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Over the years I have been to Disneyland Florida, California and even Hong Kong but never Paris, so 16 years after its opening I was finally there. On the morning of departure it was snowing heavily but that didn’t stop the Eurostar leaving on time. Standard class is clean but a little cramped. Since the opening of St.Pancras, the trains now only take 2hr 34 mins so even before I had time to finish a couple of chapters of my book the phone is bleeping to remind me I am in France.

I hadn’t realised how close Marne-la-Vallee is to the parks. It is literally a short walk. There are shuttle buses round the corner to the associated off-site hotels as well as the official Disney ones.

We stayed at Hotel New York. The rooms are very clean and spacious and of course New York-themed throughout with a skating rink outside. On the downside there are very long corridors with the conference and dining facilities being miles from the rooms and virtually no seating in the public areas.

After leaving our luggage in the hotel, our first afternoon was free so we strolled through the Disney Village to the Disneyland Park, about 10-15 minute walk, probably quicker than the bus which goes a much longer way round.

Most of the oldest rides are written in French or in a Franglais hybrid. Instructions are spoken in both languages. The new rides are all in English, and shows have different languages at different times so language is never a problem.

We had plenty of time to explore both Disneyland and Disneyland Studios over the three days. I don’t like fast rides, but I did regret not going on the new Hollywood Tower of Terror. The standards and attention to every little detail are 'Disney' and every bit as good as Florida, just a lot more compact. The benefits of this are that it is a lot more manageable for small children and the elderly and both parks are right next door to each other. It is also geared for short breaks rather than a long holiday and it fills that niche well. There were two small points, the surfaces in Disney Studios were slippery when wet and fast food outlets were anything but fast.

We went to see Disneyland Hotel ourselves and this is the hotel with the WOW factor, at a price. The reception area is palatial and the rooms, decorations and furnishings have minute Disney details throughout. There are playrooms for different ages and little girls can be a “Princess for the Day” The hotel is at the Disneyland Park entrance.

A tip would be to make sure you do take all the toiletries you are likely to need as the area lacks normal shops.