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[dagobert]

Did I miss something? They are planning new convention hotels at the new tennis center?

Anthony your map is great, hopefully it turns out that way.

I know it will not happen, but a monorail would be great, especial when it also connects a 3rd themepark or a waterpark in the future.

[pussinboots]

I was talking about the new hotels and convention centers planned for the patch of land between the Newport Bay Club and the railways. They're right on the route.

[dagobert]

I was talking about the new hotels and convention centers planned for the patch of land between the Newport Bay Club and the railways. They're right on the route.

Thanks a lot for making that clear. Do you know if there will be hotels at Roland Garros, because I can't imagine that all guests will stay in Disney hotels and in the associated hotels.

I think the project looks promising.

[pussinboots]

I don't think they've announced any plans for new hotels, although they'd undoubtedly be built one way or another. All the press releases tout the 10,000 existing rooms in the area and the planned 7,000 extra accommodations at the Villages Nature.

[Anthony]

Oh I forgot about the new convention hotels. See, it all fits. Your Y-route is very clever, bypassing the obvious stretch to the new station entrance, and would link Val d'Europe to the rest of the area in addition to the RER-link to the esplanade. It seems that you think adding stops for the existing hotels would slow things down too much? Like the way the Paris Métro has twelve stops on a stretch of track where the London Underground has two, making it generally faster to walk in Paris.

The name should be interesting. (Very important.) DisneyTram or DisneyWay or something is out of the question of course, but there's nothing zippy about "Val d'Europe." ValVAL? ValTram?

Yes, all of this is why I'm curious whose project it actually is or how much power Disney will have. If it's a general bit of local transport, stops for every hotel might be a bit much, and the whole branding/experience would be very mundane. It'd hardly be our version of the Disneyland Monorail. The pink and yellow buses at DLP are currently very separate, you probably can be living in Val d'Europe but feel a world away from all the mad tourists at Disneyland.

The route is difficult too, and why I was talking a few weeks ago about whether it would serve Serris/Bailly or Val d'Europe town centre. It's very difficult to link all those together, but they probably should be linked together. I did originally draw a single straight line right up to that future TGV entrance, but if you put a tram stop opposite the IMAX then the normal public/tennis spectators will have to cross over Disneyland guests to get to the RER station, which is where most of them will probably come from. And there is that nice patch of spare grass next to the current bus terminals, perfect size for a tram stop. But then the second line turns Val d'Europe in a proper little European city, with trams running through the streets. You could actually then tell Roland Garros visitors to alight at Val d'Europe and catch the tram from there, making things easier at Disneyland RER on match days.

I'm surprised that Paris' tramways don't have some kind of three letter acronym like RER, TGV. France normally loves those and "tramway" doesn't sound very French. Maybe just "le VAL", I was going to suggest VDE but that sounds more like a disease...

[pussinboots]

That's another very good point about the people transferring all over the esplanade. My plan would have caused a horrible gridlock situation. (See, that's why in a post-apocalyptic scenario in which you and I are the only people left not infected by the brain-eating virus that swept away most of mankind, you would be in charge of logistics.)

But yes, whose project is this anyway? I suppose that with almost the entire project being in the interest of private companies (Disney, Roland Garros and most likely the Villages Nature people), we're looking at a privately funded, outsourced, free service in the genre of the Pep's hotel shuttles. But then if you serve Val d'Europe and Bailly-Romainvilliers, you're looking at public transport, no? Which in France by happenstance usually means government funding that cities in other nations can only dream of. It's why Lille has a driverless metro and Birmingham has a rickety tram line. Although I have no idea what the current relationship is between Disney and the French government in that area. It's been a while after all since they sat down and said, "Alright, we'll agree to a TGV station in the middle of our resort, but you have to promise to put two little turrets on top to make it blend in!"

But it probably wouldn't be "our Monorail," no. And I'm sure the Roland Garros people would object to any sparkle-based liveries or old-timey streetcar looks Disney would have employed if it had been their project alone. But who cares, really? We're not going to get a monorail. Anything that's not a bus would delight me at this point.

[Anthony]

I was just looking closer at the latest Villages Nature concept again, and what's that you see underneath the balloon and left a bit, to the right of Davy Crockett Ranch?



A rather nice looking traditional station canopy! So there's hope there that even if it's a public project it'll have a few fanciful Val d'Europe-style trimmings on top.

[andrewuk]

Its not happening :cry:
//http://www.france24.com/en/20110213-roland-garros-wins-battle-keep-french-open

[Anthony]

What a shame! All aboard the bumpy shuttle bus to Les Villages Nature, then...