Brooklyn With Kids: Vintage Subway Cars, Pier 6 and a 1922 Carousel
A half-day Brooklyn plan for visiting families with kids roughly 3 to 10: vintage subway cars inside a decommissioned 1936 station, a free waterfront playground, a 1922 carousel in a glass pavilion and coal-fired pizza at the end. The museum runs Wednesday to Sunday all year; from January 1 to March 16 the carousel also shuts on Wednesdays, so keep a winter visit to Thursday to Sunday. About 3.75 km on foot — drop the playground with a toddler and the walking falls to 2.1 km.
Four Stops, Half a Day, Down to the River
Start Inside a 1936 Subway Station
A decommissioned 1936 station at 99 Schermerhorn Street, with around 20 vintage cars on view at any one time. Board them and let the kids compare the wooden benches, the period ads above the windows and the doors, which change shape from car to car. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM — $15 for adults, $10 for ages 2 to 17 and for anyone 62 and over, free for members — and shuts on Juneteenth, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Reserve ahead: only a limited number of tickets are sold on site. The main entrance is two flights of stairs down, there is no elevator, and the accessible entrance at Schermerhorn and Court cannot take strollers, so bring a carrier and use the unattended stroller parking at the back.
Let Them Run at Pier 6
From the museum door it is a flat 1.2 km, about 16 minutes at stroller pace: Schermerhorn Street west, Court Street south, then Atlantic Avenue west to the Pier 6 gate on Bridge Park Drive. The playgrounds are free and open sunrise to sunset, with Slide Mountain, Sandbox Village and Swing Valley split by age and nerve. Water play is seasonal and individual pieces do close for repairs, so treat the playground as a bonus rather than the reason for the trip. Restrooms are at Fornino on the pier and in the Quay Tower lobby opposite Sandbox Village.
North Along the Water to DUMBO
North along the waterfront greenway it is 2 km and about 27 minutes at stroller pace — the longest leg of the day, and the reason to plan this as a half day rather than a stroll; skipping Pier 6 brings the museum to DUMBO leg down to 1.56 km. Jane's Carousel, a 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company machine with 48 carved horses, turns inside a glass pavilion under the Brooklyn Bridge. From September 14 to December 31 it runs Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 AM to 5:50 PM, closed Monday and Tuesday; from January 1 to March 16 it stays shut on Wednesdays as well, opening Thursday to Sunday at the same hours; one $4 ticket covers an adult plus one child under 42 inches.
Pizza on the Corner of Old Fulton
Juliana's holds the corner at 19 Old Fulton Street, about 550 metres from the carousel. Lunch is 11:30 AM to 3:15 PM and dinner 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM, with the coal oven stoked in between; it closes at 4:00 PM on Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve, and is shut on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. There are no reservations and they seat complete parties only, so expect a line at peak times; reaching the door at 14:30 leaves 45 minutes before the last lunch order. A clock that fits: museum 10:00 to noon, Pier 6 around 12:20, carousel by 13:45, lunch 14:30 — and if the youngest is fading, cut Pier 6 and go straight to the carousel. York Street on the F is nine minutes away, High Street on the A and C six.
