Officials Envious of Train Service to Euro Disney : Transportation: Group’s visit to France may prompt renewed rail efforts in connection with Disney’s Anaheim expansion.

MARNE-LA-VALLEE, FRANCE —  Rising from the heart of Paris, the underground metro A4 line breaks into sunlight just west of Vincennes, as the urban sprawl gives way to green soccer fields and small villages.

In short order, a billboard featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse appears among hamburger and clothing advertisements, the first clue to what lies at the end of the line.

For Euro Disney Resort executives, the rail system is a life-sustaining umbilical cord that transports a full 80% of their work force and close to 30% of park guests. So dependent are Disney workers here on public transportation that on most days the employee parking lot is virtually empty.

In the view of Orange County officials touring here last week, however, the Paris Transit Authority’s metro embodies a frustrating dream. Nearly equivalent to the freeway miles between Los Angeles and Disneyland in Anaheim, the French system is sparking talk of renewed efforts to bring expanded rail systems to automobile-happy Southern California.

“I’m totally covetous,” Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said of the newly built rail extension to Euro Disney. “We’re a megalopolis in Orange County with all the problems of any other urban area. I just don’t know why we can’t do this.”

The train system here is just one of many elements of Disney’s European creation that could foreshadow the company’s plans for a $3-billion expansion in Anaheim.

Disney’s plans in Orange County call for expanded rail service as well as themed hotels, a man-made lake and a public retail and shopping district, all of which are part of the development in France. The Orange County delegation’s four-day tour in France, organized by the Walt Disney Co., provided officials with an introduction to those features and has already brought favorable reviews.

“Everything Disney does is first class,” Wieder said before returning home to Orange County last week. “I think you can count on them to do the same back home.”

The absence of interconnecting rail systems throughout Orange County cannot be attributed to a lack of ideas. In recent years, county and various city officials have proposed plans for a regional network that would extend from John Wayne Airport, an inner-city system that would connect tourist centers in Anaheim, including Disneyland, and a high-speed line linking Anaheim with Las Vegas.

Although costs have proved prohibitive in some cases, Wieder blames a lack of political unity for keeping some proposals off local government priority lists.

“We have to be willing to relinquish some local controls,” Wieder said. “There must be a move toward some cooperative effort, some centralization.”

Some of the renewed interest has also been sparked by Disneyland’s plans for the Anaheim expansion. The company has continued to run its own monorail system, which carries guests back and forth between the Disneyland Hotel and the park. But interest remains high in expanding that line inside and outside a bigger park, with stops at each of the three hotels proposed in the Disneyland Resort master plan.

Disney’s attempt at winning federal funding for such a project failed miserably last year, however, when congressional officials became confused by a competing proposal drafted by the city of Anaheim.

Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler, a member of the Orange County Transportation Authority who toured Euro Disney with the local delegation, said the increasing popularity of Amtrak service from San Juan Capistrano to points north is reason for optimism about some form of commuter rail expansion.

“I may not be in elected office when it comes, but it’s going to happen in my lifetime,” Pickler said. “This is what we’ve been needing for a long time,” the councilman said of the Paris metro. “But what you see here doesn’t come easy.”

The concept has apparently come much easier in France, as the combination of government interest in developing points east of Paris and the Disney presence clicked to bring a rail station to the theme park gates at no cost to Disney.

“The extension was planned for some time,” Euro Disney spokesman Nicolas de Schonen said. “The fact that Disney arrived made the project happen much quicker. So when it is said that this (rail station) was given to us, it’s not really true.”

In about two years, a high-speed rail system serving the entire region is expected to open and will run through the park.

But even Euro Disney officials admit the metro system here is not a perfect model for efficiency. Strikes have impeded employees trying to get to Euro Disney on at least three occasions, Disneyland International President James Cora said.

On those occasions, employees are notified in advance and advised to take a different route that stops some distance from the park. There, they are collected by Disney buses and brought to work. It all seems to work relatively smoothly, the executive said.

“I’m loving that we have it,” Cora said of the metro line.

Disneyland Vice President Ron Dominguez of Anaheim said he remains hopeful that some form of expanded rail will someday serve Orange County.

“You can look at this (French system) as a model, but you can’t relate it exactly to the United States,” Dominguez said. “Trains are a way of life here.”

Pickler said that there were initial plans for some members of the local delegation to meet with French government transportation officials, but that because of time constraints the sessions could not be scheduled.

The meetings were to include Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, the county’s leading proponent of the Anaheim-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail connection. The supervisor, however, canceled his Disney trip partly because questions have been raised about his campaign finances and his acceptance of political gifts, including free trips.

Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter and Councilman Bob D. Simpson also canceled plans to visit Euro Disney, in these cases after separate reports of the acceptance of Disney gifts by Anaheim officials. Disney officials said all members of the local delegation paid their own expenses for the France trip.