Day into Paris with small children - worthwhile?

telly-addict

We are visiting Disneyland Paris for 3 nights in August and I was wondering whether it is worthwhile going into Paris for the day. We have a 2yo and a 4 1/2 yo so we will be taking at least one buggy. How child friendly is the RER and Metro? Any tips/hints greatly appreciated.

mackemman_2

The RER and Metro are fine.My advice would be to jump on one of the Big Red Buses that do the city tours. Sit on top and you and the kids can see all sights without the hassle. You can jump off and on too. Can't remember how much it costs but it is worth it if you small children with you.

fifeken

When I last visited there was plenty of room for buggies etc (even though I never had one). You should get a daily ticket for the RER/Metro. I can't remember what they call the ticket, but if you ask at Disney reception, they are very helpful at making sure you get the right thing. It works out much cheaper than buying individual tickets and also gives you flexibility to jump on/jump off whenever and wherever you want.

blindman

DLP to Paris by RER A line is about 40-45 minutes, runs fairly regular from very early until very late.

Children under 3 are free and our grandson (4 1/2 only 1 meter tall ) went free too. (never saw any ticket inspectors).

BIG Tip. If you're buying tickets from Marne Le Valle ticket office.

Either buy them the day before in the evening or get them VERY early (office opens at 05:00 :eek:) for that day.
Reason is that non-French (most people) HAVE to use the ticket office and they ALL ask questions etc and there are LOADS of people who go into Paris. We had to wait ONE HOUR to get our Carte Orange which we could have got anywhere had we been able to get to the next RER station.

The electronic ticket dispensers didn't take cash or foreign credit cards :mad:

The Metro stations usually have STEPs down to the platform and Escalators up.

Some stations you have to walk a long way to change lines.

Some have special turnstiles where you can get buggies\luggage through, though sometimes easier to lift them over the usual turnstiles.
However some turnstiles have a 'sliding door' mechanism to prevent people jumping over them so not suitable for lifting buggies over.

It's not that bad though, honest!

Tickets: DLP is in Zone 5.
If you're only going into Paris for one day then be aware of the following:

The French will try to sell you the Paris Visite card. It is more expensive than other tickets but does get you discount off tourist places (which you may NOT want to go to).

There is a one day pass called the Mobilis (which is NOT on the English page of the RER web-site ) which can be a good buy depending on what you intend to do in the day.

You can buy 10 lots of tickets which in effect give you a slight discount for buying in bulk.

So your options are:-

1 3 Buy a Mobilis €12.10 each which is a DAY pass giving you
unlimited rides that day.

2. Buy a Carnet (10 tickets) €10.50 which effectively gives you both 5
trips each.

3 Buy a Paris Visite card €16.75


Info here

Have fun

Some info here and on other threads elsewhere.

ila

We found the buses a lot easier with a buggy, because of steps and turnstiles