with no clear indication of which is what. Speedily I located a help desk & managed to spot our train.
Our train was to depart at 2030 hours local time and we were running out of time as well as energy. Taking help from the fellow passengers we managed to board the metro to Bercy from Gare de Lyon. Unfortunately Bercy Metro & Gare de Bercy were not housed in the same building but were about 400m apart. It was quite a challenge to walk-run-walk-run with the entire luggage, locate the proper exit and reach Gare de Bercy. As if this was not enough the station was one level up & we literally run up the stairs with the luggage only to find a couple of trains standing on the platforms with no clear indication of which is what. Speedily I located a help desk & managed to spot our train.
There were two gentlemen near the rear of the train & I had no clue who was the Train Manager. I approached one of the two who looked like a Manager (looks matter!!!) and explained to him that I was carrying the duplicate tickets. At this point to my surprise he pointed to the other gentleman - whom I had presumed to the engine driver – to be the Train Manager!!!
He was cordial enough and showed us our car. We moved to our cabin which was much smaller than what I had seen in the pictures and a group of friends were already there. We managed to haul the luggage on the upper storage as well as below the berths.
Once settled down we got introduced to this nice group of friends who were also going to Venice for the umpteenth time. They wanted to shared their sandwiches, juices and also provided us with inputs on what not to miss and what to miss in Venice.
We finally settled down & went to sleep with Prisha having a berth of her own in a train for the first time. Too tired to read the guide on Venice we dozed dreaming about the Floating City.
This work by Aravindan Premkumar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
