Day 11 - Paris to Disneyland Paris (11km)

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With nowhere really to be rushing to see today, it was a fairly relaxed start to the day.  Packing up, utilising the last of Frank’s fast and free WIFI, and getting all our electrical devices charged and ready for the camper van this afternoon.  We had to pickup the camper van about 40kms to the east of Paris - very close to Disneyland, and because we have struggled with our luggage to date on public transport, we opted for an Uber Van to deliver us.  

We had to be out of the apartment by midday, so we got straight into an Uber and landed on the camper van hire place at approximately 1:00pm - even though we were not allow to collect until 2:00pm.  But we didn’t have to wait till 2:00pm, as the staff arrived early and the started the paperwork, which was fairly straight forward - except no one spoke much in the way of English.  

Paperwork complete, we were then given the once over of the condition of the van - and it had a lot of pre-existing damage to note down.  All this with a man who spoke not a single word of english, so lots of communicating with gestures and pointing at things.  With the paperwork complete we proceeded to unpack our hire boxes with, linen - if you could call it that, and crockery, cutlery and cookware.  All the crockery was new and we had to peel stickers from it, but the main cause of concern is the linen.  We got 1 thin blanket (more like a cheap couch throw rug) for each bed, and the sheets and pillow cases are made of this disposable ultra thin mess-like fabric.  Not sure we should have bothered to “hire” this stuff and gone and bought our own.  Not a fan of the french square pillows either.  They’ve got the thickness right, but “square” ?!?!

With the girls suitcases also unpacked we decided to hit the road to Disneyland.  It was only a 20 minute drive, but then we probably spent that long again finding the camper van parking - as Google Maps took as to the hotels entrance, where staff redirected us back out on the motorway to turn around and come back into the visitors car parks.  We parted with another €40 for an overnight park and once we knew where we were going, turned around again and went into the local town of Chessy to buy lunch and a grocery shop.

The supermarche in Chessy was only a small Monop, so we bought enough to get us through and next couple of days and after a bite of lunch headed back to Disneyland.  We parked at the back of the massive car parks for Disneyland in the area designated for buses and camper vans.  There was large sections of the car park being resurfaced so we couldn’t park too close to the facilities, but we felt it didn’t matter too much.  There was not too many others close by which we preferred.


With shopping and the rest of our clothes unpacked, we headed off for the long walk to the Disneyland park gates to research our options for tomorrow.  After passing through security we made our way to the Disneyland entrance and this is when the excitement began.  With the buildings starting to light up (as it was so late), and the fountains and gardens so manicured the feeling was magestic.  The kids couldn’t stand still.  After talking with the attendant at customer relations counter, she told us there was not way to get into the park (even though it closed in an hour) without buying a ticket for today.  But she also recommended to us to get online today to buy a ticket for tomorrow at a discount rather than buy our tickets from her or at the gate tomorrow.  So get online we did and boy we’re glad we did.  They had a special on tickets and we got tickets for the family for €198 (one day one park), instead of the €302 it would normally have costed. LUCKY !!!





Tickets purchased, we then walked around to the retail mall outside the actual parks.  Plenty of restaurants, Disney stores and even another Lego store.  True to form - yet more themed large lego models.  This time it was Mickey Mouse and together with Woody and Buzz Lightyear.  Everywhere we go we are amazed at the models displayed in store.  With the promise to return tomorrow after we've visited Disneyland, we were able to drag the kids back to the camper van to have dinner and rest up for tomorrow.

While walking a good mile back to the camper van the we could see and hear a fireworks show going off in the park.  This did nothing to help curb the kids excitement so they'd wind down for the day.


Location: Boulevard de Parc, 77700 Coupvray, France

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