Eurostar – Celebrating 20 Years of the Direct London to Disneyland Paris Service
20 years ago in 1996, Euorstar debuted a service which would change the way people travel to Disneyland Paris, making it very easy indeed. Back then, the base station in London was Waterloo, where you could get on your train and under 4 hours later be at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, just a short walk to Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios (when it opened), Disney Village and a variety of on site hotels. I only visited Disneyland Paris for the first time in 2002, so I never experienced the indirect service that came before, which I guess makes me pretty lucky – that I was able to have such an easy ride, not miss the first 10 years of Disneyland Paris being open!
Fast forward to 2007 and operations moved from Waterloo to St Pancras, which in turn decreased the direct service to Disneyland Paris to a time of just under 3 hours. That means it would take you longer to watch Seven Samurai (leave a comment if you know the link between that film and Disneyland Paris) than it would to travel from London to the heart of the Disneyland Paris resort – not bad right? As someone who lives in the South East of England I am well aware of how spoiled I am having this incredible service, practically on my doorstep. On my doorstep would be even better though, so Eurostar, if you are looking for a North Hertfordshire station to add to the direct service, I have a suggestion for you.
I’ve been to Disneyland Paris a total of 18 times, with the 19th trip in less than 2 weeks. Of those 18 trips, 14 have been using the direct Eurostar service, a number that will rise to 15 very soon. While it is often cheaper to use an indirect service, and I have never had any problem changing at Lille, nothing can beat loading your cases onto the train at St Pancras and then sitting back with nothing to worry about until you get off at Marne-la-Vallée. Going to Disneyland Paris is my holiday time, it’s a time for us all to relax and have fun, and any little bit of that journey that can be made easier is all good for me. It’s also a far easier when you have children to not have to bother with train changes, where hauling luggage is best kept to a minimum.
As someone who has a fear of flights, had it not been for the Eurostar service I would probably never have visited Disneyland Paris. The Ferry is not an option for other anxiety based reasons and I’m not sure I’d have been motivated enough to do the drive, as it wasn’t until 30 minutes into my first visit to Disneyland Paris that I fell in live with the place. Looking in the brochure that first time and seeing a train that could take us directly there – it was all I needed to make a final decision and book.
To celebrate the 20 year of Anniversary of the direct service from London to Disneyland Paris, Eurostar now have a special Disneyland Paris page on their website, and I personally would like to say thank you to them for this service. Many of my happiest memories have come from Disneyland Paris, and friends I have made too, and it’s this fantastic train service that has facilitated the majority of them. I’ve even made new friends on the train itself, when I’ve gotten on the correct train, but that’s another story for another time!
This is not a sponsored article and I have not been paid or compensated in any way for writing this. Like everything on Dedicated to DLP, it’s simply my own honest opinion.
