DebIreland
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- Joined
- Feb 5, 2005
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We stayed at Citéa villas in Magny le Hongre this week from last Saturday 11th October to Wednesday 15th and were very pleased. We would definitely go back again. It's a bargain for what you get. 
We're a family of 5 (DH, me, DS14, DS11 and DD4) so we wanted some space and found the cost of 2 Disney rooms prohibitive. So we booked a villa here in Citéa.
VILLA DESCRIPTION:
The villa we booked was called a T3 villa which has 2 bedrooms (a large double bed in one room and 2 single beds in the second bedroom) upstairs and an open plan living room/kitchen with a double pull-out sofa in the living area downstairs. The kitchen was great with a full oven and hob, a full-size fridge freezer, a dishwasher and washing machine. There is a toilet downstairs toilet with a little sink and the bathroom is upstairs with a large sink, good supply of soaps, loads of clean towels and a bath (with hand-held shower head).
We arrived at 4.45pm thanks to our wonderful shuttle-bus driver (well-deserved plug here for Paris Blue Airport Shuttle who were fantastic and brilliant value!) who was at Beauvais airport waiting for us even though our flight was 20 minutes early!
PHOTOS
There are some photos and also some good virtual tours at Citea's website here. Also check the video here.
Here are some of my own pics...
KITCHEN:
MASTER BEDROOM:
SECOND BEDROOM:
STAIRS:
TV STAND:
FRONT DOOR:
PATH/BENCH/GREENERY OUTSIDE:
PARK/PICNIC AREA RIGHT BEHIND CITEA (ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A SMALL GATE RIGHT NEXT TO OUR VILLA):
RECEPTION
Reception was open when we arrived. Opening hours are Mon-Fri 7am-9pm & Sat/Sun 8am to noon and 2pm to 6pm. If you arrive outside these hours, don't worry but be sure to call reception when they're open and they will give you details to get into your villa. No queue at reception. Check-in took mere minutes. I paid up in full. I had booked through Hotels.com with no problems and payment was not taken til arrival which I like! Price through Hotels.com was 106 euro per night (the regular price is around 125 euro per night). Hotel taxes were a mere 6 euro for the 4 nights!
The sun was shining and the sky was blue so we happily walked to our villa. The place isn't big at all and I can't imagine any of the villas are far from the front gate. In fact I think we were at the back - a couple of minutes walk from Reception. We arrived to a spotlessly clean villa - I absolutely could not fault it. The plates/cups/cutlery etc were in the dishwasher which is re-assuring as you just know they're clean! Floors, bedsheets, sinks, toilet etc all spotless.
We were lucky to be at the back because there was a gate next to our villa (which was locked each night at 9pm for security) which led to a lovely quiet little park just a few feet from us, with picnic benches. Very impressive. The vibe of the place is very French so you do feel like you're in France, which is important cause, well, we were in France.
Green shutters on the windows with each villa-front painted a nice soft beige. Lots of flowers and shrubbery outside and, again, the outside paths were spotless.
THE BUS:
The bus number is 34. In one direction is Val d'Europe and in the other direction are the Disney Parks. Just exit the main gates of La Citea and across the road and a few feet down is the bus stop that takes you to the Disney parks (a 5 minute ride) and on the side of the road you're already on, just a few feet away, is the bus stop for Val d'Europe. You simply cannot miss either bus stop, they're so near! The ride to Val d'Europe takes 20-25 minutes - its not that far away, it's just that there are lots stops en route. The bus costs €1.60 per person each way.
Timetables are posted up on each bus stop. The stop here is called 'Clé des Champs' and is near 'La Boisserie' stop listed on the timetable. Be careful not to get too relaxed about the buses though - they are very regular sometimes (as often as 10 minutes apart) but then at other times there's an hour long gap so it's best to plan it. Timetables are here. Weekend buses are not as frequent. Be sure to look at the right day!! The buses are very clean and make for a pleasant ride.
Here's the bus stop outside:
TAXIS
After shopping in Val d'Europe on our first night, we were too late for the last bus (9-ish but later on week nights) so we got the Metro to Disney (one stop) and took a taxi from there. The cab cost €9.40 + tip which was fair as there are 5 of us. But be careful. The next morning we decided to cab it to Disney and we had Reception call a cab and it cost €20.
We checked later and that is the standard call-out fare for that area (not sure if it's cheaper for less than 5 people).
Note: I wouldn't walk to Disney with the kids but on my own or just with adults I think it would make a pleasant peaceful walk. It's not near. It's probably 3-4 miles so allow maybe an hour. But as I say it's doable for adults and would be quite nice. You could always stop off in one of the Val de France hotels (like The Explorers) for a drink on the way!
THE BEDS
I slept like a log EACH night. Neither of my boys wanted the pull-out sofa. I thought they'd be fighting over it.
I think they didn't want to sleep alone downstairs and just didn't want to admit it. lol!! So DD4 slept with DH and I - but that was on the cards anyway. 
We all found the beds to be very comfy.
HEATING
The house was very warm with heaters in each room. I turned all of them off as it was 20 degrees (cel) or so each day and we certainly didn't need the heating!
THE SHOWER
The shower is a hand-held one which seems odd but it was fine - good pressure and easy to control.
APPLIANCES
I didn't plan on it but decided on our third day that I would do a wash as we were going through clothes too quickly. Whilst there is nowhere officially to dry clothes, I just hung them on the backs of chairs overnight and they were all bone dry the following evening. The cooker, coffee maker and dishwasher were great. No complaints. One drawback though - you don't get get any filters for the coffee maker, no detergant for the washing machine and no dishwasher tabs. So it adds a few euro to buy those things. But well worth I found. I must be honest and admit I didn't buy washing powder (it was too late) so I just rubbed stains with soap and did a wash that way. It worked!
SHOPS
There is a little supermarket 5 minutes away on foot. (Next to it is a bakery which is gorgeous apparently but we didn't the chance to get anything from there.) The opening hours of the local shop were odd though. They were open at around 7pm on Saturday night. But on Monday morning DH went there at 7.30am, waited til 8.10 and they still hadn't opened. So if you're staying here do get the times from Reception or you'll be frustrated. But don't forget Val d'Europe is a 20 min bus ride away (or a 5 minute metro ride from Disney) where you'll find a huge supermarket called Auchan and they'll have everything you need. We stocked up there on our first night and then supplemented that with a few trips to the local supermarket.
HOW TO BOOK:
- We booked through Hotels.com who seem to have a good allocation of rooms. You can also book through Expedia and many other sites but, when they were all saying it was full, Hotels.com still had rooms. You can of course also book through Citéa's own website here.
EXACT LOCATION
I'm a bit of a stickler for details so I like to know exactly where I'm staying in relation to other things! The villas are located in the town of Magny le Hongre, a few miles from the Disney parks. Magny le Hongre is a town in the city of Marne La Vallée (where Disney is, of course, located). On Citea's website the villas are called simply 'Citéa Magny le Hongre'. On other websites they're called 'Citéa Marne La Vallée - Magny le Hongre' and I've also seen them called 'Citéa Residentiel Magny le Hongre'. So it can be confusing!!! There's also 'Citea Torcy', also in Marne la Vallee so be careful!
Here's a screenshot from Google Earth showing the villas in relation to the Val de France hotels (Explorers, Kyriad etc) and in relation to the Disney parks.
Advantages:
- Small complex so never more than a couple of minutes walk to/from the bus stops.
- Attractive little villas - look great and very safe for kids to run around outside your villa.
- 2 car parks. I like that the car parks are self contained and that you don't park outside your door. One, as I said, it's just a minute or two to walk from the car park/Reception to your villa. Two, I felt our 4 year old was very safe walking down the path from the villa with no cars nearby.
- Full fridge freezer and cooker really help keep the costs down.
- Great heaters for cold winter days and nights.
- Very helpful staff at Reception.
- Very clean outside and inside the villas.
- Lovely green area with picnic benches just at the back of the complex.
- Loads of towels. I mean there must have been 10 bath towels and 6 hand towels there.
- Great space
- Separate toilet meant someone could have a shower/bath and leave the loo free!
- Great price. €430 for five people for four nights including taxes. Brilliant!
Disadvantages:
- Low on extras. No kettle (we knew this in advance from reading other reviews so we brought a little travel kettle). As previously mentioned, no detergant, coffee filters etc. No corkscrew. I bought myself a gorgeous bottle of white wine in Auchan and had no way of opening it.
So either bring a corkscrew or buy a screwcap bottle. I persisted and just shoved the cork into the bottle.
- This isn't really a disadvantage cause it just means you need to plan your buses but the buses are *sometimes* infrequent. Taxi fare back from Disney is reasonable but to Disney (call out) €20 is no joke!
- No daily housekeeping service. They ask you to clean the kitchen before you leave and load up the dishwasher which was no problem. But if you like coming back to freshly made beds each day, then the lack of housekeeping might be a hassle.
We're a family of 5 (DH, me, DS14, DS11 and DD4) so we wanted some space and found the cost of 2 Disney rooms prohibitive. So we booked a villa here in Citéa.
VILLA DESCRIPTION:
The villa we booked was called a T3 villa which has 2 bedrooms (a large double bed in one room and 2 single beds in the second bedroom) upstairs and an open plan living room/kitchen with a double pull-out sofa in the living area downstairs. The kitchen was great with a full oven and hob, a full-size fridge freezer, a dishwasher and washing machine. There is a toilet downstairs toilet with a little sink and the bathroom is upstairs with a large sink, good supply of soaps, loads of clean towels and a bath (with hand-held shower head).
We arrived at 4.45pm thanks to our wonderful shuttle-bus driver (well-deserved plug here for Paris Blue Airport Shuttle who were fantastic and brilliant value!) who was at Beauvais airport waiting for us even though our flight was 20 minutes early!
PHOTOS
There are some photos and also some good virtual tours at Citea's website here. Also check the video here.
Here are some of my own pics...
KITCHEN:
MASTER BEDROOM:
SECOND BEDROOM:
STAIRS:
TV STAND:
FRONT DOOR:
PATH/BENCH/GREENERY OUTSIDE:
PARK/PICNIC AREA RIGHT BEHIND CITEA (ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A SMALL GATE RIGHT NEXT TO OUR VILLA):
RECEPTION
Reception was open when we arrived. Opening hours are Mon-Fri 7am-9pm & Sat/Sun 8am to noon and 2pm to 6pm. If you arrive outside these hours, don't worry but be sure to call reception when they're open and they will give you details to get into your villa. No queue at reception. Check-in took mere minutes. I paid up in full. I had booked through Hotels.com with no problems and payment was not taken til arrival which I like! Price through Hotels.com was 106 euro per night (the regular price is around 125 euro per night). Hotel taxes were a mere 6 euro for the 4 nights!
The sun was shining and the sky was blue so we happily walked to our villa. The place isn't big at all and I can't imagine any of the villas are far from the front gate. In fact I think we were at the back - a couple of minutes walk from Reception. We arrived to a spotlessly clean villa - I absolutely could not fault it. The plates/cups/cutlery etc were in the dishwasher which is re-assuring as you just know they're clean! Floors, bedsheets, sinks, toilet etc all spotless.
We were lucky to be at the back because there was a gate next to our villa (which was locked each night at 9pm for security) which led to a lovely quiet little park just a few feet from us, with picnic benches. Very impressive. The vibe of the place is very French so you do feel like you're in France, which is important cause, well, we were in France.
Green shutters on the windows with each villa-front painted a nice soft beige. Lots of flowers and shrubbery outside and, again, the outside paths were spotless.THE BUS:
The bus number is 34. In one direction is Val d'Europe and in the other direction are the Disney Parks. Just exit the main gates of La Citea and across the road and a few feet down is the bus stop that takes you to the Disney parks (a 5 minute ride) and on the side of the road you're already on, just a few feet away, is the bus stop for Val d'Europe. You simply cannot miss either bus stop, they're so near! The ride to Val d'Europe takes 20-25 minutes - its not that far away, it's just that there are lots stops en route. The bus costs €1.60 per person each way.
Timetables are posted up on each bus stop. The stop here is called 'Clé des Champs' and is near 'La Boisserie' stop listed on the timetable. Be careful not to get too relaxed about the buses though - they are very regular sometimes (as often as 10 minutes apart) but then at other times there's an hour long gap so it's best to plan it. Timetables are here. Weekend buses are not as frequent. Be sure to look at the right day!! The buses are very clean and make for a pleasant ride.
Here's the bus stop outside:
TAXIS
After shopping in Val d'Europe on our first night, we were too late for the last bus (9-ish but later on week nights) so we got the Metro to Disney (one stop) and took a taxi from there. The cab cost €9.40 + tip which was fair as there are 5 of us. But be careful. The next morning we decided to cab it to Disney and we had Reception call a cab and it cost €20.
We checked later and that is the standard call-out fare for that area (not sure if it's cheaper for less than 5 people).Note: I wouldn't walk to Disney with the kids but on my own or just with adults I think it would make a pleasant peaceful walk. It's not near. It's probably 3-4 miles so allow maybe an hour. But as I say it's doable for adults and would be quite nice. You could always stop off in one of the Val de France hotels (like The Explorers) for a drink on the way!
THE BEDS
I slept like a log EACH night. Neither of my boys wanted the pull-out sofa. I thought they'd be fighting over it.
I think they didn't want to sleep alone downstairs and just didn't want to admit it. lol!! So DD4 slept with DH and I - but that was on the cards anyway. We all found the beds to be very comfy. HEATING
The house was very warm with heaters in each room. I turned all of them off as it was 20 degrees (cel) or so each day and we certainly didn't need the heating!
THE SHOWER
The shower is a hand-held one which seems odd but it was fine - good pressure and easy to control.
APPLIANCES
I didn't plan on it but decided on our third day that I would do a wash as we were going through clothes too quickly. Whilst there is nowhere officially to dry clothes, I just hung them on the backs of chairs overnight and they were all bone dry the following evening. The cooker, coffee maker and dishwasher were great. No complaints. One drawback though - you don't get get any filters for the coffee maker, no detergant for the washing machine and no dishwasher tabs. So it adds a few euro to buy those things. But well worth I found. I must be honest and admit I didn't buy washing powder (it was too late) so I just rubbed stains with soap and did a wash that way. It worked!
SHOPS
There is a little supermarket 5 minutes away on foot. (Next to it is a bakery which is gorgeous apparently but we didn't the chance to get anything from there.) The opening hours of the local shop were odd though. They were open at around 7pm on Saturday night. But on Monday morning DH went there at 7.30am, waited til 8.10 and they still hadn't opened. So if you're staying here do get the times from Reception or you'll be frustrated. But don't forget Val d'Europe is a 20 min bus ride away (or a 5 minute metro ride from Disney) where you'll find a huge supermarket called Auchan and they'll have everything you need. We stocked up there on our first night and then supplemented that with a few trips to the local supermarket.
HOW TO BOOK:
- We booked through Hotels.com who seem to have a good allocation of rooms. You can also book through Expedia and many other sites but, when they were all saying it was full, Hotels.com still had rooms. You can of course also book through Citéa's own website here.
EXACT LOCATION
I'm a bit of a stickler for details so I like to know exactly where I'm staying in relation to other things! The villas are located in the town of Magny le Hongre, a few miles from the Disney parks. Magny le Hongre is a town in the city of Marne La Vallée (where Disney is, of course, located). On Citea's website the villas are called simply 'Citéa Magny le Hongre'. On other websites they're called 'Citéa Marne La Vallée - Magny le Hongre' and I've also seen them called 'Citéa Residentiel Magny le Hongre'. So it can be confusing!!! There's also 'Citea Torcy', also in Marne la Vallee so be careful!
Here's a screenshot from Google Earth showing the villas in relation to the Val de France hotels (Explorers, Kyriad etc) and in relation to the Disney parks.
Advantages:
- Small complex so never more than a couple of minutes walk to/from the bus stops.
- Attractive little villas - look great and very safe for kids to run around outside your villa.
- 2 car parks. I like that the car parks are self contained and that you don't park outside your door. One, as I said, it's just a minute or two to walk from the car park/Reception to your villa. Two, I felt our 4 year old was very safe walking down the path from the villa with no cars nearby.
- Full fridge freezer and cooker really help keep the costs down.
- Great heaters for cold winter days and nights.
- Very helpful staff at Reception.
- Very clean outside and inside the villas.
- Lovely green area with picnic benches just at the back of the complex.
- Loads of towels. I mean there must have been 10 bath towels and 6 hand towels there.
- Great space
- Separate toilet meant someone could have a shower/bath and leave the loo free!
- Great price. €430 for five people for four nights including taxes. Brilliant!
Disadvantages:
- Low on extras. No kettle (we knew this in advance from reading other reviews so we brought a little travel kettle). As previously mentioned, no detergant, coffee filters etc. No corkscrew. I bought myself a gorgeous bottle of white wine in Auchan and had no way of opening it.
So either bring a corkscrew or buy a screwcap bottle. I persisted and just shoved the cork into the bottle. - This isn't really a disadvantage cause it just means you need to plan your buses but the buses are *sometimes* infrequent. Taxi fare back from Disney is reasonable but to Disney (call out) €20 is no joke!
- No daily housekeeping service. They ask you to clean the kitchen before you leave and load up the dishwasher which was no problem. But if you like coming back to freshly made beds each day, then the lack of housekeeping might be a hassle.
