Main Street Station

The station that welcomes us today at Disneyland Paris went through an earlier version before taking its current shape. In the early days of Euro Disney, Eddie Sotto envisioned Main Street, U.S.A. set in the 1920s.

In this first approach, the station remained above all a symbol: the point of arrival into the park, as in the other Disney parks, with an aesthetic identical to that of Walt Disney World.

However, a major difference appeared once inside the park. The station was no longer alone. An elevated train stood opposite it, like an overhead metro, deliberately reshaping the perspectives of Town Square.

This version was ultimately not selected. The Victorian theme replaced the Roaring Twenties concept and required a complete rewrite of the project. A new challenge became clear: the park entrance was now defined by a hotel.

It became necessary to completely redesign the station so it would not block the view from the hotel. Eddie Sotto did not abandon the references that had informed the Elevated Train concept.

He reused them for the entrance station, drawing inspiration from real New York stations and from those imagined for the film Hello, Dolly!, where railway architecture contributes to the setting without ever dominating it.

The volumes are intentionally broken up to avoid any sense of mass, an approach already explored on It’s a Small World in California. The station stretches horizontally. It is slightly raised by a gentle slope, designed to accommodate the full train and improve guest flow.

Its structure combines exposed wood and steel, evoking early 20th century railway architecture, balanced between craftsmanship and industry.

Even today, it is not a destination but a threshold. It guides the eye and the steps toward Main Street, U.S.A., without trying to dominate, and leads visitors toward the rest of their journey.