Category Archives: Disney

The Disney Favourites of my Childhood

I was born in 1994, which was the year that The Lion King was released, and my first Disney trip was actually while my mum was still pregnant with me, so its pretty safe to say that Disney has been ingrained in me from birth.

I was lucky enough to be born at a time that meant my childhood was filled with some absolute Disney bangers, and I remember watching so many of them, although at that time it was all VHS. The films and the characters from this time all still hold a really special place in my heart, and many of them are still firm favourites of mine, but there are a few in particular that stand out for me.

Sleeping Beauty

Aurora was my favourite princess while I was a kid. I let this slip from my memory a little but my mum reminded me a few years ago and it all came back to me. I remember having a Sleeping Beauty towel (which may still be in our garage somewhere) and I had an Aurora doll, in the pink dress, although I’m firmly Team Blue, and think I may have been as a child as well. Aurora may have been replaced as my favourite princess (oh hey, Rapunzel) but I’ll always remember this.

101 Dalmatians

Animal lover from the start, those spotty pups were particular favourites of mine, and I even had 101 Dalmatian wall stickers all over my bedroom walls and door – in fact, the ones on my door stayed there right up until I redecorated in 2009.

Esmeralda

I loved The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a child, and I had a playset that had the festival tent and various other props, as well as an Esmeralda doll which I adored. Of course at that age I had no idea about some of the darker aspects of the story, I just thought Esmeralda was the best.

Meeko

I seem to recall Pocahontas being a favourite of both mine and my sister’s, but the love affair with Meeko was all mine. I remember being so incredibly excited meeting him in what I’m guessing must have been Wilderness Lodge, where this iconic photo was taken after I pretty much rugby tackled him to the ground.

To this day I have such a strong attachment to this little raccoon.

Pluto

We did a lot of Disney trips when I was little, and although thinking back on it, it would possibly be construed as animal abuse, every time I met Pluto I had to pull on his big red tongue. He never seemed to mind though!

Hercules (but mainly Meg)

A truly iconic film of my childhood, if you ask me. I wasn’t so interested in Herc himself, but I loved Pegasus and Meg, even if I didn’t appreciate her sass as a kid. Does anyone else remember the Disney Channel Hercules series? I remember being so upset that Meg wasn’t in it!

And of course there’s not a single photo of me and Mickey where I’m not grinning my little dimples off! Are there any characters you remember strongly from your childhood?

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Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno

When Walt Disney World announced its newest character breakfast back at the start of the year, I’ll admit to a lot of squealing, followed by a desperate need to book it for our November trip.

It was a combination of a few of my favourite things: the Boardwalk, plus Flynn Rider and Rapunzel, plus adorable themed pastries = a very happy Lottie. Oh, and did I mention Ariel and Prince Eric come along for the adventure too?!

Once seated in the restaurant, each table gets a presented with a frying pan full of delicious breakfast pastries including chocolate braids, fruit-filled clam shells and mini muffins to start you off while you peruse the menu.

All of the menu options are either Tangled or Little Mermaid themed, from a tower of pancakes to a swimmer’s delight omelette; its certainly fancier food than your regular Disney breakfast, and its delicious! I personally couldn’t decide between the Tangled eggs or the Tangled pancake tower, so my server was wonderful enough to offer us the chance to get a half-size portion of the pancakes on the house as well as each of our choices, so I got to try them both!

The characters are announced as they enter the dining room – they come in individually, staggered by about 5-10 mins intervals, and they head to the far end of the restaurant first, and work their way back. As well as coming to everyone’s tables, there’s also a little procession that happens, where kids are invited to parade around the restaurant with the character while music plays, which is very sweet! We met Flynn first, followed by Rapunzel then Ariel and lastly Eric, but don’t be put off by the fact that they come up individually, the characters interact a lot with each other while making the rounds so often Flynn will call Rapunzel over to look at things etc, and in any case you can ask for group photos!

The meal counts as one table service credit on the dining plan, and if you’re paying out of pocket then you’re looking at about $38 per adult once tax has been added, and while its a little more than some other character breakfast options, its à la carte rather than buffet and the food options are a bit nicer than some of your other options! For me, the real selling point is the ability to meet Flynn and Eric, who are rare meets otherwise, plus Tangled and The Little Mermaid are two of my favourite films anyway!

What’s your favourite place for breakfast in Walt Disney World?

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We’re Going to Aulani!

Someone pinch me, because I can’t believe this is really happening.

Credit: disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com

Disney’s Hawaiian resort has been on my ultimate bucket list for I don’t even know how long, and being able to visit this absolute paradise was a big selling point when Matthew and I joined the Disney Vacation Club, so much so we were determined to make it our first DVC trip.

We’ve spent the last few weeks trying to familiarise ourselves with the DVC booking system, and checking day in, day out for availability in the weeks we were hoping to make the trip, but it was all starting to look a little impossible. We’d either have to change rooms every other day, or end up having to buy extra points on top of borrowing points from our next year, and suddenly our lovely relaxing holiday was turning into a stressful booking experience.. Until last night, when for some bizarre reason, Matthew was awake at 2am and decided to check the DVC website, and by some miracle a whole week was suddenly open and he booked it on the spot!

So we’re going to be in paradise at the end of April, and as well as doing a week in Aulani, we’re gonna spend a few days in San Francisco, which is one of my favourite cities in the world. I’m absolutely squealing just thinking about this trip and better still its less than 130 days away!

I’m so ready for another adventure!

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Be Our Guest – Which Meal Is Best?

Be Our Guest Restaurant is one of the most popular dining spots in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, and tomorrow actually marks 5 years since the Beast’s castle opened its doors to guests.

Situated in Fantasyland, the restaurant opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and each meal offers guests a different dining experience. I recently ticked breakfast off the list of meals I’ve had here, so now I’ve done the set, here’s the low-down on what each meal offers!

Breakfast

BOG is one of the three restaurants in Magic Kingdom that opens for breakfast at 8am, meaning that if you can get a reservation then you get early access to the park, and the perks that come with that AKA empty Main Street and castle photos! Now don’t let the word reservation fool you – while advanced reservations are usually for table service meals, breakfast is actually quick service, so a worthwhile use of a QS credit if you’re on the dining plan! That said, however, while you do visit a counter to pay for your meal, the food is brought directly to you at your table. And to add more magic to the experience, you can actually pre-order your food on the Walt Disney World website so that you don’t have to even worry about deciding what to eat on the day! As for the food..

This is the Croque Madame, which was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had in WDW, but there are a few options from classic breakfast dishes to sweet options, and every table also gets a selection of fruit and assorted pastries to tuck into as well!

If you’re not on the dining plan, entrees are $25.

Lunch

Lunch is also a quick service meal, but as with breakfast its highly recommended that you get a reservation, but if you can’t snag one, try to get to the restaurant for when it opens and you stand a good chance of a minimal wait! Again, while being technically classified as a counter service, you order at a booth but the food is brought to you wherever you choose to sit, whether that’s in the West Wing, the Ballroom or the Gallery.

The menu is primarily sandwiches and salads, but there are some soup and other veggie options. I tend to stick to the Croque Monsieur, which is basically a ham and cheese toastie but it comes with a good helping of fries and definitely worth a quick service credit!

Entrees at lunch are all around the $17 mark.

Dinner

I did dinner for the first time here in February this year. Dinner is table service, and as such guests receive a bit more of a magical experience, including each party being given a Lumiere to light their way to the table. The restaurant is a little more packed in during dinner (or at least it felt like it the one time I was there!) so it can be a bit louder.

The food is also a lot fancier, which you’d certainly hope for with a table service meal. I really enjoyed the food – I mean when do I not? – but compared to other amazing meals I’ve had in WDW it was average, so personally I don’t think I’d do dinner here again if I wasn’t on the dining plan.

That said though, once you finish your meal you get to experience the other magical moment that having dinner here gets you, and that’s meeting the Beast himself!

Dinner entrees range from $22-36, appetizers are $10-15 and desserts are $5.

Good things to know

With it being such a popular destination, the restaurant can be pretty noisy, especially during the quick service mealtimes, but if you get breakfast early it can be quite quiet, depending on the time of year. The restaurant is also well set up with plenty of different table sizes, including big round tables that can fit a party of 10.

What I cannot fault about the restaurant in any way is the decor, so be sure to explore each of the three rooms of the restaurant, including seeing the Enchanted Rose in the West Wing! My favourite room is the Grand Ballroom, and I love watching the snow fall outside the window.

Whatever meal you choose, you’re in for a magical meal and its an absolute must for any Beauty and the Beast fans!

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Owning the Magic

So Matthew and I kinda did a crazy thing when we were in Florida..

I’ve been to a Disney Vacation Club presentation before; Dad and I went to one on our trip back in 2016 for the sole reason that we were sucked into talking to a rep, who offered us a $50 gift card and some free fastpasses to give up an hour of our time, and we figured why not?

Well Matthew and I did the same thing. There was a $100 gift card offered this time, and I knew the presentation was quite interesting and not pressured, so when Matthew showed some interest in wanting to go, and we knew we had a day that was relatively unplanned, we let the nice rep at the booth in Epcot talk us into it.

To cut a long story short, we were sold. We crunched a gazillion numbers, double and triple checked all of the information that was given to us, and at the end of it all it seemed like the right decision for us. It was way more affordable than we had originally thought, and we know that with the trips we’d like to make over the next few years, we’d end up saving a LOT of money. We didn’t rush into anything – in fact, we actually walked away from the first meeting and booked to go back another time so we had a few days to properly mull everything over, and that was definitely the right thing for us to do. Everything made sense and now..

WE’RE DISNEY VACATION CLUB MEMBERS!

So we now own something silly like 0.2% of Unit 65 at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, yay! Poly will be our home resort, meaning we can book stays 11 month in advance, and stays elsewhere 7 months in advance, but as well as Walt Disney World we have big plans for our membership points, including Disneyland California and my absolute dream of going to Aulani, Disney’s Hawaiian resort!

I’m excited for all the adventures that this will bring for us, as well as the fact that technically this is the first property that Matthew and I own together!

Stay tuned for more!

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Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

One of the things I was most excited to do on our recent WDW trip was attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. The party is a special ticketed event at Magic Kingdom that runs on select days from the end of August through to the start of November, and we actually attended the very last party of this year’s season on November 1st.

Being a special ticketed event, one of the biggest selling points of the party is that it offers exclusive access to Magic Kingdom for the evening, while all other guests are booted out early, and runs up until midnight each night, so you’ve got a good amount of time to play in the park with a restricted number of guests. Other big factors for most guests are the rare character opportunities, and the fact that guests, including adults, are allowed to dress in costume for the party. Oh, and did I mention trick or treating?!

The party runs from 7pm until midnight, but guests can enter the park from 4pm, and rather than heading down Main Street USA, you’re directed down a backstage route into the park, and along this path you’ve got a bunch of photo opportunities, but this is also where you’ll be given your trick or treating bag and your first handful of candy. Trick or treat spots are located throughout the parks, and each visit will gain you a huge helping of sweets and chocolate! The standard issue bags are fairly small and aren’t anything special in terms of decoration (ours was a plastic bag with adverts for upcoming films, nothing Halloweeny at all!), so if you want something a little more fancy, you can bring in your own bag or bucket to use. I would also definitely recommend that you don’t put anything valuable in your candy bag as its really easy to get them mixed up with someone else’s, or leave on a ride as Matthew did.. But don’t worry if you do lose your bag, just head to a trick or treat station and they’ll give you a new one!

If candy isn’t your main priority, there’s a tonne of other entertainment for you, from the Tomorrowland Dance Party where I met Sully and Boo, to the Hocus Pocus Castle Show, Hallowishes fireworks and Boo to You Parade. As I’m not a fan of Hocus Pocus, we didn’t bother to see the castle show, but we did make sure we saw the fireworks and the parade. The night we did the party, the fireworks were only on once during the evening, which meant that it was very busy in front of the castle, but we still managed to get a decent spot on Main Street near the hub grass and despite not always being that impressed by firework shows, I really enjoyed them!

Boo to You Parade is generally on twice each night, so we did the later one, which was a proven good idea as after the fireworks a lot of people started heading out of the park, and we decided to get in a spot straight away to ensure a good view and about 5-1o mins before the actual parade began, the Headless Horseman graced us with his presence as he rode down the parade route! I’m a sucker for a parade, so of course I loved it, with my favourite floats being the Haunted Mansion and villain floats.

And what characters can you expect to meet? Well there’s all your favourites dressed up in their very own Halloween costumes, and then some rarer appearances such as the Seven Dwarfs, Lotso and Jack and Sally, but be warned, these lines can be killer! We waited about 30 mins for Lotso, and just under an hour for the Seven Dwarfs, although I know people who have queued for a lot longer than that!

Ticket prices vary from night to night, with October 31st being the most expensive at over $100 per person, but if you hit an early September weeknight, you can pay as little as $40-50 per person (prices based on 2017 tickets) so its definitely worth being flexible with dates if you can! Dates get released late April/early May and tickets go on sale mid-May normally.

As someone who really isn’t a Halloween person, I had so much fun being not-so-spooky with Mickey!

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My November Disney Trip Haul

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the only good thing about unpacking after a holiday is being able to get out all the cool things you bought during your trip. I can leave my clothes in my case for days but I’ll always be digging out souvenirs as soon as I step in the door.

To be honest, it felt like I bought a lot more on this trip than I actually did, mainly due to the fact that I actually bought quite a bit for other people, and also because I splurged on a lot of non-Disney purchases, so while my credit card took a bit of a hit, I’ve not got much to show you today, but what I did buy, I love.

I have been waiting for Disney to release a proper Mrs Potts teapot for FOREVER. I know Primark released a knock-off money box and various other products, but I’ve really disliked all of the ‘dupes’ that have been going round, so when I walked into Village Gifts in Fantasyland and saw this beauty on display I knew I’d be coming home with her! My only gripe is that the Chip that comes with her is a lot smaller than the Chip teacups, and probably too small to be used as an actual teacup, but I’ve decided that he will be the little sugar bowl for my now complete tea set! She’s also fully dishwasher safe!

How adorable is this little Mickey? I’m a sucker for Alex and Ani, but I especially love this bracelet because its a bit different with a sliding charm rather than a dangling one, which makes it a bit more practical for wearing day to day, whereas my other ones can be a bit too jangly! PS. They also had a Minnie one, and both are available in gold as well as silver.

Much like a trip to Lush, I love a trip to Basin in Disney Springs. I love looking at the different soap designs, but I especially love snagging a bargain with their variety bags. These bags contain off-cuts of 3-4 different soaps, but whereas you’d pay $5-8 dollars (weight dependent) on a single slice of one soap, these bags vary from $3-4 and you probably get a little bit more soap out of it, as well as getting to try a few different ones!

My final purchases were also from Disney Springs, but this time Uniqlo. First of all, I’d highly recommend hitting Uniqlo if you’re after Disney t-shirts – they have so many designs which are all really cute, and they’re a fraction of the price of the shirts you’ll see in the parks – but what I actually bought was trousers! They had a whole wall of these sweet 3/4 length culotte-style pants in various prints but all featuring little Mickey heads in the design. I chose two different pairs, the first being the all-over Mickey print, and then I also picked up a more subtle striped print that has tiny little hidden Mickey’s dotted randomly over it. They’re so comfy, and they have pockets!

My other US purchases were primarily makeup, and if you’re interested in seeing what I got keep an eye out as there’ll be lots of review posts coming up soon!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Days 14 and 15

As it was our last full day here, we were up bright and early for a breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace and as the park seemed to be pretty quiet, we went straight from there to Big Thunder Mountain – which was practically a walk-on – before going to our first fastpass of the day, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

On somewhat of a rollercoaster trail, after that we decided to go standby for Space Mountain, which claimed to be a 55 minute wait, but I definitely don’t think we waited that long, although I may have been too distracted by playing the video games that they have in the queue to notice the time go by! For some unknown reason, some of the lights were on, which meant we could see some of the crazy track, but not all of it – I’d love to ride it with all the lights on just one time, but I’ll settle for that for now! To kill a bit of time before our next fastpass, we hopped on the TTA Peoplemover for a quick spin around Tomorrowland, and then made our way back across to Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion.

Once we’d said farewell to the grim grinning ghosts, we walked round to Frontierland station and rode the train back round to Main Street USA. Lunch was on the cards now so we went to Pinocchio’s Village Haus, and then also grabbed ice cream from Plaza Ice Cream Parlour where I got a cookie sandwich the size of my face, but as it was so hot it was all melting too quickly for me to take a photo!

Due to the heat, and whatever my stupid cold/flu thing is, I was starting to feel pretty rotten again, so we headed back to the hotel so I could have a nap, and then went for a final swim in the resort. We also made an impromptu dinner reservation at Grand Floridian Cafe, which meant we decided to get a bus to Animal Kingdom so that we could then get a bus straight to the resort, but due to some confusion and a hideously long bus line, once at Animal Kingdom we decided to just get an Uber!

Dinner was great; I’ve had breakfasts as GFC before and loved it and dinner was no different. As it was our last night, we decided to splash out and get cocktails too – I had a Florida Sunshine which was so yum! From the restaurant, we could even see the fireworks from Happily Ever After while having our dessert!

After dinner we had more transportation nightmares as the monorail was temporarily closed, so we piled on a bus to Magic Kingdom, which then actually dropped us at Contemporary, and there was some sort of accident at the bus stops at MK and an ambulance present so all sorts of delays meant we didn’t get back to our hotel til really late..

Our final morning was a lot more laid back. We got up, packed up the last of our things and checked out of the room, then grabbed some breakfast at Pepper Market before catching the bus to Disney Springs, as our park tickets were no longer valid. Instead, we went bowling at Splitsville, which was a lot of fun – instead of charging by the game as I’m used to, we were given an hour to play as many games as we could fit into that time, which was just over 3 for us!

After bowling, we had lunch at Planet Hollywood, and then had a last browse of the shops before undertaking the slightly embarrassing task of using up all of our remaining food credits in buying snacks and candy. We split our remaining credits between Goofy’s Candy Co and Ghirardelli’s, walking away with over $200 of goods for absolutely nothing – we had a lot of snack and QS credits left..

With that, we were on our way back to the hotel, and on the sad Magical Express to the airport. As with our flight out, we have a stopover in Dublin so it’s going to be a long journey! See ya real soon, Walt Disney World!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 13

This morning we were up bright and early to get to Animal Kingdom, and while we were among the hundreds of others doing the same, while they joined the 3 hour line for Flights of Passage, we strolled onto the ride courtesy of our fastpasses! In fact, as we left the Pandora area of the park, the FoP line was going all the way down to the Festival of the Lion King theatre.

We grabbed some breakfast in Starbucks, then headed towards Expedition Everest, but opted for the single rider line as the standby queue was over an hour and we weren’t too bothered with doing one ride separately, and this saved us a bunch of time! After that, we went to see Flights of Wonder and then got lunch at Yaki and Yeti quick service.

We then decided to head out from Animal Kingdom and go explore Animal Kingdom Lodge. From the resort’s Savannah outlook we got to see some giraffes, zebras and antelope, and also caught a glimpse of some lions in a neighbouring enclosure! We also checked out the pool area, and attempted a game of table tennis but my hand-eye coordination isn’t fantastic so that didn’t go too well..

Having explored the resort, we caught a bus back to AK and then changed buses to head back to the resort for a pit stop (AKA I’m ill and needed a quick nap and to buy some cold and flu tablets).

Our evening was spent on the Boardwalk. We had dinner at Big River Grille, and then did some more exploring of the Boardwalk Inn, and then headed into Epcot as a cut-through so we could get a bus back to the resort, but we actually got to see a lot of Illuminations as we walked around the World Showcase – I’m not the biggest fan of Illuminations, but it was nice to see it before we leave!

Tomorrow is our last full day and it’s going to be packed with fun!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 12

I’m afraid to say that I’ve been pretty poorly today, so a lot of the day has been spent in bed! I did get up for lunch at Pepper Market, and also did get some laundry done, but I’ve mainly been curled up watching Disney movies and feeling a little sorry for myself.

We did get out for the evening though, heading to Hollywood Studios for a few hours. We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, grabbed some dinner at Catalina Eddie’s, while watching some of the new Tower of Terror projections and being snowed on, then went to ride Star Tours and meet BB-8 in the Star Wars Launch Bay.

We wrapped up the evening by using our the Fantasmic fastpasses we’d got from our dining package the other day. The seats were great, but it was a little windy so we got slightly damp from the fountains, but oh well!

I’m hoping to get a good nights sleep so I feel a little more alive tomorrow, let’s see how it goes!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 11

Waking up this morning was particularly difficult for some reason, but when we did drag ourselves out of bed, we were off to Magic Kingdom!

Cutting it close to the end time of our first fastpass, once we were in the park we hightailed it over to Big Thunder Mountain, and once that was done and dusted, breakfast was had in the form of a Mickey pretzel, and then we also decided to try a park snack I’ve been wanting to try for years now, the orange equivalent of Dole Whip: a Citrus Swirl. Matthew has just a plan swirl cup, and I had the float, he hated his, I thought it was ok but nothing to particularly write home about.

After that I dragged him on a customary It’s a Small World ride, and then I went to buy something very exciting (haul post when I’m back!) in Fantasyland before we made our way back to Adventureland for lunch at MK’s newest table service, Skipper Canteen, where despite us both being a little underwhelmed at the menu on first glance, we both had excellent meals and I absolutely would recommend!

Lunch took us nicely up to pre-parade time, so we snagged a spot on Main Street for Matthew’s first ever Festival of Fantasy – I was Disneybounding as Rapunzel as she spotted me out of the crowd, in dead. The park was much busier today than it was on our last day in MK, so queues were a bit of a nightmare, so we decided to do Mickey’s Philharmagic, and even that was packed! Being a Christmas party night, the park was really filling up so we decided to do some resort hopping, and caught the monorail to Contemporary first, meaning we got to see the Christmas gingerbread castle and do a little bit of exploring, and then we went round to the Grand Floridian to do the same, with the addition of hitting Basin White!

From GF we got the monorail across to Epcot for a quick look in a few shops (making final shopping decisions as we’re coming to the end of the trip!) and then got the bus back to our resort, where we decided to actually try out the food options here for dinner!

I’ve got some really nasty mosquito bites that have been giving me grief over the last few days and today has been particular horrible, plus I think I’m starting to come down with a post-Disney cold a few days early, waa!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 10

So it turns out I accidentally numbered my posts wrong and today is actually day 10, not 9 as I had thought, oops!

Today started much like yesterday, a lie in, followed by a gym session before heading out to the parks, and today our destination was Hollywood Studios. When we arrived, my first port of call was Adrian and Edith’s Head to Toe shop, as I had decided the night before that I was finally going to buy the Sorcerer Mickey hat I’ve wanted for ages, and I wanted it embroidered with my name, so we got that one going to collect later in the day. From there, I grabbed a giant cookie for brunch, then we headed to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show as we had fastpasses. This is a favourite for both Matthew and me!

After the show we hit Tower of Terror, and then Matthew went to do Rock’n’Roller Coaster; I was put off by my experience from the other day so instead I did some shops and grabbed a Starbucks before going back to meet him, and we went on to do Toy Story Midway Mania.

After Midway Mania, we headed to our late lunch reservation at Mama Melrose – we had booked this as part of the Fantasmic dining package – and then went to collect my finished hat, then met Mickey and Minnie before rushing back across the park for the last performance of Beauty and the Beast.

Unfortunately, Matthew wasn’t feeling very well after the show, so we decided to head back to the hotel, having been reassured by guest services that we could utilise the Fantasmic ticket we’d received as part of the dining package on another night instead, which was nice!

Back at the hotel, I went to pick up some merchandise that we’d sent back from the parks, and filled up our resort mugs, then started the mammoth task of reorganising my suitcase to make sure I’ll have enough room for everything I’ve bought!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 9

This morning we got up and went to the resort gym for a quick workout, and then headed for Typhoon Lagoon. It was Matthew’s first time ever, and my first time in over 3 years so we were pretty excited, and being November it was pretty quiet too!

After putting our stuff in a locker and finding some sunbeds, we started to hit the slides. First up was Misadventure Falls, then we did all three of the Crush’n’Gusher shoots in quick succession. Then we did the Storm Sliders, followed by Humunga Kowabunga, where I suffered the worst wedgie I have ever experienced in my life..

To recover from that, we hopped into the lazy river and rode that round to Leaning Palms for some lunch, then carried on round the river til we reached our starting point again. I then took Matthew to TL’s famous wave pool, and despite not believing me when I warned him how huge the waves were, he was amazed when he saw just how crazy they get!

We carried on hitting all the slides, doing Keelhaul Falls, Mayday Falls and Gangplank Falls, then headed back to do Misadventure Falls again, before spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing on our sunloungers. As it’s not peak season, to get back to the resort we had to get a bus to Disney Springs to then change for a resort bus, and back at the resort I had a few things to do – parcels to collect, paying off some of the room charges and filling our mugs – and then we just showered and changed and headed out to Hollywood Studios for the evening.

I’d managed to snag us some Fantasmic fastpasses for that night, and by the time we got to the park we only had time to look through some of the shops before we headed to the theatre and set ourselves up with some snacks and popcorn. Fantasmic is Matthew’s favourite Disney show (and we’re seeing it again tomorrow too!) so I was glad we managed to get some decent seats to enjoy Mickey’s imagination!

As the showtime was actually after the official park close time, once it was over we were flushed out the park pretty quickly, although we did catch a sneak peak at the new Christmas projections onto Tower of Terror!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 8

Today was another Animal Kingdom day! We didn’t get into the park until about 11.30, and we headed straight to Pandora for our Flights of Passage fastpass. Wow.

First up, while I’ve heard amazing things about some of the features of the standby line, I did not mind missing out on this to save the amount of queue time we did by courtesy of our fastpasses. The ride itself was like no other, and I’m not gonna spoil it for anyone but it was insane. After the ride, we had lunch at the new quick service restaurant, Satu’li Canteen, which in a single meal has become my favourite QS place in Animal Kingdom – SO GOOD.

From there, we went to do Expedition Everest, then Dinosaur, and back to Kali River Rapids, which was welcome in the heat of the day! We did dry within no time of coming off the ride, and decided to cool off some more with a sit down and some air-con at Finding Nemo: The Musical.

After the show, we stopped off in DinoLand USA for a quick Primeval Whirl, and then walked back to Discovery Island and did a little bit of merch shopping before having dinner at Yak and Yeti. I’ve done Yak and Yeti once before but tonight’s dinner blew the last time out of the water!

Tummies full of food, we did our last fastpass of the day, Kilimanjaro Safaris, which I love doing in the dark; we got to see the lions up and about, a black rhino closer than I ever have done and the elephants were pretty active too!

We finished up the night back in Pandora, not to do any of the rides but to experience the land lit up in  bioluminescent wonder. If you think this place is amazing during the day, it’s even more awesome at night! 

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 7

Today kicked off with a nice long lie in, but our plans were further delayed somewhat following a fight that I picked with some sort of wasp or bee.. Long story short I have a horrible sting on my finger and spent a great deal of time with my finger soaking in ice water.

Eventually, however, we made it to Epcot, and today’s agenda was hitting the Food and Wine Festival hard, and making use of our abundant snack credits. We started off with mac and cheese, there was a chocolate torte thing, and at the festival centre we even got some free Ghirardelli samples, yay!

As well as sampling the foods around the World Showcase, we were also very interested in keeping in air-con as the day was getting super warm, so we hit a few attractions that I would normally skip, such as Impressions de France and The American Adventure, purely for the sit down in the cool! We sampled dishes from Brazil, China, India and more, filling out our Food and Wine passport as we went.

To give ourselves a little break from the Epcot crowds and the heat, we took a mid-afternoon detour to the Polynesian Resort and spent some time just chilling out on the beach there, and then got the monorail back to Epcot for the rest of the evening. We hit The Seas with Nemo and Friends, then our fastpass for Test Track, and then made our way to the Japan Pavilion for our dinner reservation at Teppan Edo.

It was my third time dining at Teppan Edo and as per usual the food was great. By the time we left it was only 15 mins til park close so we just slowly made our way back to the park entrance and called it a night!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 6

I’m not gonna lie to you, today was another easy day in Orlando.

We got the bus to Magic Kingdom, then hopped on the monorail to Contemporary for our breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey’s. Helping out in the restaurant along with Mickey was Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald, and we filled out boots with all-you-can-eat goodness.

After breakfast, we were picked up from outside the Contemporary by the Disney Vacation Club, as we had booked an open house tour while in Epcot a few days back. The open house meant we got to see the showrooms for the new Copper Creek area of Wilderness Lodge, which were incredible, and also Polynesian and Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii. If you’ve never done a DVC meeting and you have the time, I’d definitely recommend it – in fact, we liked it so much we’re going back on Tuesday..

DVC were nice enough to drop us into Disney Springs and from there we got a Lyft to the Orlando Premium Outlets, although I didn’t buy anything more exciting than some new running shoes!

Shopped out, we went back to the hotel to drop off our things, then got the bus to Disney Springs for the evening and as we walked into the West Side there was a gathering around two guys who were having a rap battle which was amazing to watch! We also hit a few of the shops, including the new Coca Cola building, before making our way to T-Rex for dinner, and after walking it off a little by wandering more around the Springs, we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 5

Today we were up bright and early to get to Hollywood Studios for opening. We grabbed a quick snack for breakfast and then headed to Toy Story Midway Mania, riding it once via the standby queue and then again using our fastpass, although the standby still wasn’t more than 30 mins even an hour later. From there we did One Man’s Dream, which is showing a preview of the new Pixar film, Coco, which looks so good!

After that, we decided to brave the standby line for Rock’n’Roller Coaster, but despite the line saying 45 mins, and a cast member announcement warning that it might be slightly longer, we definitely didn’t wait more than about 30 mins. My head took a bit of a bashing on the ride, so we opted for a sit down in Muppet Vision 3D after that.

Lunch was at Sci-Fi Dine In, and I was a happy girl with a steak/mac and cheese combo which was to die for! After lunch we did Star Tours, and we had hoped to do Beauty and the Beast afterwards, but unfortunately my head was really giving me grief after RnR, and I was starting to feel dizzy so instead we went back to the hotel room so I could have a lie down.

Once I was feeling a little better, we decided rather than going back to Hollywood Studios, we’d head to Fantasia Gardens mini golf, then walk along the Boardwalk into Epcot. I’ve been wanting to do mini golf in Disney for a while now, and despite having to wait about 25 mins before we could start due to it being quite busy, I really enjoyed the course, plus we timed it with the end of Fantasmic, so we could actually hear the show from the course!

At Epcot, we decided to trial some of the Food and Wine festival offerings, starting from the International Gateway and working anti-clockwise. As it was late, and we’ve got a whole day planned for this next week, we just hit a few booths but I’ve discovered a serious love for Brazilian cheese bread so yeah that’s gonna happen again..

Once we were back at Future World, we washed down the food with a few samples from Club Cool, then headed out of the park just before the Illuminations crush incurred, and managed to get a resort bus to ourselves!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 4

Today has been a pretty lazy day, so not much to report folks! We had planned to do Universal today, but decided on a shuffle of days so instead we had a bit of a lie in, then hit the resort gym for a short stint before grabbing some breakfast and heading to the pool.

We stayed poolside til about midday, then changed and headed to Disney Springs, where first on the agenda was lunch. I was dying to try out one of the new quick service options, so we decided on Blaza Pizza and OH MY GOD. A) this was a quick service credit on our dining plan and we got a whole pizza each, B) it was the coolest idea for a pizza place ever – think Pizza Hut crossed with Subway, and C) the pizza was so good! I’m still thinking about it.

After food, it was time for some retail therapy. I dragged Matthew on his first trip to Sephora, where he had to endure my umming and ahhing over what to buy and how much I could justify sending etc. I kept it in the double digits, I’m quite proud. After Sephora we browsed a few more of the stores, then hit Uniqlo where we both bought a few things, and World of Disney, then Basic and the Marketplace Co-op.

Once shopped out for the day, we got the bus back to the resort to dump our purchases, then headed out to Magic Kingdom. The sole reason for hitting MK tonight was so that I could watch Happily Ever After for the first time. We got into the park about an hour before the show time and still had to battle a little bit for a good spot, and sat to stake out.

I had mixed feelings. I mean, I loved it, but as many others do I had very strong feelings for it’s predecessor shows so there’s always that little twinge of sadness (RIP Celebrate the Magic), but it was still amazing. After the show we made use of the remaining half an hour in the park by doing Big Thunder Mountain, which is my favourite ride to do in the dark, before joining the crowds leaving the kingdom for the night.

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 3

So for some reason yesterday’s report published today instead of yesterday, so today is a double post day!

This morning we finally slept through til our alarm, yay! We set it a little later as although we had breakfast reservations, we decided to get an Uber to The Boardwalk rather than having the hassle of getting two buses.

The Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno was amazing! The food was so good and the character interaction was great, plus we had the nicest server who brought us extra pancakes when I couldn’t make my mind up! After we’d eaten, we took a nice long walk around the Boardwalk, along passed the Yacht and Beach Club resorts before finally heading into Epcot via the International Gateway, and wandered back towards Future World. Bubblegum wall photos were taken, Baymax was met, it was fab.

After meeting Baymax, we headed to Test Track for our fastpass, only it was closed temporarily, so instead we went over to Soarin’, which only actually had a 25 min wait, and then grabbed a Starbucks before hitting Spaceship Earth and our second fastpass, the Epcot Character Spot.

From there, we made our way back to the World Showcase and to Norway to meet Anna and Elsa – random side note, the toilets in the Norway pavilion are really nice – and then trotted back to Future World for our second time on Soarin’, this time because we had a fastpass. While in The Land, we had dinner at Sunshine Seasons, and then we headed back over to Test Track, which was now back up and running, and finally made use of that fastpass, which became valid for the whole day when the ride broke down.

Because I’m really not bothered by Illuminations, we decided to head back to the resort and spent the evening chilling out there!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 2

Jambo friends! Our early night actually led to us being up stupidly early today, but oh well! 

We grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom, arriving just before opening time. Now Pandora is here, everyone is headed straight there in the morning, but as we had Fastpasses booked for later and on other days, so we weren’t among that mad rush. Instead, we went to Expedition Everest, and rode that twice with absolutely no wait, then went over to Africa for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We were really lucky to see all the safari animals, including all three of the resident lions moving around, which is a rare occurrence from my experience!

After the safari, we finally headed across into Pandora. First of all, just wow. The place is STUNNING, and the detail is incredible – I was blown away. Today we only had a fastpass for Navi River Journey, which got us onto the ride in under 5 mins, unlike the crowds that were queueing for 75. Again, the ride was visually amazing, but I would have been a little disappointed had a queued for over an hour as the actual ride itself left a little to be desired, if you ask me.

After a short wander around the area, we headed back into Africa and went to see the Festival of the Lion King, and followed that up with Kali River Rapids. You know there’s always that one person who seems to get more soaked than anyone else? Well today that was me.

Having soaked myself through, we got lunch at Rainforest Cafe, and then headed back to the resort for a quick nap – our early morning was catching up – and then got ready to head into the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

First up, we grabbed our candy bags and headed into Tomorrowland, where we met Lotso, then Sully and Boo at the monster dance party, and after that had a ride on Space Mountain. Then we headed to Storybook Circus where we queued to meet the Seven Dwarfs (an hour wait, for anyone wondering), which put me just over my goal of meeting 100 characters this year, yay!

After some more trick or treating, we got ourselves a spot for the Happy Hallowishes fireworks, and after that grabbed ourselves a parade spot. We watched the headless horseman make his way down Main Street USA, and then the final Boo To You Parade of the year, before making our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 1

Well here we are folks, another Disney trip has begun!

Courtesy of the time difference, we were awake well before our alarm, and on the bus to the Magic Kingdom just before 7am. We got to MK at about 7:25, and waited in the area reserved for those with breakfast reservations, getting let in at about 7:50. Our breakfast was at Be Our Guest, and wasn’t actually until 8:50, so we took our time getting castle photos, and even had a ride on the carousel before going to the restaurant. Despite being about 30 mins early, they let us straight in, and we were actually finished with our food before our actual reservation time.

After breakfast – which was so good by the way – we had planned on Pirates of the Caribbean, but it was closed, so instead we headed to Big Thunder Mountain and got on the first train out, plus I asked the cast member if we could be in the last row and she let us! From there we did Jungle Cruise, then Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and our first fastpass of the day, Space Mountain.

The park has been so nice and quiet this morning, and after Space Mountain we managed to do Dumbo, The Barnstormer and The Little Mermaid ride in quick succession, and then made our way round to do Haunted Mansion. Next on the agenda was sorting out a few bits and pieces; Matthew needed to reset his MagicBand pin and my memory maker wasn’t working properly, so we went to Guest Services, via shopping on Main Street USA. We went to City Hall but as there was a queue, the cast member directed us to Liberty Square Ticket Office, a lesser known guest services spot, and thanks to the wonderful Javier, we got everything fixed and he even gave us 3 free Fastpasses by way of apology for the issues I had with my memory maker.

To use them up, we did Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, then Tomorrowland Speedway and Space Mountain, and then we did a lap of TTA Peoplemover and had a sit down in Carousel of Progress, which took us nicely up to our early dinner reservation at The Plaza Restaurant. The food was nice, but I wouldn’t rush to eat there again, and had we not been on the dining plan I don’t think I would have liked to actually pay what we should have done.

After dinner the lack of sleep from the night before was really kicking in, so we finished up with our last fastpass of the day, Pirates of the Caribbean, and headed out from Magic Kingdom for the night – we would have been kicked out later due to the Halloween party anyway! 
Back to the resort, and we picked up our refillable resort mugs, and as we started to walk back to the room I noticed a furry friend was just outside the reception area, and in the cutest outfit too so I just had to have a cuddle! So we just spent the evening at the resort and ended up falling asleep nice and early, which was definitely needed!

Tomorrow is going to be a long day!

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Yo-ho, Yo-ho, A Pirate Night for Me

Since going on a Disney Cruise, I’ve used the word ‘ahoy’ far too many times but I don’t care.

On every Disney Cruise that sails, guests get to enjoy the festivities of Pirate Night, and this means themed food, a pirate party, and dress up!

Due to some changes in our itinerary, our pirate night actually followed a sea day, so I kept my daytime outfit pretty casual, but still pirate themed, courtesy of this amazing tank top from Maple and Whisky Clothing Co. Pirates of the Caribbean is universally my favourite Disney park ride, and I love the little logo of the iconic dog who has the keys to the pirate cells!

The whole day was crazy blustery, can you tell?!

When it came to the evening, the guests weren’t the only ones who were dressed up! Mickey and the gang were all out in their pirate best and looking super adorable, and I also got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow for the first time ever!

My pirate costume was thrown together last-minute, but I still love how it turned out! I took inspiration from Minnie Mouse, and paired my Minnie skirt with a flouncy blouse and just tied a triangle of black fabric around my waist. Each guest is given a pirate night bandana, so I just tied mine around my head to keep my hair in check!

After dinner is the main event of the evening: the on-deck pirate party! The wind wasn’t letting up at all, so we were actually wrapped up in fleece blankets to watch the show, which featured Mickey and the gang, plus some troublesome pirates lead by Captain Hook and Smee, but Mickey soon got everything under control!

Once the show was over, Mickey announced the start of the fireworks – did you know that Disney Cruise Line ships are the only ships that have permission to let off fireworks?

It was such a fun night, and it was so nice to see so many guests get involved with dressing up! All themed nights on Disney Cruise’s are optional, and on the formal/semi-formal nights there were a lot of people that didn’t dress up, but we hardly saw any guests who hadn’t made some sort of attempt to get into the spirit of things!

I love pirate life..

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Another Disney Trip Bucket List

In two weeks time, I will be on my way to Manchester in preparation to fly out to Orlando!! Yes, I know I’ve been to WDW once already this year, but I’ve worked my butt off to pay for this trip and its my first proper holiday with Matthew and our first Disney trip together and I could not be more excited.

What I love about Disney is that even having been before, on every trip there is always something new, or something I’ve never done before, and even just the usual magic that gets me so excited every time, and this trip is no exception. There are a bunch of new things I’ll be experiencing on this trip, as well as some firm favourites, and here are just a few that I’m buzzed for:

  • Pandora – on my last two trips to WDW, I’ve observed the cranes and developments of the newest addition to Animal Kingdom, and on this trip I’ll finally get to see the beautiful creation that is Pandora. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind of it not living up to my expectations!
  • Food and Wine Festival – this will be my first time going to F&W at Epcot and I’m so hyped to eat ALL THE FOOD.
  • Bon Voyage breakfast – speaking of food, I’ve been internally squealing about the newest character breakfast since it was announced, and I can’t wait to be finally doing it!
  • Taking cute photobooth photos in DinoLand – Sarah and I found the photobooth in Animal Kingdom back in Feb, but I’m planning on being the ultimate cheese couple and dragging Matthew in there so we can have old school photobooth print-out photos
  • Toothpaste wall photos – being the Disney basic girl I am, I am of course buzzed for wall photos, but would you believe I’ve yet to take photos at the toothpaste wall?! Of course I’ll also be doing the other walls too (hello bubblegum wall) but this is one I’m particularly excited for.
  • Mickey’s Not So Scary – I am going to trick or treat til I drop! This will be my first ever Halloween party and while I’m not the biggest Halloween fan normally, I can’t wait to see all the exclusive shows and parades, plus all the amazing characters!
  • Blizzard Beach – my last two WDW trips have been during the early months of the year, so I haven’t been to the waterparks since 2014. I rarely spend a whole day in a waterpark anyway, but I’m excited to be going back.
  • New outfits – you don’t have to know me that well to know I LOVE planning Disney outfits. For this trip I’ve got all new looks and I am LIVING for some of them!
  • A new Disney gym – we’re staying at Coronado Springs for this trip, and the resort has its own gym! If I’m staying at a resort with a gym I always go for a nosey and a workout, call me crazy!

I’ll be in WDW from October 30th-November 14th, and if anyone is around give me a shout!

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris

On our last trip to Disneyland Paris, the family and I decided to try something we’ve never done before, and as we were staying at Hotel Cheyenne and the cowboy feel was everywhere, we thought we’d give Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show a try!

We went to the earlier show, so arrived at about 6.15 and were presented with our seat tickets and cowboy hats before going through to the bar area, where a live band were performing country music favourites – even Goofy made a special appearance! When the show was about to begin, guests were invited to make their way into the show arena. We were in the red section, so we were sat on the left side of the arena, and as we had category 2 tickets we were seated in the third row, but the view was great so I don’t imagine you get it much better by paying the extra for category 1. The seating is done in a row of benches, and we were lucky to get in first so we were right on the end of the row, but there wasn’t any room to get passed people so other people were having to climb down into the seating, which was a bit of a faff.

The benches were laid with all the crockery ready to go, and there were several baskets of tortilla chips spread along the row, but it was a little unclear what the protocol for food was going to be so we weren’t sure if we should be diving in or saving ourselves. The servers came along with jugs of drinks, and the options were water, coke or beer and these options were unlimited as part of the meal, but if you wanted anything else you could go to the bar and order drinks separately.

Once the show started, the food also started being served, and first up there was a course of chilli with cornbread, then once that had been cleared away there was chicken, ribs, sausages and potato wedges, and the portion sizes were huge so we definitely weren’t left wanting! If you had any room left at the end of all that, dessert was an apple crumble with ice-cream and there was coffee available too.

The show itself was bizarre and excellent at the same time! It was a combination of cowboy stunts such as trick-roping and cow-hearding (yes, there were real cows involved) and also skits and sketches, plus more live music, oh, and I did I mention that Mickey and the gang were there?! As well as the real cowboys and performers, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the chipmunks took part in the fun, they were dressed for the part too! The show also featured some native American scenes, so the whole frontier was represented.

The second half of the show was done as a sort of tournament; each colour section had cowboys and indians representing them as they took part in various contests, and the audience was encouraged to bang the benches, cutlery and plates while cheering on the contestants which was a lot of fun, and there were also a few opportunities for audience participation.

Overall, it was a fun evening, and I’m definitely glad we did it but I’m not sure if I’d rush to go back. The food was great and the show was entertaining but I imagine it would be the same every time and I think that the novelty would wear off quickly. On a side note, I also have no idea if there are any vegetarian options available as I didn’t see any alternatives dishes being served and about 80% of the food was meat, so worth bearing in mind if you are a veggie!

You do get to keep the hat though!

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I Just Want to See the Floating Lanterns Gleam

Hey guys, today I’m sharing another of my Disney Cruise day to night lookbooks, and this was inspired by the lost princess herself, Rapunzel.

My daytime outfit was a very holiday standard tank top and shorts combo, featuring this lantern design from Maple and Whisky, my comfy candy-stripe denim shorts from Forever 21 and my hand painted Tangled inspired Vans which I got from Disney Springs back in February, and I’m also wearing another of my Lillian and Co bangles.

This day was actually semi-formal night, and the night that Tangled The Musical was performed in the onboard theatre, and despite knowing this when I planned the outfit, this outfit tied in perfectly! This is my favourite little black dress, which is a few years old now from Missguided, and accessorised with this gorgeous scarf from Redbubble, and these adorable ballet-style flats from Asos.

I’m probably thinking about dinner or Flynn Rider in this one..

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Things I Would Do Differently on my Next Disney Cruise

Yep, I’ve hardly been back from my first Disney Cruise and I’m already thinking about the next. No, I’ve not got one booked, but I’ve got some plans and ideas, which led me to think about some of the things I learned on this trip, and what I would do differently next time.

Properly research ports and excursion options

I opted for the ‘take each day as it comes’ approach on this cruise, which lead to a nice chilled trip and lots of hanging out on the ship, but I think next time I would want to spend more time going ashore and visiting some of the amazing locations that Disney Cruise’s visit.

Spend more money

Due to having other trips coming up this year, I had to keep to a fairly tight budget in terms of onboard spending. Next time, I’d like to do a few more of the paid experiences on the boat such as dining at Palo, treatments at the spa and have a few cheeky cocktails by the pool!

Wake up earlier

Disney beds are always the comfiest beds, and on the cruise ships that’s no exception, so it was all too easy to sleep in every morning, and while cruising is all about relaxing and not having to always get up early, I sometimes feel like a lie in is a morning wasted, and I want to experience more of the morning activities!

Show more appreciation to the servers

I cannot commend all of the cast members on the ship highly enough, they absolutely raised the bar for me, but the servers were really incredible. You have the same server and assistant server every night, and this means they really get to know you, and you get to know them too. They are all so lovely and hard-working, and while at the end of the trip you get to show your appreciation with tips, next cruise I think it would be really nice to also pack small little gifts for the servers who make the whole experience so special.

Do more activities

Cheesy as it sounds, I kinda regret not going to a game of bingo, and I wish I’d been to some of the interesting talks that they had going on. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast just hanging out on deck and meeting all the characters but I’m all about getting the full experience so next time I think I’ll be trying out more different ways to spend the time.

Have you ever been on a Disney Cruise?

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You Know Who You Are

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I love planning the outfits for my Disney trips, and I love sharing them with you, but you may have also noted that prior to my recent Disney Cruise, I didn’t share any of the outfits I had planned for this trip. Well, that’s because I wanted to wait until I could showcase them in all their glory on the beautiful ship that was the Disney Magic.

Cruising produced a whole new world of outfit planning for me, because rather than just one outfit per day, I had to have an outfit for during the day, and then another outfit to change into for dinner and our evening activities! I saw this as the perfect opportunity to do some creative Disney-styling, and each day I took inspiration from one character, and produced both a casual daytime look, and then an evening outfit inspired by said character.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing each day’s looks, and the outfits I’m sharing today are inspired by Disney’s newest addition to the princess family: the ocean princess herself, Moana.

My daytime outfit was pretty cruise casual, and rather than a traditional Disneybound I planned the outfit around a few products of my own design. Here I’m wearing the Ocean Princess tank from The Happiest Fitness Co which I’ve teamed with my favourite denim shorts, decorated with my Ocean Princess iron-on patch, which you can buy from my Etsy store!

I’m also wearing the beautiful ‘You Know Who You Are’ rose gold bangle from Lillian & Co – better pictured below!

My evening outfit was a proper Disneybound of lace on lace and I love it. I combined my red lace bardot body from New Look with a creamy lace a-line skirt from Hollister (a few years old now!) to create Moana’s outfit from the movie, with the lace adding the texture to represent the pattern of her top and skirt.

I’ve written before about how much Moana meant to me as a film, and why this beautiful movie is just so special in my eyes, and stood onboard of this beautiful boat having the time of my life, the line where the sky meets the sea was calling..

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RunDisney Paris 2017: Day 3 and Half Marathon

This morning Dad and I were up bright and early yet again, this time to run double the distance we did yesterday! The half marathon started at the same time as the 10K did the day before, but as Dad and I could join our actual corral B today, it meant we got across the start line quite a bit earlier than we did on the 10K.

The race itself was absolutely fab! The course was slightly different to last year, and we actually spent more time running in the parks which was great, and the characters that were out were so good! We skipped quite a few stops, but I did meet the Three Caballeros, Scrooge McDuck, Timon and Rafiki and Judy Hopps! Dad and I kept a good pace and we came in with a great time, collecting both our medals for the half marathon and also the Bibbidi Bobbidi Challenge, and I also got my second Castle to Chateau medal. While I had a few issues with some of the goings on from this weekend’s races, this race really turned around how I felt about things – I couldn’t fault it.

After the race we were on a bit of a tight time-frame, so we went straight back to the hotel to shower and change before packing up, checking out and rushing back into the parks, which was done at a bit of a waddle given the stiff leg situation. We were rushing as we had a lunch reservation at Captain Jack’s, which is the rebrand of the former Blue Lagoon Restaurant, set inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

I wasn’t sure how I felt when the rebrand was announced, as Blue Lagoon fit in nicely with the Blue Bayou restaurants of Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, both of which are also inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride of their respective parks, but as the Paris ride has just had its refurb, I thought it was nice that the restaurant was getting a spruce up too. The actual restaurant, however, was pretty much exactly the same as it was before, just with a few added pirate flags, and Jack doing the rounds while you eat.

The food, however, wasn’t as good as when I ate here before. My meal at Blue Lagoon on my 21st birthday was absolutely flawless, and not a single scrap was left, but I just didn’t feel quite as wowed by the dishes this time around. I loved my starter, but my main was just a little bit blah and I didn’t finish my dessert either, which was partially down to my lack of appetite post-half marathon, but also because I didn’t totally love the food.

After we’d eaten, it was unfortunately time for us to leave as we had to drive back to the airport for our flight home. I was sad to leave as this trip felt very rushed – races always seem to take so much time away from the weekends – and the weather was so lovely!

If you love reading my trip posts, fear not guys – my next trip is at the end of October!

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RunDisney Paris 2017: Day 2 and 10K

Hey gang! Today we were up nice and early to get to the 10K start line. Dad and I had been put in corral B, but as Hannah and Mum were in C we dropped back so we could all start together.


The race was great. I had a few moans about character lines being shut as it was too busy, but I still got to do a few meets that I really wanted to do and it’s not just about the characters for me. Plus even if I couldn’t meet them, the characters they had out were fab!

Once we’d finished and got our goodies, we celebrated with a McDonalds breakfast before going back to the hotel to shower and change, which led to some accidental napping (sorry not sorry), then we walked into the parks. We started in the Disneyland Park, grabbing lunch at Colonel Hathi’s, then we actually decided to go across into Studios to do one of our family favourite rides, Toy Story Parachute Drop, then for a chance to side down, Disney’s Art of Animation.

From there, I headed solo back to the Disneyland Park to watch Stars on Parade for my first time. As with Illuminations, although I loved the new floats, I still prefer Magic on Parade, or at least the soundtrack! I then had to fight my way back out of the park as we had booked Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for dinner. It was our first time doing it and it was surprisingly fun, although a little strange at times.

Once the show was over, it was time to call it an early night as Mum and Hannah were both feeling the effects of this morning, and Dad and I will be up again for the half tomorrow!

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RunDisney Paris 2017: Day 1

Yes it’s only been a week but once again I’m coming to you from another trip as I’m in Disneyland Paris for the RunDisney weekend!

We had an early start to get the first flight out of Southampton to Paris, which was lucky as due to strike action CDG was crazy busy and we had to wait quite some time to get through passport control! Once we were through and eventually managed to find our hire car company, we were on the road to DLP, and headed straight Hotel Cheyenne where we waited for my sister to arrive before walking into Disney Village. First stop was lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, then we went to the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up our race kit.

I had mixed feelings about the expo. I thought it flowed better this year in how it was set up, but it felt very very empty and I was really surprised at how few exhibitors they had. It just felt a little scarce, although much better for my bank balance! Dad and I picked up our challenge bibs and tshirts, and Mum and Hannah got their 10K ones, then we walked into Disney Village for a bit of window shopping before getting the bus back to the hotel so we could finally unload all our stuff into the room before heading back to the parks.

Somewhat controversially, we actually went into the Walt Disney Studios Park first of all, as it was closing early due to the 5K in the evening. Amazingly, we managed to do the Ratatouille ride with less than a half an hour wait, and also RC Racer and even Crush’s Coaster in a fraction of what I would consider the normal wait time to be. After Crush’s Coaster, the park was past its official closing time so we were guided towards the exit, so we headed over to the Disneyland Park.

Once in the park, my family stopped for ice cream while I walked around the castle hub taking photos of the 25th anniversary decs, then we went into Adventureland to do Pirates of the Caribbean, via a quick detour through Aladdin’s Enchanted Passage. I don’t think I’ve ever queued that long for Pirates, although it was probably only about 20-25mins, but after the refurb I didn’t want to miss out. We then walked the loop through Fantasyland and into Discoveryland for Buzz’s Space Ranger Spin.

Once we’d saved the universe, we took up spots for Illuminations. I had hoped that the audience would remain seated but unfortunately everyone started to stand so on our feet it was.. Honestly, I don’t think it blew me away, and I don’t think it was any better than it’s predecessor Dreams. It was an early park close of 8.30pm, so we headed towards Disney Village but as the 5K was still ongoing it was total carnage. We battled our way through the crowds to the wondrous place that is Earl of Sandwich, grabbed sandwiches and headed back to the hotel on foot.

In the morning we’ll be doing the 10K, stay tuned! 

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My RunDisney Paris Weekend Outfits

I may have just got back from my Disney Cruise, but I’m off to Disneyland Paris THIS WEEKEND! I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow morning to be on the first flight to Paris, and I’ll be in the parks Friday-Sunday, but as per usual this trip is not without a race weekend!

I’ll be running both the 10K and half marathon in order to earn myself the Bibbidi Bobbidi Challenge medal, and I’ll also be getting my second Castle to Chateau Challenge medal, and two races means another two outfits to create!

I’ll be the first to admit that the costumes I created for this race weekend were a little bit last minute – in fact, my 10K outfit was something I literally threw together this week – thank goodness for my fabric stash!

So for the 10K I’ll be letting out my inner Star Wars nerd with this outfit inspired by Princess Leia’s Episode IV outfit. I have a good collection of plain coloured tech t-shirts now, so I only needed to make the skirt to go with a plain white top, and then I’ll be attempting some cinnamon roll style buns.

Then for the half marathon, I’ve created an outfit inspired by my favourite Mickey Mouse look: Sorcerer Mickey. I actually made this skirt from fabric I got out of the scrap bin at my local fabric store for just £1, and I’m so happy with how it came out! And while its probably impractical to run in a sorcerer’s hat, I do have this amazing scrunchie that I got from Shanghai Disneyland last year, and I even have a Mickey glove too!

If you’re also running this weekend, or are going to be in the parks, come say hi if you spot me!

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My Disney Cruise Haul

There’s nothing worse than coming home from an amazing holiday and having to unpack the suitcase. Apart from whatever needs washing, I’ve been known to leave my suitcase untouched for weeks, with the exception, of course, of retrieving my haul of souvenirs and purchases.

Now just because I’ve spent a week on a ship, rather than in the parks, that hasn’t stopped me from shopping – there are actually two gift shops on the Disney Magic! Wanna see what I got?

I like to think I kept my purchases fairly minimal, and I only bought things that I really wanted and couldn’t get anywhere else, as quite a few of the souvenirs available are things you can buy in any Disney park. No, your eyes aren’t going funny, that mug actually is wonky – it is a funnel, after all!

The only items that I knew I’d want before actually going on the trip was the cruise tsum tsums, but unfortunately the Magic didn’t seem to have the Minnie one in stock, so I just ended up getting Mickey (psst! Keep an eye on my Instagram over the next week for your chance to win one too!), and I also bought this Mickey print, which is actually a postcard but I thought it was cute and would look nice framed!

My final purchase were the paintbrush knives. These are used in one of the onboard restaurants, Animator’s Palate, and as soon as I saw them in the restaurant I fell in love with them, only to discover that they were also sold in the shop so I just had to get some. They’re used in Animator’ s Palate as butter knives, but they’d also work as cheese knives and I’m so happy I got them!

Not technically purchases, but of course I brought home some of the in-room toiletries, and every guest is given a bandana to wear on pirate night. I also nabbed the postcards from our stateroom as little souvenirs, and to go with that I got a signed postcard from meeting Broadway star Josh Strickland!

The only thing I enjoy about coming home is getting to do a haul post!

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Disney Cruise Log: Til We Meet Again

Following our unexpected sea day, our last full day was spent docked at Marseille, but as the weather was far from lovely, we opted to stay on the ship.

I actually started my day bright and early and was in the gym for 7am, then went for a short run around the jogging track on deck 4, then headed back to the room where our room service breakfast arrived shortly afterwards. Once we’d eaten and got dressed, we went to hang out in the Promenade Lounge for a little while, and then I decided to go to the onboard cinema and watch Beauty and the Beast

Lunch was our final trip to Cabanas, making the most of the buffet, and then we did make our way out onto the deck in the end, sticking to the 18+ area which was nice and quiet. Eventually we plucked up the courage to strip down to our swimsuits, despite the cold, and thought we’d found the courage to do the ship’s more extreme water slide, the Aquadunk, but once the four of us were up there, both Sarah and I chickened out and it was just Chelsea and Tilly who experienced the floor dropping out from underneath them! We all quickly recovered from that in the hot tub though..

Once it was about 4:30pm and had started to rain, we all abandoned the hot tub and went to change for the evening. Before the show we queued to meet Minnie and then Mickey who were out for their final time in their sailor best, and then took our seats in the theatre for Disney Dreams.

The show was sweet, and I teared up here and there but for me it wasn’t as incredible as some of the other shows we’d seen in the week, but it was a lovely ending. After that, Sarah and I both went to D-Lounge for the Q&A session with Josh Strickland, the Broadway star we’d seen perform the night before, and stayed for a photo and an autograph before rushing to dinner, which for the last time was at Animators Palate.

Now I’ve loved everything about Animators Palate on this trip, but tonight’s meal was so cool. Upon arriving at the table, we were asked to draw a little character onto a template, and these were then taken away from us before the food. After we’d eaten, we got to watch our creations come to life on the screens around the restaurant as our little people danced around with Mickey and some other Disney favourites – it was truly magical!

We rushed away from dinner to the atrium to get a good spot for the Til We Meet Again show, which was sad but also slightly underwhelming as it had been quite hyped up, but it was still great to see all the amazing characters and cast members who had made our trip so special. We went to get one final drink as a group, and then all headed for bed.

…

Disembarkation day came far too quickly, and we had to be up way too early as our final breakfast was at 8:15, and as we had opted to take our own bags off the ship, we had to lug them with us. After we’d eaten we finally had to accept we were leaving the boat, and had to drag our sorry butts and luggage back to the dock terminal and join the huge line of guests waiting for a taxi.

This trip has been really special. Not only have I experienced a side of Disney that I have never seen before, and experienced it with some of my favourite people, but without a doubt I have met the nicest cast members. From our servers and stateroom hosts to character attendants and the characters themselves, I have been absolutely wowed by people on this ship. Thanks for helping me make some truly magical memories.

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MK and Chill

Considering that this outfit is quite different to what I normally tend to wear in the parks, I’m so excited to wear this look!

Rather than a traditional Disneybound, I’m opting for a comfy t-shirt and shorts look for my first day in the Magic Kingdom, sporting this INCREDIBLE t-shirt from Great Adventure Supply Co. I knew from the moment I saw this t-shirt on Instagram that I had to have it, and I was not disappointed when it arrived – in fact, I wear it all the time!

Keeping on the relaxed look, I’m pairing it with my pastel candy stripe shorts, which I’ve Disneyfied with my iron-on teacup patch (which you can buy here!), and rather than my usual Mickey ears, I’ll instead be sporting this adorable embroidered baseball cap from Just Peachy.

Hub grass, here I come!

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Things I Love About Frozen: Live at the Hyperion

I’m having major Disneyland blues at the moment. Despite having three more Disney trips in the next three months, not knowing when I’m going back to my special place really sucks, so I’m living vicariously through my own memories from my trip back in May.

And while I love everything Disneyland has to offer, I was a little apprehensive about seeing the new Frozen show at the Hyperion Theater in Disney’s California Adventure park, not because I’m anti-Frozen, but due to the fact that I have such amazing memories of watching Aladdin there, and I was pretty upset when the replacement was announced. Of course I knew I had to see the show before I could make any judgements, and I kept an open mind from the offset.

I did enjoy the show; I personally don’t feel like Frozen has as much of a wow-factor as Aladdin did, but that’s primarily down to the story more than anything else! There were, however, a lot of things that I did LOVE about the show, and here are just a handful:

The casting

I’ve seen a few comments slating the casting of the show but I think they’re totally unnecessary. Basically, as this is a stage show adaption of the story, as opposed to featuring face characters, there is actually diversity in the cast – the show we saw featured a Kristoff of colour and honestly it was so refreshing. Mad props to Disney.

The trolls

Forget about Olaf, the trolls are my favourite non-human characters from the Frozen movie, and I got so excited when they actually appeared on stage!

The staging

Its so easy for stage show to go overboard when it comes to backdrops and props, but I thought this was done perfectly. The main feature was the large screen that set the scene, with other features wheeling on and off as needed, from doors to the stairs to Elsa’s ice castle.

The special effects

From costume transformations to flying snow carts, this show is full of theatrical magic!

Its still no Aladdin in my eyes, but its still a fantastic show and one that I’d fully recommend – especially if you need a good ol’ sit down!

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My Disney Small Biz T-Shirt Haul

When it comes to Disney, there are two things that I love that go hand in hand: planning outfits for Disney trips, and supporting Disney small businesses, and this month, I seem to have only bought shirts!

Despite being purely coincidental, it made for a perfect haul post, so here are the shirts, and small businesses, that I’ve bought from this month:

Maple and Whisky Clothing Co

Most people know Maple and Whisky for their amazing Disney inspired candles, but did you know they also have a sister-store that sells cute Disney inspired clothing? I’ve been eyeing up a few designs for a little while now, but when I saw that all of their tank tops were down to £6 each, I jumped on the offer and bought three! My favourite design of theirs is the Pirates of the Caribbean dog, but I also decided to nab the Tangled and Up! inspired designs too.

Thrift Co

I got chatting to the lovely Danielle from Thrift Co through Instagram and we organised a little t-shirt swap in which I received this adorable Halloween pocket tee and I can’t wait to wear it to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in November!

Cheery Human Studios

Another t-shirt that I can’t wear to wear on my trip to WDW in November is this amazing Magical Foodie t-shirt from Cheery Human Studios, which I’ve already featured in one of my pre-trip outfit posts! I needed something to wear to Food and Wine Festival, and this is perfect!

The Happiest Fitness Co

Ok, so I didn’t technically buy this because its my own design, but I love it so much that I figured I can still share it, right? This shirt is so comfortable and I’ve been practically living in it since I launched the design, plus of course I’ll be wearing it to meet Pooh in November!

What are your favourite t-shirt stores?

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Things I’ve Never Done at Walt Disney World

You don’t have to know me well to know that I’m a serious Disney addict, and when it comes to Walt Disney World, Florida, I like to think I’m somewhat of an expert. This November I’ll be making my fourth trip four years, and I always spend a lot of time planning each trip in order to make sure I get the most out of every visit, but there are a few things, including a few ‘classic Disney moments’ that I have never actually done..

Taken a photo at the Walt Disney World wall in Orlando Airport

The first photo on any trip for most people is before they’ve even stepped foot out of the airport, courtesy of the amazing sign on the wall of the Disney Earport shop in the main lobby of the airport, but I’m always too busy thinking about getting to the hotel to even stop for a photo of the sign, let alone with it..

Been to Tom Sawyer’s Island

On every trip to the Magic Kingdom I think about the fact that I’ve never taken a raft over to Tom Sawyer Island, but I’ve yet to actually make the effort to change that..

Had a dole whip

Unashamed hater of all things pineapple, this iconic park treat is not something that I ever had, nor ever will waste a snack coupon on.

Met Gaston

While I’m on a mission to meet 100 different characters this year, if I can complete it without having to meet Gaston I’ll be a happy bunny. Apologies to all the Gaston fans out there but I cannot stand him and I can only imagine a character meet with him being my worst nightmare!

Driven down Main Street USA on one of the Main Street Vehicles

I always love waving at the families and guests who hop on the classic cars, omnibus or horse drawn cart that journey up and down Main Street, but never once have I hopped on board myself.

Any pin trading

As I’m not a pin collector myself, I’ve never actually experience pin trading in the parks.

Taken part in the Frozen Singalong

Despite loving a show and an excuse to have a sit-down and enjoy some air-con, I’ve yet to do the Frozen Singalong Celebration in Hollywood Studios..

Stopped to watch the Electrical Water Pageant

At the end of a long day in the Magic Kingdom, I tend to march straight for the nearest bus back to the resort for the night, so although I have seen some of the floats for the EWP, I’ve never actually taken the time to stop to watch the pretty display on the Seven Seas Lagoon.

What are your Disney World must-dos?

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My Disney Sequel Challenge: Part 1

So last month I introduced my Disney Sequel Challenge, where I decided it was time for me to work my way through the sequels to Disney’s animated classics. Long story short, I’ve watched the first five movies from my list, and here’s what I thought!

Bambi II

To be honest, this was the film I was least excited to watch, simply because I haven’t watched Bambi in a long time and I’ve always thought it to be a little sad, but I actually really liked this! Following the death of his mother, Bambi is now under the care of his father, who has to learn to be a good father while also taking care of the forest, and Bambi has to learn how to follow in his fathers footsteps, while getting over the loss of his mother. It’s a very sweet sorta coming of age type tale, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie! I had expected it to be set further in the future but it actually continues on from where the original film leaves off, and rather than jumping straight into the traditional ‘prince and princess have children’ thing, the story actually followed the tales of Cinderella adapting to palace life and finding her own way to be royal. I also love how the story was told by the mice and the fairy godmother and included parts of their stories too!

Cinderella III: A Twist In Time

Again, this movie was set just a year down the line from the original, but rather than a continuation of the story, this one twisted the original story into an almost not-so-happy ending for Cinderella. While the first sequel was quite good, I felt this was one too many, and was almost too predictable in terms of storyline. It did feature a lot more musical numbers that the second film, and I enjoyed that, but I’m in no rush to watch this one again.

Peter Pan: Return to Neverland

So this was a classic next generation sequel, featuring Wendy as a mother of two, and set during World War II. Its almost the reverse of the original tale; Wendy’s daughter Jane is too busy having to grow up, and doesn’t want to believe in Peter Pan anymore. Controversially, Peter Pan isn’t one of my top Disney films, so the sequel wasn’t that exciting for me, but I did like the historical setting and accuracy, plus the ending had me in tears..

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventures

Another classic next gen sequel – Lady and Tramp’s son feels out of place as a house dog and longs to be a street dog, despite having no knowledge of his father’s past. This was another one that was just a tad too predictable, but it had a lot of songs and cute pups – albeit animated – so it wasn’t all bad!

So that’s the first five down, and I’m enjoying being able to watch my favourite Disney characters without knowing exactly what’s going to happen! Next month I’ll be tackling the next five, so stay tuned!

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Magical Foodie

Would you believe I’m already 11 weeks from my trip to Walt Disney World? This year has just flown by and this trip has really crept up on me!

So as per usual, I’m counting down to my trip by sharing some of the outfits that I’ll be wearing on my visit to the most magical place on earth, and I’m kicking off with the outfit that I’ll be wearing to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

It all started with these INCREDIBLE burger ears from ShinySkyRainbows on Etsy. I saw them on Instagram and I just had to have them, and Food and Wine was the perfect excuse. To keep to the foodie theme, I got this adorable Magical Foodie t-shirt which is from one of my favourite designers, Cheery Human Studios. They create the cutest Disney inspired art, which is sold both on Etsy and on apparel via Threadless, so I decided to get this v-neck tshirt, which I’ll be pairing with my Black Milk Pooh and Friends shorties, which are a trip staple for me.

I’m super excited as it will be my first ever trip to Epcot Food and Wine Festival so I can’t wait to eat ALL the food, I only hope I don’t spill anything down this outfit..

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My Disney Cruise Bucket List

I feel like I’ve hardly talked about the fact that next month I’ll be going on my first ever Disney Cruise – crazy right?!

Because it is my first cruise, I genuinely have no idea what to expect, and I’ve not done a whole lot of research, which is very unlike me, so I’m essentially going in blind, but what is a trip without a bucket list?

  • Take a photo by the funnels – yes, I want that cliche Disney cruise photo, and any other classic photo that I can get
  • Visit the ship’s gym – call me strange, but I love visiting gyms at Disney hotels and resorts, so when I discovered that the Disney Magic has a fully equipped gym, I knew I’d be adding that to the list
  • See Tangled: The Musical – apparently there is a Tangled show on board the ship, so you bet your butt I’m gonna be there
  • Eat as much as I can without bursting – when all food is included in the price, you’ve gotta get your money’s worth, right?
  • Do all the waterslides on the boat – no, the waterslides aren’t just for kids.
  • Meet as many characters as I can – because is it really a Disney cruise if you don’t hang out with Mickey and the gang?
  • Explore every little nook and cranny of the ship – I want to see ALL of it
  • Take ALL the outfit photos – as per every other Disney trip, I have planned a whole bunch of outfits specifically for this trip, and you bet you’re gonna be seeing a tonne of them all over here and my social media
  • Party like a pirate – did you know that every Disney cruise has a pirate night? Well I do now, and I can’t wait!
  • Order room service, just ‘cos – all-inclusive perks..
  • Hang out with my best friends – as well as the excitement of my first ever Disney cruise, I’m going with some amazing people and I can’t wait to spend this time with them! Best trip ever!

If you’ve ever been on a Disney Cruise and have any tips or advice, please drop me a comment!

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Photos to Take With your RunDisney Medals

Maintaining your fitness, a sense of achievement, or pushing your limits; anyone might think these are the reasons to participate in a RunDisney event. Sure, there’s an aspect of this in every race, but really its all about the medal at the finish line, and I’m definitely not the only Disney runner who thinks this.

If you’ve never seen a RunDisney medal before, let me tell you they are every bit as awesome as you’d expect them to be and more. For starters, they’re huge, and weigh a fair bit, but as well as they’re they are always so detailed and well themed, and well worth however miles you just sweated for.

For many, the completion of the race might be the end of the event in your eyes, but you’re gonna want to document everything perfectly, and in the hours and days after your race, medal photos suddenly become a priority. With 5 RunDisney weekends under my belt, I have perfected the art of the medal photos, and if anyone’s about to take part in their first event, here’s the definitive list of photos that you’re gonna want to take.

1. A finish line medal selfie

A volunteer has just hung that glorious medal around your neck and you’re stumbling towards the water table but what you really need to do is document that finishing moment with a good ol’ sweaty selfie!

2. A photo with the finishing board

Once you’ve picked up your free bottles of water and Powerade and grabbed your food box, the next stop before reuniting with your friends and family at the end of the race is to get that official RunDisney board photo.

3. A photo of your weekend medal collection

If you’ve run more than one race, or completed a challenge, be sure to get a photo wearing all of those medals at the same time, even if its too heavy for you to wear them all all day!

4. A photo in front of the castle

Sometimes this shot needs a helping hand of someone to hold the medal while you get the position of the photo just right, but its a classic!

5. A photo with the character on the medal

If you’re medal is themed based on a certain character, as so many are, be sure to go and see them to show off! They absolutely love seeing medals!

6. A photo in a themed location

If you’re in a park that has an area theme that matches your medal, grab a photo there too!

7. Your medal display at home

However you hang your medals at home, take a photo after every new medal has been added!

My next RunDisney event will be Paris in September when I’ll be running the 10K and half marathon for the inaugural Bibbidi Bobbidi Challenge and also getting my second Castle to Chateau challenge medal! Who will I be seeing there?

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How to Create a Disney Inspired Desk Space

In reality, my desk is a very fluid space. It goes from my creative space, complete with sewing machine, a million pins and strewn with fabric off-cuts, to my blog photo studio, to the place I pile up rubbish I need to get off the floor, all in the space of a few hours at times.

Every now and then, however, I can bring order to my little desk, and last weekend was one of those occasions. With the help of my recent Disney Store purchases, I was inspired to create a magical little work space, perfect for any dreamer and doer.

Want to create your own? Here’s what you’ll need!

The desk lamp

Proper lighting is super important when it comes to an area that you’ll be working in – eye strain is not cool. My desk is a subtle nod to the classic Pixar lamp, but there are a tonne of cool Disney themed lights out there to match the look you want.

Adorable stationery

Can anyone honestly say that they don’t have a weakness for cute stationery? Notepads, pens, sticky notes, you name it, I’m all about it. Right now, Disney Store are absolutely killing it with some of their stationery, but there are so many places you can buy Disney inspired products on the high street and online.

My Mickey Mouse highlighters were from John Lewis a few months back, but there are similar ones now available on the Disney Store website!

All the mugs

I’m all about any excuse to buy a new Disney mug, but they’re so multi-functional! Sure, you’re gonna need a lot of mugs for drinking from while you’re busy at work, but they also make for excellent pen pots, or storage for push pins, paperclips.

Practical decorations

I’m obsessed with my new Mickey and Minnie washi tape dispenser and Mickey glove business card holder from the Disney Store, they make for great desk centrepieces but are also actually useful. You can also find practical uses for some of your favourite Disney items; how about using a Funko Pop as a paperweight?

Magical artwork

Now your desk is kitted out, bring a little magic to your walls! My desk is surrounded by Polaroid style prints of my favourite Disney trip photos from Sticky9 (who also do cute little magnets!), but there are also so many amazing Disney artists out there – try Etsy and Redbubble!

How do you bring magic to your workspace?

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Kids Grown Up by Sophie Jo

I haven’t written a poem in a long time, so be gentle with me.

Poetry books always remind me
of childhood, my grandparents, sweet memories
I’d write my own (they’d always rhyme)
Recite them proudly, time after time, and then
I studied poems at school, I learned the art,
that every poem can have its own rules and rhythm and style.
Things changed. Now seven years have passed.

I have grown up, but not really.
I still ache for the opportunity
to be a child, to be care free,
to hang out with a pal, a mouse.
For castle dreams, tulle skirts and furry hugs,
pretzels and pirates and parades.
Happiness.

When I’m away from this place I search,
search for anything that makes me feel
as wonderful and careless as
I am in that place. Those places.
There are six and I have seen them all.
Each place is just as magical.

This book, these words, they bring a tear,
there’s beauty in the print and I,
I feel a sense of pride each time I turn the page and see
there’s still another page to read.
Words of magic, tales of friends,
told by a friend.

The magic I dream of is found in this book
I cannot make you buy it but I cannot recommend enough,
just take a look.
For no more than a morning brew or two,
you, yes you, can own a piece of magic.

Words are magic,
magic means you never have to grow up.

While this might have been a sorry excuse for a poem, I can absolutely guarantee that Sophie’s writing is the real deal. I am forever in awe of her blog posts, and her recent venture into poetry has really showcased her incredible talent with words. Kids Grown Up is a book of Disney inspired poems, and as soon as I discovered she had started printing them I knew I had to get my hands on a copy and I cannot rave about it enough.

This would make the perfect present for a Disney fan, great bedtime reading for little ones or just as a treat from you to you. It won’t break the bank, and you’ll be supporting a fabulous writer. Shop here.

PS. Sophie if you’re reading this I’m in full support of a sequel.

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Glass Slipper Camp – Tiana HIIT

Hey Glass Slipper campers, are you ready for another workout?!

This month we’re gonna mix things up a little bit with a HIIT workout, so get ready to dig a little deeper because this month its all about Tiana!

So what is HIIT?

It stands for High Intensity Inverval Training, and the basic idea is that you give it everything you’ve got for a set length of time, then rest for a short space, then go again. Push, rest, push, rest; you get the picture. The best way to keep to your timings on this is to download an interval timer app on your phone, and set it to beep at each changeover.

The best part about this workout is it requires no equipment whatsoever, so find yourself some space and let’s get going! I recommend starting off doing each exercise for 20 seconds, and taking a 10 second rest between each exercise. If this is quite comfortable, push yourself to 30 seconds on, 10/15 seconds off, and try and get in as many rounds as you can!

This workout is designed to focus on your legs, so be sure to stretch well once you’re done!

Burpee jumps

While I often consider burpees to be torture, they are a great exercise for working your whole body and getting your heart pumping!

Frog Hops

To get the full effect, keep your body low and stick your butt right out as you hop in and out. (Apologies for my weak left knee!)

Frog Jumps

Like with the frog hops, try and keep low and movements small. Focus on just tapping the floor with your fingers each time, but keep your chest and head up.

Lateral frog jumps

Imagine you’re hopping from lilypad to lilypad. Really push up from each jump to drive sideways, and be sure to land on both feet at the same time.

Squat jumps

Finish off the set with a round of power jumps! Squat low and push up hard, little frog princess!

Congratulations princesses, you’ve just earned yourself a discount code! Buy either the Glass Slipper Camp or KettleBelle tank top, and get the second for just £5! Shop here, and just use ‘FITPRINCESS’ at the checkout!

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Best Quick Service in Disneyland (That Don’t Serve Pizza or Burgers)

I love Disney park food. In fact, one of my favourite parts of planning a Disney trip is deciding where I’m going to want to eat in each park, whether its going back to my favourite restaurants or trying somewhere I’ve never been to before, and my trip to Disneyland back in May was definitely about trying out new places.

As there’s no such thing as dining plans in Disneyland, and being trying to do the trip as cheap as possible, this trip was going to be all about the quick service restaurants, and while I’m never one to complain about any kind of Disney food, when it comes to quick service its very easy to fall into the rotation of burger to pizza to chicken nuggets and back again. Sure, I’ll probably end up doing each of these at least once on a trip, but if you fancy something a little different, Disneyland has a bunch of gems serving incredible options when you’re in need of an energy boost.

Disneyland

Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe

The cutest little yellow cafe at the bottom of Main Street USA, options here range from sandwiches and salads, to tomato soup with grilled cheese, and also has a great selection of cute dessert options!

Bengal Barbecue

The ultimate place for jungle-cruisers to refuel, Bengal Barbecue is pretty famous among Disneyland fans for its incredible meat skewers.

Royal Street Veranda

I always forget that this restaurant exists (mainly because I’m rushing to get to Pirates of the Caribbean or staring wistfully up at the Dream Suite), but say hello to the place where you can get New Orleans classic dish, gumbo, served in a sourdough bread bowl!

French Market Restaurant

Just a little way along from Royal Street Veranda, and serving more New Orleans classics is French Market Restaurant; jambalaya, corn chowder, beans and rice and more!

Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port

Yes, I know I said places that don’t serve pizza, but Redd Rockett’s also has a great selection of pasta dishes on the menu if you’re looking to carb up for a long park day!

California Adventure

Flo’s V8 Cafe

Whether you want to skip the traditional Mickey waffle breakfast or cheeseburger lunch, Flo’s is the place to go! Breakfast ranges from brioche french toast to breakfast burritos, and lunch and dinner features ribs, rotisserie chicken and turkey dip sandwiches.

Cozy Cone Motel

For an on-the-go meal, why not grab a convenient bread cone filled with either bacon mac and cheese, beef chilli or chicken verde? Sally really knows how to feed her guests, and you’ll probably meet a famous car on the way in!

Pacific Wharf Cafe

Did you know there’s an actual sourdough bread factory in DCA? Pacific Wharf Cafe is attached to the bakery and serves a bunch of amazing options including sandwiches, and soup or salads served in their famous sourdough bread bowls.

Lucky Fortune Cookery

Just across the way from the bakery, you can grab an asian inspired rice bowl packed with veggies and a choice of either beef, chicken or tofu and your choice sauce. It even comes in a cute takeaway style box so you can carry your leftovers home!

Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill

Completing the trio of amazing food options in one place, Cocina shares the same seating area as PWC and LFC and serves flavoursome favourites from tacos and tamales to burritos.

What are your favourite places to eat in Disneyland?

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My Disney Sequel Challenge

I’m gonna go and admit something controversial: I haven’t seen every Disney movie.

Sure, when it comes to the animated classics, I’m all over those films, but would you believe that I’ve hardly watched any of the sequels? If its not counted in the official list of classics, then I’ve never really been interested. I’ve never seen the princesses with their children, or anyone returning to Neverland; in fact I think its only the Lion King and Lilo and Stitch sequels that I have watched!

So I’ve decided to set myself a little challenge and make a little blog series out of it: Lottie Watches Sequels. Every week I’m going to try and watch 4 sequels to classic Disney movies – in order of when the original film was released – and each month I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings on them! If you’ve wondered about them yourself, this is the list I’ve compiled:

  • Bambi II
  • Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
  • Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
  • Peter Pan: Return to Neverland
  • Lady and the Tramp II: Scamps Adventures
  • 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure
  • The Jungle Book 2
  • The Fox and the Hound 2
  • The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World
  • Aladdin and the King of Thieves
  • Aladdin: Return of Jafar
  • Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
  • Mulan II
  • Tarzan II
  • Kronk’s New Groove
  • Atlantis: Milo’s Return
  • Brother Bear 2

I’m pretty excited to get started on these! While I’ve never really been interested in them before, I’m excited to meet some new characters and see some of my favourite stories continue, plus I’d love to see if the whole ‘sequels are never as good as the original’ rule also applies to Disney films. Stay tuned, folks!

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My Disney Park Pet Peeves

Its no secret that I love a trip to Disney. Every trip, to any park gets me so excited to be back in the magic, but occasionally there some things that other guests do that grind on me a tad and today I’m gonna have a little vent.

Guest who give CMs complicated cameras

There’s nothing wrong with having a fancy camera, but if you’re going to give it to a cast member to take your photo, at least have it turned on and set up how you want it. One time I saw a girl give a CM her Instax mini, still in some weird complicated case, and the poor woman had to try and work out how to get into the thing, and then work out how to actually use it.

People who sit down in queues

My sister is the biggest culprit for this. Now I totally get sitting down if there’s been an announcement of some kind of delay, but if you’re in a line that’s moving steadily (albeit slowly), I don’t see any point – all that happens is that you have to stand up again every few minutes to move forward, or do an awkward butt-shuffle along the floor.

Smoking outside of designated areas

Yes, I’m looking at you Disneyland Paris.. Disney are nice enough to let you smoke in the parks, the least you could do is stick to the set areas, rather than doing it in every line or public area.

Ruining the magic

Just because you know that there’s someone beneath the fur, doesn’t mean you have to make sure everyone else knows. Hearing guests say things like ‘that’s a different Cinderella than the one we saw yesterday’ loud enough for every kid in the vicinity to hear is not cool.

Being rude to CMs

There’s nothing cool about rude to staff in any situation, and Disney is no exception. Cast members will always do whatever they can to help you, but they aren’t responsible for a long wait time, closed rides, or whatever it is that has annoyed you. I hate seeing guests who think that they can throw a tantrum over any little thing and get their own way, and hurling abuse at CMs is just disgusting.

Line jumping/saving

I have absolutely no issue with people needing to duck out of queues for a quick toilet trip, and I also don’t mind if you bring your kid into the line a little bit later because they’re not good at long waits, but nothing is worse than 5-6 people pushing through saying that they’re family are further down, when it was just one person saving a spot for the rest of the group.

Walking around in chains of 4+

There’s nothing wrong with being a big group, but if you’re all walking side by side and no one can get around you, just be a little bit considerate of those who might want to get passed.

Holding up your iPad

It crushes my soul a little bit when you’re trying to watch a show or fireworks, and you can’t see because everyone’s just holding up their phone and filming something that the majority of them won’t even watch back. This feeling is tenfold when there’s that one person who holds up an iPad..

Apologies if this has come across as a minor rant, but I’m sure we all have those little things that bug us! What are yours?

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Tomorrowland

With the recent rumours that Disney may be announcing the replacement of Tomorrowland Speedway in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World with the Tron ride that’s taken Shanghai Disneyland by storm, of course the Disney community has been throwing round a whole bunch of opinions – some people are desperate for some newness, others are already mourning the potential loss of a ‘classic’ Tomorrowland ride. On this particular matter, I stand fairly central; I don’t particularly like change, but I did love the Tron ride at Shanghai, and I think it would be a fabulous addition to WDW. One thing I can be certain of, however, is that Tomorrowland needs SOMETHING.

Walt imagined Tomorrowland to be the ultimate step into technology, and at the time, it definitely was. Look at the Carousel of Progress. It absolutely epitomises Walt’s dreams of the future, but the final scene has now hit the 21st century – virtual reality gaming, voice controlled homes – that’s the life we’re all living now. That doesn’t take anything away from my love of the Carousel, but it does indicate that times are changing, and an update is needed.

At no point had I ever believed Tomorrowland to be dated, or at least that was until my trip to Shanghai Disneyland last year, and as soon as I laid eyes on Tomorrowland the first thought that ran through my head was ‘this is how it’s meant to be’. I appreciate that the park is newer, so of course it would have better technology and a cleaner look, but it had what I can only imagine was Walt’s desired feeling: that you had stepped into the future.

Of course, the focal point of Shanghai’s Tomorrowland is the Tron Lightcycle PowerRun ride, but even the classics like Buzz Lightyear featured better tech and just felt so much cooler. The Tron ride itself was in a league of its own; it’s not dissimilar to Test Track in Epcot, but the look and feel just comes across so much sleeker, and it’s one hell of a ride!

Tomorrowland Speedway, on the other hand, does not get me excited. It’s a ride I have quite happily skipped on my last few trips and I wouldn’t shed any tears over the loss. I saw a tweet that summed up exactly how I feel:
I don’t feel like Walt would be proud of Tomorrowland as it is right now. It’s classic, but classic always implies age; being dated. Sure, if they were gonna replace Space Mountain, or the beloved PeopleMover, I think I’d feel differently, but what’s futuristic about a little car that you can drive around a track? Now give me a lightcycle..

To be honest, I think my main concern about the change happening would be the construction affecting the rest of the park, but I don’t think I’d lose any sleep. Tomorrowland is too much like today.

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My Spring/Summer Disney Haul

So over the last month or two, I’ve picked up quite a few new Disney bits. Some have been impulse purchases, some are things I’ve been lusting over for a little while, and some are in preparation for my WDW trip in October/November, and today I’m going to share what I’ve bee buying!

First up, how amazing is this MK t-shirt?! Its from Great Adventure Supply Co, and the second I saw it on Instagram I knew I had to have it for my trip to Florida at the end of the year. I love how to the untrained, non-Disney eye it could be mistaken as an old-school MTV shirt, meaning I can get away with wearing it more often than some of my other Disney shirts! I also nabbed the blue castle hat (top picture) from Just Peachy when there was free international shipping going, and this hat will be accompanying the shirt for a Magic Kingdom day.

Despite telling myself I wouldn’t be buying any more ears, I’ve had my eye on these gorgeous Tangled inspired pair from Aloha Ears, and I was browsing their site following a shop opening, and this one pair was left in stock while everything else had sold out. I mean that’s fate, right? Also from the lust list, I’ve been wanting to treat myself to some Lillian&Co bracelets for a while, and after busting my butt doing so much overtime at work, I decided it was time!

For a bit more small business support, I bought this cute little pouch from Swish and Stitch on Etsy – I just love the adorable Toy Story print, it arrived really quickly and its so well made, I’d 100% recommend a purchase!

Lastly, I finally decided to get the Tangled journal from the Disney Store – although I’ve yet to find the courage to write anything in it – and I got my hands on the sweetest little poetry book there ever was, written by fellow blogger Sophie Jo. She is an incredible writer, and when I found out she was releasing her poetry in a book, I knew I had to have it. I did, in fact, squeal when it arrived, and shed a few tears flicking through it. The book consists of Disney inspired poems, and you can buy it here!

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10 Things You Need to Know about Cove Bar

If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland and looking for the most Instagrammable places to eat or drink, then Cove Bar should probably be at the top of your list. Located on Paradise Pier in Disney’s California Adventure park, it boasts a menu of stunning cocktails as well as some pretty delicious looking food, and the most amazing views over Paradise Bay.

If I’ve just sold you, or it was already on your to-do list, here are a few things to know before you go!

There can be a really long wait, and someone has to stay in line

Depending on when you go, there can be a longer wait time than for some rides! When you get to the queue, a cast member will take a name and give you an idea on wait time, but at least one person from your party needs to stay in the queue the whole time, because if your group is called and you’re not there, then you’ve missed your chance!

You can choose where to sit

When you join the queue and give your name, the CM will ask you if you have a table preference, so if you want those Instagram worthy photos over the pier, be sure to ask for a waterside table. Other options include the bar and tables closer to the pierside.

The prettiest drinks aren’t on the menu

While you’ll be handed a menu by your server, be sure to check out the secret menu. This is where you’ll find Mickey’s Fun Wheel, Neverland Tea and more!

And the cutest drink isn’t even alcoholic

Don’t be put of visiting if you’re not that into cocktails, the cotton candy lemonade is so delicious and refreshing, plus who doesn’t want a lump of cotton candy in their drink?!

You can take drinks to go

If you want to sample the cocktails but don’t fancy the wait, you can order drinks to go. They come in plastic cups so aren’t quite so cute but I’ll bet they don’t taste any different!

Water is free-flowing

For obvious reasons, the servers are keen to keep all guest hydrated, so you’ll find your water glass topped up constantly.

There’s more than just cocktails on the menu

Although its famous for its cocktails and speciality drinks, there are some great lounge food options, including buffalo wings, sliders, nachos and more! I didn’t actually eat here, but I saw some of the food and it looked amazing and smelled SO GOOD.

Be sure to bring your passport

In the event of being ID’d, a UK driving licence isn’t acceptable in Disney. Your server may let you off, but I’ve had experiences where they have refused to accept anything but a passport, so I wouldn’t chance it.

Don’t be shy about taking photos

Literally everyone in the bar is trying to take those oh-so-Instagrammable photos, so don’t feel shy about holding your drink over the railing to get that perfect shot with the fun wheel in the background. Also if you’re not sat at a waterside table but want those photos, just get up and go over there – no one minds!

Please drink responsibly!

Servers have the right to refuse you at any time, and during my visit I saw a few guests that were probably about to get cut off.. Be sure to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, especially in the summer months when its super warm!

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