When the magic began - from Donegal to Disneyland 30 years ago

It comes as quite a shock to me to see that Disneyland Paris is celebrating its 30th birthday.  It doesn’t seem that long ago at all since I was there, frantically preparing brand new hotels for the arrival of the first guests.

And it certainly doesn’t feel like ten years since I was equally shocked to discover that the famous resort was marking its 20th anniversary - and only the blink of an eye since the 25th birthday celebrations in 2017.

And yet, 30 years have indeed passed since I spread my wings and left Donegal as an excited 18-year-old with a thirst for adventure and a desire to see and experience more of the world. 

After a tearful goodbye to my parents, the journey began with a very early Sligo to Dublin morning train. Let’s face it, if you’re from Donegal, every train journey has a magic feel to it, and that one was really special. 

It was a crisp, clear morning in early spring. The fields and hedges rushing by on either side had a generous sprinkling of frost as the train travelled into the pink light of a new day, a new adventure, a new life. 

One of the many things I love about rail travel is that you can go long stretches without seeing houses or roads. Without those modern day markers, the journey feels timeless. When you do see roads, church spires and houses or villages in the distance, it is from such a different perspective that the spell remains unbroken. 

The coffee on that train left a lot to be desired but it woke me up. By the time we crossed the Shannon it was daylight and the train was almost full. The surreal feeling from the early part of the journey was already becoming a memory, but it has never completely faded. 

I had a strong sense of what I was leaving behind, and of how it had influenced the lore, language and culture that I had previously taken for granted. I also felt the knowledge of how it  shaped me, and that no matter what lay ahead, I would always carry it within me. 

On arrival in Dublin I had just enough time to visit Eason’s   to pick up some books that I hadn’t been able to buy locally. A trip to the O'Connell Street store was  a huge novelty in those days before online shopping brought the world to our fingertips. The books  completed the Dune series which despite already being decades old at that stage,  had the same  timelessness as so much else about that day. 

By the time I got to the airport and boarded my flight, it was early afternoon. Youth fares in those days were cheaper than full price tickets but still had a  hefty price tag compared to today. Air travel was a much bigger deal back then, at least in term of cost.

It was my first time on a plane and I couldn’t wait to get into the air.  My walkman was in the inside pocket of my denim jacket and in my earphones David Bowie was singing ‘Turn and face the strange, ch-ch-changes.’ 

I was seated in the back row as the Aer Lingus Boeing 737 rose from the runway at Dublin airport. The whole world was in front of me. Next stop, Paris. 

With opening day being only weeks away,  Disneyland Paris - or EuroDisney as it  was then called -  was a hive of activity. 

My memory of the exact figures is hazy, but I think at the time of opening on April 12, 1992, there were around 20,000 staff from 72 countries. It was very much a global community. 

In those first few weeks we were busy getting ready for opening, getting to know each other, finding our way around the resort and taking in the wonder of it all. 

And of course, there was the magnificent city of Paris. On my first day off I visited the Eiffel Tower and saw the whole city spread out beneath me. I was blown away by the art in the Louvre despite my complete lack of knowledge on the subject. 

The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral a few years ago brought home to me how privileged I was to have spent a leisurely morning wandering through the wonderful building, absorbing every aspect of its splendour. 

Looking back, what I really loved about Paris were all the little things - the street food, the cafés, the detail of the buildings and sculptures that seemed to be on every street corner, so numerous that many weren’t in the guide books. I remember walking along the Seine and seeing second-hand book dealers and souvenir stalls and street artists who would try to sell you a portrait they had expertly  sketched in just a few minutes while you stood taking in the sights.

I loved all the quirky shops selling antiques and artisan crafts, high fashion or kaleidoscopic bohemian apparel, shop windows full of shoes and boots that I could have easily blown my entire wages on each month. There were mime artists and musicians and the delicious aromas of food from cultures that I have never come into contact with before, as well as theatres and concert halls and gorgeous parks and public gardens all waiting to be explored.

At EuroDisney, opening day was drawing closer. A perk of being part of what became known as the opening crew was getting vouchers to stay for free in resort hotels as part of the staff training. We also got to eat in the restaurants and visit the park, experiencing all the rides from the same point of view as the visitors that would soon arrive in their thousands. 

 Being part of the hotel staff, the park never lost its magic for me, nor for many of my colleagues. 

In those early weeks, the Irish found each other and formed lasting friendships.  Over time I got to know more and more people, some from European cultures not too different from our own, others from more exotic places like the Carribean islands and all corners of America, Africa and Asia.

It was a  deeply enriching experience for an 18-year-old from Donegal, and one that I am grateful to have experienced. My itchy feet and spirit of adventure meant that I only stayed for eight months before moving on to further broaden my horizons. But it was a significant part of my life. 

In some ways, I can’t believe it was 30 years ago. In other ways, those three decades have been packed with a lot of living, a lot of change, and with all the trials and tribulations of life, love and family. 

If I had known back then that 30 years later at 48 years of age,  few things would make me happier than hitting the open road in my car, that I would still feel a huge surge of excitement at the prospect of a train journey, that my heart would soar when a plane on which I was travelling took to the sky, that despite life’s inevitable challenges and heartache, I would never lose the sense of wonder and joy that came with being on the move, I would surely have smiled, knowing that whatever happened, there would always be new  journeys to look forward to and new magic to experience.