Marne-la-Vallee is a well known town, made famous for being home of Disneyland-Paris, Europe’s most visited tourist destination with 14.5 million visitors in 2008. It is a newly established town which was first planned in 1965, and as its name implies, is located in the valley of the River Marne along which it spreads for several kilometres. Marne-la-Vallee is essentially a satellite town and part of Greater Paris metropolitan region. It is located approximately 20 kilometres east of the city centre and lies to the south of the River Marne in the Region of Ile-de-France. The prime location of Marne-la-Vallee provides tourists with easy access to Paris and the many picturesque towns and villages in the area, plus beautiful locations along the River Marne and its surrounding rural areas. Within easy reach and further to the east of Marne-la-Vallee, and still along the River Marne, visitors will find the champagne vineyards of Epernay, the unofficial capital of champagne country, and the historic city of Reims, famous for the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a U.N.E.S.C.O. World Heritage Site.
Marne-la-Vallee is formed of four main administrative sectors which include Porte de Paris, Val Maubuee, Val de Bussy and the Val d’Europe, which together cover an area of approximately 15,000 hectares. Within these four sectors are 26 communes which have a total population of nearly 300,000 people. The nearest communes to Paris are Bry-sur-Marne and Villiers-sur-Marne which form part of the Porte de Paris sector, and are located approximately 15 kilometres from the city centre. Whilst the furthest communes from Paris are Bailly-Romainvilliers and Magny-le-Hongre which form part of the Val d’Europe sector, and are located approximately 35 kilometres from the city centre. It is within the Commercial Centre of the Val d’Europe sector that the Disneyland theme park and its associated service complexes are located. The Marne-la-Vallee region of France was chosen as the site of Disneyland-Paris due to its large areas of flat land and its prime location within a comprehensive road, rail and air transport network systems.
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