Right now, if you head to St Pancras International in London, in just under three hours, you could be outside Marne-la-Vallée, aka the nearest train station to Disneyland Paris. Soon, however, that won’t be possible, as Eurostar plans to scrap the direct connection from next year. And you can blame Brexit for it.
The Channel Tunnel train operator will stop running the service on June 23 2023, just ahead of the summer holidays when tens of thousands of British families head to the theme park.
Eurostar said the economic circumstances, partly due to the pandemic and Brexit, meant the route had to be reviewed. The train company is now focusing on the core cities it serves in France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
In 2023, visitors to the European Union must register with the new Entry Exit System (EES) if travelling from outside the EU or Schengen area. A Eurostar spokesperson said: ‘While we continue to recover financially from the pandemic and monitor developments in the proposed EU Entry Exit System, we need to focus on our core routes.’
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said: ‘This is such disappointing news. I have used the service many times over the years with my own children, as have many millions of British families.
‘However, this appears to be another example of the fallout from Brexit for travelling Brits, and possibly the pandemic, but I remain hopeful that given the UK is a key source market to Disneyland Paris some pragmatic thinking and practical solutions will prevail.’
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