Paris After Disneyland - should we pre-purchase our RER tickets?

[cpc430]

First time visitors to Europe (and train travelers)!

We will be heading to Paris after Disneyland and was wondering if it is necessary to purchase our train tickets on the RER in advanced? We know what day we will be leaving, but I was hoping to not commit to a time in case we decided to spend more or less time inside the parks on that last day. Are trains fairly frequent that we could just buy tickets once we got to the station?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[A Small World]

Yes the trains are every 5 minutes or so. The RER is the commuter train which is an extension of the Paris Metro (underground system) so no need to pre purchase. It will cost approx 9Euros per adult for the single trip from DLP (Marne la Vallee) to any station central Paris.
I don't know if you've checked the metro/RER map to work out how to get there but the chances are you will have to change onto the metro when in central Paris - as long as you don't exit the station you won't need another ticket to do this - the same ticket is used on as many lines as needed. you do need your ticket to exit though so make sure you keep hold of it

 

[cpc430]

Thank you so much! I will be sure to hold on to those tickets!

 

[Suzanne1979]

I don't know what time of year and what time of day you're planning to take the RER, but it might be a good idea to buy your tickets the afternoon before your departure date (or something like that). In morning rush hour, I've experienced long and slow queues for the tickets vending machines, whereas in afternoon/evening there are no queues at all...

 

[Westcoastwild]

Yeah, I agree with this. It's really nice to have your rer ticket ahead of time, that way you don't have to queue for the ticket machines when you want to leave, when you are juggling all your luggage and kids and souvenirs.

I could be wrong but I don't think the rer ticket is tied to a particular train. But you need to pay for sufficient zones. It doesn't apply to you, but going the opposite direction, you don't go through the turnstiles to ride RER if you're already in the system. T+ tickets can be used for rer within Paris city zone but not for outside of the city. My friend got a big fat fee for that onboard- that is the only place I saw ticket checkers, and I think they get a lot of tourists that way.

 

[ActionComics25]

I'll say that buying tickets even during rush hour wasn't a big deal for us. It was our longest wait for it at about 5 min. and the machine was easy to use. The ticket you want to buy is labeled as Disneyland and, if I remember correctly, has mouse ears on it. There is a bit of a crush fro the first 3 stops or so but the train ride is pretty comfortable.