Last minute advice for Paris newbie :)

[Disneyqueendenmark]

Hi there

Only a week to my first trip to Paris! YAY!
You've all helped me before, and now I just need a little 'last minute' advice

Transportation from the airport to the hotel:
We'll be arriving at CDG 11:30 am on Thuesday 6/30. We'll have to wait for our luggage, we'll have to find a photo booth and then make the Navigo passes.
Will we be able to catch the RER B train to Paris Chatelet/Les Halles at 12:51? Is it hard to find the station or is it easy enough, if I just follow the signs "Trains to Paris"?
When we arrive at Paris Chatelet/Les Halles we wan't to go to Val d'Europe. Can we make the RER A train that runs 1:37 or do we need more time to find the platform?
If we don't make it, the RER runs pretty frequently, right? So we can just wait for the next train to arrive?

Plans:
Thuesday: Arrive, buy some food and maybe go to DTD
Wednesday: Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios
Thursday: Central Paris
Friday: Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios
Saturday: Central Paris
Sunday: Going home

Does this seem like a pretty reasonable plan for the 5 days?
Is there anything special to do in Paris on Saturdays? Any special market or something?

Eiffel tower:
I had no idea that the tickets for the Eiffel Tower would sell out that fast.... So I haven't gotten any tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower.
Any recommendations on how to avoid standing in line for several hours? Arriving early in the morning? We're willing to climb the stairs to the 2nd floor and then the elevator from there - if that saves us some time. We are a party of three, two adults and one teenage boy (14). He doesn't do well standing in line, so if the line is too long, like over an hour, we'll just see the tower from the ground.

Downtown Disney
Is downtown disney like in the US? We've been to both WDW and DL and like to take a stroll and look in the Disney Store. Is it like that in Paris too?

Food
Any good advice on where to go out to eat? We're on a pretty tight budget, so we need some cheap places, with basic food. Both in the parks and in central Paris.

Despicable Me Unicorn
My 14-year old cousin and his younger brothers are crazy about Despicable me. So we're especially looking for a big unicorn teddy. Does anyone know where we can find one?

Sorry for all the questions.... Hope that some of you will take the time to answer
Thank you so much!
- Rebekka

 

[njpyro]

I will be going to the parks this august for the first time, so I'm curious to see the answers to many of your questions.
The only one I can help with: Despicable Me is Universal, not Disney, so you probably can't get one there. We won a fluffy unicorn at the boardwalk in nj after spending about $3.

 

[A Small World]

The RER trains run very regularly- they are just like the Metro (underground) system but go out into the suburbs rather than just central Paris. There is one probably about every 5 minutes so don't worry about trying to catch one at a particular time - just catch the next one that comes along. You know it will take almost 2 hrs to Val d"Europe this way don't you? Remember to keep hold of your ticket as you will need it to exit the station at the other end
Im confused why you need to find a photo booth when you get there - can you not get the photos before hand and take them with you? - Im sure it will be much easier than wandering round with luggage hoping to find one

 

[Tinydancer34]

Paris has what I believe to be the only other World of Disney shop ( the other one being wdw) as well as the disney store. The Disney village as its called in Paris is smaller than wdw but there's plenty to see and do.
There are some nice restaurants like the rainforest cafe and the steakhouse in amazing but they are quite expensive and you have to pay for each drink unlike wdw which personally I really don't like! I love free refills!!

 

[picktails]

We are arriving Wednesday, July 1 very early, about 7am. Then will attempt Disney the next day!

 

[Disneyqueendenmark]

I will be going to the parks this august for the first time, so I'm curious to see the answers to many of your questions.
The only one I can help with: Despicable Me is Universal, not Disney, so you probably can't get one there. We won a fluffy unicorn at the boardwalk in nj after spending about $3.

Haha... I know it's not Disney But I heard of a DreamWorks/Universal store in London, so thought they maybe had one in Paris You're lucky you won one - only $3 spend! I never win anything, and if I do it's after spending a lot of money! lol.....

The RER trains run very regularly- they are just like the Metro (underground) system but go out into the suburbs rather than just central Paris. There is one probably about every 5 minutes so don't worry about trying to catch one at a particular time - just catch the next one that comes along. You know it will take almost 2 hrs to Val d"Europe this way don't you? Remember to keep hold of your ticket as you will need it to exit the station at the other end
Im confused why you need to find a photo booth when you get there - can you not get the photos before hand and take them with you? - Im sure it will be much easier than wandering round with luggage hoping to find one

Oh, that's great Then we can catch a train anytime! Thanks.
Yeah, I read that the journey time is about 1 hour and 20 minutes - but I guess it might be longer if we miss the train in central Paris.
Here in Denmark it costs about €13-15 to get a picture taken and I read that it's only €5 in photo booths at stations in Paris. So I just thought I would save a few € to buy something else

Paris has what I believe to be the only other World of Disney shop ( the other one being wdw) as well as the disney store. The Disney village as its called in Paris is smaller than wdw but there's plenty to see and do.
There are some nice restaurants like the rainforest cafe and the steakhouse in amazing but they are quite expensive and you have to pay for each drink unlike wdw which personally I really don't like! I love free refills!!

Thanks for the information! I can't remember the stores at DTD at WDW but I know the World of Disney in DTD DL and it is exactly what I hoping to find - so thats great! Maybe we'll splurge and go to Rainforrest Café I'm so used to eating out in the US and get free refills, so thanks for mentionen that it's not like that in Paris!