The trip to Disneyland Paris

We departed on Thursday morning and took a taxi to the Walton Train station. Since it was rush hour, we spent a few extra pounds for first class tickets. It was well worth it, as we got to Waterloo in relative comfort (2nd class had to stand). We shared our compartment with two business women who very quickly learned from Daniel where we were going. One of the women carried on a short conversation with Dan, which is unusual for Brits – typically the train is so quiet you can hear every small sound.

Once in Waterloo we found much to our surprise that at the exit gate all the tickets were being checked. This is certainly unusual for southwest trains, you wonder sometimes if it just wouldn’t be less expensive to pay the occasional £10 fine but most Brits are too honest not to pay the fare.

We walked the short distance from track 19 to the Eurostar station, and going through customs consisted of showing our passports and our tickets. Once inside, we found out which track and position we would be departing from and got ourselves ready. Jenny and I got to see one of the new drug sniffing dogs as they let the beagle freely sniff all our luggage. Fortunately, the dog found our things boring (not that I expected otherwise) and soon the train arrived.

The Eurostar is bullet pointed at each end and is painted a pleasing crème color with yellow and blue stripes and logo. As we were in coach 1 we did not have to walk far. We found that we had seats that faced each other with a folding table in between. The children found the folding table quite amusing but we quicly put a stop to any play as this would result in certain pinched fingers. The train pulled out of the station and we were off. The first part of the trip through southern England was quite boring really. Despite this being a modern high speed train, it wasn’t going very fast as the tracks were all in rough condition. There was a dining car in coach 7, and it proved to be a long walk. Still, it helped to keep the children occupied. Once in the dining coach, we were disappointed to find it was only a snack bar, and the severe rocking back and forth of the car made it very difficult to not spill the drinks. There was also no place to sit in the car. This was our first experience with a French person on this trip as the server and assistant were French. They accepted Sterling, Francs, and Euros (with credit/debit card only). We took our meals back to our seats in the first coach.

The only stop was Ashford International terminal, and this was a huge car park – it would appear most people catch the train here, just before the channel tunnel. There is also a loading platform here where you can take your car on the train through the tunnel. After a short stop, we travelled for two minutes and eased our way into the channel tunnel. There was very little to see except for the occasional light that flashed by, and the crossing took just about 20 minutes. On the surface, only the fastest hovercraft can make the crossing in this short of a time. The usual ferries take about an hour.

At the point we exited the tunnel, we were going about 70 mph but once we were clear the train started to gently accelerate and the trip became more fun. Despite the gentle acceleration, this train reaches a speed of about 140 mph and soon we were moving much faster than the cars we were racing on the autoroute. The rail line had no level crossings (with gates) and was run much like an expressway highway using over and underpasses. When we went through an underpass, we approached and went through with a very satisfying whoosh that added to the excitement. I noticed that the curves seemed to be banked as well which probably was the only way to keep drinks on the table. Despite the speed, the ride was very smooth.

At no time did we ever see a French customs official or immigration officer. This was very similar to our experience entering the Netherlands in September.

Shortly we arrived in Lille France where we had to change trains. As we got to the station platform, I visited an ATM and got some 500 francs (about £45). We used the money to buy some sandwiches and fizzy drinks. The station was quite cold and we walked around a lot to try to stay warm during our one hour wait for the TGV train to Disneyland Paris. We noticed that there were radiant quartz heaters placed at intervals around the station. We also noticed that all the vending machines took only change and no notes and there were no change machines around. Also, the store employees were very reluctant to give out coins even when you made a purchase. The smallest note was 20 francs, which is about £1.90. The 10 franc coin was just about the size of the British pound coin. We were a little concerned about the heaters as the children could possibly get burned so we had to be on extra watch.  Jenny was very helpful by pointing to the BugleBoy logo for B-wear on our backpack.  This logo features a red skull with a devilish grin and large flames dancing from the top of its head.  She told Dan that if he got too close "that would be your head."

There was no conductor or porter to assist us in getting on the TGV train and we didn’t know how to work the stamp machine so we just shoved the tickets in and got on the train. It didn’t matter though, as nobody ever came around to check. This train had many more passengers and all the announcements were in only French. Marge was the only one with any hope of understanding the announcements and the children were making too much noise for us to hear. The women across from us was making a really interesting weave of strings on dozens of small spools like a tabletop decoration.

The TGV also went quite fast and in only four hours elapsed from Waterloo, we arrived at Marne la Valee – the station for Disneyland Paris. Since we weren’t on the direct train, we had to get our cards and papers from our hotel so we climbed aboard our hotel bus and rode to hotel Cheyenne.