Tag Archives: Walt Disney World

My January Trip Disney Haul

I’m normally that person who leaves it FAR too long to unpack their suitcase after coming back from holiday, so I’m pretty shocked by myself that I am unpacked with the washing done within only a few days of arriving back. I mean sure, I partly did this so that I could do this haul post, but I usually just unpack the washing and my new buys and leave the rest for as long as I can get away with, so this is impressive for me.

This haul is a combination of buys from Walt Disney World, RunDisney merch and some purchases I made during our Disney Cruise on the Dream!

I felt like I didn’t go too overboard with shopping while in the parks, mainly due to the fact that the big expense of the trip was my Walt Disney World annual pass – Matthew and I are hoping to go back a couple of times this year and with our DVC discount it was much more cost effective to get APs than regular tickets! For this very reason I felt justified in buying a couple of magic bands, millennial pink and light turquoise, as well as choosing an orange AP magic band, just so I’ve got options, y’know.. It also meant that on our final day in the parks, which was the first day of Epcot’s Festival of Arts, we could pick up an annual pass holder magnet from Mouse Gear!

The other things I knew that I wanted was a DVC Alex and Ani bracelet, which Matthew bought for me, and the Its a Small World spirit jersey (because did you ever see anything so ME?!) and I also couldn’t resist buying the new Mickey celebration sipper cup!

The Small World spirit jersey was not the only spirit jersey purchase of the trip.. Well I had to round off my collection with the new RunDisney spirit jersey and the navy/rose gold Disney Cruise Line one, so I now have one of all the Disney spirit jerseys!

As well as the cruise spirit jersey, I also bought the Castaway Cay Challenge pin and this cute little cruise cupcake pin which was in a blind bag, and Matthew also bought me the DCL Alex and Ani!

I always try to be restrained at RunDisney expos, and in all fairness I do tend to be happy with the participant t-shirts that runners are given for taking part in the races, so I rarely buy any extra t-shirts at the expo, but as I’m going to shout about it for the rest of my life, I couldn’t not buy the ‘I did it’ t-shirt for the marathon, as well as the headband, and I also bought the mini medal replica pin!

The bottom two photos are the participant t-shirts for the 10K, marathon and Castaway Cay Challenge, and the ear hat was also given out at the end of the marathon which I was very happy about – I even got it embroidered! (or at least my friends did while I tried to recover from running..)

So mainly pins and spirit jerseys, but I’m pretty happy with all my buys, even if my credit card doesn’t exactly agree..

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Walt Disney World Day 1

Well gang, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve blogged a Disney trip, but would you believe in the last few months I’ve done two trips that I haven’t blogged? So unlike me, right?

Well, I’m now back in Walt Disney World for some magic and some running, and I’ll be back blogging the whole thing, starting with today..

So we’re staying at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, our DVC home, which meant that this morning was far more chilled out as we only had to hop on the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom, and did security at the resort so didn’t have to queue at the park. There had been an early morning magic event on so the park was already a little busy, but we went down to the castle for the welcome show, and then Sammy wanted some breakfast so she grabbed a Mickey waffle at Sleepy Hollow, took a trip to the Tangled toilets and then went for our first ride of the day: Pirates of the Caribbean.

On our way from there to Fantasyland, we met Mary Poppins and the ugly stepsisters, and then met Rapunzel and Tiana in Princess Fairytale Hall, and then headed for Haunted Mansion for our first fastpass of the day. By that time it was pretty much lunch time – Sarah and I hadn’t eaten breakfast either – and we ended up going to Pinocchio Village Haus so that we knew there would be vegetarian options for Sammy.

After lunch, we had to spend a little bit of time at guest services sorting out our annual pass magic bands, and then headed back to the castle to watch Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire and from there grabbed a parade spot. Once the parade was over, we grabbed a quick Starbucks, and then did our second fastpass of the day, Buzz, and also did a lap of the TTA Peoplemover.

The My Disney Experience app was telling us that Big Thunder Mountain had a 35 minute wait time, so we headed over there, but unfortunately so did everyone else in the park.. The cast member said the queue was at least 70 minutes when we got there, so that was a no, and instead Matthew and I got in the queue for Splash Mountain, but after a while we realised that the queue was going to be too long and we would miss our Seven Dwarfs Mine Train fastpass, so instead we grabbed a Mickey waffle and headed over to Fantasyland.

I’ve never done Mine Train in the dark before and it was so good!! Because most people were camping out for Happily Ever After by this point, the queue for Big Thunder had dropped to only 20 minutes, so we practically ran back to Frontierland, and had the best time riding the back of the wildest ride in the wilderness. With a little bit of time before HEA, we got some food at Cosmic Ray’s, and then got our spot to watch the show – despite showing up just as it was starting, we got a decent view!

On our way out of the park we hit the shops and Main Street Confectionary, and then we decided to forgo the monorail in favour of the ferry back to Poly, and the Electrical Water Pageant was going so we got to see a lot of that while we were waiting which was really cool because I never stop to watch it when I’m leaving Magic Kingdom.

We’ve got day 1 feet right now, so we got back into quickly and are just spending the evening chilling in the room ready for Animal Kingdom tomorrow!

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The Happiest Wrapping on Earth*

Honestly, November has FLOWN by. Its now officially less than a month until Christmas, and I’m feeling super unprepared, but one thing I have got under my belt now, courtesy of the wonderful CoconuTacha, is some incredible Disney inspired wrapping paper, so at least when I do get my Christmas shopping done, the paper is all wrapped up, if you pardon the pun..

Tacha is an incredibly talented UK based graphic designer, and I love the unique style of each of the park icons featured on this wrapping paper. In each set you get 3 A2 size sheets of wrapping paper, plus 4 gift tags, so you’re completely covered for all your wrapping needs.

The paper is a really high quality – way nicer than your regular supermarket roll! – with a glossy finish, and its so beautiful that this is the kind of paper that you’ll want to unwrap carefully so you can keep it again! Also a great secondary use would be as a photo backdrop for blog photos – I may just keep a sheet for myself for this very reason!

And if you’re on the hunt for a cute little stocking filler, Secret Santa gift or just something to treat yourself with, Tacha also has this limited edition ‘Magic Castle’ enamel pin available on her store. Its so pretty and so different from any other castle pins I’ve seen and the colours are stunning together, and for £5 its a steal!

Cute wrapping idea: attach a pin to the gift tag of your present!

There’s currently 10% off both the wrapping paper and pin until the end of today so if you like what you see, head on over to Etsy now, and even if you’ve got your wrapping paper sorted, you should definitely check out Tacha’s designs on both her Etsy store where you’ll find an amazing selection of stationery, planner stickers, art prints and more, and also on Redbubble where you can get her designs on everything from t-shirts to phone cases.

Are you Christmas ready yet?

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*The items featured in this blog post were sent to me, but all views are my own.
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My DVC Bucket List

Its so crazy to think that its been over 9 months since Matthew and I became Disney Vacation Club members, and we’ve already had one amazing trip as members, with another trip creeping up at the start of the new year. Its safe to say that we’re loving it.

Joining DVC not only opens up all of the resorts that we never thought we’d be able to afford to stay at, but it also gives us some pretty cool exclusive opportunities that I’m dying to start taking advantage of, and as I’ve been spending an unhealthy amount of time on the DVC website lately, I’ve curated a little bucket list of things I would love to do now I’m a member*.

  • Stay in all of the DVC resorts – I think this is a total given, but I want to get ticking things off the list! So far I’ve done Polynesian and Aulani, but I’ve got all the other WDW resorts to work through, plus Disneyland’s Grand Californian, and then there’s Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island so I guess its a good job its a 50 year contract, right?
  • Watch Happily Ever After from the Top of the World Lounge – The Top of the World Lounge is a DVC member lounge located at the top of Bay Lake Tower, and apparently its an amazing spot to watch the fireworks at Magic Kingdom.
  • Soarin’ Around The World tour – On select mornings, there’s a free, first-come, first-served hour long behind the scenes tour of Soarin in both Epcot and Disneyland’s California Adventure park. I’m totally fascinated by Soarin’ so I’d love to see everything that goes into making the ride so amazing!
  • Moonlight Magic – I mean, an after hours park event with character meets and so much more isn’t really something that anyone would pass up, right?
  • Fitness in the Park – I really hope that when I’m in Disneyland next year that this is on! Its a free pilates class that takes place in Disney’s California Adventure park on select mornings before the park opens and that’s got my name all over it!
  • Member cruising – Each year, there are a couple of exclusive DVC cruises and while there’s a part of me that can’t imagine anything worse than being on a ship with thousands of other DVC members (ya know, the super entitled ones), I do love a Disney cruise..
  • Get some merch! – Aside from our freebie joining tote, I don’t have any DVC exclusive merchandise, so that’s gotta change – even Matthew is ahead of me with a set of DVC pins! I’ve got my eye on the Alex and Ani bracelet to add to my collection for starters, but who knows what else might take my fancy!
*These are all benefits available to members who buy direct through Disney, so may not be available to resale buyers.

I guess I better get started, right?

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My RunDisney Medal Collection

So I know I have been totally AWOL for the last two weeks, but moving house is insane y’all! I honestly thought I’d only be away from blogging for a few days to maybe a week but I have had NO TIME lately with sorting the house out.

But I’m back! And as today is registration day for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in January, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share my existing RunDisney medal collection! I managed to get registered on Tuesday in the DVC early registration window, which I’m so happy about, and I wish everyone registering today the best of luck!

Walt Disney World races

2016 – If you’ve been following me for that long, you’ll know that I started doing RunDisney events in 2016, and every single race has been an amazing experience for me. My dad and I started off in the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend , taking part in the 5K and the half marathon, which was actually our first half marathon. Back then, 5K medals were 2016 rubber ones (you get a proper metal one now), so Pluto here was our first RunDisney medal. The half marathon was one of the hardest races I have ever done because a few days before I developed a chest infection and I honestly felt like I was going to die before we’d even hit mile 4, but we did it and it was so worth it.

2017 – Running solo for the first time, I started off the year with the Princess Half Marathon Weekend in February. By this point I had the bug for challenges, so I did the Glass Slipper Challenge (10K and half marathon). The races were all Beauty and the Beast themed that year, which I was so happy about as I had already planned to run as Chip before the medal designs had been released, although the challenge medal was still glass slipper themed.

Disneyland races

2016 – The week after doing the marathon weekend in 2016, we left Florida and flew across to California to take part in the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend, and this was where we completed our first race challenge, Rebel Challenge, which was completing the 10K on the Saturday and the half marathon the next morning on the Sunday. By this point my chest infection had cleared up, and I actually set my half marathon PB on this course.

2017 – In May I did the Pixie Dust Challenge at the Tinkerbell Half Marathon weekend. I saw a lot of hate on social media over these races but I had a total blast. The Disneyland 10K course is my all time favourite RunDisney course (RIP California races) and I think my favourite medal was from the 10K, although they are all so stinkin’ cute!

Coast to Coast

Both in 2016 and 2017 I earned a Coast to Coast medal for completing a half marathon* in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland in the same calendar year, but in 2017 I got a bonus of the ‘pink’ Coast to Coast, which was for doing the Princess and Tinkerbell weekend in the same year. The medal was essentially the same as the normal Coast to Coast, just in a pinky colour palette instead! 2017 was also the 10 year anniversary of the Coast to Coast challenge, so the blue medal was extra special!

*to earn a Coast to Coast medal, a minimum distance of half marathon must be done in each park!

Disneyland Paris races

In 2016 I took part in both the inaugural 5K and half marathon in Disneyland Paris (there was no 10K in the first year), and then in 2017 I did the 10K and half marathon, earning the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Challenge medal! Both years I also got an additional challenge medal, the Castle to Chateau Challenge, for completing races in the US as well as Paris – the medal was the same for both years, just with a different ribbon.

Virtual Running Shorts

I only did the virtual shorts in 2016, which was the first year RunDisney did virtual races, mainly because its quite expensive to do considering you don’t get an actual event, but I loved the medals I got because they were huge!

This year has been totally RunDisney-less for me, which has been really sad, but I’m also quite happy as I’ve had so many injuries to deal with! I’m also still a little heartbroken that the California races have been cancelled until further notice, but I’m just praying they’ll return soon and I’m so excited to get back into training for the marathon next year!

Have you ever done a RunDisney event?

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Staying Onsite as a Disney Vacation Club Member

After joining Disney Vacation Club back in November, our recent trip to Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii was our first experience of staying in a Disney resort as members, and it would be an understatement to say that I was pretty excited for that.

DVC members get a slightly difference experience when staying on site to other guests, whether that’s in Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani or Disney’s Vero Beach or Hilton Head Island resorts, and although there can be further variations in this treatment depending on where you are, there are some things that DVC guests do and don’t get.

Welcome Home

You know when you arrive in a Disney park and feel as though you’re finally back where you belong, as you technically own a teeny tiny part of the magic, DVC members are greeted by cast members by a signature ‘welcome home’. This might seem totally insignificant to many, but I think its a really nice way of acknowledging membership without too much fuss.

There are a few different ways that cast members can identify you as a DVC member: in Walt Disney World, when tapping your Magic Band against the scanner, after the initial green light, the scanner will flash with purple, and in Aulani guests are given a special shiny version of the daily pool wristband, and of course your room reservation will also show as DVC to cast members at the front desk.

Mousekeeping

So part of the deal with being a DVC member is that you sorta have to sacrifice some of the perks of staying in a hotel. That means no daily room clean, and in fact in some resorts your rubbish won’t even be collected, and no clean towels until the 4th day of your stay – only recently has this been updated to daily trash and towels in WDW resorts only. Personally, I didn’t really mind this, especially staying in Aulani where we were popping back to the room so often that I doubt there would have been time for anyone to clean it, but also if you’re staying in a 1 bedroom villa or larger, you’ve got a washer and dryer right there in your room if you do want to clean your towels/sheets more often, and even if you’re not, laundry facilities are in every Disney resort.

Oh, and say goodbye to calling mousekeeping for a bunch of extra free tiny Disney toiletries – you can do it, but they now come with a price tag if you request more!

Comforts of home

In any DVC room, whether its a studio or a 3 bedroom grand villa, you’ll have some sort of kitchen facilities. Studios have a sink, fridge, microwave, coffee maker and toaster, along with disposable plates and bowls, cutlery and glasses all as standard, and you also have the opportunity to request additional items such as a blender should you want one. In larger rooms, you’ve got a full kitchen with all of these things, plus fridge-freezer, rice cooker, oven and hob, and all the relevant cooking tools. This means that you can make one quick supermarket trip (or even get groceries delivered to the resort), stock up on as much – or little – food and drinks as you want and know that you can avoid steep park prices by doing a lot of the catering yourself.

Most rooms also come equipped with a DVD or Blu-ray player, and if they don’t you can request one, and you can even borrow films too, although we (and several DVC members I know) actually good our Amazon Fire TV stick which meant we could watch Netflix, Prime Video and everything else – not that on a Disney trip you spend too much time in front of the tv!

Parking

Disney’s decision to start charging resort guests for overnight parking was quite a controversial change, but DVC members are in the clear, not having to pay for parking at resorts or at the parks.

Pool access

Although pool-hopping can be done by most Disney resort guests, there are a few resorts, such as Beach and Yacht Club and Boardwalk, where the pools can only be accessed by guests of that particular resort.. oh and DVC members! We can hang out at any pool on site, unless said pool is already at capacity.

I’m really excited for our first DVC stay in WDW in January, we’ll be staying at the Polynesian, which is also our home resort!

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My Top 8 Most Underrated WDW Dining Locations

Cheeseburger Bao Bun from Satu’li Canteen

When it comes to planning a trip to the most magical place on earth, choosing where to eat is a big decision, and one that has to be made quite far in advance if you want to snag all the right places.

I love planning for advanced dining reservations (ADRs), and I’m always on the hunt for somewhere new and different to try; I like to believe that one day I’ll have eaten in every restaurant on Disney property, but I’ll always end up going back to my favourite spots, plus I doubt I’ll ever keep up with the expansion and addition of new eateries, but I can dream, hey?

And you don’t even need to be a total Disney buff to know of some of the most talked about dining locations of WDW; places like Be Our Guest and Cinderella’s Royal Table are so iconic that I defy anyone who wouldn’t want to take a trip to these magical places. But are they the best?

These are some of my favourite lesser-known dining options that you may want to visit on your next trip:

Table Service

Grand Floridian Cafe – over 1900 Park Fare

I must admit, when I used to think of a good place to eat in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, my mind always used to jump to 1900 Park Fare. I’ve never eaten there before myself, but I see lots of people going there all the time, although I have heard some mixed reviews. Instead, I’ve always opted for GFC, and I’ve had both breakfast and dinner there, both of which have blown me away.

Sure, you don’t have the character element that 1900 Park Fare gives, but the menu is absolutely flawless in my opinion, and if you’re not on the dining plan, its actually one of the most reasonably priced table service meals I’ve ever seen – our dinner there should have cost around $65 plus gratuity for the two of us (main and dessert), and when I had breakfast there it would have been only $41 for two of us.

Mickey’s Backyard BBQ – over Hoop de Doo Revue

Again, I’ve never actually done Hoop de Doo, but having had the BEST time at Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, I’m in no rush to switch. Both cost the same both in cash and dining credits, both are unlimited buffets which included beer and wine for over 21s, and both have musical entertainment but Mickey’s Backyard has the added bonus of character meets and the opportunity to get up and get involved in the dancing with Mickey and the gang, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a night of more fun on Disney property. I’ve got a full review here.

Skipper Canteen

I was actually really surprised by the lunch we had here back in November – I had booked it because I wanted to try somewhere new, and then when we looked at the menu both Matthew and I felt a little meh about the offerings, but when the food actually arrived it was amazing! Yes, its a Jungle Cruise themed restaurant so there’s puns flying everywhere, but its also got a real Joe Rohde vibe to the place and the cast members were all really lovey, plus it was pretty quiet when we went!

Tusker House

I feel like I rarely hear people talking about restaurants in Animal Kingdom, so this may not be as underrated as I think it is, but absolutely rate this place. Now I haven’t been since 2014, so there may have been some changes but my whole family were blown away by the food, which not only catered for my picky-eating cousins (who at the time went as young as 5) but also for the adventurous adults in the group. Its a buffet – bonus – and although we had no idea when we booked it, its also a character meal!

Quick Service

Flame Tree Barbecue

If you ever need to make your dining credits go further, or need good value for money on your meals while in Animal Kingdom, this is the place you need to go – one meal could easily feed 2-3 people with the portion sizes you get! Also, if you want a decent view of Rivers of Light without queuing or paying for the dinner packages, grab your food from here early on and head down to the seating area on the edge of the water. Sure, you’re a little further away from the main seats, but you still get a great view!

Satu’li Canteen

This may not be underrated exactly, but if you’ve heard that its good, then that’s wrong because its AMAZING. Hands down, this is probably the best quick service meal I have ever had.

Yak and Yeti Local Food Cafes

Last Animal Kingdom place, I promise! If you’re a fan of the table service restaurant, but maybe you aren’t on the dining plan, I’m gonna share a secret with you: the honey chicken that you get in the restaurant for $18.99 is identical to the quick service alternative at $10.99, its just in a plastic container rather than served on a proper plate. This is also a good place to grab breakfast if you’ve run to Expedition Everest at park opening rather than joining the 3 hour queue for Flights of Passage..

Pinocchio Village Haus

Now this may be out of date as I’ve heard rumours that PVH is changing/has changed its offering, but this was always one of my favourite places to grab lunch when in Magic Kingdom. The flatbreads make a wonderful alternative to the normal doughy pizza bases you get in most quick service places and there’s always a tonne of seating available, plus I like waving to the Its a Small World boats as they pass below the window!

What restaurants do you think don’t get enough attention?

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How Disney Vacation Club Actually Works

So back in November I shared the massively exciting news that on our recent trip to Walt Disney World, Matthew and I joined the Disney Vacation Club, and since then there’s been a lot of interest in me writing this post, so here goes!

Simply put, DVC is a timeshare, but its so much more than your typical 2 weeks in Spain every summer kinda thing. Yes, its a proper deed so officially you own the land and there’s a lot of official documents to sign, but essentially what you pay for is points.

Points

Getting points

So the price you pay for your membership depends the number of points you get. We own Disney’s Polynesian Resort, so this becomes our ‘home resort’, and our contract is for 130 points, which means every year we get 130 points to use within its allotted timeframe.

Using points

Every room at every DVC resort has a certain number of points, which varies based on the resort, the room size and the season – typically the bigger the room, the more expensive the resort if paid cash, and the higher peak seasons = more points. We chose 130 points per year as that’s the number of points it takes to have Deluxe Studio in Poly for 1 week during the season that we would typically travel, which is Oct-Nov time, but for the same amount of time in a Savannah View Deluxe Studio in Animal Kingdom Lodge, its only 88 points, so there’s a lot of variation which means we can be really flexible too.

Points do not have to be used every year, but if you aren’t going to use them, you have to ‘bank’ them by a certain time within your use year, and that means that if you want to do a longer or more expensive trip in 2 years time, you could bank this year’s points, and then use them on top of next year’s. You can also borrow points from the following year, for example, for our Aulani trip this April, we’ve borrowed 10 points from next year’s allocation, and then if you do need any extra points on top of banking and borrowing, members have the option of purchasing up to 24 extra points for a cash value.

Selling off

Your contract length varies depending on when you buy it, but if you’re purchasing direct from Disney, you’re looking at about 50 years. However, if its not working out for you, you can sell your contract back to Disney or sell it privately, as well as being able to transfer it into other people’s names, for example if you wanted to pass the contract onto your children.

Resorts

DVC covers every Deluxe resort or villas in Walt Disney World, plus Grand Californian in Disneyland, and also Disney’s Vero Beach, Hilton Head Island and Aulani resorts, so you can use your points at any of these places, plus they also have the RCI Network of thousands of hotels all over the world that you can use your points to pay for.

Booking resorts

Earlier I mentioned Polynesian being our ‘home resort’, and not only does this mean that this is the resort we actually own, but it also gives us the opportunity to book this up to 11 months in advance, while every other resort becomes available to us at the 7 month mark, and vice versa, those members who own other resorts cannot book Polynesian until the 7 month mark, so we sorta get a head start. Booking can be done directly through the DVC website, similar to the WDW website, or over the phone with DVC cast members.

DVC members can also book stays for anyone, so if for example we weren’t going to go one year, but my parents wanted to go, we book the stay for them using our points and our name doesn’t have to be on the booking at all, so gifting points is really easy. A lot of members also use this perk as a way of renting points out for monetary value, and there are a lot of Facebook groups and pages dedicated to point rental.

Staying in resorts

There’s no real difference between staying in a resort as a member or a regular guest, however while the rubbish is collected daily, the rooms are only serviced every 4 days, although you can request extra visits for a surcharge. However, DVC members do have the added perk of being able to use the pools in any DVC resort, even those that are normally off limits to guests not staying at that resort.

Paying for DVC

Membership cost

The cost of membership can be paid in full or Disney also offer financing, although there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from finding finance elsewhere. For US residents, finance is offered depending on credit searches, but if you’re from the UK, you’re automatically approved for finance through Disney at a rate of 12.5%. One of the great things about this, however, is that while it is a loan, because they cannot set up a direct debit with a UK bank account, the payments have to be made from a credit or debit card, and this means that it will not show up on any credit searches done in the UK, so this loan will not affect your credit score or affect your ability to get other loans of mortgages.

Dues

On top of membership fees, every year members pay resort dues, which is a one off payment in January that goes towards the upkeep of your home resort. Again, the amount of these dues varies depending on your resort, and typically the newer resorts have higher dues, but the dues also vary from year to year based on the work that’s predicted to need doing.

Member benefits

There are a tonne of perks that come along with being a DVC member. From the moment you sign your contract, you have access to a digital membership card to keep you going until your real one arrives, and that means that you can start to take advantage of the 20% discount off all WDW merchandise, 10% off dining and access to the exclusive DVC lounges such as Bay Lake Tower’s Top of the World Lounge straight away.

There’s also a whole bunch of other discounts available at other shopping and dining locations in Disney Springs, discounted park tickets, DVC exclusive events such as Moonlight Magic, and exclusive merchandise, plus early registration to RunDisney events.

Don’t worry folks, you’ve come to the end of my ramblings now! I hope this has been informative to anyone curious about DVC, but I’ll leave you with one little nugget of wisdom before you go. If you’re considering Disney Vacation Club, I thoroughly recommend that you go to a DVC open house and hear all this again from the experts – I’ve been to two open houses and I can honestly say that there is no one more knowledgeable or passionate about what they sell than the DVC reps, plus they do not pressure you in any way. If you have any more questions for me, feel free to drop me a comment and I’ll be happy to help!

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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: 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 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 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 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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US Pre-Clearance at Dublin Airport

When Matthew and I were booking our flights to Orlando, our primary concern was getting a good price, and to save some money we were prepared to do a connecting flight.

While I would usually fly from Gatwick, southerner that I am, for this trip we could also consider Manchester airport as a setting off point, and we settled on the AerLingus flight from Manchester, that flew via Dublin. Not only did this save us a bit of cash, but would you believe this also saves a lot of time?

Sure, there’s the time it takes to do the stopover, but did you know that when flying to the US from Dublin, you actually go through an Immigration pre-clearance? It went a little something like this..

Upon arriving in Dublin, we followed all the usual signs to transfers, and followed the signs for US Pre-Clearance. Down some steps and round a corner, and you might think you’ve just appeared in a US airport, as you come to a room filled with the same immigration desks and machines as you’d encounter at your final destination.

As we had our Estas, we could go straight to a machine and get the printed receipt, then take our passports to a desk to get stamped, and we were through into the terminal. This probably took no more than 30 mins – and it was quite a peak time at 9.30am!

So what happened when we arrived in Orlando? Well we just walked off the plane and went to baggage claim – job done!

We probably saved about £100 each by doing this stopover, and given that we arrived in Orlando quite late, it was so nice not having to queue for anything, so I would definitely recommend this option, and better still, Manchester should be getting pre-clearance in about 2019!

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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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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’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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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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Another ADR Day!

Yesterday marked what is possibly the biggest day in any WDW trip countdown: 180 days!

That of course meant that all my planning and decision making for dining on our trip was about to come down to a crucial hour of frantic tapping and clicking at my laptop in the hopes of securing those all too important reservations. I was really happy that Matthew got to be involved in the planning side, but as he was working, the booking was all down to me!

Well what did I get?

  • Be Our Guest breakfast (QS) and The Plaza Restautant – I had hoped to get Crystal Palace on the first day but it had already booked up at the time I wanted, so instead I swapped for Be Our Guest which we were planning on doing later in the trip. I always start my first day in Disney with a breakfast reservation before park opening so I can get those empty Main Street photos! Then as we weren’t going to be using a TS credit, I decided to book The Plaza for 3pm – its a Halloween party night so nowhere books very late, and we are hoping to do the party that night so we’ll be busy in the evening getting spooky!
  • Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom – this is one of Matthew’s very few requests, but its a bit of a tradition for him and who doesn’t love RFC?
  • Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno – YESSSSS! The newest and most exciting character breakfast booking is mine! Tangled themed, and at my favourite Disney location, The Boardwalk, this was my top priority booking!
  • Sci-Fi Dine In Theater – another one that Matthew really wanted, and although I’ve eaten here before I’m excited to be going back!
  • T-REX – another classic, and a restaurant that Matthew’s never been to so I’m really excited for him to experience the dinosaurs!
  • Yak and Yeti – I had such a great meal here back in February and there were so many things on the menu that I wanted to try so it was a no-brainer really..
  • Teppan Edo – this will be my third consecutive time eating here on a WDW trip and I have no shame because I absolutely love everything about it. Also Matthew and I are hoping to maybe do Japan next year so it’ll be a fun experience for both of us.

We’ve still got a few more bookings to do for the last couple of days of our trip, but we’ll be hoping to snag Skipper Canteen, Chef Mickey’s and Crystal Palace or Cinderella’s Royal Table! As we’re doing a few offsite days we’ll have a few spare credits to play with too..

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My Top 15 Most Instagrammable Disney Park Foods

Is a Disney trip really a Disney trip if you didn’t Instagram at least one snack?

If you’re as Insta obsessed as I am, the combination of adorable food and a pretty castle backdrop is just impossible to resist, and its acceptable to be totally basic and refuse to eat until you’ve got the perfect photo.

Well your friendly neighbourhood Disney tripper is here to guide you in finding what I consider to be the most double-tap-able eats and treats from all six Disney parks! Brace yourself, you’re about to get hungry.

Mochi might be one of the strangest foods I’ve ever tried, but seriously these green aliens from Tokyo Disneyland are the business

Tokyo also takes churros to the next level. Yep, its Mickey shaped.

I’m a sucker for any type of steamed bun, but I cannot get over how adorable these little piggy pork buns from Hong Kong Disneyland are.

I was pretty lucky to get a photo of this raspberry ice lolly before it melted in the mid-July Tokyo DisneySea heat

Head over to the Cozy Cone Motel in Disneyland’s California Adventure park for a cone full of deliciousness in the most perfect Pixar themed land.

Who doesn’t love a Rice Krispie treat? These beauties come in all sorts of amazing flavours and designs and are best eaten on Main Street, although a balcony in Polynesian is a pretty good alternative.

I can never say no to a Mickey shaped pretzel, and I can never eat one without snapping it first!

Disneyland Paris is never complete without a Mickey marshmallow or macaron in front of the castle.

And speaking of macarons, how cute is this little Goofy treat from club level Shanghai Disneyland Hotel?!

If you’re an Alice fan, you’ve gotta head over to Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall if you’re in Tokyo Disneyland for this amazing dessert option!

The best way to cool down in Hong Kong Disneyland is with a Lotso lolly in Adventureland!

Mickey shaped muffins are popping up all over different Disney parks, but this beautiful blueberry one was snapped in Shanghai.

When in Tokyo, if you don’t snap a steamed bun burger, were you even there?

Lemon meringue pie PLUS a Mickey macaron? Yes please Shanghai Disneyland!

And who can resist a Mickey waffle?!

Don’t forget I’m heading to Disneyland in less than 2 weeks, and I’m sure I’ll be Instagramming a tonne of food from there so stay tuned!

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Minnie’s Beach Bash Breakfast at Cape May Cafe


Something I love doing when planning Disney trips is finding new and different restaurants, especially those that don’t seem to be on the radar of most people, and when they’re little-known character meals, its even better!

Disney’s Beach Club Resort is my dream WDW resort, and when I discovered that they have their own character breakfast, hosted by Minnie Mouse, I knew it was somewhere to visit on my trip with Sarah. Cape May Cafe is located on the ground floor of Beach Club, and the restaurant fits in with the theme of the hotel perfectly, from the beach hut style canopies and cute seaside artwork.



The food is a classic Disney buffet breakfast, with hot options like sausages, bacon and eggs, assorted pastries and fruit options, cereals, yogurts and sweet goodies like Mickey waffles and pancakes. We planned our breakfast for the morning after I ran the Princess 10K, so I filled several plates – in the interest of re-fuelling, of course! I love making a buffet breakfast feel like multi-course meal, starting with savoury goodness and finishing with a dessert style final plate!


As the name suggests, of course Minnie makes the rounds to the tables, and she’s also joined by Donald and Goofy. They’re all set for a day at the seaside in the cutest beach outfits, and throughout the meal they stop for a little surfer dance number in the middle of the restaurant. All three of them spent a good amount of time at each table, and we had a great interaction with everyone.


If you’re looking for a character breakfast that’s a little different to the others available, I definitely recommend this, plus it means getting to spend a morning in the Boardwalk area, which is one of my favourite places in WDW! Because you can’t use the International Gateway at Epcot until the World Showcase opens at 11am, if you’re staying onsite you’re better off getting a bus to Hollywood Studios and then hopping on a boat to the resort, or going to Epcot and transferring to a Beach Club bus.

See you at the seaside!

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Walt Disney World Must Dos for Donald Lovers

If, like me, you hold a huge soft spot for a certain sassy duck, then there are a number of things that you should be adding to your next WDW trip to-do list, and here they are!

1. Meet the Astounding Donaldo at Pete’s Silly Sideshow

He really is magic!

2. Ride the Gran Fiesta Tour

Its basically a Donald theme Its a Small World

3. Then hang out with Donald in the Mexico Pavilion

Donald + poncho = my fave

4. Lunch at Tusker House Restaurant

Tusker is the best meal I’ve had in Animal Kingdom, and an adorable duck host makes it even better

5. Royal Friendship Faire

This is a double bonus if you’re a Tangled fan, because Donald, ruffians and thugs are one hell of a combo

6. Mickey’s Philharmagic

The mouse’s name might be in the title, but we all know who the real star of this is..

7. Meet the Jurassic classic

Head over to Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom to meet Donald in all his adventurer gear

8. Breakfast at Cape May Cafe

Not only is this a delicious buffet breakfast in one of my all-time favourite Disney resorts, but it also features a duck who’s ready to hit the beach!

I love this duck!

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Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Just to warn you, I’m about to start gushing because this was easily the best night of our trip.

I’d actually never heard of Mickey’s Backyard before, until one day while trying to decide on our ADRs for Feb, I was scrolling through the dining page of the WDW website, and suddenly it caught my eye. Sarah is a huge country music fan, and the thought of buffet food and dancing with Mickey and the gang had me hooked on the idea of it. Needless to say, it wasn’t a hard sell.

We got the bus from Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness and walked round to the Fort Wilderness Pavilion, taking in all the beauty of the campground. We had Category 1 seating, so after we checked in we were taken straight to our reserved spot on the communal bench tables, where we could leave our stuff and head up to meet Mickey and Minnie, and Chip, Dale and Goofy without any queues as it was before Category 2 were let into the pavilion.

We could go straight up to the buffet, where there was a spread of classic bbq food – burgers, hot dogs, ribs, pulled pork, chicken etc, as well as salads, corn bread, macaroni cheese, buns, and we filled our plates with as much as we good, and then grabbed drinks and got back to our table before the crowd of other guests descended, and it wasn’t long before the show kicked off.

The show was lead by Cyclone Sally and Tumbleweed Will who introduced the band and the characters and kicked off the singing and dancing. The evening was filled the music, and once we’d filled our stomachs with the INCREDIBLE food – at least two plates worth – we headed up to dance with the characters. It may have been a little hard to get to some of the characters with all those pesky kids in the way, but we still had the most fun!

At times, the music and dancing was paused and the floor cleared for a trick roper who performed incredible lasso tricks and displays, and also intervals to give the characters (and us!) a break from dancing in the heat – its a great job the pavilion is open air, because it gets quite warm on the dancefloor! In some of these breaks, Mickey and Minnie met by the entrance to the pavilion, and Chip, Dale and Goofy had a spot in the corner to meet, but the queues were always pretty long which is why we were lucky to get in early!

Dessert came in the form of chest freezers filled with premium Mickey bars, and there was also an open bar serving wine and beer for 21+ guests. The whole show lasted about 1.5-2 hours – probably the right length for some of the little kids as it meant everything was wrapped up by 8pm – and the music varied from country classics to Disney favourites, and Chip doing a full dance routine to Let It Go was possibly the highlight of the night for me. There were also group dances – the Cotton Eyed Joe, the macarena etc – and dances performed by the characters. I probably keep saying it, but it was all just so much fun!


The show used two of our Table Service credits, but it was 100% worth it, especially when the bill showed that it should have cost the two of us $144 in total if we’d paid out of pocket. I’d recommend it over any other dinner show and would easily do it again and again!

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Breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table

If you’re looking for somewhere totally magical to eat in the Magic Kingdom, does it really get any better than eating in Cinderella Castle itself? No. The answer is no.

Cinderella’s Royal Table is one of the few restaurants in MK that offers reservations prior to park opening, meaning early access to Main Street USA before the crowds descend, and for me that’s always worth the stress of those 180 day advanced dining reservations! Its a bit of a first-day tradition for me, and both Sarah and I were dying to eat breakfast with the princesses.

With the new welcome show, you’re not able to walk through the castle from Main Street, so its a little detour past Sleepy Hollow and round to the back of the castle from there. Once you’ve checked in for your meal, you enter the castle to be greeted by Cinderella herself in a grand entrance hall – psst, look out for Gus Gus and Jaq! Once you’ve had your photo and your party has been announced, you climb a spiral staircase up into the dining room and are escorted to your table.

I really loved the size of the dining room. I expected it to be much bigger, but its a perfect size to not feel enormous, but also not crowded, and it means that you’re never too far from the gorgeous stained glass window that looks out over Fantasyland. We were brought out a plate of beautiful pastries while we decided on what to choose from the menu, and the juice was constantly flowing so our glasses were never empty.

Over the course of the first 10-15 minutes of our meal, each princess was announced as they entered the restaurant, and we seemed to have a prime seat as we were the first table visited by almost every princess. We met Aurora, Snow White, Ariel and Jasmine, all of whom were so lovely and friendly, and didn’t rush our interactions at all. At points throughout the meal, there was also a wishing ceremony, for which we were each given a plastic wand to wave – I don’t know if they normally give wands to adults but our server David brought us one each anyway!

As well as the pastries, we each ordered the traditional breakfast, which was delicious but after a Mickey shaped blueberry muffin, I struggled to finish the whole plate. Being on the Disney Dining Plan, the meal was 2 table service credits, which was totally worth it for the food, the characters and the experience of dining in the castle – plus our wands of course! The cast members were also so sweet, which for me always makes any meal feel even better, and it was the perfect start to our trip.

We also just had to stop to use the restrooms on the way out just so we could say we’ve been to the loo in the castle, ha!

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My February WDW Haul!

Well I couldn’t come back from Walt Disney World without a few goodies for myself, could I?

I actually surprised myself with how little I bought in the way of Disney merch on this trip, instead spending most of my money in Sephora (haul coming tomorrow!), but I did buy some real gems, and here they are:

As well as the yellow teacup ride mug, I have been obsessed with this princess mug ever since I saw Amy post a photo of it a little while back – its just so pretty and I love that it features all the kingdoms and castles of my favourite Disney princesses!

Don’t judge me, but I do have this thing with Its a Small World, and also the various Disney park trash cans, and I love that there’s a sort of irony to this hand sanitiser being in the shape of a bin! It was an impulse purchase really, but it now goes with me everywhere haha!

I said in my shopping list post that I was going to be on the hunt for some park exclusive tsum tsums, and they were on offer at 4 for $16 so I picked up these cuties – a teacup, carousel horse, Its a Small World boy and the orange bird, and I love them all so much! There were actually quite a lot of park exclusives around, but not all of them appealed to me so I stuck to these for now.

As a bit of a tradition, I always pick up a headband from my RunDisney races, so I bought one for each at the RunDisney Health and Fitness Expo.

My final and favourite purchase isn’t strictly WDW merchandise, but if you’ve ever wandered past Curl at Disney Springs, you may have seen the talented artists who hand-paint shoes outside the store, and this absolutely BEAUTIFUL pair of Tangled inspired Toms caught my eye. It must have been fate, because they were my size, and the artist told me she’d just put them out that morning and they normally sell super fast. Well I just wouldn’t have been forgive myself if I’d missed out on them, they’re just so unique and special, and the ‘Go live your dreams’ on the side is the icing on the cake – hello summer shoes!

One hand sanitiser, two mugs, three headbands and four tsum tsums and the prettiest pair of shoes – I’m a happy girl!

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51 Characters in 10 Days

I may be back from Walt Disney World, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop talking about it. EVER.

You have been warned.

Among many of the proud accomplishments of the trip, Sarah and I managed to visit 51 different characters over 78 interactions within 10 days of being in the parks, and I thought it would be fun to share who we met and where!


The Classics:

  • Mickey Mouse x 5 – Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, Epcot Character Spot, Commissary Lane – Hollywood Studios, Adventurers Outpost – Animal Kingdom, Town Square Theater – Magic Kingdom
  • Minnie Mouse x 5 – Epcot Character Spot, Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, Commissary Lane – Hollywood Studios, Adventurers Outpost – Animal Kingdom, Cape May Cafe
  • Donald Duck x 4 – Mexico Pavilion – Epcot, Cape May Cafe, Dinoland USA – Animal Kingdom, Character Palooza
  • Daisy Duck – Future World – Epcot
  • Pluto x 2 – Disney Junior – Hollywood Studios, Dinoland USA – Animal Kingdom
  • Goofy x 4  – Epcot Character Spot, Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, Cape May Cafe, Dinoland USA – Animal Kingdom
  • Chip and Dale x 2 – Frontierland – Magic Kingdom, Mickey’s Backyard BBQ


Princesses:

  • Cinderella – Cinderella’s Royal Table
  • Aurora x 2 – Cinderella’s Royal Table, France Pavilion – Epcot
  • Ariel x 2 – Cinderella’s Royal Table (human legs), Ariel’s Grotto – Magic Kingdom (mermaid)
  • Snow White x 2 – Cinderella’s Royal Table, Epcot
  • Jasmine x 2 – Cinderella’s Royal Table, Adventureland – Magic Kingdom
  • Rapunzel – Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Tiana x 2 – Princess Fairytale Hall, Character Palooza
  • Elsa – Royal Sommerhus – Epcot
  • Anna – Royal Sommerhus – Epcot
  • Mulan – China Pavilion – Epcot
  • Belle x 2 – France Pavilion – Epcot (blue dress), Enchanted Tales with Belle (yellow dress)
  • Pocahontas x 3 – Animal Kingdom, Character Palooza x2
  • Moana – Hollywood Studios
  • Merida – Magic Kingdom


Fur:

  • Winnie the Pooh – Magic Kingdom
  • Tigger – Magic Kingdom
  • Horace – Frontierland Hoedown Happening – Magic Kingdom
  • Baloo – Animal Kingdom
  • King Louie – Animal Kingdom
  • Robin Hood – Character Palooza
  • Bolt – Hollywood Studios
  • Stitch – Magic Kingdom
  • Meeko – Character Palooza
  • Rafiki x 2 – Rafiki’s Planet Watch – Animal Kingdom, Character Palooza
  • Flik – Animal Kingdom
  • Beast – Be Our Guest


Face:

  • Mary Poppins – Magic Kingdom
  • Bert – Character Palooza
  • Alice – UK Pavilion – Epcot
  • Fairy Godmother – Magic Kingdom
  • Aladdin – Adventureland – Magic Kingdom, Character Palooza (as Prince Ali)
  • Tarzan – Animal Kingdom
  • Peter Pan – Magic Kingdom
  • Evil Queen – Character Palooza
  • Tinkerbell –  Town Square Theater – Magic Kingdom


Other friends:

  • Smee – Character Palooza
  • Jawas – Star Wars Launch Bay
  • Chewbacca – Star Wars Launch Bay
  • Pinocchio – Character Palooza
  • Russel – Animal Kingdom
  • Sadness – Epcot Character Spot
  • Joy – Epcot Character Spot
  • Baymax x 2 – Epcot Character Spot

And d’you know what? There are so many more that we didn’t see, so get spotting!

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February Disney Trip Day 11

There is actually nothing more beautiful than looking out of your bedroom window and seeing the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom just across the water. Honestly, our stay in the Polynesian was perfect. We sat in our room and ate peanut butter Rice Krispie treats for breakfast and could have stayed there forever.

But it was extra magic hours in MK, so we slightly begrudgingly checked out, and got the monorail over to the park. Despite missing most of the hour, we did get to see the new welcome show on the castle stage, which was very sweet, them casually strolled through the castle and into Fantasyland where we kicked off the day with a ride on the carousel – something we’d not done yet this trip. After our ride, we headed over to the Tangled toilets to shoot some photos of my outfit – The Happiest Fitness Co’s new collection – then back round Fantasyland to the Under the Sea Little Mermaid ride, which was a walk on.

Park still fairly quiet, we headed into Storybook Circus and rode The Barnstormer, then made our way round to Tomorrowland for a Space Mountain fastpass. Again, they tried to put us into the Alpha line, but I asked if we could do Omega and the cast member let us so we were happy! Then is it really a trip if you haven’t been on the TTA People Mover?! This ride has been crazy busy for our whole time here, and because I firmly believe that it should always be a walk-on, this morning made the perfect first and last ride of the trip.


As we made our way back through Fantasyland, we once again came across the Tremaine sisters, but same as yesterday, were told as we got in line that they would be finishing soon and replaced by the Fairy Godmother, who we’d already met, so our plan was foiled again! Instead, we walked into Liberty Square and grabbed some snacks at Liberty Square Market, before going on a final character meet – the boss himself, talking Mickey Mouse. Lucky we had fastpasses, cos the queue was over an hour! He told us we were the most beautiful princesses he’d seen all day, and lots of cuddles were had as we faced the reality of leaving soon.

To enjoy our remaining hour, we watched the Dapper Dans on Main Street, then spent some time on the Hub grass and even did a little bit of Move It, Shake It before we said ‘see ya real soon!’ to the kingdom. Our simple monorail trip back to the resort turned into a little bit of a disaster, courtesy of the monorail ahead of us having some technical problems, and as a result we missed our Magical Express to the airport, but after discovering that the next bus was fully booked, the hotel staff were kind enough to provide a taxi to the airport on them to ensure we didn’t have any more problems.

This, my friends, is where this story comes to a close, and I’ll be back in the UK by the time this post goes live. It really has been the most magical of trips, and while I can’t thank you lovely bunch enough for all your lovely words, the star of this show in my eyes is the beautiful Sarah, my Disney soul mate who I’ve just had the most fun with. This trip would have been nothing without here, and I’m so grateful to have her in my life ❤

Signing off guys, see ya real soon!

PS. I’m not really signing off, usual blog content will resume shortly!

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February Disney Trip Day 10

I can’t get over the fact that today is our last full day here in the magic, waaaa!

After checking out of Riverside, we headed into the Magic Kingdom, slightly delayed by crazy traffic, and after a gentle stroll down Main Street went straight to Splash Mountain, where I got a red card, woo! From there, we walked back towards the castle, bumping into the lovely Jane along the way, and as we arrived back at the hub, Royal Friendship Faire was just about to begin. Spoiler alert, I took 130 photos..

Afterwards, we went to go see Pooh and Tigger, but the line was moving so slowly that we had to give up in order to get to our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest. Unlike on previous quick service trips here, we weren’t given anything to take to the table with us, instead they tracked us using our magic bands! Then, with a bit of time to kill before our next fastpass, we headed down to Town Square Theater to meet Tinkerbell. It was a bit of a wait, but it was in the air conditioning and we could sit down on the floor, so it was ok!

Post Pixie Hollow trip, we staked out a spot for Festival of Fantasy on Main Street USA, then once the parade was done, we tried for Tigger and Pooh again, but with a 45 minute wait, we gave up and made our way towards Pirates of the Caribbean. As we got behind the castle, we noticed the ugly stepsisters meeting, so dived into that queue, only to find that they were leaving before we’d get a chance to see them, boo! So Pirates it was, followed by a purple wall photo shoot – Disney basic life – to fill the time until our Big Thunder fastpass, but while we were on our way back to BTM, we came across the Frontierland Hoedown Happening, a 10 minute dance party featuring some of the Brer animals, but also Horace and some of the bears from Country Bear Jamboree. While we didn’t really participate, we did get to walk arm in arm with Horace as they left to go backstage, and snagged a quick photo too!

After Big Thunder, we headed back for a third attempt at Pooh and Tigger and… SUCCESS! These two tipped our character count to over 50 – yes, 50 unique characters on this trip alone! Once we’d finally got to see them, we walked back to Adventureland for our final fastpass of the evening, Jungle Cruise, then headed back to the castle and grabbed some popcorn to camp out for our final Wishes viewing EVER. Waaaaaaa!

It was perfect – we sat for the whole performance and had a great view. They did cancel Tinkerbell due to strong winds, but that made it no less magical, and we sat in front of the castle for ages afterwards in denial about leaving. When we did finally stand up, we headed to Main Street Confectionery to use up the last of our food credits before jumping on the monorail to our hotel for the night. Oh that’s right it’s the Polynesian!

You guys this hotel is beautiful, and the only sad part about this stay is that we’re only here for the night and won’t get a chance to explore the other facilities, but we can see the castle and the lake from our balcony and it’s so beautiful!

Just gonna cry myself to sleep with happiness about this hotel and sadness about tomorrow..

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February Disney Trip Day 9

So this morning we had the intention of getting up and going to Magic Kingdom for a bit before heading across to Animal Kingdom, but the reality of this morning led to us spending more time in the room trying to clear up some of our mess in preparation for leaving Riverside tomorrow, so instead we just left a little bit later and went straight to AK.

First up, we grabbed a traditional park breakfast of a Joffrey’s doughnut and drink, then our first fastpass of the day was Kali River Rapids, which we welcomed with open arms in the 28 degree heat – we were dry within an hour – then went to meet King Louie and Baloo, which we’d missed on our last day in the park.

Despite having fastpasses for later in the day, the queue time for Expedition Everest was quite short so we did that, then headed across the water to see Finding Nemo the Musical – Sarah’s first time! The show actually had a little interval due to technical problems, but it was only a few minutes before it was back up and keeping on swimming! We then headed into Dinoland for another first for Sarah: Primeval Whirl, and I’d forgotten just how much that ride throws you around!

Just outside the exit for PW, there’s a little photo booth which I’ve seen before and have always been curious to try out, so we investigated and amazingly it works with photopass and memory makers, so we gave it a go, although I did also pay the $5 for the printed photo strips too – it was too cute not to.. We also met Goofy and Pluto in Dinoland, and also Donald, then had a quick go on Dinosaur because the wait was only 10 minutes, before also meeting Donald.

From there, we left Dinoland and grabbed a late lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue. I’d just like to point out how great this restaurant is as a quick service, because our meals would have come to over $44 if we weren’t on the dining plan, and I got the biggest plate of ribs! Also, there’s so much seating available; we sat right down by the river looking across to Everest and it was beautiful.

After dragging ourselves back onto our feet, we went to Expedition Everest for our fastpass, then wandered back down to Africa where we walked onto a safari – yes, the park is that quiet today – then into Festival of the Lion King. Once the show ended, it was time for the Kilimanjaro Safari fastpass we had booked, but again it was so quiet we didn’t even bother tapping our bands and just did the standby queue. Night safaris are actually the best as well, we saw more lions, got super close to some zebras and we actually saw a mini stampede of the wilderbeast, which even the cast member said he’d never seen before!

We wrapped up the night with a walk on Expedition Everest, followed by a dark Primeval whirl, and closed the park with two rides on Triceratop Spin! We’ve now said goodbye to 3 out of the 4 parks, with tomorrow being our last full day here, and we’ll be in the Magic Kingdom for our last day and a half. Tomorrow morning we’ll check out of Riverside and into the Polynesian for a final night of magic!

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February Disney Trip Day 8

Happy Tuesday guys! Our day kicked off in Hollywood Studios, and with quite the bang – a fastpass for Rock’n’Roller Coaster, and of course we were pretty hyped to be in the back car of the limo. Sensibly, we saved breakfast for afterwards, grabbing a drink and a snack from Trolley Car Cafe and sitting to watch the First Order March through the park.From there, we had to make a quick detour to guest relations before heading back to Tower of Terror for our second fastpass of the day. Sarah dared me that I couldn’t do it without holding on – which I always do because I’m awful on this ride – and for the first time ever, I had my hands in the air for almost the whole ride! Yay me! I got myself a celebration button as a reward.

Out of the blue, we discovered Bolt meeting in front of the Chinese Theater, so of course we stopped for a quick photo with him, then got in line for Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but as we got to the front of the line to enter the theatre, the cast member announced it was at capacity and we would have to wait an extra 25 minutes for the next show, which we couldn’t really be bothered to do in the heat, so instead we went and did Muppet Vision 3D, then grabbed lunch at Backlot Express.

Bellies full of bacon cheeseburgers, we headed back to the Chinese Theater for the Great Movie Ride (cowboy, if you were wondering), then as we went to leave the park, Sarah remembered that it was coming up time for character palooza again, so we decided to swing by before we left and boy was it worth it?! Unlike the 4 character we met the other day, they brought out 11 characters, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Pocahontas appeared followed by Meeko, and the two of them met together which made my little heart so happy! Also out were Robin Hood, Pluto, Donald, Rafiki, Evil Queen, Snow White, and Smee and Prince Ali – we were so lucky to see that many! On a side note, I’m super sunburnt today, and had to buy sun cream, and I also managed to drop and smash my phone screen, so I fully believe in karma today.

Riding the palooza high, we left the park and got on the boat to Epcot, and as we got into International Gateway, we decided to hang out in the UK pavilion for a bit in order to meet Alice, then wandered round to Mexico for a bit of air con inside the temple and a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour. From there, we headed back to Future World and met Baymax again, before doing Living with the Land and the Circle of Life, and a quick Seas with Nemo and Friends, before going back to the UK pavilion for dinner.

As we waited for our Rose and Crown Dining Room reservation, we stuck our heads into the pub to see how authentically British it was, but the floor wasn’t sticky and it didn’t smell quite like a proper pub, so we definitely didn’t feel like we were in the UK! Our table for dinner was right on the lake edge, giving us a beautiful view of the now lit World Showcase as we dined on fish and chips and chicken tikka masala, cos y’know, UK tradition, and we were lucky enough to be served by our friend Milly who’s out here on the CRP, so between ordering we could discuss important matters like Character Palooza and a certain Wilderness Explorer.. We also got to watch Illuminations from our table, and while it’s probably my least favourite nighttime show, it was a pretty view for it.

After dinner, we hustled our way back up to Test Track as extra magic hours meant the park was open til 11pm, so we dived in the queue while it said it was a 40 minute wait, we were in and out within that time, before heading out of the park for the night, again opting to get on the bus to French Quarter rather than Riverside because the queue were that much shorter!

Goodnight y’all!

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February Disney Trip Day 7

Another day in Disney paradise! We kicked off the morning with breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe, although the crazy number of people trying to get into the parks meant we were half an hour late for our reservation, but the cast members were really understanding and it wasn’t a problem at all.

After a quick explore of the hotel grounds, we caught the bus into Disney Springs for a few indulgent hours of shopping which involved a lot of Sephora (haul post to come!) and of course some World of Disney and the other shops available. Disney Springs has been developed so much even in the year since I was last there, and it’s so beautiful now with new water features and pretty new shopping areas. We refuelled with an Earl of Sandwich, then got the boat from marketplace back to the hotel to ditch our shopping bags before heading out to Hollywood Studios for the remainder of the day.

With a little bit of time from entering the park til we could use our Fantasmic fastpass, we decided to abuse our Memory Maker and get a bunch of photopass photos in various places, then grabbed some popcorn before we made our way into the amphitheater, getting almost front row seats for the magic! Now, as we discovered, that does come with a little bit of spray if the wind isn’t on your side.. Of course the show was its usual amazing self, encapsulating some of my favourite Mickey moments and even Meeko made an appearance on the boat!

After Fantasmic, we joined the crowds in front of The Chinese Theater to watch the Star Wars fireworks, which I’d really hyped up to Sarah – the non-Star Wars fan – after I was wowed by them last year, but since the last time I saw them the display has changed a little and while it was still impressive, I wasn’t as completely blown away as I was last year. Then, to avoid the crush of people leaving the park, we stepped into the entrance area of Trolley Car Cafe for a little while and let the park clear a bit before we made our way out. This proved to be somewhat of a mistake, as when we arrived at our resort bus stop, the queue was CRAZY LONG. I’m talking maybe 3-5 buses worth of people, and that didn’t sound fun to us, so instead we queued for the French Quarter bus, and walked the path down to Riverside from there, tiring us out nicely enough for bed! Zzzzzzzz

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February Disney Trip Day 6 and Princess Half Marathon

Hey gang! Well I dunno about you but I’ve had quite a day..

Up again at 3.30am and on a bus in under 20 minutes, but thanks to a crazy amount of traffic, it took us over an hour to get to Epcot for this mornings race! I finally got into my corral at 5:30am, which is when the race was due to start, but luckily thanks to the bad traffic, the start was delayed 10 minutes so I didn’t miss out on anything.
The race itself was a classic combination of hard work and a lot of fun; I probably spent about 30-40 minutes waiting for various character stops along the way, but also being my first half without my dad, I struggled a little bit to work with a proper pace and ended up winging it just a bit! I did come in quicker than the time I had set as a sort of goal, so no complaints here, and I was back to the hotel in no time for a bath and, today, a nice long nap, while Sarah went on a solo excursion.

Once I was back on my feet (just barely) I headed into the Magic Kingdom ready for a day of twirling around the place in my beautiful Chip skirt. First stop of the day was meeting Stitch in Town Square, and he loved my outfit and knew exactly who I was, pointing to the picture of Chip on Sarah’s tshirt! Then we had fastpasses for Space Mountain, but not until after I re-carbed with a Mickey pretzel, and we got put on the Alpha track – BOO. With some time to kill before Merida was back meeting (due to her being on parade) we went over to Be Our Guest and luckily there was a photopass photographer outside to take some photos of us in front of Beast’s castle.

Meeting Merida was big for us, as she was the last of all the princesses for us to meet. That’s right, it’s day 6 and we’ve done all of the princesses, eek! And speaking of princesses, next we had fastpasses for Enchanted Tales with Belle, where I was chosen to play Mrs Potts (because an adorable kid was cast as Chip) and Sarah played the operatic wardrobe! It was my first time being part of the show, and Sarah’s first time altogether, so it was amazing that we both got to be in it and meet Belle for photos too as well as get an Enchanted Tales bookmark!

We then wandered through Fantasyland to the Tangled toilets for some photos *cough* new range coming to The Happiest Fitness Co *cough* and met Peter Pan by the Neverland map. Afterwards, we ticked something off our Disney bucket lists by going to Starbucks and giving cute Disney names – Chip and Belle to be precise! A quick hub grass chill and a little bit of Move It Shake It, and we headed back to Be Our Guest for dinner!

It was my first time doing table service there, having only eaten once before during quick service lunch, and it did not dissapoint! We had steak which was delicious, and super filling, so fitting in the lemon meringue cupcake for dessert was a little bit of a struggle. After we ate, we had a photo with Beast, then headed back into the now cold and dark park, and to Ariel’s grotto for a quick mermaid meet.

As we headed to Main Street USA, the new projection show Once Upon A Time was starting, so we stopped midway down the street to watch it. Now I loved the old show, Celebrate the Magic, so I was a little unsure how to take this change, and as much as I hate being negative, I was so disappointed. Compared to Celebrate it just didn’t match up, and I didn’t even have to fight back a single tear – and I cry at everything. I’m glad I’ve seen it, but I probably wouldn’t bother again.

Finally, we finished up with a late fastpass to Big Thunder, because the wildest ride in the wilderness is ten times wilder at night!

And with that, it’s time for me to go to bed..

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February Disney Trip Day 5 and Enchanted 10K

Well that was an early morning, but I’ve done the 10K!


The race was a lot of fun. I took it pretty easy and stopped for quite a few characters along the way, including Tinkerbell who was with Terrence, Rosetta and Iridessa (AMAZING) and also Dopey, Marie and the Genie! Stopping for characters did bring my time up, but I had so much fun I didn’t really care and I still did pretty well considering!


After getting back to the hotel and recovering with a bath and a quite lay down, we hopped on a bus to Hollywood Studios, then got a boat over to Beach Club for breakfast at Cape May Cafe. It was a classic breakfast buffet, with Minnie, Goofy and Donald meeting in their adorable beach outfits!

Back to Hollywood Studios, and our first stop of the day was meeting Moana, which is at the back of One Man’s Dream. The staging of her meet is amazing; you queue through the cave from the film, with a waterfall backdrop, and you meet Moana on an island beach by the sea – it’s all super pretty! After her, we ticked Pluto off the list by Disney Junior’s, him being the final of the classic six characters for us to meet, then headed down Sunset Boulevard and caught a showing of Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.


Next up, it was our fastpass for Tower of Terror. If you know me, you’ll know I have a love/hate thing with this ride, but it actually seemed to be over a lot quicker than it normally is so win win! From there, we went to hang out and wait for the elusive Character Palooza, where we eventually met Tiana, Bert, Pinocchio and Pocahontas, then back to Pixar Place for Toy Story Mania. I, of course, destroyed Sarah, but she was a first timer so I’ll let her off..
Another character to tick off the ever growing list, we went to meet Olaf at Echo Lake because Mickey and Minnie had a crazy 50 minute queue. He really liked my medal and wanted one of his own, so he decided to run with me tomorrow, although I warned him there’d be a danger of melting!


The next character we went to see was Chewbacca, although Sarah was pretty surprised as she was expecting Yoda – these non Star Wars fans eh? Continuing her Star Wars education, we marched back across the park to Star Tours, which I was really happy with because it was a scenario I’ve never had before and I basically always see the same ones! Now the queue for Mickey and Minnie was a bit shorter, so we jumped in. I was a little upset that Mickey had been moved from his old spot, but when I saw the new area all was forgiven because that area is really nice and both Mickey and Minnie were really fun and Minnie’s dress was so pretty!


Starting to really feel the 5 hours of sleep I’ve had, we grabbed some dinner at Catalina Eddie’s, then left Hollywood Studios for Animal Kingdom so we could catch Rivers of Light. Well it turned out everyone else had the same idea. We got to the stands with 15 minutes to spare, only to find that they were already rammed, and were queueing people up for the later showing over an hour later. We did a full loop of the lake area, then I had a brainwave to follow the seating for Flame Tree Barbecue all the way down to the waters edge – it maybe wasn’t as great a view as you might get from the stands, but there was seating and hardly anyone there so it makes the perfect secret spot. The show itself was not mind blowing; sure it was pretty and the floats were beautiful, but I definitely wouldn’t be queueing over an hour like some poor unfortunate souls, and I won’t hurry back either.

I’m now exhausted and my feet are really feeling the events of the day, so we’re heading back to the hotel for a good nights sleep, and I’ve got another 3.30am alarm for tomorrow’s half!

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February Disney Trip Day 4

Jambo friends! Today we’ve been exploring the Animal Kingdom, and I’ve become a Wilderness Explorer!


We got into the park just as it opened, and headed in the direction of Kilimanjaro Safaris as we had an early fastpass, but on the way over we managed to randomly meet Flik from Bugs Life and also Tarzan, where we were basically rendered to awkward teenage girls but he was really nice. We then hopped on Simba-1 for a safari, and were lucky enough to see a baby elephant and a young giraffe as well as the other amazing wildlife on the ride.
One quick breakfast later, we hopped on a train up to Rafiki’s Planet watch as Sarah had never been before, and met the main mandril himself, and also caught the It All Started With A Mouse show which was really cute and something I’ve never seen before, or even knew was a thing! A quick train ride back, and we walked over to Asia for our Expedition Everest fastpasses, and we got to ride right at the back which made the whole ride seem more extreme and awesome!

A few Wilderness Explorer stops later, and we headed to Yak and Yeti for lunch. I’d not eaten there before, and I know I’ve probably said this about every restaurant so far but the food was so good and the service was amazing! I had a chicken tikka masala and cheesecake for dessert and I was super happy the whole time.

After lunch we went to meet Pocahontas, which had a fair bit of a queue, then walked across into Dinoland for our Dinosaur fastpass, via a few more WE stops, then after the ride went to meet Russel so I could show him how great I am at exploring the wilderness. Then, with time closing in on me to complete all 31 stops for my badge, the pressure was on, and we spent the next half an hour or so rushing round so I could get my Senior Wilderness Explorer badge before the cut off of 5.15pm – AND I DID IT!


While I went to collect it, Sarah got in the queue to meet Mickey and Minnie at Adventurers Outpost, and I joined her, sticker badge proudly on my chest! From there, we dashed back to Africa for the last Festival of the Lion King show of the day. We got there with only a few minutes to spare, so we were sat really high up, but I still thought the view was pretty good and the show was it’s usual standard – monkeys tumbled, fire baton man batonned..


With the park now fairly quiet, we took the opportunity of a 10 minute wait time on Everest, although we probably only waited 5, and riding that in the dark was pretty awesome, then all the way back to Africa again for another safari – this time in the dark. OH MY GOSH THATS WORTH DOING. I’ve always sworn by early morning safaris, but we saw 3 lions in the evening – and I’m talking up moving around lions, not just the standard one lying on a rock that I’m used to. We were also so close to a white rhino it was incredible!

I’m so happy Animal Kingdom is being kept open later cos it just seemed to make the whole day more enjoyable. I feel like a total cliche because I feel like every day I’m telling you all that it’s been an awesome day but they all really have been! We’re back to the hotel now for a pre-race dinner and an early night as I’m up at 3:30 in the morning (which is actually before this post will even go live) to run the Princess 10K, so keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for updates!

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February Disney Trip Day 3

So after our crazy early night last night, we ended up awake super early this morning. Typical.Our plans for the morning were to hit the RunDisney expo so I could get my bib and tshirts, so we had a fairly chilled morning at the hotel, grabbed some breakfast there and jumped on a transportation bus to the ESPN centre. Because Sarah had never been to an expo before, I was pretty excited for her to see what they were really like.


We got my bib and race shirts, and collected the pre-ordered pin I got for Sarah and my event jacket, then got stuck into the official merchandise, before getting into the 40 minute queue to pay. Yes, 40 minutes.. We also had a quick look around the main expo hall, but with fastpass commitments looming, jumped on a bus back to the hotel so I could dump my stuff, then hopped on another to Epcot.

Our only fastpass of the day was for Soarin’, a ride I haven’t done here since 2014 as it was being refurbished last year, and the new update is incredible! Honestly if you do no other ride in Epcot, do this.

 

Having seen that she meets in the French Pavilion on the World Showcase, I decided to bring my Aurora themed outfit forward, so we dashed from Soarin’ to the 2:30 meet, and while we were in the queue we overheard rumours that Belle would also be out in her blue dress, so after Aurora we got in the mystery line to meet Belle. She was super lovely, and it was my first time meeting her in her blue village dress, and another princess off the list!

Onwards, we grabbed a Starbucks and jumped onto a monorail across to the Magic Kingdom, then a bus across to Fort Wilderness for Mickey’s Backyard BBQ..


You guys, I cannot put into words how much fun Backyard BBQ was. There will be a full review in the coming weeks, but OH MY GOSH. There was amazing food, incredible entertainment and we just had the best time dancing with Mickey and the gang! 100/10 would recommend, and yes, that is 100 and not a typo.

From Fort Wilderness, we got the bus back to the Magic Kingdom, rejoiced at the park being much quieter than Tuesday, and took a good spot to watch Once Upon a Time and Wishes. The whole area between the partners statue and castle was sat down which was amazing. That was, until about 5 minutes before it was due to start, when the whole front of the audience decided to stand up. Ugh. We actually ended up leaving midway through in order to make our fastpass for Buzz, but having already watched it this trip and knowing we’ll see it again, it wasn’t really a problem.

After Buzz, we had our last fastpass of the day at Haunted Mansion, then as we still had 10 minutes til park close, we decided to run over and get on Big Thunder Mountain because the queue was pretty short, plus I love riding Big Thunder in the dark – it just seems to make it more fun!


Now past park close, we walked through a fairly empty Liberty Square back to the castle, and decided to hang out until Main Street emptied out a bit to get some photos in front of a clear castle, and we managed to sneak a photo shoot with one of the remaining Photopass photographers on Main Street. We eventually left the park about 11pm – an hour after park close – and got back to the hotel about 11.40, now pretty wiped and ready for a good nights sleep!

Today:

– Characters met: 7

– Total steps: 20,226

– Total distance: 8.46 miles

Tomorrow we’ll be in Animal Kingdom!

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February Disney Trip Day 2

Still can’t really believe we’re actually here, and still can’t get over yesterday, but today is an Epcot day!


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We got into the park just as it opened, and after a quick chat with guest relations regarding my failing Memory Maker, we headed to meet Baymax – and waited probably all of about 30 seconds – and then jumped into the shortish queue for Sadness and Joy! Three characters under our belt, we made our way to The Land so Sarah could do Living with the Land, which she’s never done before, and then grabbed some breakfast in Sunshine Seasons. Then a wild Milly appeared!

It was so lovely to see Milly after so long, and we sat in Sunshine Seasons for ages having a catch up before she left to go to work, but we’ll see her later in the trip! After buying ponchos, courtesy of the now pouring rain, we headed out and to the World Showcase – first stop Donald, I mean Mexico..


If you didn’t know my love of Donald, I planned my whole outfit for today around him, and he was so sweet! I’m so happy I got to take photos with him inside the temple because it was too wet for him to go outside! After that, we did the Gran Fiesta Tour, then headed round to Norway and met Anna and Elsa in the Royal Sommerhaus with only a 15 minute wait! Then it was time for our fastpasses for Frozen Ever After, which was cute, but I definitely wouldn’t queue as long as some people were in standby!

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With the rain dying off a little, we headed round the World Showcase towards Japan, where after a wander around the big Japanese shop, we stopped for our lunch at Teppan Edo. Despite having already eaten here before, I was still blown away by the meal. Our chef was super funny and really talented and the food was, of course, incredible!


Tummies full of food, we headed back towards Future World via the rest of the World Showcase, and had our fastpasses for Character Spot, meeting Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, then courtesy of the awful rain, Snow White was also meeting by the exit to Character Spot, rather than her usual place in Germany, so we saw her, then dashed to China to meet Mulan inside the Great Temple.

After meeting Mulan, we practically waded back to Spaceship Earth. NB: drainage in Epcot sucks after bad rain! We had Spaceship Earth fastpasses, then headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, then did Turtle Talk with Crush, which was hilarious as usual cos some kids say the stupidest things..


I always have to say hi to the manatees of The Seas when I visit Epcot, so we did that, then wandered across to Journey into the Imagination with Figment, which we walked straight onto, then dashed quickly into the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival to avoid the rain which had started yet again, and that got us both feeling pretty sleepy, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel for the rest of the evening!

Today:

– Total characters: 12

– Total steps: 12,574

– Total distance: 5.25 miles

Tomorrow we’re gonna hit the RunDisney expo first thing so I can collect all my race gear, then we’ve got another busy day so stay tuned!

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February Disney Trip Day 1

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I AM BACCCKKKKK

Today has been magical. Because we forced ourselves to stay up so late on Monday night, we slept right through til 6am with no troubles, and hopped on the resort bus into the Magic Kingdom for pre-opening entry, courtesy of our breakfast reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We did empty(ish) Main Street and castle photos, before heading round to the back of the castle to the restaurant. Oh my gosh, it was the most magical breakfast! Full review to come, but 5 princesses, amazing food, and well, WE WERE INSIDE THE CASTLE. Our server was also really lovely too!

We left the restaurant just after 9, yet the park was still pretty empty to we wandered to the Tangled toilets and then through to Liberty Square, where we stumbled across a pair of mischievous cowboy chipmunks, and we had such a fun play with them, before we headed over to my traditional first ride of Pirates of the Caribbean! On our way back through to Fantasyland, we spotted Mary Poppins at the gazebo, and had a chat and a few photos with her!

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From there, we had our Fastpass at Princess Fairytale Hall with Rapunzel and Tiana, then bumped into the Fairy Godmother just outside – 11 characters before 10.30! Next was a ride on Dumbo, and then Starbucks on Main Street #disneybasic.

We sat on the hub grass being classic WDW girls with our Starbucks and listened to the music from Move it, Shake it, and watched as the floats headed back up Main Street, and then Royal Friendship Faire began on the castle stage. I was super excited to watch it having last been here when it was Dream Along with Mickey, and safe to say I fell in love with it – Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Donald.. It brought a tear or two (I mean, I know everything at Disney does, but still) and I’m definitely looking forward to watching it again and hopefully getting some better photos with my telescopic lens! After the show, we had our Fastpasses for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, then walked through the now super busy park, and ended up in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

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Now in Adventureland, we came across Aladdin and Jasmine meeting in the bazaar, so we waited to meet them, and then headed to Tomorrowland and hit Carousel of Progress before our Space Mountain fastpass. It was then about 2.30 so we rushed back to Main Street for Festival of Fantasy, only to find it was packed and only got a mediocre view, but hey ho.. The park was HEAVING and queue times were ridiculous for everything, so we decided to beat the odds and get some food – also cos we hadn’t eaten since breakfast – at Cosmic Ray’s, since the busy park meant eating at a normal meal time would probably be absolute chaos.

One chicken club and fries later, we decided to do Philharmagic and then head to Tom Sawyers Island, only to find it was shut.. To console ourselves, we headed down Main Street and I dutifully watched Sarah buy her annual pass cos I’m a good friend like that. A quick walk through some shops, and 3 Vinylmations later (oops sorry not sorry) and we made our way back to Its a Small World for our final fastpass of the day.

Feet aching and tiredness setting in, we headed to the Tangled toilets to sit down for a little bit in the hope of a magical moment.. AND IT HAPPENED.


The legendary (or not quite) lantern that’s been the hit of Disney Instagram for the last week, that we were praying might still be a thing this week was!! All of a sudden the end of the day became even more magical than it already had been – and then we topped it off with Wishes!
I’m gonna round the day off with some stats cos y’all know I love numbers:

Total characters met: 12

Total steps: 22078

Total distance: 9.21 miles, and no, I’ve not even done any running yet..

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My WDW Trip Shopping List

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Considering its only 10 days til I leave for WDW, I feel super unprepared compared to previous trip! What’s even more surprising is that when I started to think about what to include on this list, I actually really struggled!

I know that as soon as I step foot into the first shop, I’ll see a million different things that I want, but there are a few things that I’m going in with the intention of buying..

  • Anatasia Beverly Hills glow kits – not technically Disney, but now there’s a Sephora in Disney Springs, its the perfect opportunity for me to look at getting the two kits that literally turn me into the heart-eyes emoji. I’m a total ABH virgin, but I’m saving my first purchases for a slightly better exchange rate!
  • RunDisney 2017 Vinylmation – I haven’t seen any photos released yet, but usually there’s a new Vinylmation released with each year of races, and its like a combination of my two favourite things: RunDisney and Vinylmations.
  • Teacup mug – I’m not sure if these are still available in the parks, but I LOVE these teacup replica mugs! If I could, I’d get a whole set of them, but I know getting them home would be a nightmare..
  • Happily Ever After princess mug – my mug obsession continues.. I fell in love with this mug the second I saw Amy post a photo of hers and now I need to get one, ha!
  • Park exclusive tsum tsums – whenever I see park exclusive tsum releases, I’m always gutted that I live in the UK and the US Disney Store doesn’t ship to us, so if I see any of these cuties around, I’m gonna be all over them like a rash!

I just hope I can fit everything in my suitcase!

Twitter / Bloglovin / Instagram
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RunDisney 2017 Update!

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Yesterday the event information for the RunDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend was released!

While I hadn’t forgotten, what with my trip getting so close now, my stomach actually did a turn when I got a text from my dad while at work to tell me that the event guide was live, and all of a sudden everything became very real and I actually got a little overwhelmed when I got home and it was time to check all the info – especially finding out my bib number, and ultimately my corral.

If you didn’t already know, I’m running the Glass Slipper Challenge, which consists of the 10K on Saturday 25th and the half marathon on Sunday 26th. I’ve run a weekend challenge before, at the Star Wars weekend in Disneyland last year, and I’m excited but also a little nervous to be participating solo this year, having previously raced with my dad.

Despite the slightly over-complicated route to get all the info I needed – downloading my waiver to find my bib number, then finding the corral listings – I let out a huge sigh of relief to discover that I’ll be starting in Corral G, the 2:25-2:36 finishing time. Its exactly where I wanted to be; close enough to the beginning that I’m not waiting forever to get across the start line, but also not surrounded by people running a much faster pace.

I was also really curious to see the course maps. I’ve run the half marathon course at WDW before, and I was sort of pleased to see that its the same route as last year as I know what to expect: start in the Epcot car park, run up to the Magic Kingdom, then back via the road by the golf courses and finish up in Epcot again. I was, to be honest, more interested in the 10K course as its not a distance I’ve done in Florida before, and I’m pretty happy with that too – its similar to the 5K route I ran last year, just with a longer stretch outside the park at the start of the race, and an extra loop around the Boardwalk as part of the World Showcase stretch.

It feels like forever since I last wrote about RunDisney, especially having spent the majority of 2015 blogging my training for last years races, but I’m really very excited to be racing again this year as part of my upcoming trip! As per usual, the best way to follow my adventures will be on Twitter and Instagram, and if possible again this year I’ll also get back onto Periscope for live course updates!

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Backyard with Mickey

Mickey's Backyard BBQ outfit

Mickey's Backyard BBQ outfit

Mickey's Backyard BBQ outfit

One of the things I’m most excited for on my WDW trip next month is going to Mickey’s Backyard BBQ! Buffet food and dancing with Disney characters – what is there not to be excited about?!

With a slight cowboy theme in the air, putting together an outfit was pretty easy, and a combination of some of my favourite things: flannel shirts and denim shorts. Keeping with Mickey’s black, yellow and red colour scheme, it had to be a classic red shirt, paired with the Oh Boy v-neck tee from The Happiest Fitness Co, and I customised my classic Levi shorts with iron-on patches that I bought from Depop. Add some Converses and my favourite black sparkly ears from Tokyo Disneyland and I’m ready to line dance with the gang!

If you’ve ever been to Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, let me know what you thought of it, I’m so excited!

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Bunny Cop

ZPD t-shirt outfit

ZPD t-shirt outfit

ZPD t-shirt outfit

Who didn’t fall in love with Zootropolis last year?! If Judy Hopps hasn’t become a role model to thousands of adults, let alone kids, all over the world, then I’d be really surprised.

That being said, of course I had to put together a Zootropolis themed outfit, especially when I received the cutest Judy inspired ears from Le Ears. I’ve been toying with the idea of a few Zootropolis inspired designs for The Happiest Fitness Co for a while, so I designed the ZPD Training Academy t-shirt (which is available for pre-order now here!) and I’m pairing it with this navy lace skirt from Forever 21. Nancy from Le Ears also sent me this cute little Judy badge to match my ears!

You can get 15% off all orders from Le Ears with my discount code ‘LOTTIEREP’!

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My February Park Bag

What's in my WDW park bag

I’ve never written a post about what I actually carry with me when I’m in the Disney parks, and seeing as I now have the most adorable new park bag – this pastel beauty of a backpack from Pack the Magic – I’m after any excuse to show it off! I usually carry a much bigger backpack, and find myself filling it with all sorts of rubbish that I never actually need or use, so I’m challenging myself to keep a more minimalist approach on my trip in February.

First off, I ALWAYS carry a notebook. This isn’t just a park thing, I carry a notebook with me everywhere I go, but on Disney trip I’ll have copies of all my booking references and timings in my notebook just in case, and its also handy in case I feel the need to jot anything down – blogger problems. Another absolute must is, of course, my camera. I’d normally have my SLR, but in the interest of keeping things light, I’m taking my new-ish Sony A5000 compact, for which I’ve ordered a telescopic lens for parade shooting. I’m finding it hard to get used to, what with preferring to use the viewfinder rather than display screen, but its a fab little camera and I look forward to playing with it more

Inside my magical backpack, you’ll also find my bag of pixie dust. This will have anything from makeup to painkillers and plasters, spare hairbands and suncream – whatever might be needed at a moment’s notice! I also like to keep my passport to hand, just in case I need any ID, as thanks to the wonders of Magic Bands, I don’t need to carry my purse at all, saving me the hassle and worry of losing it.

Finally, the last few bits of tech to keep the magic going! My powerbank can be a godsend should I ever be caught out without charge on my phone or camera, and I try to always remember a spare memory card just in case anything should happen to the other, or y’know, I fill it up with parade photos..

What’s in your park bag?

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