The DLP Visitors Guide to Milk!
(Bodged together from my impending Trip Report notes, I’ll save the Story for there, and try to keep this Practical!)
I happen to work with a Parisian, so went to DLP pre-warned about the Milk situation. If you picture a supermarket over here, you’ll have a massive area of refridgerated milk, and somewhere a smaller selection of unrefridgerated UHT milk. Corner shops are probably more likely to have a supply of Fresh milk than UHT.
In France, it seems to be all the reverse.
As such the shop in the DLP train station only had UHT, the HNY was serving UHT for use with the breakfast cereals, the local starbacks was putting UHT in it’s drinks (and if you buy Hot Chocolate which has none, the Squirty cream they use is also UHT!).
Now to some people, this may not matter. However, I don’t like UHT. And the French versions of UHT seemed particularly noxious (notably partly due to the fact French fresh milk in general tastes different to ours, as does every countries of course). Very strong smell, not pleasant, bad aftertaste.
I like to drink Milk, and ideally have ceral in the morning, but I NEED a decent cup of tea to get through such a tiring holiday.
So, after a conversation with a couple of staff at reception, including an English member of staff who admitted that after 14 years he is used to it, but it took a while (and even his Cat prefers English milk!), I was given instructions on how to find milk.
Go to Train Station, travel down one stop to Val D’Europe, trains are regular, go outside station, supermarket is on right.
That may seem simple to wisened travellers, but this was my first time out of the country for 20 years, I don’t use English trains, let alone French ones, once you venture out of Disney the number of fluent English speakers drops considerably (so help is harder to find), and I, for reasons of temporary madness, chose to set off on my hunt at 9pm... though it seemed nice and light when I started!
So - here’s PROPER instructions to stop you wandering around like a blindman, like I did.
Train station, for those that don’t use it to get to DLP (like me) is between Disney Village and the Parks. When coming out of the village and looking at the train station, enter and turn Left. Go right down towards the shops, and you’ll see some Ticket machines on your right. Of these, there are some Green ones (I think called Novatel, or Novacard?) that have Language options as the first screen that make life easier.
Buy a ticket from them (1.65 euros) entering your station as Val D’europe. As you type, ala google, a list of stations appears so you can select one after just a few characters. I couldn’t tell if this ticket was one-way or return though, so assumed one-way.
Turn to your Right and go back the way you came until you can turn left, past some manned (or not, if you go really late... ahem) ticket booths. In front of you there’s some barriers you can put your ticket in and get to the platforms.
(Having not arrived by train, I wasn’t aware until afterwards, but I think the station may be split in two? ‘Proper’ trains on right, an express almost Tube-like on the left. Certainly I ended up in between two platforms that can’t have been the full place!)
There was a train in the station when I got there, on the platform to your Right. Above the platform are lists of Stops with X’s next to them to indicate they stop there. Val D’Europe is the top of this list. I beleive DLP is the End of the “A” line, so it’s likely there’s always/often trains in there waiting to go.
When it sets of, it’s literally a couple of minutes. You are exiting the opposite side of the train to which you entered. Note what side of the tracks you are in relation to the exit (on your left as you get off the train) - it will aid you on your return!
Up the stairs, and slightly to your left, out the station onto the main street.
If you are expecting to see a supermarket at this point, you will likely be disappointed, because here I started to wonder if I’d be pranked.
Go Right - and keep on going until you hit a Road to cross (fairly large T junction as I recall). As you cross the road, slightly to your left is an entrance to a Mall / Shopping Centre. Supermarket is in here.
It’s a Big 2-level supermarket, and it’s not big in relation to the size of the mall... so when you enter you won’t see it, go Left and follow the corridors, the supermarket is open-fronted, you won’t miss it.
You will though be on the Upper level - and the food is on the lower level. You can use escalators either In or Outside the supermarket.
You will find Milk at the furthest edge away from where you entered.
Now... to the Milk. You will see the pallettes of UHT, the fridge isn’t that far from it. It’s kinda like a specialist dairy section in the UK, all mix of brands of products, and even though I knew to look for “Lais Frais” (Lais/Milk is used for UHT, Lais Frais/Fresh Milk is what you after), there was a lot of variations.
I checked I wasn’t being watched and opened two of them (putting them in my basket afterwards so I didn’t get nabbed). They both Stank. So... I picked 3 other brands and bought the lot.
As it turned out, the other 3 I bought were ok, so the opened two went in the Bin.
The photo below shows in this order left to right (yes they are empty, I was in no mood to take this photo when I got back, I was too busy making a cup of tea for a start...):
• Semi-skimmed
• Full cream milk.
• Something that I think was still UHT, but at a push, was usable.
• the UHT you can buy in the train station.
I believe the Micro-filtre line on the Blue and Red bottles to the left is a biggie. I’m also told that aiming for Clear bottles rather than White helps (though at the time, full of milk, that’s hard to tell for sure!)
Note that the right hand red one has Frais in small print, but this is technically "Lait Entier", and so not really what you're after.
I felt at the time that the Blue semi-skimmed equivalent was the best match to UK milk, but on getting back to the UK, the milk here tasted creamier, so you may prefer the Red. Both were fine for any use though. I'd recommend of course you look for Exactly these labels, not anything that looks like it has the same wording on it, it was a bit of a minefield.
As mentioned earlier, all of them still have a slight difference in smell and taste to the UK of course, particularly strong when they are first opened (don't know why that would be the case).
Now - return the way you came! Look for same green ticket machine in station - enter Marne Le Valle as destination. Go through barriers and go the platform on your Right (i.e. Not the one you came in on). Screens make it quite clear when trains are due, and as I said, I think the next stop is end of the line, so I’d assume all trains will be stopping at DLP.
Watch for the trains that don’t stop - they go through the station at an unbeleivable speed - you don’t want kids wandering around the platform when they do.
From there, you’ll work your way back to your place in disney I’m sure.
Ask at your hotel reception to use the Hotel Fridge, they have a special form for it (they could just sell some dairy from the shop instead!). Of course, Ice bucket in room provides a decent coolbox overnight whatever you need.
This whole trip including walking through village to and from HNY took me 90 minutes, but, I had 30 mins wait for a train in Val D’Europe through going so late. I suspect that now you know where you are going, this could be done in under and hour.
Let me know if you use this info, and if you think it needs fine tuning at all! I didn’t have the presence of mind to photograph every step of the way
