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[seraphelle]

Hiya,

So we leave on Thursday (eeeeeep!), having only visited during Halloween season previously.

Our flight gets in around 11:30am and we're staying at the Adagio (we fly from Birmingham as its so close to home). I haven't booked airport transfers to hotel because honestly I couldn't make my mind up whether to get the TGV or a shared shuttle. So I figured I would make that decision when we got to CDG. My first question is a 3-parter;  if we decide we want to get a shared / private shuttle to our hotel once we get there, am I right in thinking there will be plenty touting for business? Or is there an official place to go and request a cab/transfer (I'm thinking in UK airports as soon as you step outside there is usually a millions taxis)? Is this much cheaper than the TGV (there are 2A and 2ch in our party and there will be 2 suitcases and a couple of hand luggage bags)?

Secondly, the TGV, am I right that this goes from the airport to the station by the Parks very quickly? Then we can either jump on the RER for a couple minutes to get to Val d'Europe, or we can get a cab outside Marne le Valee station to our hotel? From what I can see, it would cost just a couple of £'s more to get the cab from MLV station down to our hotel, so this might be an easier option than dragging luggage around on and off trains and through the shopping area.

Thirdly, the Adagio. I believe even you get there early, if your room is not ready you can still leave your luggage there and go off to the parks, is this correct?

Fourthly, the 'Auchan' is it called, the market? Is this like a regular supermarket? usually I bring a little first aid kit with me on holidays with Calpol and stuff in just in case the kids get poorly, but now they're older I'm not going to bother, would I be able to grab this type of thing from there if I needed to?

Finally (and thanks if you've kept going this far!), things seem to have changed a bit regarding the Princess meets. Is it best to queue for a ticket during EMH for Princesses? How about meeting Santa? Is this ticketed to?

Sorry for all the questions, been keeping my eyes open for a new trip report to appear so I didn't have to ask some of these! xxxxx

[never2old]

Hello!

Lucky you, Christmas is a really magical time to go!! I'm sure you'll have a really great trip

I can only help with some of your questions, unfortunately...

Fourthly, the 'Auchan' is it called, the market? Is this like a regular supermarket? usually I bring a little first aid kit with me on holidays with Calpol and stuff in just in case the kids get poorly, but now they're older I'm not going to bother, would I be able to grab this type of thing from there if I needed to?

The shopping center is called Val d'Europe. It's really big, inside you'll find lots of shops, and the Auchan supermarket. There's also a pharmacy, so if you don't find what you need in Auchan you can go to the pharmacy. Our daughter got really ill when we went last May and we found all that we needed there.

Finally (and thanks if you've kept going this far!), things seem to have changed a bit regarding the Princess meets. Is it best to queue for a ticket during EMH for Princesses? How about meeting Santa? Is this ticketed to?

I'm not sure how they're doing it for Santa, since he's a guest in Meet Mickey Mouse. I guess they have two different queues, one for Mickey (because he's still there) and one to meet Santa. It is not a ticketed event like the princesses.

As for what to do during the EMH, personally I'd try to get into the parks by 8am. Do Buzz Lightyear (always a great ride to start the day, particularly with no queue), then go to Fantasyland for the rides there, and to keep an eye on the lines for Meet Mickey Mouse (ie Santa) and the Princess Pavilion tickets. The EMH are really a great time to get a few rides done with little queuing, and I hate wasting them standing in line... Once the lines start building up, one of you can go and join the line while the other can still do some rides with the children. If you're there for more than 1 morning, do Santa one day, and tickets for the princesses another day. Only one of you needs to go for the princesses tickets

Don't forget that now you also have the characters in the parks during the EMH - again if you're in the parks by 8am you may be able to meet a few before going to Fantasyland to start queuing.

Oh, and just so that you know, even with the tickets, be prepared for a long wait in the Princess Pavilion.... We were there last week and spent over 1 hour waiting in the Pavilion....

[twentythingamabobs]

Hi! Happy for you visiting during Christmas season, it is unbelievably magical!!

We always get the TGV (3 adults, 1 disabled teenager) and it is sooo easy. We normally have 3 carry on suitcases and one that is checked properly. Just hop on the train, 10 minutes later you're at MLV station. We normally get to the park for about 1030, take our suitcases to the Disney storage (we have APs so it's free) then spend half the day in the park. Collect our luggage and get a taxi to the HiPark Serris - normally costs around 10 euro and much easier than trying to drag cases around the buses! You can haggle with the taxi drivers - one of them wanted to charge us 20 euro until we went to walk away then it was down to 10  Then walk back to the park a couple of hours later after a nice little snooze and snack.

[seraphelle]

Brilliant, thanks guys!

[BethKJ]

As regards the Princess Pavilion....the wait and crowds are not my favourite thing. As it is Christmas, you might think of the Auberge for a special meal ( if you have the budget, of course). My family finds it a great way to use our trip time wisely. The Auberge is lovely and you get such great interaction time with no less than three Princesses, one Prince and two mice. Much nicer than waiting hours to just see one Princess, in my opinion and we'll worth it if your little ones are big Princess fans.     
Your planned trip sounds fabulous and I wish you the best time ever!

[seraphelle]

As regards the Princess Pavilion....the wait and crowds are not my favourite thing. As it is Christmas, you might think of the Auberge for a special meal ( if you have the budget, of course). My family finds it a great way to use our trip time wisely. The Auberge is lovely and you get such great interaction time with no less than three Princesses, one Prince and two mice. Much nicer than waiting hours to just see one Princess, in my opinion and we'll worth it if your little ones are big Princess fans.     
Your planned trip sounds fabulous and I wish you the best time ever!

I couldn't agree more regarding Auberge, it's beautiful and the interaction is superb. We've been twice before and loved every second. Haven't yet decided whether we're doing it this visit (although as we've left it so late we may not have the choice any more). I just remember when the girls met Ariel in the Pavillion, the fact they'd waited almost 90 minutes didn't matter as soon as they saw her, and from my understanding she's not in AdC very often, if at all.

[rg1987]

We were lucky enough to see Ariel in Auberge last Christmas so she does visit there. Is there a wide range of princesses that go in there as we saw Cinderella, Belle and Ariel and I'm planning on taking my little one there again this year but hoping for at least 2 out of the 3 to be different.

It is well worth booking up if you haven't been in there before though, my little girl loved it and the interaction is great and feels so much more relaxed and less rushed than normal meet and greets can

[BethKJ]

When we were at the AdC in September, we had Aurora with Prince Phillip, Cinderella and Ariel. So you never know!
Also- I live in France and can confirm the fact that Auchan supermarkets are huge and you will find everything you need!

[seraphelle]

That's great, thanks guys  xxx

[samuelvictor]

I don't know if its the same this year, but last year Santa was in what used to be the old "Woody's Roundup Village" section near the Chapparal theatre - there were two queues, one to see Santa, and another to see Minnie Mouse in her Christmas costume. There was no ticketing system but they were there everyday for loads of time, so it wasn't necessary to queue for too long. I'm not sure if the system will be the same this year as I think at least some of that area is now a "Frozen" themed area with 2 shops...

I'll just also quickly echo the fact that getting trains to Marne La Vallee from Paris is very easy and cheap, nothing to be scared of. And a taxi from the station to the Adagio will be 10-15 EUR... probably worth it to save the hassle of luggin your suitcases on and off the shuttle bus. Whether you can drop your bags off early, I'm afraid I don't know - maybe phone the hotel to confirm. I know the official Disney hotels allow this, not sure about the "partners".

The entrance to the Val D'Europe is literally a few seconds walk from the Adagio (you can't miss it, its even on the same side of he road), and the entrance to Auchan is inside there, along with many other shops. Yes, Auchan is essentially the same as one of our supermarkets. One thing to bare in mind is that the cheapest versions of everything are in a special bargain section with different coloured stickers/signs - for example, there is a section in the supermarket with many choices of toiletries, bread, cheese, orange juice or whatever, but the cheapest versions (like our value stuff) are kept separately, all together in the cheaper section. Once we worked this out we saved ourselves even more money - it was all good quality stuff for basics like bread, cheese etc... even the super cheap wine and soft drinks were passable 

We were there last Christmas season and stayed at the Adagio for 11 days (we were also very lucky and stayed in the Cheyenne and Explorers as well - we were there for nearly 3 weeks over Christmas & New Year!  ) .

The Adagio is great, it will become a home away from home for you. The fact that you get stuff like fridge, dishwasher, cooker etc means you can save a lot of money on food. Also, the fact that the double bed was in a different little room to the sofa beds meant that the adults could get some privacy in the evenings 

[DLPWonders (Banned)]

Santa is at the Meet Mickey pavillion this year

[seraphelle]

Thanks again all, just got the kids off to bed and checked my list for the millionth time. Alarm is set