Universal Great Britain

[EllieB]

There must be an influencer who'd like to try this for science (and likes).

I would, but my biggest audience is about 230 followers on Threads so I'm not influencing anyone, haha!

Apologies if you’re already aware, the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras is about 100-150 meters from the the platforms that have trains from St Pancras to Bedford. These are the fast trains and easy to get to just up the escalators inside the station.

So it’s not to bad to switch trains as it is.

I am curious how quickly someone could get from say Paris to Bedford including the switch plus passport control at St Pancras etc.

 

[rob@rar]

I’d say that the chance of Eurostar running trains to Wixams to serve Universal is not practically zero, but precisely zero. Massive expense for very little gain given how well connected international rail travellers will be once the regular Wixams station is operational. As stated, it couldn’t be easier to connect to Midland Mainline services from the Eurostar terminus at St Pancras. No way Eurostar would invest in Wixams station to make that able to accommodate Eurostar trains and Eurostar passengers - not just immigration control, but security scanning, a separate lounge/waiting area just for international passengers, the need for massively long platforms, the need for a train depot near Wixams to store the Eurostar train between arrival and departure. It just makes no sense whatsoever given how much all this would cost for comparatively little gain. If Eurostar want to capitalise on the theme park market they could resurrect the Disneyland Paris service.

I am curious how quickly someone could get from say Paris to Bedford including the switch plus passport control at St Pancras etc.

I don’t think there are passport checks at St Pancras for inbound Eurostar passengers, those checks are done before you board the train in Paris, Lille, Brussels or Amsterdam. When you arrive at St Pancras you just get off the train and walk to whatever your next mode of transport is, whether that’s London Underground, rail services, taxi, whatever. It’s no different from any other train service. Different for outbound passengers as they have to go through security and passport checks (UK and French) before boarding the train at St Pancras.

 

[JT01]

I was more curious about where the rumors actually originated? After doing some research, it looks like Virgin is exploring the idea of launching trains to compete with Eurostar. Now, if these new Virgin trains were equipped with third-rail capability, theoretically they could run on the UK’s mainline railway network and utilise different routes. It also mean train stations would have to build passport control terminals to run this service.

Of course, this is all purely fantasy it’s unlikely to ever happen. Still, it’s such a shame that continental rail routes don’t extend further north into the UK. The Channel Tunnel has never really been used to its full potential, which is a missed opportunity in my opinion.

 

[yepthatguy]

I wonder if Universal have some themselves hidden.

Back To The Future's DeLorean has almost vanished from UK roads

"Where we're going, we don't need roads," said Doc Brown in Back To The Future, immortal words that now reflect the status of the DeLorean. The classic cars are largely consigned to collectors' garages, new figures show.

news.sky.com

 

[tommyhawkins]

I was more curious about where the rumors actually originated? After doing some research, it looks like Virgin is exploring the idea of launching trains to compete with Eurostar. Now, if these new Virgin trains were equipped with third-rail capability, theoretically they could run on the UK’s mainline railway network and utilise different routes. It also mean train stations would have to build passport control terminals to run this service.

Of course, this is all purely fantasy it’s unlikely to ever happen. Still, it’s such a shame that continental rail routes don’t extend further north into the UK. The Channel Tunnel has never really been used to its full potential, which is a missed opportunity in my opinion.

So if a train can physically get to St Pancras then theoretically it can get to whatever destinations originate from, but the Eurostar train runs a much bigger loading gauge than other UK trains (think of it like the reach envelope on roller coasters) so if there are any tunnels or bridges North of St Pancras these Eurostar trains are probably too thicc to fit. European trains are all bigger than UK ones if you haven't noticed. So unless a new operator (it was reported they finally putting contract capability to other other operators to break up Eurostar's monopoly) with trains that fit UK loading gauges then its impossible. At the end of the day the fact its so easy to connect from where HS1 terminates is good enough as it is.

Also any hotels north of Manor road are going to be about the same bus distance as cabana bay to City Walk, with much less traffic. so as much as the river idea is nice. its not going to be needed

 

[Jake S]

I wonder if Universal have some themselves hidden.

Back To The Future's DeLorean has almost vanished from UK roads

"Where we're going, we don't need roads," said Doc Brown in Back To The Future, immortal words that now reflect the status of the DeLorean. The classic cars are largely consigned to collectors' garages, new figures show.

news.sky.com

I'm not sure they have anything beyond the show cars that have been on display at the parks in the United States. That said, for the right price they could certainly get their hands on one, especially if they don't need one that runs (see: acquiring the 1959 Caddy for their latest parade in Orlando).