Best things to do in Marne-la-Vallee

Make your family's dreams come true at Disneyland Paris, the European outpost of the famous “Magic Kingdom.” The park is divided into five themed lands--Main Street U.S.A., Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Discoveryland--with the Disneyland Railroad running along the perimeter. At the center, see the white Fantasyland Castle with its pink turrets designed around the real Château d'Ussé.

Teens and adults will love the rush of Space Mountain Mission 2, while the littlest kids in can set sail around the globe at the "It's a Small World" attraction. Bring your camera to a meet-and-greet with Disney characters, who appear throughout the park, though it’s tough to find the same one twice. To be sure to see a favorite, inquire at the City Hall near the entrance in the Town Square. Take advantage of the free FastPass system for the most popular rides, like Peter Pan and Tower of Terror.

The second Disney theme park at this Paris location, Walt Disney Studios Park dedicates its exhibits to show business and film production in Hollywood. The park divides into several "studio lots.” Toon Studio features Disney and Pixar characters such as Crush from “Finding Nemo,” the Genie from “Aladdin,” Lightning McQueen from “Cars,” and Buzz Lightyear and other characters from “Toy Story.” The Backlot brings you through a true-to-life industrial movie backlot, showcasing the thrills of movie making without the hype. The Production Courtyard focuses on the production of Hollywood movies and its mythos, including legendary actors. Here you’ll find Hollywood-inspired street sets and "Place des Stars,” featuring a reproduction of the facilities in a modern-day movie lot.

Disney Village features shopping, dining, and live entertainment. Watch a 3-D film on giant IMAX screen or catch a blockbuster on any of the 15 screens in the movie theater. Join Mickey and friends for live shows, street art, games, and concerts featuring international artists. More than ten themed restaurants serve everything from fast food and buffet-style menus to authentic French cuisine. The complex also has several bars serve.

Conceived as the ideal, modern shopping experience in a planned community, Val d'Europe features 16 restaurants, 140 shops, and a multitude of services. Not only can you shop and eat here, but you can also watch diverse sea life at a colossal aquarium. The mall offers valet parking, steward services, mobile phone charging stations, and free children's play spaces.

For chic outlet shopping, try La Vallee Village. The mall carries more than 120 brands, ranging from women's and men's clothes to housewares. For those living outside the European Union, there are ways to shop tax-free. Also, for a first-class shopping experience, the mall offers a personal shopper and chauffeur.

With more than 350 species and about 5,000 creatures, Sea Life shows visitors marine environments with fidelity and attention to detail. From the cold rocky coasts to the deepest parts of the ocean, from coral reefs to the waters of powerful rivers, the aquarium seeks to give everyone who visits a greater understanding of aquatic life. Species on display include several types of sharks, fish, sea turtles, seahorses, jellyfish, and more. The center is located inside a mall, allowing for some post-visit shopping.

A state-of-the-art amusement park, Parc Asterix has more than 30 attractions and live shows set in six different worlds. Experience the history of France through shows, exhibits, and rides. Visit Egypt's OxIris roller coaster, or bring your kids to the child-sized coaster, SOS Numérobis. Experience a day in the life of a Gaul, then climb aboard one of the nine Gallic rides. Go back in time to the Roman Empire for live stunt shows in the arena, then hop on one of the five themed rides. Ancient Greek gods dare you to face the Tonnerre de Zeus wooden roller coaster. Finally, you can relax at the lakeside Viking playground while your kids play, or board the Goudurix extreme roller coaster.

Unlike at busy Château de Versailles, the lack of crowds at Chateau de Fontainebleau means you're free to enjoy this palace almost as its inhabitants did in centuries past. This was the preferred residence of French kings and emperors for seven centuries. François I made the palace his permanent residence in 1527--breathing new life into the ruins with origins dating back to 1137. A succession of kings worked to further rehabilitate the castle, which is where Marie de Medici delivered her baby, who later became King Louis XIII. See where Napoléon I addressed his subjects after the French Revolution as you step into the Emperor's Throne Room. Italian artists Rosso and Primatice decorated the interior with frescoes, which you can still view today.

The Château de Champs is a neoclassical château in Champs-sur-Marne, France. It was built in its present form for the treasurer Charles Renouard de la Touane in 1699 by Pierre Bullet, architecte du roi. After the first proprietor's bankruptcy, another financier, Paul Poisson de Bourvalais, took up the project. Jean-Baptiste Bullet de Chamblain, the son of Pierre Bullet, finished Champs in 1706.

Ten years later, Paul Poisson was in the Bastille on charges of embezzlement and the château was seized by the Crown. In 1718, it was sold to the princesse de Conti, natural daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his first official mistress, Louise de La Vallière. That same year, however, the princess cancelled a debt by deeding Champs to her first cousin, the duc de La Vallière. When the duke died in 1739, he left the château to his son and heir, the famous bibliophile, Louis César de La Baume Le Blanc. The new duc de La Vallière was later to become a trusted friend of King Louis XV and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour.

Around 1750, the duke added a beautiful rococo salon chinois (Chinese salon) to the château with wall paintings by noted artist Christophe Huet. At the château, Louis César entertained many of the famous writers of the day, including Diderot, Voltaire, d'Alembert and François-Augustin de Paradis de Moncrif, with whom he also corresponded regularly.

After the construction of a magnificent new château at Montrouge around 1750, however, the duke gradually abandoned the Château de Champs-sur-Marne. Eventually, he tried to sell the domain, but he could not find a buyer and was forced to rent it out. Between July 1757 and January 1759, he leased the estate to Madame de Pompadour for 12,000 livres per year. The marquise spent 200,000 livres in less than eighteen months to renovate the château. In November 1757, she received the prince de Soubise there after his defeat at the Battle of Rossbach. As the king did not like the château, the marquise left it at the beginning of 1759. In 1763, the duke finally sold Champs to Gabriel Michel de Tharon (1702–1765), a rich shipowner.

In 1820, Armand Santerre, nephew of the Revolutionary General Antoine Joseph Santerre, bought the parc Saint Martin surrounding the château. In 1855, his brother Ernest Santerre bought the château as well. Later, in 1895, it was finally sold to comte Louis Cahen d'Anvers, who thoroughly restored it, installing boiseries designed by Germain Boffrand that had been removed from the Hôtel de Mayenne, Paris, and recreated its parterre gardens in the hands of Achille Duchêne. Marcel Proust was among the guests in this era at Champs. Louis Cahen d'Anvers' son Charles made a gift of it to the state in 1935.

The residence was modernised in 1959 to ready it for visiting heads of state of the French Union. In 1974 it was opened to the public and ceased its official capacity. It has served as a location for many films since then, while the Monuments Historiques employ some outbuildings as research facilities.

The château looks onto a grand parterre with two basins and an extended central axis that sweeps down all the way to the Marne, laid out about 1710 by Claude Desgotz, the nephew and pupil of André Le Nôtre; it is surrounded by a landscape park laid out in the nineteenth century in the English fashion.

Hurricane Lothar, the storm of 26 December 1999, did a great deal of damage to mature woodland in the park.