orange metro cards in Paris

From a travelers' forum (www.flyertalk.com):
"We use public transportation and walk everywhere. We just purchase a carnet of metro tickets (ten tickets at a reduced cost) and usually use two to three carnets during a three-day visit for two people. If we have tickets left over, we save them for the next trip; I've used tickets that were a year old with no problems. To get from CDG to the hotel, we take the Roissybus and then the metro. The Roissybus terminates at Opera and we take the metro from there (no transfers or connections) to the hotel. We have actually left our hotel at 7:15 and been at the Admirals Club at CDG by 8:30; so this transportation option works out really well for us; however, for the return to the airport we leave early to avoid crowds on the metro. We travel really light with just one small carry-on bag so we can take public transportation from CDG; I do not recommend this option if you have lots of bags.

.Carte Orange (covering zones 1-5 that is) can be used on the Roissybus between CDG and Place de l'opéra.

I don't think you can buy a carte orange at T1.
The tourist information desk is certainly gone, so you probably would have to go to the RER train station to buy it.

You don't need to fill in a form for Carte Orange.
The only thing you need to do is to write your name on the card and bring a photo.

They will ask for a real photo, similar to the ones for IDs and passports.

Are you planning to go frequently between the city centre and the airport?
Otherwise it is usually not worth the money to buy a Carte Orange covering all zones, no problems buying single tickets to/from CDG..."

From ME(not the travelers' forum):

When we were in Paris 3 years ago we took the Roissey bus ($8 each) to & from CDG, then bought our Orange Cards at a Metro station. We even bought photos at the station from a photo booth - so it's no big deal if you don't overprepare ahead of time. From what I remember we didn't pay any additional fees except maybe for the day we went to EuroDisney, but I don't think we even had to pay extra for the RER to there or to Versailles.

The paper Carte Orange is being phased out in favor of a rechargeable plastic card called passe Navigo (for residents of l'Ile de France) and passe Navigo Découverte (for visitors). The card costs 5€ (one-time fee) and requires a photo. You load a Carte Orange on the card for whatever zones you choose.

You can buy everything at either of the RER stations at the airport, CDG 1 or CDG 2 TGV.

Thanks for all the info. I have very happily used the orange card before. The new pass sounds interesting. Glad to know that I can do it all at CDG train station and not waste money just getting into town.

Thanks.

This is a great website.