Tag Archives: holiday

My Beach Makeup and What Stayed Put

Its the classic dilemma for girls. Summer poses a whole new problem when it comes to makeup, because gone are the days of winter drying out everyone’s skin like there’s no tomorrow, and instead its the challenge of finding products that won’t melt off your face during the warmer summer days, but can also stand up to a bit of water, whether that’s from swimming in the sea on a beach day, or just the Great British summer showers (read: heavy rain that shows up right when we think its finally getting good).

This year, I was faced with this issue a little earlier as going to Hawaii in April meant I had a little less time to perfect my product choices, but it also meant that I could test run some products before the little summer that hits the UK – which seems to be happening right now – actually kicked in. Some of what I took with me were items that are regulars from my makeup stash, and others I took on recommendation from the Twittersphere, and they all went through a somewhat rigorous test in the 27C heat of Hawaii. But would they all make the cut for future wear?

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

I bought this on recommendation from a number of people – I actually bought the travel sized one, y’know in case it wasn’t any good and I didn’t get stuck with a big bottle that I’d spent a lot of money on, but actually the travel sized one is still pretty sizeable which made it seem like pretty good value for money! This product is an absolute trooper. I sprayed it over products that I know aren’t waterproof and knew would probably wash off within minutes and amazingly they held up so well, leaving me bronzed and highlighted even after a whole day on the beach.

NYX Proof It! Waterproof Eyeshadow Primer

I took this with me because I know how well it works. This is the eyeshadow primer that I use every day and I actually believe it to be a miracle product – it turns any eyeshadow waterproof and I’ve even tried running swatches under a tap before and saw absolutely no shadow movement with this badboy, plus at £6 a tube its a steal.

Makeup Forever Aqua XL Waterproof Eyeliner

Call me crazy, but blue eyeliner is my jam, and I’ve always been a Barry M girl but have never been able to find a suitable replacement for my now discontinued favourite shade of pencil, but I stumbled across this one in Sephora last year, and when it claimed to be waterproof as well it was like killing two birds with one stone. The pencil itself is surprisingly soft, so very little pressure is needed on application, and it also blends well which can be fab, but I worried seeing how soft it was that it wouldn’t survive in the water, but was thankfully proven very wrong – in fact, when I swatched it in Sephora before buying, it was several days before that blue line faded from the back of my hand even with daily showering and handwashing.

Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara

So this was another recommendation, and having never tried the cult favourite in its non-waterproof form either, I thought now was a great chance to see what all the fuss was about. Again, I bought this in the travel size tube to save a bit of money until I decided whether or not I liked it. The mascara itself surprised me as I’ve religiously stuck to Eyeko Black Magic for a number of years now and had never found another mascara that gave my lashes the same natural but wow look that Black Magic does for me, but despite being a very different shaped brush, I really liked how this product made my lashes look, so I was buzzed to test it out in the water. Unfortunately, that’s were it fell flat on its face. I felt like just looking at water had it running, and although I wasn’t crying black or anything like that, on more than one occasion I left the poolside looking a bit panda-ish. I’d probably buy the mascara again in its normal formula, but I felt a little let down by this one..

Benefit Gimme Brow

Gimme Brow is not my every day eyebrow product, but I do use it from time to time, and as I feared a little that my usual dipbrow wouldn’t hold up, I took this out with me as well. Now my Gimme Brow was pre product recall, so I don’t know how it differs from the new formula that was re-released recently, and I don’t think either claim any sort of waterproof capabilities, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well this did. I still used my regular dipbrow, but then went over it with this, and I still had decent looking eyebrows at the end of each day, even after being in the sea and the pool, and what more could I ask for?

Other shoutouts go to my current favourite foundation, The Ordinary Serum Foundation, for being SPF 15 so keeping my face a little more protected, and Benefit’s Dandelion Shy Beam and Sun Beam liquid highlighters for giving me a subtle shimmer and glow which held up well thanks to the UD setting spray!

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Hopping On and Off San Francisco

This morning was not such an early start, although I still woke up before 7am. I took the opportunity to eat the cheesecake that I’d taken away from the Cheesecake Factory the night before, because if you can’t eat cheesecake for breakfast in bed on holiday, when can you?

Once ready for the day, Matthew and I started to walk to Sarah’s hotel, but along the way managed to pick up two scooters which made the trip to Union Square a lot faster! The plan for today was to make use of the hop on/hop off bus that we had tickets for, and see as much of the city as we could with the ease of not having to navigate to many places ourselves. We rode the bus from Union Square and around the route through the city til we reached the Golden Gate Bridge. Being on the top deck of an open top bus made the ride across the bridge crazy windy but wow do you get a feel for how impressive that thing is. We got off at the Vista Point viewing stop for some photos, and then got on the next bus to continue the tour.

Undecided on the exact plan for the rest of the day stopwise, we went all the way back round the city til we hit Pier 39, grabbed some lunch in one of the restaurants there and with some food in us it was a lot easier to settle on a plan. We managed to nab a scooter each from around the area, and rode ourselves to Lombard Street (although we had to push the scooters up the ridiculous hill that is Lombard) to see the famous zig-zag road, then scooted back to Fisherman’s Wharf where we bought a quick drink and hopped back on another bus, completing a full loop back to Union Square but then continuing back round a few more stops as we had another adventure planned.

Sarah and I had really wanted to find two things in San Francisco: the rainbow crossing and the rainbow house, and it took some walking but we managed to do both. The rainbow crossing was pretty easy to find, but the house involved many many super steep hills and I still can’t believe we made it up there alive – it was a long walk!

Absolutely knackered, we got an Uber back to the Embarcadero and got dinner at In And Out Burger, then had a true San Francisco experience of riding the cable cars from nearby all the way back to Union Square, where we finished up the day visiting the Disney Store before saying goodbye to Sarah for the rest of our trip and heading back to the hotel.

We fly to Aulani first thing tomorrow morning!

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A Proper San Francisco Day

Today has been a pretty great day. Our jet lag actually helped us out quite a lot, as we had stupidly not remembered to book Alcatraz in advance, but as we were up at 5.30am, we could get to the ticket office for 7.30am (courtesy of a very chatty Uber driver) as they release some on-the-day tickets and we got onto the first tour of the day with no problem at all, grabbing breakfast between buying tickets and boarding the boat.

Alcatraz was really interesting – I admit I didn’t know all that much about it before today other than the basics, but there’s a lot to learn even if you do know a bit about it! We started off watching a mini documentary about the history of the island, then walked up to the cell building where audio guides are provided to guide your whole way round and through the building and sharing a tonne of interesting info along the way.

Once we’d seen everything we wanted to see, we got the boat back to the city and walked along to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf, stopping for a bit of time to watch the sea-lions, then continued along the waterfront to the Boudin sourdough bakery to walk around the mini factory tour and then grab lunch in the cafe there. SO GOOD.

Next on the agenda was the Walt Disney Family Museum, which we got an Uber to. The museum is in a really pretty area just outside the main city, and we spent a good amount of time learning even more about the wonder that is Walt Disney. As the museum was quite close to the Golden Gate Bridge, we decided to walk from there along to a grassy park area near the bridge, which gave us stunning views of the landmark, although it was quite a walk there and back to a place where an Uber would pick us up from again, but along the way we did discover something pretty cool..

So the night before and during the day today, we’d seen a number of people riding this electric scooters, but also they could be found just lying around the streets, so while we were walking I decided to google them to find out what the deal was. Well they’re kinda like Boris bikes crossed with Uber – you find a scooter, activate it with your phone and pay for the time you use it. Well, we also happened to come across one, so there was some scooter riding involved, but I digress.

We Ubered back to Sarah’s hotel, where she and I disembarked for a trip to the Sephora round the corner, and Matthew left us to it and met us in Union Square to go for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Macy’s.

We were all so knackered from the early morning and busy day that we could hardly keep our eyes open at dinner, let alone tackle those enormous portions so we picked at what we could and I took my cheesecake to go and we got back to the hotel as quick as possible so I could finally get my feet up!

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Hello San Francisco

Well gang, another adventure has begun, but as most of today was spent travelling, this is really just a check in to say that we’ve arrived in San Francisco, which is one of my favourite cities in the world and I’m so happy to be here.

We flew with Norwegian for the first time (full scoop on what it was like when I’m back!), it was a 10 hour flight but it flew by pretty quickly as it was essentially a 10 hour catch up with Sarah and my god can we talk for England..

We landed at Oakland airport and got a train into San Fran, checked into our respective hotels and then Matthew and I walked to Sarah’s and we grabbed Panda Express for dinner (another favourite of mine) and headed back for bed as our bodies were feeling the fact it was 4.30am in the UK!

Stay tuned for two more days of jam packed San Francisco fun before Matthew and I head off to Aulani!

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Disney Cruise Log: All Aboard and A Day at Sea

Ahoy shipmates! I’m coming to you today from the Disney Magic as I’m cruising round the Med, and as there’s no signal in the sea, posts are gonna be running a little bit behind my daily updates so bear with me!On Saturday morning I flew to Barcelona with Sarah, and met Sammy at the airport after a minor mix up with terminals, and the three of us got a taxi to the dock. At the dock terminal we had to drop our bags, then go through security before checking in and getting our boarding group number, which decides when we get onto the ship. As it was number 23, and they weren’t anywhere near calling us yet, we went to meet our captain, the main mouse himself!

There was a bit of a delay getting aboard due to weather issues, but once we were on the ship our main priority was lunch, so we went straight up to the buffet spectacular that is Cabanas and filled multiple plates with the various offerings, then once we were stuffed headed down to see our stateroom and unpack – 3 girls with several outfits per day and one wardrobe was a bit of a struggle! After unpacking and chilling out for a little bit, it was time for the mandatory safety drill, which was a bit of a drag but oh well!

As the rain had stopped, we headed from the drill to the top deck to take some (actually a lot) of photos, then down to the lobby atrium to see the sail away party – although we had yet to leave port at that stage – and went on from there to explore the ship for a little while. As we are on the later dinner sitting, it means that we go to the earlier performance of whatever show is on, and it was the Be Our Guest welcome show, which gave us a sneak peak of some of the other performances that will be happening over the coming week, and then after the show we went to change for dinner, via the gift shop!

Our dinner was at Animators Palette, and I couldn’t flaw a single thing – the setting was incredible, the food was amazing, and there was even a magical visitor before dessert! After dinner, we went to meet Donald, and bumped into Chelsea while in the line, and after a quick catch up we headed to bed due to having been awake since 3am!

Sunday morning we were up early as we had a Mickey and pals breakfast booked for 8:30am. This was also in Animator’s Palette, and we saw Mickey, Minnie and Goofy – and again no complaints about the food! After breakfast we went to take some more photos on deck, then went down to the lobby atrium to do the princess meet – we actually had this booked for Friday, but Chelsea’s was booked for today, and as her family weren’t bothered by attending, they let us use their slots so we could meet all the princesses twice! It was Tiana, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Belle, and they were all perfect and the sweetest!

From meeting the princesses, we went to change into our bikinis and headed back to the deck to chill out for a bit, then grabbed an ice cream and a drink, and then after another wander around the boat went to another buffet lunch at Cabanas. Post-buffet, we decided to take part in one of the many onboard activities: the Ultimate Disney Trivia quiz at O’Gills Pub in the over 18s part of the ship. Now I’m a pub-quizzing wiz, but some of these questions were hard! We did win one round of the quiz, but our answers to some of the more impossible questions just didn’t match up to some others so we walked away in around about 5th place.

We got over our loss pretty quickly with another ice-cream, and although still early, we went back to our stateroom to start getting ready for formal night a) because 3 girls and 1 shower = time and b) there were going to be a lot of characters out in their formal night outfits from about 4:30 onwards and we didn’t want to miss out on the photo opportunities, and it was a good job because it actually took us until 4:30 to get ready!

Dressed to impress, we went to see Donald, then Chip and Dale with Chelsea and Tilly, and then after a few photos on the deck in our dresses, we made our way to the Walt Disney Theatre for the first performance of Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story. The show was actually much longer than I expected which was great, and the storyline was very similar to one of the Cinderella movie sequels, A Twist in Time, and even included one of the same songs which was cute!

After the show we had to rush to get in line to meet Minnie in her formal outfit, and after seeing her we rushed again to catch Daisy before dinner, which tonight was at Carioca’s. Unfortunately I can’t say much about the food here as due to it being a particularly choppy night, and probably due to my bizarre buffet choices from earlier in the day, I was starting to feel a little (actually a lot) queasy.. I did order a starter and a main, and managed about 2-3 mouthfuls of each but in the end I gave up and took my leave from dinner early. I was pretty gutted as it meant I missed out on meeting Mickey in his formal night attire, but I didn’t want to make myself any worse so early on in our trip, and five minutes after a laid down on the bed I was zzzzz..

Next stop Naples!

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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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Reasons to Go On Holiday with your Best Friends

Today I am jetting off on yet another adventure with Sarah from Belles Moments, and needless to say I couldn’t be more excited. Its our second holiday together this year, and I already know that its going to be amazing.

I never did the whole ‘girls holiday to *insert party holiday destination here*’ when I was 18/19, mainly due to it not being my scene, but also because at the time I didn’t really have that many friends that I would want to be stuck in a cramped hotel room with for a week or two, let alone spend all day every day with.

In recent years, however, I’ve met some of the best people in my life, and learnt what real, true friendship actually feels like, and now I love any excuse to get away with my friends, and I’ve got one more girls holiday booked for later in the year, and here are a bunch of reasons why you should do it too:

They pack just as much as you

I’m a serial over-packer. I have to make sure I have outfits for every day, plus a few spare bits and pieces, then there’s all the accessories, shoes, makeup etc to go with, and its so much better knowing they’ll have packed just as much.

They double as Instagram photographers

Those not-so-candid ‘candid’ photos that you hope will hit 100+ likes in the first day don’t take themselves you know..

You’ve probably accidentally coordinated outfits

On our first day in WDW back in February, about 20 people asked us where we bought our ‘matching’ skirts. We hadn’t bought matching skirts..

They understand your quirks

They know what photos you’re gonna have to take because it matches your Instagram theme, they know the struggle you went through choosing what makeup to pack, or which camera to take photos on that day, and they might make a joke or two but they get you.

You already have a selfie set-up

Forget taking 6 photos before you find one you don’t like, you guys already know each others best sides and are well experienced in the matter.

You don’t have to have fun all the time

Well, you will, but you also know how much sleep each of you need to be able to function, and sometimes how you’ll need those earlier nights or a lie in or two.

You’re just as weak as each other

There’s no judgement when you’ve blown all your spending money in the first shop you visit, or when you’ve eaten nothing but popcorn all day.

You’ll just have the best time

I mean, they’re your best friends for a reason!

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My Spring Disneyland Paris Bucket List

Its 20 days until I’ll be getting on the Eurostar and zooming to Paris for a quick few days in Disneyland Paris with some of my lovely Twitter friends, eek!

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Its my first time (as an adult at least) visiting DLP during Spring, and I’ve heard from so many people how magical the season is in the parks, so there are lots of things I’m hoping to do and see on this trip..

Forest of Enchantment

I’ve been so good at avoiding vlogs, Periscopes and basically any form of spoiler about this show so I can enjoy it properly when we’re out there. Just knowing that it includes Tangled, Tarzan and Pocahontas has got me fangirling!

Minnie’s Spring Train

Minnie Mouse, bunnies and Disney music = yay!

Go to Princess Pavilion

I improved my character interactions so much on my January trip, so I can’t wait to meet some more princesses and have a magical time!

Meet characters in Spring costumes

I’m really hoping to meet at least one character in their beautiful bright Spring outfits, they’re so gorgeous!

‘It’s a Small World’

Total guilty pleasure of mine, but it was closed during my birthday trip for refurb, so I definitely need one ride or 100 to get my fix.

Extra Magic Hours

I’m going to be getting my annual pass on this trip, and I can’t wait to enjoy extra time in the parks in the mornings with my girls!

Have you ever been to Disneyland Paris during Spring?

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Dressing for Walt Disney World in January

Die hard Disney-goers like myself rarely visit the parks without carefully coordinated outfits, complete down to the matching Mickey ears; its probably one of my favourite parts of trip planning. I like to believe that if I have one skill in life, its putting together a good Disney outfit, and lord knows I’ve got the wardrobe for it!

Now if you’re visiting WDW any time from March-November, you can rest assured that it will be warm, if not stonking hot, and while there may be rain, its Florida rain – big, heavy and warm raindrops that will dry within minutes of the sun reappearing – so you can still wear what we here in the UK consider to be summer clothes without having to worry too much, and therefore booking a trip for early January posed a slight conundrum for me.

Being Florida, it was always gonna be warmer than it was here in Bournemouth, I could count on that for sure, and after looking up average temperatures in Orlando, I quickly discovered that it would be about the same as a cooler summer day here in England, around 18-20°C, and that became my starting point.

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Long story short, you know those summer evenings when you might warm up an outfit by throwing on a cardigan or a pair of tights? Yep, that’s essentially it right there. I spent pretty much every day in tights and dresses or skirts and shirts, chucked a cardigan on top of whatever I was wearing, and maybe a jacket on cooler days.

We looked a little silly compared to some people; so many people were wrapped up in hats and scarves, but some (including the locals) its pretty cold compared to what they’re used to!

When is your favourite time to visit Walt Disney World? °o°

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RunDisney 2016: The Final Checks

We leave tomorrow. WE LEAVE TOMORROW.

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In 4 days time we’ll have finished our first race, 6 until our second. This time next week we’ll be celebrating the end of the first week at the Cool Down Party. ISN’T IT CRAZY?!

I wrote my first RunDisney post on January 28th 2015, and since then I’ve written 38 training updates, and it all comes down to the next two weeks. This is insane. Can you tell I’m excited?

This week was for tapering, the word that most runners simultaneously love and hate; the cutting down of training run distances to prepare your body for an upcoming race. As per usual, we ran three times this week: a 5k, a 7k, and another 5k, which we did today. The next time we run will be in Florida!

So we’re all packed, or at least I am at this stage in the day. Four running costumes, plus spares, and one pair of running shoes, because I only trust one pair of my shoes at the moment! I’ve got a roll of Dynamic Tape and spray for my knee, Dad’s stocked us up with painkiller gels galore, and of course I’ve packed probably too many pairs of Mickey ears, which means I must be ready!

Tomorrow is going to be crazy long, starting at 5am UK time with a 4 hour coach journey, a 9 hour flight and finishing in EST, so we will be categorically pooped by the end of it all, but I’ll be in Disney World and it will be 100% worth it.

If you didn’t catch it yesterday, you can read our itinerary here to see what we’ll be getting up to, and I’ll be live blogging every day! You can also keep up via Twitter, Instagram and I’ll be streaming some of our trip on Periscope, so be sure to follow me @lottiedoesdisney!

Are you ready for the fun to start? I AM

°o°

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The ‘I Just Can’t Wait to go to Disney’ Tag

Its now 20 days til Dad and I leave for our Disney trip, so it was perfect timing when the lovely Lizi tagged me to do the ‘I Just Can’t Wait to go to Disney’ tag!

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1. How do you get extra excited for your Disney trips?

To be honest, counting down to my next Disney trip is always the most exciting thing, but what really make a countdown extra special is having so many supportive friends and followers who always seem just as excited for my upcoming trip as I am! I also love planning, so spending ages sorting out the details of my trip is actually so much fun for me!

2. How do you feel the few days before your trip?

Oh my gosh, I can’t even describe. There’s a lot of squealing and jumping around, and also a little bit of worrying about things I might have forgotten about, ha! Before my last WDW trip, I actually made myself physically sick with excitement, and the same thing happened when I arrived in Tokyo Disneyland, but I never let it hold me back for too long!

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3. What are the things you are most excited about?

Oh where to start! The magic always starts when you see the first road sign, then when you see the parks for the first time, then laying eyes on the castle and knowing that you’re back; that’s pretty much the best feeling! I also get so excited for parades and character meets, and for Disney park food!

4. When you see the park for the first time of your trip, how do you react?

Its a combination of butterflies and pure excitement, and there’s a lot of failing to fight back tears!

5. What do you like to do while travelling to Disney?

Depends on how I’m travelling. I drove to Disneyland Paris back in October, so I was busy concentrating on the road, but whenever I fly to Orlando or California, I pack out long flights with plenty of films, reading, writing and daydreaming!

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6. What do you pack when you go to Disney?

I have my special Disney backpack, which at all times contains my planning notebook, camera, autograph book, sunglasses, phone, purse etc, and usually a few changes of Mickey ears just to be on the safe side! My outfits are always carefully planned (and I’m not even the slightest bit ashamed to admit that), and sensible shoes are a must, along with all the relevant accessories. I also like to try and pack efficiently so I can maximise space for souvenirs to bring home!

7. Do you count down the days until your next Disney trip, and how?

Always, that’s what iPhone apps are for, right?! Since I upgraded to an iPhone 5S, my new app counts down to the second, which is super exciting!

If you’ve got a Disney trip coming up, I TAG YOU!

°o°

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January Disney Trip – What’s done, and what’s left!

Would you believe that yesterday marks exactly 8 weeks until Dad and I leave for Florida, kick-starting our awesome RunDisney tour of Walt Disney World and Disneyland California? Well I can’t! I’m beyond excited; its so close I can practically taste the Mickey waffles!

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Being in the last stages of preparing, there’s been lots to do these last few weeks, so this is where we are:

• Our WDW stay has been 100% paid off

• We’ve checked into our hotel online, and personalised our Magic Bands

• We did our ADRs at the 180 day mark, so they’ve been long sorted, but last week I had the nasty early morning alarm to book our Fastpasses!

• We’ve booked our spot on the Magical Express

• Our coaches both to and from the airport are sorted

• I’ve got two out of four running costumes ready

We do, however, still have a few things left to do:

• Pay the final balance of our California booking

• Get our American visas – kinda super important!

• Dining reservations for California, as they can’t be made until 60 days prior

• Sort out car hire in California

• Get packing!

We’ve only got 55 days to wait! Do you have any Disney trip preparation rituals?

°o°

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Booking Sites and Me

You’ve all seen the adverts; the web is now saturated with sites offering you the best of the best deals when booking hotels, from fancy to bargain basement!

When I started planning my Europe trip, one in particular stood out for me, and that was Booking.com. The ad shows people becoming more and more awesome having booked their hotels through the site. Booking.com? Booking.YEAh! Well I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

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Because my trip was going to be super flexible, I started by only booking my first night in France. I entered where I was going, and let the site take me from there; it ranked the search options by popularity, made suggestions on nearby places that might be cheaper, and had detailed information on each hotel from parking to check out times. I was genuinely amazed with how easy it was, and best for me was that I was getting great prices. There are daily deals, no booking fees, and with most places, you don’t pay a penny until you check in! Cancellation fees vary, but its normally free to cancel your reservation, so long as you do it in a timely manner.

I booked the majority of my hotels through Booking.com, but because its such a popular site, some places book up really quick, and where I was booking mainly last minute, in one or two places there was nowhere in my price range, so I had to look elsewhere.

Booking.com made my travels really straight-foward, and the app was just as easy as doing it online!

When I did have to look elsewhere, I turned to hotelscombined.co.uk. This site compares all the travel comparison sites, including Booking.com, Trivago, Lastminute.com etc, as well as hotel groups like Best Western and Marriott. Once you put in your travel details, it not only brings up all the available hotels, but also all the prices from all the sites, highlighting the best deal. Once you’ve chosen the deal, it directs you to the site offering the deal, and you book through them. In a few cases, it told me Booking.com had the best deals, so I went back to them.

One thing I will say about Hotels Combined is that sometimes it took me to foreign booking sites, which were obviously in a different language, and I didn’t feel comfortable booking through them, so at times I decided to pay a little extra to book through a more familiar site.

So that’s how I booked all my hotels on my trip, and I must have done something right, because I didn’t pay more than €60 to stay anywhere! Sure, I did stay in some cheapy little places, but some places were really great value for money, and honestly, if there was a bed and a hot shower, I was pretty content!

Do you have any favourite booking sites?

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Days til Disney Countdown – 14 days to go! (With Elsa, Anna and Olaf!)

There are loads of fun ways to count down the days til your next Disney trip, from big cross-off calendars to movie marathons.

The girls and I, however, decided that in order to share the countdown with everyone in the group, we’d have a bit of dressing up fun..

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To celebrate 2 weeks until our trip, we’ve spent our day dressing up as our favourite characters and re-inacting scenes from the classics – using a little artistic licence in places!

We printed our outlines of Mickey, and each decorated a few each 🙂

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Frozen is the girls’ (and everyone’s, really) favourite film at the moment, so this was an obvious choice for the first day of the countdown, and while Bella lacks Elsa’s ice white hair, Soph is a spitting image of Anna. Liv, meanwhile, plays a silly little Olaf, and yes that’s a sweet potato nose due to a lack of a carrot!

Two weeks til Disney!!! 😀

°o°

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4 weeks to go!

YAYAYAYAY!

4 weeks is so soon!

Eeek!

So here’s what we’ve got done in preparation for our trip this week:

1. American visas – sorted!

2. Magic bands customised for some of us – because of the size of our group, we’re on two separate bookings, so we just need to link those on My Disney Experience and we’ll be on our way!

3. Flights confirmed, and we’ve signed up for Virgin Flying Club.

4. Alterations to dining reservations made – we had a member of our group pull out of the trip and were unsure how to amend this, but when we called Disney they said that other than a few restaurants, it doesn’t matter if one less person shows as our table size would still be the same, but I don’t know if this would be the case for everyone.

5. Airport parking booked!

°o°

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Disney Packing Must-Have #3

drinks page

Flavouring for water

If you’re prepared, you never need pay for a drink in Disney World. Why?

Water is available everywhere, free of charge, from drinking fountains to counter service restaurants throughout the parks,all you need is a bottle to store it and you’re set for the day. During the summer months it’s so important to keep hydrated during the day, the last thing you need on your trip is to feel rubbish because you didn’t drink enough.

So if, like me, you prefer something with a bit of flavour to it, flavourings like Kool Aid or concentrates like Squash’d or Drops (a bit less messy than Kool Aid) are ideal; they’re small enough to pop in a pocket if you don’t carry a bag, and are super concentrated, so one little bottle can last ages. Plus, you’ll find it easier to get the kids to drink up!

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Disney Packing Must-Have #2

Little Mermaid

A swimsuit

While you might be thinking ‘duh, of course I’ll need a swimsuit!’, but its important that you bring an all-in-one style suit as well as a two piece bikini, and the reason for that is science..

Picture the scene: Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, scorching Florida day, nice big slide opening out into a pool full of people, and while gravity might be pulling your body down, your top is going to want to stay put and fly back up. Its happened to everyone, embarrassing or what?

So save the bikini for the hotel pool or lying out in the sun, and save your dignity by packing a one-piece for the waterparks! 🙂

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