Error Sends European Lawmakers' Train to Disneyland

Signaling error results in brief stop at Paris theme park
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2023 2:45 AM CDT
Error Sends European Lawmakers' Train to Disneyland
FILE - In this March 16, 2020 file photo, Disneyland Paris is pictured in Marne La Vallee, east of Paris.   (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh, File)

Hundreds of members of the European Parliament were accidentally diverted to Disneyland Paris in a strange turn of events Monday morning. The MEPs were en route from Brussels to Strasbourg via train when a rail signaling error instead sent them to Marne-la-Vallée, the Disneyland Paris stop. Ultimately, the error only resulted in a 45-minute delay, for which rail officials apologized.

Disneyland trended briefly on social media in Brussels due to politicians joking about the experience, though the Guardian reports some lawmakers are actually a bit annoyed at parliament's location in Strasbourg, France, because there's no direct train route there from Brussels, so passengers must either go through Paris or change trains at a station near Disneyland Paris. As Politico EU explains, parliament charters trains each month just for lawmakers and officials to get them between its seats in Brussels and Strasbourg, but this one took a wrong turn.

"The driver had to go to the other end of the train, restart it and travel in the other direction," one official explains. Others who were on the train joked about their sadness at not being allowed to get out, and one suggested parliament adopt Disneyland's slogan, "When magic comes to life." Another, of course, made the obvious joke: "We are NOT a Mickey Mouse Parliament." (More strange stuff stories.)

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