thndrmatt
Real Life Mickey Wannabe!
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2005
There aren't as many threads in the Paris forum where people have gone into detail about the travel logistics for Disneyland Paris and Paris in general, so I thought I'd go into a bit of detail on what we did to help others. There's a lot here, feel free to "ctrl-f" the things you want to hear about like Versailles or stroller or luggage or whatever. Also if you have specific questions feel free to ask them either via the thread or DM.
Family is four of us, DW, DS 8, DD 7. Trip was 18-27 Nov, because our school district gives the entire week of Thanksgiving off for whatever reason now, so a 10 day trip only had them miss 1 day of school (Mon 27). And guess who doesn't care about Thanksgiving, the French! So everything was low season, low crowds, cooler weather, easy to find availability for anything we wanted. My wife and I had last gone to DLP/WDS in 2005, so it's been a while.
Plan was 4 nights at DLP, and 4 nights in Paris. We stayed at Holiday Inns in both locations (Express at DLP), on points, which were buy 3 nights get one free for both. We had discussed and even booked staying in the bubble at Sequoia particularly for the hour early theme park entry, but for us it was $1200 for that four nights (with no park tickets via Booking.com) and we couldn't stomach $300/night for 2 double beds in a tiny room and no breakfast. We canceled that late in the game near the deadline and went with the HIX, which gave us two twins plus full sofabed and free buffet breakfast every day for everyone with easy bus trans to the parks (more detail on that later). And thus $1200 to spend on so many other things!
For flights we traveled on nonstops to/from PHL to CDG on AA using frequent flier miles. It's a bit of a drive for us from south of DC but the nonstop and free tix made it worth it. Economy parking at the airport though was a bit steep at $150 for the 10 days, right across the street was about half the price via SpotHero but I didn't see any of their shuttles running when we came back, not sure how long we would have waited. It was a ~7pm flight out of terminal A East, so we hung out in the Admiral's Club at A6 (based on frequent flier status/intl travel) where they had some good gumbo a wide appetizer selection and plenty of snacks. Didn't need to be a lot as they'd also serve dinner on the plane. Economy plus is only in the center section on that type of aircraft, so we took over a center row of 3 and had my wife just in front of us. Light passenger load ended up with the seats next to her vacant, so we put one kid in each row sleeping across us while we "reclined" and tried to sleep ourselves. By the time you're done with the meal, and up until they start serving the breakfast to end the flight, you're only looking at about 5 hours of usable rest time though.
Arrived ~8am and discovered the first of the "Family Lines" that we took full advantage of this trip. Basically skipped the entire passport control line straight to a booth and were through seconds later. I think it was just a <18yo requirement to use the line, was surprised there weren't more people in it. Luggage was already on the carousel, then we headed toward the train. I'd research the various options (private car, public trans into city then out to DL, 9 minute TGV fast train direct) and did settle on the latter. Reason being our arrival was on a Sunday, and the way they do the Navigo weekly passes is from Monday to Sunday every week, you can't just buy one and have it last a week. So while we were going to use those starting the next day, we had to pay out of pocket for the first day and last day trans either way. It was 57E (abbreviating Euro as E for the rest of this, $ means USD) for the four of us, pretty ridiculous for the 9 minutes yet still cheaper than private transfer (seemed to be 80-90E depending on company) You'll save about half the cost via the ~90 min journey via Paris, so depends on your personal time vs cost preference. The train station is found by following the big train signs/logos, down a couple escalators or our case lifts with the stroller.
Once you get to the white ticket machines you have to manually enter everyone's information including birthdays using the on screen keyboard, it's not fast, and there were ~4 machines for all passengers in that area so we waited a bit to get to one. There were a ton of people milling about staring at the departure boards but we soon realized the fact our train was leaving in 5 minutes meant everyone else was already down on the train, so finally asking for help (never hesitate if timing is important) had them push us through everyone rush us down the escalator and we were the last ones on. My understanding is it isn't easy to just swap tickets to the next train, so that was key.
We were already coming off the train at the DLP station about 0900, which led to some discussion as to whether we wanted to bus to the hotel to check in (room might not be available) or just hit a park for a while (they didn't open til 0930 so we would even be able to "rope drop"). We did have two checked bags and four carry ons, along with our double Bob stroller. Note on the stroller, it doubles as luggage cart quite handily, and we used it extensively throughout the trip without issue even given it's size. If public trans was crowded I'd fold it up, but I'd often just be able to roll it on. Our kids do well with exercise, but we go pretty wall to wall every day, and places like the Louvre or waiting for the buses had them reclined and napping their way through portions. Any time we pondered leaving it at the hotel for a day, we were glad we had it later. Particularly for control, if you just need to get from point A to point B through a bunch of crowds and stations, much easier to have them in there than running free. Note you'll do a fair amount of deadlifting it up and down flights of stairs to/from metros and whatnot (after they get out), unless you spend a lot of time hunting for elevators (and they're functioning). But that was part of my daily exercise. Also helps they get along in the stroller, that might not always be the case. Just purely based on size this might be our last trip with it, we'll see.
Anyway back to luggage, turned out Magical Express was full (and think you have to be a hotel guest anyway) and the additional independent luggage storage at the station was also full. The Disney one pointed us to where "they have luggage storage at the parks". We went to the DLP side, got stonewalled by not having park tix yet, and hopped on the wifi to acquire those. We'd waited because while we qualify for military tix, they only sell them as 2 day hoppers. We really only needed 3 days, but figured we could do 4 if we were feeling spry upon arrival, so went to buy those. Unfortunately by waiting, they charged us the "same day" military price, which is basically the highest military cost tier, rather than what based on the day would have been much lower. So as an example the second 2-day passes were $352 total for the family of four, the first two days were $511 (also partly because entering on Sunday a weekend vs weekday, they're variable pricing). First of a few first morning lessons learned there. Military passes are still a steep discount off MSRP of course.
Anyway back to luggage again, once we had tix they let us through that "pre-check" before you go through the turnstiles on the right side of the DLP hotel, and then we found the big luggage line. It was labeled Guest Services and a bunch of people were cutting on the right to go directly to what was labeled Luggage Storage, but getting to the front of that we were told it was for "VIPs" and directed back to main line. Given it was being worked by 1 person we decided to go try our luck at the Studios version. Shuffled everything over there to find out no such thing exists. Shuffled everything back over to a now longer line and decided to split up, with my loving wife waiting in the line and dealing with the luggage while I got the kids going in the park with the stroller. When you first scan the military tickets they check your military ID at the gate. Worth noting I just had them on my phone using the app, and used my phone for just about everything this trip.
I withdrew a grand total of 100E for the entire trip, and that was only because the return transfer to airport required cash payment. Literally everywhere else took contactless, I didn't even take my credit card most of the time and just used apple pay everywhere. Or I'd purchased tickets in advance online and paid that way. The two things I can think of that took coins were the shooting arcade at DLP (it requires 3E exact change, and seemingly like one cashier in the whole park can change 1E coins rather than 2E) and the arcade at the HIX.
Having what ended up being four days total we were pretty low stress on our theme park days, even though I'm usually very itinerary focused and rushing around. Longest line we waited in was probably 20-30 min, we'd just avoid the long ones and do them at other times. Didn't buy any of their version of fast passes, never made sense because for a family of four it would be 13x4=52E for the long ones to avoid say 45 minutes, not worth it to us. About half the rides it was usable on didn't have much of a line anyway.
In general things not to be missed as veteran Disney travelers with kids I would say that are specific to DLP: Pirates (might be my favorite version, but maybe that's because it was fresh), Phantom Manor (certainly similar, but some fun spot the differences), the castle walkthrough (it's much more spacious), the dragon under the castle, the Aladdin walkthrough hidden just past the door to adventureland, Adventure Isle (think Tom Sawyer's island, but again more spacious and more impressive detail and scaling, note it has multiple exits to other lands via bridges so keep control of your kids they're not just roaming an actual island), Alice's Curious Labyrinth (kids loved exploring the maze), the Nautilus submarine, Hyperspace Mountain (think more Rock and Roller coaster than traditional SM), Indiana Jones (part mousetrap coaster, but with a loop!) and Thunder Mountain (the longest/best worldwide, and it's on an island!). Obviously many of those are just walkthroughs, never have a line, so you can spend a good portion of a day's peak line timeframe doing those. The Lion King show is also more impressive than any other version, performed on a stage vs in the round thus more similar to a Broadway style production.
At the studios, the Mickey Magic related show was also as good as Lion King, and there were some unique attractions there too. The tram tour is now basically just the repurposed disaster canyon from previous tours and that's it, but if you've never seen it the kids were shocked/impressed and it never had a line. ToT is obviously the same ride mechanic, but the story/creepiness is unique to this location and still the old Twilight Zone theming, I enjoyed it more than the GoG version at DCA. Crush's coaster is like a watered down Guardians of the Galaxy spinning coaster on a smaller scale. Lots of other transplants from other parks that are more exact duplicates, like the newer WEB slingers, and the Avengers Flight ride, which is a rebrand/exact track duplicate of Rock n Roller coaster. Less to do in general in that park, Arendelle was clearly under construction, and think I heard Star Wars based land later on.
Back to logistics, we ended up making it surprisingly through the whole day, heading out to the bus depot next to the train station pretty late. It was bus 34 that went to the HIX, via about 20 minutes and a dozen or so stops. Honestly didn't feel much different than riding the bus system at MK. That first night the ticketing/fare system was turned off (maybe because Sunday? maybe because late?) so it was free to get to the hotel. After hopping off it was maybe a quarter mile walk to the actual hotel lobby past a chicken chain restaurant in a mostly residential area on a safe sidewalk, didn't feel much further than the standard hotel room to bus stop walk at WDW (again stroller useful at night).
The remaining days were typically sleeping in later than planned, eating big breakfasts, acquiring additional chocolate chip croissants and baguettes for the stroller as snacks to take into the parks, bus over to the parks, go all day, bus back to the hotel, sleep/repeat. We tended to have a bigger late lunch, and then just a few snacks, partly because food in general is expensive by comparison (although remember tip is included). We also tend to get a couple meals and split them between four of us, because the portions are large and we are generally snacking on other yumminess. One day we hit the BBQ place outside Lion King, one day the noodles place at the Studios, and then one day we lucked into someone canceling their Walt's reservation at the last minute and it being available when I refreshed. Walt's has a very Club 33 vibe given it's up on the second floor of Main Street "looking down upon the commoners" and each room is themed to a different land. It's very fancy, and can take 90-120 min if you're doing all the courses and just leisuring your way through it, but our kids enjoyed exploring and relaxing and grazing. Also of note we hit 204E for the four of us for the flat rate app/entree/dessert, and my wife adding the wine pairings. In my head though for most things it was like "saved $1200 on hotel, could do 5 more of these for that..." It was by far our biggest splurge of the trip, but having been lucky enough to do some of the other flagship restaurants at the other parks, this was right up there experience and quality wise and I have no buyer's remorse.
On the second day since it was now Monday and a new Navigo week, we stopped by the train station there at DLP and the information desk and acquired our weekly passes. We'd brought just a basic print out of our pictures in the right size as we'd read in advance, and you can Youtube how to actually adhere to them to the pass and them fold the lamination like piece over the top, and then slide them into the plastic holder so the number is showing. Believe those were 30E each, so 120E for all the trans required for all four of us for the entire trip, other than arrival day and departure day. We used them on RER trains, metros, buses, multiple times each day. On buses you swipe as you board one time, and hop off whenever. On RER/metro you swipe as you enter the station. Our strategy was my wife would stand at the swiping location, swipe for me and I'd go through with stroller, then she'd swipe for each kid and they'd go through in turn, then swipe for herself and pass through. It's only one at a time so that was the easiest logistically. Same theory/order applied to entering the theme parks.
I'll skip ahead now to transfer day to Paris. The bus was the same bus 34 as any other day over to the main Chessy train station. Then it was RER A taking 44 min/13 stops to Auber, transferring to Havre-Caumartin M9 towards Pont de Sevres, 20 min/15 stops to Porte de Saint-Cloud, where when we pop out of the exit labeled 4 we were literally feet from the hotel front door at the Holiday Inn Auteil. A note on figuring out navigation, almost every station if you're in the middle of it has free wifi. I had my phone in airplane mode for the entire trip after thinking I might have to use the $10/day Verizon international data plan thing. It was just never necessary. Get on wifi, figure out where you're going, take screenshots as required, and off you go. That way Google Maps is giving you accurate up to the minute timing information for trains and buses and what may be fastest at a particular time of day.
We'd considered a private transfer for this day because it was a bus+train+metro with all our luggage, but the public trans version was pretty seamless, and traffic is horrible so a car wouldn't have actually gotten there much faster, and come at additional cost (again 80-90E), whereas our Navigo passes covered everything and we needed those anyway. Since Chessy is the first stop on the train it was easy to find seats for that portion, and the Metro piece wasn't long and just got us used to how that whole system worked. Note for the last pic below we're traveling right to left, and the lights are turning off as we approach the stations (furthest right says DLP, further left shows Auber).
Getting the kids involved with "how many more stops" based on the lit up information inside the metro car and looking at the signs on the wall as you enter stations was a fun activity. We also used the Disney Parks playDisney phone app with some of the play at home games like the Toy Story or Space Mountain ones to keep them occupied, they had fun passing it back and forth and working together for some tasks.
The room wasn't ready yet, so we dropped off our luggage and headed out with just the stroller. We made a quick stop for lunch at Mcdonalds right across the street and headed to Bus "PC" towards Portre D'asnieres - Marguerite Long, which was 22 min/13 sdtops to the Jardin d'Acclimatation which is basically a mini theme park built for kids. Basically all public trans has a chart showing all the stops, and then usually digital updates of which one's next and what the final destination of the route is. Don't fall for the "principal stops" screen which might not show yours thinking you missed it, it will then cycle to the "all stops" screen that will show you how many more if yours is getting close.
By the time we got out there after a pleasant walk through the forest it was closer to 1400, and I was concerned since it was only open 1100-1800 that we might have missed out on some things and wouldn't have time for others. As it turned out, a lot of the rides close for lunch from 1200-1300 or so anyway, and the place was absolutely DESERTED. We had to basically wake up operators to have them give our kids private rides on most of the attractions. They would ride the ones they liked repeatedly, and it was basically like having our own private park. This was on a Thursday now by the way, Thanksgiving day, and it was 80E for the family four pack of unlimited ride tickets to get us in. The place was a huge hit, our daugher who isn't quite up to big roller coaster level (test track/GoG both made her quite sad) was absolutely loving everything there because it was just the right amount of "tummy tickles". One of them was a spinning/bouncing type ride that eventually accelerates in both the forwards and backwards direction, that thing was wild. Also a version of Angry Birds where you throw soccer balls as a screen, a pint sized "log ride", a mine train through a cave, a pretend horse ride galloping through a forest, a double decker carousel, and various carnival rides in between. It made for a great transfer day activity.
As it got dark we decided to add on the Arc de Triumphe as it was up near there and we were still high on adrenaline, and hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower yet. This was our first use of the Museum Pass, which covers many attractions around Paris with one ticket. Of note kids don't cost anything for anything covered by MP, so for us that meant just two MPs of the 4 day variety at something like 70E each. Note you have to go through a tunnel to get over to the arc (don't try to run across the many lanes of traffic). The entrance to the tunnel is on the NW side, or on the left of the road if you're coming up from J'ardin. They checked in our stroller at the base by security and locked it to a rail and gave us a number for it, and up the spiral staircases we went. We were lucky enough to be close to an even hour (I think 8pm?) so we had a fun countdown to the light show on the Eiffel Tower, which I think runs hourly on the hour. A neat intro to the monument we'd be climbing the next day, although the Arc is impressive in its own right, especially at night seeing all the city and vehicle lights sprawling out in all directions below you. The route home was Metro 6 to Trocadero transferring to the soon to be very familiar Metro 9 back to the hotel where our rooms were waiting. We'd decided because of the very small size of Paris rooms in general to get two rooms this time, which both had 1 bed, with my wife and I sharing in one and the kids in the connecting room. We were lucky enough to have rooms 72 and 73 on the top floor, which meant Eiffel Tower view out the window with a small balcony. There are only ~4 rooms per floor in this skinny hotel so not sure how many others can see it, another floor down and it might have been obscured.
While the kids winded down and went to sleep my wife knocked out laundry at a local laundromat about a block away that was open late that night, we'd packed about half the trip's worth of stuff so were running low. We ended up breakfasting most days at Mcdonalds across the street to save money and time, but on multiple days they were out of things like pancakes or eggs, and they were not "fast" so in hindsight the prepurchased cost of the hotel breakfast at 14E/person with kids eating free, totaling 28E, would not have been far off what we paid at Mcdonalds, and was muchhhh higher quality/variety. We finally did this on the last day, another lesson learned.
Day two was M9 towards Mairle de Montreuil, to Trocadero 11 min/8 stops, then a quick walk across the river with a a great view of the Eiffel Tower as you approach. We had prepurchased half our tickets (separate cost from MP) for opening at 0930, the ticketing website for whatever reason had allowed my initial transaction for stairs to second floor + lift to the top for two of us to go through no problem, but the second transaction was always "payment refused" on any browser/device for weeks. My son (fear of heights at times) had been deciding whether he wanted to go all the way up or where/how he wanted to go up partway, so we'd not been sure which type of variably priced ticket to buy initially. He eventually decided to at least try the second floor lift though, so my wife had to join the ticket line upon arrival, but since we were there at opening it didn't take long. Note if on the NE side (labeled entrance 2 I think) there is a massive line for people without tickets, and a nonexistent line for people with tickets initially before opening. Then upon opening they all move through pretty quick and it turns out that initial line is only for security anyway and they all go to the same place whether you have a ticket or not, so if you already have a ticket join the shortest line either way. By the time my daughter and I had climbed to the second floor via the stairs, we only waited ~5 minutes for them to arrive via lift, there'd been immediate availability for a double lift ticket for both of them. The actual ticket office is the eastern leg of the tower, the stairs entrance is the southern leg. Wifi btw is free all around the Eiffel tower, including the 1st and 2nd floors, although didn't work at the top. There is however a bathroom at the top, which worked out in our favor for the kids. Note no stroller storage and you have to fold it up in the elevators both ways, but you can roll it around other than when you're on the lift. If you are staying close by probably not worth having a stroller for this particular attraction if that's all you're doing, but we had a bigger day planned.
After getting our fill there and even descending with both kids via the stairs because they wanted to (my wife saved her knees and went down the lift with the stroller), it was then Bus 72 towards Gare de Lyon to Quai Francois Mitterand, 12 min/8 stops, scenic along the Seine to the Louvre. We had 1200 timed tickets for the Louvre and showed up around 1215 to find big lines for both 1230 and 1300 I think in front of the pyramid, but that didn't matter as right in the middle was wheelchair/stroller access and you just skipped both lines right in after showing your MP. Note for some attractions like this one even though it's included in MP, you have to book reservations timeslots separately (for free) via their website. The MP website has direct links/instructions on how to do it.
We ate lunch in the sit-down restaurant in the main lobby, which was again very good/leisurely since we no longer had any time slot restrictions for the remainder of the day. They even had some visiting chef specialties, and we just left the stroller in their lobby. The kids then made it through "the big 3" attractions and some of the other things, before the exercise from the morning and the previous day all over the J'ardin caught up with them and they happily napped through the rest of the museum, which was great for us because we just leisurely browsed at parent pace taking our time without worrying about entertaining them. A docent did pull them out of the Mona Lisa crowds and took a picture of just them behind the barrier directly in front of the painting which was pretty lucky/stellar, and that worker was immediately chastised by her superior, so don't think that's normally a thing. Great pic tho! I think we started around 1300, and finished around 1600, because we still wanted to get over to Musee Orsay which closed at 1800. We hunted a bit for the lift up out of the exit to the Louvre, the only one that went to street level over in the shopping Carousel area appeared to be under construction, so we eventually had to just wake them up and make them hike up the stairs and deadlift the stroller.
After a quick walk across the river we hit the highlights of Orsay including the temporary Van Gogh exhibition, which unintentionally via the movie at the end introduced the kids to the concept of suicide (oops) and led to an explanatory conversation... The ride home afterward was via RER C directly outside the museum towards Montigny-le-Bretonneux to Pont du Garigliano 12 min/5 stops, where we could have caught the PC bus again, but rather than wait we decided to walk the pleasant 1k from the station across the river back to the hotel and check out some of the local flavors.
Worth mentioning immediately next door to the hotel was a supermarket, and on multiple nights we grabbed some microwavable deliciousness and used the microwave in the hotel lobby (no microwave or fridge in the room) to make dinner, and all four of us ate for under 20E. The quality of their cheap microwavable meal brands seems vastly superior to US. So sometimes we splurge, but that's mostly because a lot of the time we're frugal and go for speed/convenience. Next door to that were a couple of those places you can just pick your meats and cheeses and baguettes and bakery items and whatever, so there were a lot of options for grab and go. There was also a pharmacy down the street (indicated by a big fluorescent green cross) for some other basic needs during the trip.
I then snuck out later that night after bedtime to head over to the Parc des Princes stadium where there just so happened to be a Premiere League equivalent soccer match going on with Paris's top team, and it ended up being a thoroughly entertaining 6-2 final where they beat Monaco with revelry all around. Although it was sold out a second hand ticket wasn't too bad, turns out that's because it was next to a wall, but still a full view of field even with one end's 18 yard line high enough up to see everything clearly, so can't complain.
The next day we were SUPPOSED to sleep in and do Versailles in the afternoon at 1400 and then in theory see the Stables and possibly equestrian show that night, but the kids and surprisingly even DW were ready to go earlier, so we figured we might as well get the show on the road. It was M9 toward and to Pont de Sevres at the end initially, when you get out you follow the signs to Bus Depot, and at the top of the steps literally 5 feet from you is the Bus 171 stop, and if you're lucky like us the bus is sitting there and you hop on and depart shortly thereafter. Then it was 31 min/24 stops to the base of Versailles. Another option was the train and we did that for the way back more on that later.
At Versailles at the main entrance they basically said you can't take that stroller in the palace, but can do the gardens. There's also no luggage storage for things like strollers out front, only some seemingly mapped locations out at the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. There is a mini train that runs between the palace, the intermediate stop down by the canal, and the Trianon estates, for something like 9E roundtrip, or really absurdly priced electric golf carts for something like 42E/hour, although I guess if you're hauling 5 people and are rapidly buzzing the estates then that might make more sense. We blew all that off though and walked/strollered everywhere, taking in the scenery along the way. We ended up just leaving the stroller on bike racks out at both estates, and then right outside the info office/toilets in a corner next to the stairs and a bench while in the palace, as if we'd just left it there to go potty. Granted someone could have walked off with it at any of these locations, but we're optimists about such things.
As I say that though, I should mention the idea of pickpockets in general, because it was winter we always had jackets on, and nothing important was ever anywhere except in a zippered and closed jacket pocket. She didn't carry a purse, we didn't ever have anything in our pants, everything was always readily accessible in a zippered jacket pocket where you could feel through the fabric and check on it as necessary. Just get used to checking on things from time to time and there's never a worry.
We explored some gardens and did the two estates, upon arrival they acted like we needed a separate ticket for that also, but they printed a free one on the spot so not sure what that really meant when it came to what our MP qualified for. Short walk between them, also hit up the "Temple of Love" for some sappy pics. Walked back to palace via another section of the gardens, but decided to stop stressing about getting back for the 1400 palace slot and audibled and changed our tickets to the latest time slot of 1630 via the restaurant wifi near the canal which was again quite good and leisurely. We did have to ask the server for the wifi password but she gave it freely, there hadn't been free wifi anywhere else on the Versailles property including the main area out front which was a rarity compared to other attractions. This wasn't the main restaurant one out by the bike rental, but one tucked into a shopping area closer to the palace on the left if heading back. Their kitchen was closing at 1500 but we got there around 1430 so that worked out. Eventually meandered back through more gardens and arrived at the palace shortly after our 1630 time slot (after ditching the stroller), to find that all the mammoth lines and hordes of tour buses from earlier were all gone, and we walked in solo. For the first half of the tour we took our time and had the place mostly to ourselves, but upon arrival at the Hall of Mirrors the workers started trailing those in that last group, clearing the rooms, announcing we were the last, that the palace was closing soon (1730) etc. This started happening closer to 1700, and the last half the tour was a bit more accelerated as a result, but occasionally you'd get pics of an otherwise empty Hall of Mirrors for example if you stepped briefly behind their blockade, something you likely can't do during the day normally unless you're first or last.
We'd been averaging 15k steps per day for a week or something now, so decided to forgo the stables/equestrian and head back. For a change of scenery we walked the couple blocks to RER C, which meant no transfer (rather than bus+metro from earlier) and a direct ride to the same Pont du Garigliano, and the same walk back to the hotel. Because it's the first stop on the line you also get an opportunity to grab a group of seats and be comfortable for the duration. Note any train left or right platform from that station goes towards Paris as it's the end of the line.
The next day was our last full day, and we had a bunch planned (because hey it was after our "rest day"). We first had timed tickets for Sainte Chapelle at 0900, headed there via bus 72 again, caught around the corner from the hotel. They stonewalled us re: the stroller so a bike rack across the street outside the restaurant was used again for the duration of while we were in Sainte Chapelle as wella s the Conciergerie next door. In a somewhat reverse of expectations, the Chapel itself entertained the kids for about 15 minutes, whereas the somewhat barren Conciergerie took us two hours. Why you say? They pass out iPads with augmented reality experiences that show you how the rooms looked back in the day, and provide a ton of educational content they can read and click on. Our kids are both reading age so they would just find a spot to sit and pore over all the details. There was also a "scavenger/treasure hunt" where you had to find five coins at five of the locations to receive a certificate at the end. Like most kids of their generation, they were all about the interactiveness of it.
A quick trip over to Notre Dame followed, which since still closed under construction just meant viewing from the outside. Escaping a few blocks away from that and the overpriced eating options we found a restaurant with wifi accesible from the street and then found another restaurant via Google rated at 4.8 which turned out to be a fun board games plus brunch like experience.
We then audibled again and decided to squeeze in the Rodin museum as it was a quick metro to metro connection (M10 to Duroc, transfer to M13 to Varenne station, which by the way had full size Rodin replicas of The Thinker and The Three Shades within it for free!)and we had some time before our next timed event. The Rodin museum was really impressive, some amazing sculptures of all kinds including those famous ones you know like "The Thinker."
Same metro trip in reverse plus a couple stops further and we were at the Natural History Museum, which was separate cost at 40E for the family when including the Augmented Reality experience there. That was where you'd where goggles that let you see the world around you but with augmented imagery superimposed over your vision, which caused some of the extinct animals to "come to life". The kids were super into it we recommend it. The full VR experience on the top floor was sold out and also limited to ages 12 and up, but looked neat also. The museum itself was both expansive and kid friendly, even with the main kid wing being closed for refurbishment. We filled out our time there and then made the mistake of heading out close to 1830 for our 1830 time slot at the Jungle en voie d'Illumination experience. This is where they've put in a ton of holiday like lighting setups into the surrounding gardens, and it's a walkthrough experience similar to the drive through Christmas light things you might have seen locally here. The crowds though were MASSIVE, and there appeared to be no control over the actual time slots behind let in. We probably waited 30 min around the block to get to where we got into the main area, and then it was somewhat of a cattle call as you slowly progressed through the first half, with everyone moving at the speed at which other people take pictures of their kids. It thinned out in the second half, and it was a long enough attraction that there was even a food stop and potties in the middle, so although pretty steep at 60E total for our family, we felt it was a pretty unique experience with some of the lighting effects and movement so it was a neat holiday related way to end the trip. The route back was M10 towards Boulogne Pont de Saint-Cloud 20min/15 stops, transferring to good ol M9 at Michel-Ange-Auteuilto for 3 min/3 stops as our last public trans of the trip.
The next morning we both had the hotel breakfast, and had arranged for a private car to the airport via Inter Service Prestige. This was initially 90E but upped to 100E when we mentioned the 6 bags plus double stroller and they had to increase the vehicle size. Our pickup was 0930 and he was early, but we were again low stress as our flight wasn't until 1330. Because our Naivgo weekly's had expried the day before, we would have had to pay out of pocket for the metro or bus to the main Paris station, then the bus from their to the airport, which if you added it all up would have been about half the cost of the private transfer, but obviously hauling all your own luggage everywhere. So like arrival day we chose convenience and low stress to bookend the trip.
Only mistake at the airport was thinking there was a lounge behind passport control (there's not) so if you have a lot of time before your flight you might want to delay going through that checkpoint. They again have a family line that was completely empty so not a lot of time needed to head down to the actual gate area, where you'll just be boarding a bus to the plane anyway in our case so first on is actually last off and vice versa. They did have free to play demo PS5 games back there though, so that entertained the kids while we waited.
Flight back was uneventful, customs was skipped via Global Entry which these days apparently doesn't even require your passport, you just walk up and do a face scan, go to the booth and the guy confirms your name and off you go. Luggage again basically beat us to the carousel and we were on the Economy Parking shuttle soon thereafter. They then dropped me off back at the terminal as I was immediately departing on a work trip for a few days while they drove home.
Overall loads of fun! Pondering Asia parks next year... Kids have never been and we last went in 2009, wondering if they'll still fit in the stroller...
Family is four of us, DW, DS 8, DD 7. Trip was 18-27 Nov, because our school district gives the entire week of Thanksgiving off for whatever reason now, so a 10 day trip only had them miss 1 day of school (Mon 27). And guess who doesn't care about Thanksgiving, the French! So everything was low season, low crowds, cooler weather, easy to find availability for anything we wanted. My wife and I had last gone to DLP/WDS in 2005, so it's been a while.
Plan was 4 nights at DLP, and 4 nights in Paris. We stayed at Holiday Inns in both locations (Express at DLP), on points, which were buy 3 nights get one free for both. We had discussed and even booked staying in the bubble at Sequoia particularly for the hour early theme park entry, but for us it was $1200 for that four nights (with no park tickets via Booking.com) and we couldn't stomach $300/night for 2 double beds in a tiny room and no breakfast. We canceled that late in the game near the deadline and went with the HIX, which gave us two twins plus full sofabed and free buffet breakfast every day for everyone with easy bus trans to the parks (more detail on that later). And thus $1200 to spend on so many other things!
For flights we traveled on nonstops to/from PHL to CDG on AA using frequent flier miles. It's a bit of a drive for us from south of DC but the nonstop and free tix made it worth it. Economy parking at the airport though was a bit steep at $150 for the 10 days, right across the street was about half the price via SpotHero but I didn't see any of their shuttles running when we came back, not sure how long we would have waited. It was a ~7pm flight out of terminal A East, so we hung out in the Admiral's Club at A6 (based on frequent flier status/intl travel) where they had some good gumbo a wide appetizer selection and plenty of snacks. Didn't need to be a lot as they'd also serve dinner on the plane. Economy plus is only in the center section on that type of aircraft, so we took over a center row of 3 and had my wife just in front of us. Light passenger load ended up with the seats next to her vacant, so we put one kid in each row sleeping across us while we "reclined" and tried to sleep ourselves. By the time you're done with the meal, and up until they start serving the breakfast to end the flight, you're only looking at about 5 hours of usable rest time though.
Arrived ~8am and discovered the first of the "Family Lines" that we took full advantage of this trip. Basically skipped the entire passport control line straight to a booth and were through seconds later. I think it was just a <18yo requirement to use the line, was surprised there weren't more people in it. Luggage was already on the carousel, then we headed toward the train. I'd research the various options (private car, public trans into city then out to DL, 9 minute TGV fast train direct) and did settle on the latter. Reason being our arrival was on a Sunday, and the way they do the Navigo weekly passes is from Monday to Sunday every week, you can't just buy one and have it last a week. So while we were going to use those starting the next day, we had to pay out of pocket for the first day and last day trans either way. It was 57E (abbreviating Euro as E for the rest of this, $ means USD) for the four of us, pretty ridiculous for the 9 minutes yet still cheaper than private transfer (seemed to be 80-90E depending on company) You'll save about half the cost via the ~90 min journey via Paris, so depends on your personal time vs cost preference. The train station is found by following the big train signs/logos, down a couple escalators or our case lifts with the stroller.
Once you get to the white ticket machines you have to manually enter everyone's information including birthdays using the on screen keyboard, it's not fast, and there were ~4 machines for all passengers in that area so we waited a bit to get to one. There were a ton of people milling about staring at the departure boards but we soon realized the fact our train was leaving in 5 minutes meant everyone else was already down on the train, so finally asking for help (never hesitate if timing is important) had them push us through everyone rush us down the escalator and we were the last ones on. My understanding is it isn't easy to just swap tickets to the next train, so that was key.
We were already coming off the train at the DLP station about 0900, which led to some discussion as to whether we wanted to bus to the hotel to check in (room might not be available) or just hit a park for a while (they didn't open til 0930 so we would even be able to "rope drop"). We did have two checked bags and four carry ons, along with our double Bob stroller. Note on the stroller, it doubles as luggage cart quite handily, and we used it extensively throughout the trip without issue even given it's size. If public trans was crowded I'd fold it up, but I'd often just be able to roll it on. Our kids do well with exercise, but we go pretty wall to wall every day, and places like the Louvre or waiting for the buses had them reclined and napping their way through portions. Any time we pondered leaving it at the hotel for a day, we were glad we had it later. Particularly for control, if you just need to get from point A to point B through a bunch of crowds and stations, much easier to have them in there than running free. Note you'll do a fair amount of deadlifting it up and down flights of stairs to/from metros and whatnot (after they get out), unless you spend a lot of time hunting for elevators (and they're functioning). But that was part of my daily exercise. Also helps they get along in the stroller, that might not always be the case. Just purely based on size this might be our last trip with it, we'll see.
Anyway back to luggage, turned out Magical Express was full (and think you have to be a hotel guest anyway) and the additional independent luggage storage at the station was also full. The Disney one pointed us to where "they have luggage storage at the parks". We went to the DLP side, got stonewalled by not having park tix yet, and hopped on the wifi to acquire those. We'd waited because while we qualify for military tix, they only sell them as 2 day hoppers. We really only needed 3 days, but figured we could do 4 if we were feeling spry upon arrival, so went to buy those. Unfortunately by waiting, they charged us the "same day" military price, which is basically the highest military cost tier, rather than what based on the day would have been much lower. So as an example the second 2-day passes were $352 total for the family of four, the first two days were $511 (also partly because entering on Sunday a weekend vs weekday, they're variable pricing). First of a few first morning lessons learned there. Military passes are still a steep discount off MSRP of course.
Anyway back to luggage again, once we had tix they let us through that "pre-check" before you go through the turnstiles on the right side of the DLP hotel, and then we found the big luggage line. It was labeled Guest Services and a bunch of people were cutting on the right to go directly to what was labeled Luggage Storage, but getting to the front of that we were told it was for "VIPs" and directed back to main line. Given it was being worked by 1 person we decided to go try our luck at the Studios version. Shuffled everything over there to find out no such thing exists. Shuffled everything back over to a now longer line and decided to split up, with my loving wife waiting in the line and dealing with the luggage while I got the kids going in the park with the stroller. When you first scan the military tickets they check your military ID at the gate. Worth noting I just had them on my phone using the app, and used my phone for just about everything this trip.
I withdrew a grand total of 100E for the entire trip, and that was only because the return transfer to airport required cash payment. Literally everywhere else took contactless, I didn't even take my credit card most of the time and just used apple pay everywhere. Or I'd purchased tickets in advance online and paid that way. The two things I can think of that took coins were the shooting arcade at DLP (it requires 3E exact change, and seemingly like one cashier in the whole park can change 1E coins rather than 2E) and the arcade at the HIX.
Having what ended up being four days total we were pretty low stress on our theme park days, even though I'm usually very itinerary focused and rushing around. Longest line we waited in was probably 20-30 min, we'd just avoid the long ones and do them at other times. Didn't buy any of their version of fast passes, never made sense because for a family of four it would be 13x4=52E for the long ones to avoid say 45 minutes, not worth it to us. About half the rides it was usable on didn't have much of a line anyway.
In general things not to be missed as veteran Disney travelers with kids I would say that are specific to DLP: Pirates (might be my favorite version, but maybe that's because it was fresh), Phantom Manor (certainly similar, but some fun spot the differences), the castle walkthrough (it's much more spacious), the dragon under the castle, the Aladdin walkthrough hidden just past the door to adventureland, Adventure Isle (think Tom Sawyer's island, but again more spacious and more impressive detail and scaling, note it has multiple exits to other lands via bridges so keep control of your kids they're not just roaming an actual island), Alice's Curious Labyrinth (kids loved exploring the maze), the Nautilus submarine, Hyperspace Mountain (think more Rock and Roller coaster than traditional SM), Indiana Jones (part mousetrap coaster, but with a loop!) and Thunder Mountain (the longest/best worldwide, and it's on an island!). Obviously many of those are just walkthroughs, never have a line, so you can spend a good portion of a day's peak line timeframe doing those. The Lion King show is also more impressive than any other version, performed on a stage vs in the round thus more similar to a Broadway style production.
At the studios, the Mickey Magic related show was also as good as Lion King, and there were some unique attractions there too. The tram tour is now basically just the repurposed disaster canyon from previous tours and that's it, but if you've never seen it the kids were shocked/impressed and it never had a line. ToT is obviously the same ride mechanic, but the story/creepiness is unique to this location and still the old Twilight Zone theming, I enjoyed it more than the GoG version at DCA. Crush's coaster is like a watered down Guardians of the Galaxy spinning coaster on a smaller scale. Lots of other transplants from other parks that are more exact duplicates, like the newer WEB slingers, and the Avengers Flight ride, which is a rebrand/exact track duplicate of Rock n Roller coaster. Less to do in general in that park, Arendelle was clearly under construction, and think I heard Star Wars based land later on.
Back to logistics, we ended up making it surprisingly through the whole day, heading out to the bus depot next to the train station pretty late. It was bus 34 that went to the HIX, via about 20 minutes and a dozen or so stops. Honestly didn't feel much different than riding the bus system at MK. That first night the ticketing/fare system was turned off (maybe because Sunday? maybe because late?) so it was free to get to the hotel. After hopping off it was maybe a quarter mile walk to the actual hotel lobby past a chicken chain restaurant in a mostly residential area on a safe sidewalk, didn't feel much further than the standard hotel room to bus stop walk at WDW (again stroller useful at night).
The remaining days were typically sleeping in later than planned, eating big breakfasts, acquiring additional chocolate chip croissants and baguettes for the stroller as snacks to take into the parks, bus over to the parks, go all day, bus back to the hotel, sleep/repeat. We tended to have a bigger late lunch, and then just a few snacks, partly because food in general is expensive by comparison (although remember tip is included). We also tend to get a couple meals and split them between four of us, because the portions are large and we are generally snacking on other yumminess. One day we hit the BBQ place outside Lion King, one day the noodles place at the Studios, and then one day we lucked into someone canceling their Walt's reservation at the last minute and it being available when I refreshed. Walt's has a very Club 33 vibe given it's up on the second floor of Main Street "looking down upon the commoners" and each room is themed to a different land. It's very fancy, and can take 90-120 min if you're doing all the courses and just leisuring your way through it, but our kids enjoyed exploring and relaxing and grazing. Also of note we hit 204E for the four of us for the flat rate app/entree/dessert, and my wife adding the wine pairings. In my head though for most things it was like "saved $1200 on hotel, could do 5 more of these for that..." It was by far our biggest splurge of the trip, but having been lucky enough to do some of the other flagship restaurants at the other parks, this was right up there experience and quality wise and I have no buyer's remorse.
On the second day since it was now Monday and a new Navigo week, we stopped by the train station there at DLP and the information desk and acquired our weekly passes. We'd brought just a basic print out of our pictures in the right size as we'd read in advance, and you can Youtube how to actually adhere to them to the pass and them fold the lamination like piece over the top, and then slide them into the plastic holder so the number is showing. Believe those were 30E each, so 120E for all the trans required for all four of us for the entire trip, other than arrival day and departure day. We used them on RER trains, metros, buses, multiple times each day. On buses you swipe as you board one time, and hop off whenever. On RER/metro you swipe as you enter the station. Our strategy was my wife would stand at the swiping location, swipe for me and I'd go through with stroller, then she'd swipe for each kid and they'd go through in turn, then swipe for herself and pass through. It's only one at a time so that was the easiest logistically. Same theory/order applied to entering the theme parks.
I'll skip ahead now to transfer day to Paris. The bus was the same bus 34 as any other day over to the main Chessy train station. Then it was RER A taking 44 min/13 stops to Auber, transferring to Havre-Caumartin M9 towards Pont de Sevres, 20 min/15 stops to Porte de Saint-Cloud, where when we pop out of the exit labeled 4 we were literally feet from the hotel front door at the Holiday Inn Auteil. A note on figuring out navigation, almost every station if you're in the middle of it has free wifi. I had my phone in airplane mode for the entire trip after thinking I might have to use the $10/day Verizon international data plan thing. It was just never necessary. Get on wifi, figure out where you're going, take screenshots as required, and off you go. That way Google Maps is giving you accurate up to the minute timing information for trains and buses and what may be fastest at a particular time of day.
We'd considered a private transfer for this day because it was a bus+train+metro with all our luggage, but the public trans version was pretty seamless, and traffic is horrible so a car wouldn't have actually gotten there much faster, and come at additional cost (again 80-90E), whereas our Navigo passes covered everything and we needed those anyway. Since Chessy is the first stop on the train it was easy to find seats for that portion, and the Metro piece wasn't long and just got us used to how that whole system worked. Note for the last pic below we're traveling right to left, and the lights are turning off as we approach the stations (furthest right says DLP, further left shows Auber).
Getting the kids involved with "how many more stops" based on the lit up information inside the metro car and looking at the signs on the wall as you enter stations was a fun activity. We also used the Disney Parks playDisney phone app with some of the play at home games like the Toy Story or Space Mountain ones to keep them occupied, they had fun passing it back and forth and working together for some tasks.
The room wasn't ready yet, so we dropped off our luggage and headed out with just the stroller. We made a quick stop for lunch at Mcdonalds right across the street and headed to Bus "PC" towards Portre D'asnieres - Marguerite Long, which was 22 min/13 sdtops to the Jardin d'Acclimatation which is basically a mini theme park built for kids. Basically all public trans has a chart showing all the stops, and then usually digital updates of which one's next and what the final destination of the route is. Don't fall for the "principal stops" screen which might not show yours thinking you missed it, it will then cycle to the "all stops" screen that will show you how many more if yours is getting close.
By the time we got out there after a pleasant walk through the forest it was closer to 1400, and I was concerned since it was only open 1100-1800 that we might have missed out on some things and wouldn't have time for others. As it turned out, a lot of the rides close for lunch from 1200-1300 or so anyway, and the place was absolutely DESERTED. We had to basically wake up operators to have them give our kids private rides on most of the attractions. They would ride the ones they liked repeatedly, and it was basically like having our own private park. This was on a Thursday now by the way, Thanksgiving day, and it was 80E for the family four pack of unlimited ride tickets to get us in. The place was a huge hit, our daugher who isn't quite up to big roller coaster level (test track/GoG both made her quite sad) was absolutely loving everything there because it was just the right amount of "tummy tickles". One of them was a spinning/bouncing type ride that eventually accelerates in both the forwards and backwards direction, that thing was wild. Also a version of Angry Birds where you throw soccer balls as a screen, a pint sized "log ride", a mine train through a cave, a pretend horse ride galloping through a forest, a double decker carousel, and various carnival rides in between. It made for a great transfer day activity.
As it got dark we decided to add on the Arc de Triumphe as it was up near there and we were still high on adrenaline, and hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower yet. This was our first use of the Museum Pass, which covers many attractions around Paris with one ticket. Of note kids don't cost anything for anything covered by MP, so for us that meant just two MPs of the 4 day variety at something like 70E each. Note you have to go through a tunnel to get over to the arc (don't try to run across the many lanes of traffic). The entrance to the tunnel is on the NW side, or on the left of the road if you're coming up from J'ardin. They checked in our stroller at the base by security and locked it to a rail and gave us a number for it, and up the spiral staircases we went. We were lucky enough to be close to an even hour (I think 8pm?) so we had a fun countdown to the light show on the Eiffel Tower, which I think runs hourly on the hour. A neat intro to the monument we'd be climbing the next day, although the Arc is impressive in its own right, especially at night seeing all the city and vehicle lights sprawling out in all directions below you. The route home was Metro 6 to Trocadero transferring to the soon to be very familiar Metro 9 back to the hotel where our rooms were waiting. We'd decided because of the very small size of Paris rooms in general to get two rooms this time, which both had 1 bed, with my wife and I sharing in one and the kids in the connecting room. We were lucky enough to have rooms 72 and 73 on the top floor, which meant Eiffel Tower view out the window with a small balcony. There are only ~4 rooms per floor in this skinny hotel so not sure how many others can see it, another floor down and it might have been obscured.
While the kids winded down and went to sleep my wife knocked out laundry at a local laundromat about a block away that was open late that night, we'd packed about half the trip's worth of stuff so were running low. We ended up breakfasting most days at Mcdonalds across the street to save money and time, but on multiple days they were out of things like pancakes or eggs, and they were not "fast" so in hindsight the prepurchased cost of the hotel breakfast at 14E/person with kids eating free, totaling 28E, would not have been far off what we paid at Mcdonalds, and was muchhhh higher quality/variety. We finally did this on the last day, another lesson learned.
Day two was M9 towards Mairle de Montreuil, to Trocadero 11 min/8 stops, then a quick walk across the river with a a great view of the Eiffel Tower as you approach. We had prepurchased half our tickets (separate cost from MP) for opening at 0930, the ticketing website for whatever reason had allowed my initial transaction for stairs to second floor + lift to the top for two of us to go through no problem, but the second transaction was always "payment refused" on any browser/device for weeks. My son (fear of heights at times) had been deciding whether he wanted to go all the way up or where/how he wanted to go up partway, so we'd not been sure which type of variably priced ticket to buy initially. He eventually decided to at least try the second floor lift though, so my wife had to join the ticket line upon arrival, but since we were there at opening it didn't take long. Note if on the NE side (labeled entrance 2 I think) there is a massive line for people without tickets, and a nonexistent line for people with tickets initially before opening. Then upon opening they all move through pretty quick and it turns out that initial line is only for security anyway and they all go to the same place whether you have a ticket or not, so if you already have a ticket join the shortest line either way. By the time my daughter and I had climbed to the second floor via the stairs, we only waited ~5 minutes for them to arrive via lift, there'd been immediate availability for a double lift ticket for both of them. The actual ticket office is the eastern leg of the tower, the stairs entrance is the southern leg. Wifi btw is free all around the Eiffel tower, including the 1st and 2nd floors, although didn't work at the top. There is however a bathroom at the top, which worked out in our favor for the kids. Note no stroller storage and you have to fold it up in the elevators both ways, but you can roll it around other than when you're on the lift. If you are staying close by probably not worth having a stroller for this particular attraction if that's all you're doing, but we had a bigger day planned.
After getting our fill there and even descending with both kids via the stairs because they wanted to (my wife saved her knees and went down the lift with the stroller), it was then Bus 72 towards Gare de Lyon to Quai Francois Mitterand, 12 min/8 stops, scenic along the Seine to the Louvre. We had 1200 timed tickets for the Louvre and showed up around 1215 to find big lines for both 1230 and 1300 I think in front of the pyramid, but that didn't matter as right in the middle was wheelchair/stroller access and you just skipped both lines right in after showing your MP. Note for some attractions like this one even though it's included in MP, you have to book reservations timeslots separately (for free) via their website. The MP website has direct links/instructions on how to do it.
We ate lunch in the sit-down restaurant in the main lobby, which was again very good/leisurely since we no longer had any time slot restrictions for the remainder of the day. They even had some visiting chef specialties, and we just left the stroller in their lobby. The kids then made it through "the big 3" attractions and some of the other things, before the exercise from the morning and the previous day all over the J'ardin caught up with them and they happily napped through the rest of the museum, which was great for us because we just leisurely browsed at parent pace taking our time without worrying about entertaining them. A docent did pull them out of the Mona Lisa crowds and took a picture of just them behind the barrier directly in front of the painting which was pretty lucky/stellar, and that worker was immediately chastised by her superior, so don't think that's normally a thing. Great pic tho! I think we started around 1300, and finished around 1600, because we still wanted to get over to Musee Orsay which closed at 1800. We hunted a bit for the lift up out of the exit to the Louvre, the only one that went to street level over in the shopping Carousel area appeared to be under construction, so we eventually had to just wake them up and make them hike up the stairs and deadlift the stroller.
After a quick walk across the river we hit the highlights of Orsay including the temporary Van Gogh exhibition, which unintentionally via the movie at the end introduced the kids to the concept of suicide (oops) and led to an explanatory conversation... The ride home afterward was via RER C directly outside the museum towards Montigny-le-Bretonneux to Pont du Garigliano 12 min/5 stops, where we could have caught the PC bus again, but rather than wait we decided to walk the pleasant 1k from the station across the river back to the hotel and check out some of the local flavors.
Worth mentioning immediately next door to the hotel was a supermarket, and on multiple nights we grabbed some microwavable deliciousness and used the microwave in the hotel lobby (no microwave or fridge in the room) to make dinner, and all four of us ate for under 20E. The quality of their cheap microwavable meal brands seems vastly superior to US. So sometimes we splurge, but that's mostly because a lot of the time we're frugal and go for speed/convenience. Next door to that were a couple of those places you can just pick your meats and cheeses and baguettes and bakery items and whatever, so there were a lot of options for grab and go. There was also a pharmacy down the street (indicated by a big fluorescent green cross) for some other basic needs during the trip.
I then snuck out later that night after bedtime to head over to the Parc des Princes stadium where there just so happened to be a Premiere League equivalent soccer match going on with Paris's top team, and it ended up being a thoroughly entertaining 6-2 final where they beat Monaco with revelry all around. Although it was sold out a second hand ticket wasn't too bad, turns out that's because it was next to a wall, but still a full view of field even with one end's 18 yard line high enough up to see everything clearly, so can't complain.
The next day we were SUPPOSED to sleep in and do Versailles in the afternoon at 1400 and then in theory see the Stables and possibly equestrian show that night, but the kids and surprisingly even DW were ready to go earlier, so we figured we might as well get the show on the road. It was M9 toward and to Pont de Sevres at the end initially, when you get out you follow the signs to Bus Depot, and at the top of the steps literally 5 feet from you is the Bus 171 stop, and if you're lucky like us the bus is sitting there and you hop on and depart shortly thereafter. Then it was 31 min/24 stops to the base of Versailles. Another option was the train and we did that for the way back more on that later.
At Versailles at the main entrance they basically said you can't take that stroller in the palace, but can do the gardens. There's also no luggage storage for things like strollers out front, only some seemingly mapped locations out at the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. There is a mini train that runs between the palace, the intermediate stop down by the canal, and the Trianon estates, for something like 9E roundtrip, or really absurdly priced electric golf carts for something like 42E/hour, although I guess if you're hauling 5 people and are rapidly buzzing the estates then that might make more sense. We blew all that off though and walked/strollered everywhere, taking in the scenery along the way. We ended up just leaving the stroller on bike racks out at both estates, and then right outside the info office/toilets in a corner next to the stairs and a bench while in the palace, as if we'd just left it there to go potty. Granted someone could have walked off with it at any of these locations, but we're optimists about such things.
As I say that though, I should mention the idea of pickpockets in general, because it was winter we always had jackets on, and nothing important was ever anywhere except in a zippered and closed jacket pocket. She didn't carry a purse, we didn't ever have anything in our pants, everything was always readily accessible in a zippered jacket pocket where you could feel through the fabric and check on it as necessary. Just get used to checking on things from time to time and there's never a worry.
We explored some gardens and did the two estates, upon arrival they acted like we needed a separate ticket for that also, but they printed a free one on the spot so not sure what that really meant when it came to what our MP qualified for. Short walk between them, also hit up the "Temple of Love" for some sappy pics. Walked back to palace via another section of the gardens, but decided to stop stressing about getting back for the 1400 palace slot and audibled and changed our tickets to the latest time slot of 1630 via the restaurant wifi near the canal which was again quite good and leisurely. We did have to ask the server for the wifi password but she gave it freely, there hadn't been free wifi anywhere else on the Versailles property including the main area out front which was a rarity compared to other attractions. This wasn't the main restaurant one out by the bike rental, but one tucked into a shopping area closer to the palace on the left if heading back. Their kitchen was closing at 1500 but we got there around 1430 so that worked out. Eventually meandered back through more gardens and arrived at the palace shortly after our 1630 time slot (after ditching the stroller), to find that all the mammoth lines and hordes of tour buses from earlier were all gone, and we walked in solo. For the first half of the tour we took our time and had the place mostly to ourselves, but upon arrival at the Hall of Mirrors the workers started trailing those in that last group, clearing the rooms, announcing we were the last, that the palace was closing soon (1730) etc. This started happening closer to 1700, and the last half the tour was a bit more accelerated as a result, but occasionally you'd get pics of an otherwise empty Hall of Mirrors for example if you stepped briefly behind their blockade, something you likely can't do during the day normally unless you're first or last.
We'd been averaging 15k steps per day for a week or something now, so decided to forgo the stables/equestrian and head back. For a change of scenery we walked the couple blocks to RER C, which meant no transfer (rather than bus+metro from earlier) and a direct ride to the same Pont du Garigliano, and the same walk back to the hotel. Because it's the first stop on the line you also get an opportunity to grab a group of seats and be comfortable for the duration. Note any train left or right platform from that station goes towards Paris as it's the end of the line.
The next day was our last full day, and we had a bunch planned (because hey it was after our "rest day"). We first had timed tickets for Sainte Chapelle at 0900, headed there via bus 72 again, caught around the corner from the hotel. They stonewalled us re: the stroller so a bike rack across the street outside the restaurant was used again for the duration of while we were in Sainte Chapelle as wella s the Conciergerie next door. In a somewhat reverse of expectations, the Chapel itself entertained the kids for about 15 minutes, whereas the somewhat barren Conciergerie took us two hours. Why you say? They pass out iPads with augmented reality experiences that show you how the rooms looked back in the day, and provide a ton of educational content they can read and click on. Our kids are both reading age so they would just find a spot to sit and pore over all the details. There was also a "scavenger/treasure hunt" where you had to find five coins at five of the locations to receive a certificate at the end. Like most kids of their generation, they were all about the interactiveness of it.
A quick trip over to Notre Dame followed, which since still closed under construction just meant viewing from the outside. Escaping a few blocks away from that and the overpriced eating options we found a restaurant with wifi accesible from the street and then found another restaurant via Google rated at 4.8 which turned out to be a fun board games plus brunch like experience.
We then audibled again and decided to squeeze in the Rodin museum as it was a quick metro to metro connection (M10 to Duroc, transfer to M13 to Varenne station, which by the way had full size Rodin replicas of The Thinker and The Three Shades within it for free!)and we had some time before our next timed event. The Rodin museum was really impressive, some amazing sculptures of all kinds including those famous ones you know like "The Thinker."
Same metro trip in reverse plus a couple stops further and we were at the Natural History Museum, which was separate cost at 40E for the family when including the Augmented Reality experience there. That was where you'd where goggles that let you see the world around you but with augmented imagery superimposed over your vision, which caused some of the extinct animals to "come to life". The kids were super into it we recommend it. The full VR experience on the top floor was sold out and also limited to ages 12 and up, but looked neat also. The museum itself was both expansive and kid friendly, even with the main kid wing being closed for refurbishment. We filled out our time there and then made the mistake of heading out close to 1830 for our 1830 time slot at the Jungle en voie d'Illumination experience. This is where they've put in a ton of holiday like lighting setups into the surrounding gardens, and it's a walkthrough experience similar to the drive through Christmas light things you might have seen locally here. The crowds though were MASSIVE, and there appeared to be no control over the actual time slots behind let in. We probably waited 30 min around the block to get to where we got into the main area, and then it was somewhat of a cattle call as you slowly progressed through the first half, with everyone moving at the speed at which other people take pictures of their kids. It thinned out in the second half, and it was a long enough attraction that there was even a food stop and potties in the middle, so although pretty steep at 60E total for our family, we felt it was a pretty unique experience with some of the lighting effects and movement so it was a neat holiday related way to end the trip. The route back was M10 towards Boulogne Pont de Saint-Cloud 20min/15 stops, transferring to good ol M9 at Michel-Ange-Auteuilto for 3 min/3 stops as our last public trans of the trip.
The next morning we both had the hotel breakfast, and had arranged for a private car to the airport via Inter Service Prestige. This was initially 90E but upped to 100E when we mentioned the 6 bags plus double stroller and they had to increase the vehicle size. Our pickup was 0930 and he was early, but we were again low stress as our flight wasn't until 1330. Because our Naivgo weekly's had expried the day before, we would have had to pay out of pocket for the metro or bus to the main Paris station, then the bus from their to the airport, which if you added it all up would have been about half the cost of the private transfer, but obviously hauling all your own luggage everywhere. So like arrival day we chose convenience and low stress to bookend the trip.
Only mistake at the airport was thinking there was a lounge behind passport control (there's not) so if you have a lot of time before your flight you might want to delay going through that checkpoint. They again have a family line that was completely empty so not a lot of time needed to head down to the actual gate area, where you'll just be boarding a bus to the plane anyway in our case so first on is actually last off and vice versa. They did have free to play demo PS5 games back there though, so that entertained the kids while we waited.
Flight back was uneventful, customs was skipped via Global Entry which these days apparently doesn't even require your passport, you just walk up and do a face scan, go to the booth and the guy confirms your name and off you go. Luggage again basically beat us to the carousel and we were on the Economy Parking shuttle soon thereafter. They then dropped me off back at the terminal as I was immediately departing on a work trip for a few days while they drove home.
Overall loads of fun! Pondering Asia parks next year... Kids have never been and we last went in 2009, wondering if they'll still fit in the stroller...
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