Hey Guys! I saw a few people doing this on twitter recently, and it looked super fun, but I'm pretty rubbish at posting everyday, and also super impatient waiting for each day, so I figured I'm almost an adult, I make my own bed time, and if I want to do it as one blog post, I'll do it as one blog post.

So here it is, the Disney Challenge 30 questions about Disney characters, films and parks, hopefully you'll get to know me better and not get too angry at my answers!

1. Your Favourite Character -  I'm going to say Peter Pan. It's a real tough call, but that lost boy will always be special to me.


2. Your Favourite Princess - Again super tough, I really adore Aurora, but I'm also pretty in love with Anna. Can I pick both? If not I'll take Aurora =)


3. Your Favourite Heroine - Jessie. Jessie never gives up Jessie finds a way! I'm a huge toy story fan and Jessie is a big part of that for me.


4. Your Favourite Prince - This is a hard one as none of the princes really resonate with me,
   if Kristoff was a prince it would be easy but I'm going to have to say Naveen for now, I love the journey his character goes on throughout the film to learn about himself and every time I've met him he's been wonderful!


5. Your Favourite Hero - Who put the glad in gladiator? Yep you guessed it Hercules! He goes through a really tough side but he keeps pushing and comes out of it the other side, though I wish I had my own hero trainer like phil!


6. Your Favourite Animal - Oooh that's a toughy! So many cute friends how do you pick? I must say I have a huge soft spot for Lady from Lady and the tramp, so i guess we'll go for her.


7. Your Favourite Sidekick - Lets be honest, who doesn't want a friend like Mater? He's funny, he's caring and he can teach you to tip tractors and drive backwards!


8. Your Favourite Villain - Jafar. I don't even really know why he's just always been my favourite, I even have a plush doll of him, I was so happy when i got to meet him on my first DLP trip.


9. Your Favourite Original Character - Donald Duck! I love how angry he is, I love that he doesn't need to wear pants and that's ok with everyone. I think he's super cute and I love going to meet him in the park, chances are if I'm not on Dumbo, Buzz or Peter Pan's flight during EMH it's because I'm waiting to meet this ducky!


10. Your Favourite Song - What? I'm only allowed to pick one?! This is an outrage quite frankly. Anyone who's been in a car with me will know no journey is complete without a Disney sing along, so the thought of picking just one track is mind blowing. For now I'll go with "wanna be like you" from the Jungle book, but I'll probably change my mind by the time I've published this!


11. Your Favourite Love Song - Eww mushy! jokes aside though, "I see the light" from Tangled is utterly beautiful!


12. Your Favourite Villain Song - First of all, let it be said that more villains should sing. There's nothing more terrifying than a well constructed musical number after all, Could I have a loop hole and pick Cruela De Vil, I mean it's a song about her even if she doesn't technically sing it!


13. Your Least Favourite Song - This ones not quite as tough as picking a favourite, which is a relief as other wise I'd never get this finished, must say although I adore the film I'm no fan of the Siamese Cat song from Lady and the Tramp. Sorry=(


14. Your Favourite Kiss - Does Lady and Tramp's spaghetti kiss count?! Because that's the one I pick. Puppies are just too cute!


15. The First Movie You Saw - Now I'm gunna answer this one differently and go for first movie I saw in the cinema, as I'm sure I must have watched others at home first but I'm not sure which one I would have seen first. However i remember going to the cinema to watch the Live action 101 Dalmatians which must have been about 1997 so would say that must be one of the first.


16. Your Favourite Classic - Peter pan, I honestly don't think I could get bored of this film, as much as I love Peter and the lost boys I love Hook and Smee, I love the songs, the idea of Neverland, there's really not much bad to say about this film!


17. Your Least favourite Classic - Snow white. Sorry. I just don't get it. I know without snow I wouldn't have all the films I do love so very much, but that's not enough to make me like it I'm afraid, her voice annoys me, her character annoys me. I just don't like it. Not one
    bit.


18. Your Favourite Pixar Film - Cars. Without a shadow of a doubt that film is everything to
    me, and I can pretty much quote every single word. I love the setting, the characters the songs the animation. I just love it.


19. Your Least favourite Pixar Film - Now this was tough, rather than it being a film I don't like it had to just come down to the one I love the least, come on now, if you've followed my blog you'll know by now Pixar is my thing so picking one I don't like is super tough. I decided to go for Good Dinosaur, though it's beautifully animated, and I love Arlo dearly, the story just isn't quite strong enough for me!


20. Favourite Sequel - Toy Story 2, the film that gave me Jessie, how can anything else compare?


21. An Overrated Movie - Lion king. I'm so sorry Steph.


22. An Underrated Movie - Oliver and company!


23. A Film that makes you Laugh - Monsters Inc, Mike and Sulley's friendship is amazing!


24. A Film that makes you cry - Dumbo, every single time. When they lock mrs Jumbo up and Dumbo goes to visit. Heartbreaking!


25. Your favourite scene from your favourite movie - When Sally and Lightning go for a drive in Cars and sally tells lightning how the town used to be before they built the interstate that bypassed radiator springs!


26. Saddest death - Has to be Ray in princess and the frog, i was so unexpectedly attached to that little guy!


27. Your favourite quote - "I create feelings in others they themselves don't understand" - Lightning McQueen


28. Your favourite theme park - As I've only visited Disneyland Paris, it would have to be that one. 


29. Your favourite theme park attraction - Buzz Lightyear lazer blast - its a staple of every trip I don't know what I'd do if it was down for a whole trip!


30. Your favourite theme park show - Though I'm learning to love Mickey and the magician more with each viewing, right now its animagique that holds my heart, I wish I could watch it one last time!

So that's a wrap, 30 grueling questions about my Disney likes and dislikes, hopefully I haven't offended you all too much! If you fancy doing this challenge yourself either on Twitter, YouTube or on your blog, please tag me I'd love to compare answers!

Hoodsie xx

Hey guys!

So as a follow on from my list of 5 characters that are in DLP that I'd like to meet, it seemed logical to also look at characters who aren't in DLP but are available to meet in other parks. I know the chances of us getting them for the 25th year as low, but maybe something's already in the works, all you need is a little faith, trust and pixie dust right? =)

5.Sorcerer Mickey - Now please don't be fooled by the fact Mickey's taken 5th position, this is something I want for DLP more than you know, but realistically, despite everything that makes this costume wonderful, it is still the same Mickey I've met in all his other costumes. This would be so easy for DLP to pull off, and could easily go into the Meet Mickey building in fantasy land, it's my favourite ever Mickey costume, and there's so much merchandise in the parks already featuring this costume it seems criminal we don't have it =(



4. Anna & Elsa and friends - Possibly contentious as they have done meets in the park previously, actually during my 2014 visit, which yes i do regret not waiting hours for! Frozen has been an undeniable success, and as sick of it as you may be I think we can all agree a proper meet and greet would be a far better asset to dlp than the "frozen royal welcome" we're currently being fobbed off with. Now I have seen casting calls for a Kristoff and I believe I read somewhere this was for both shows/parades and meets so I'm really hopeful we'll get something soon, it just seems such a shame when they've renovated parts of cottonwood creek to resemble Arendelle that we have no frozen presence to meet there! =(



3.Sadness and Joy - Lets face it, we all knew there would be a Pixar choice in here somewhere, Inside out was such a remarkable and emotional film which I love dearly, the characterswere so well thought out and I loved that in one way or another I could relate to all of them at some point during the film. So every time I see a photo of someone with sadness and joy, I get a little twinge of envy, they look like they must be so fun to meet, and with such contrasting personalities I'm sure this lends itself perfectly to great character interaction!



2. Baymax and friends - Seriously how squishy and soft and warm and adorable is Baymax? He's the personal health care companion you can't help but want to hug! Honestly I think this would be such a unique meet and I just know I'd get told off for squishing him too tight! As well as Baymax himself though, I'd really love the opportunity to get to meet the rest of the gang, Hiro, Wasabi, Honey Lemon Gogo and Fred. In particular Hiro and Honey Lemon are my favourites and I'd love to hang out with them. I also think the set up they have in WDW with the themed meet in Hiro's garage is awesome and makes for amazing photos. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I need Baymax in my life.



1. Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps - This one is massively frustrating for me as I've seen pictures of them in the parks, and I know they've gone back now, I guess it was a hustle sweetheart ;). I desperately think they would be such a popular meet and it's such a huge shame we still don't have them in the parks. I spend a lot of time looking at forums and speaking to people who are new to DLP and a lot of them ask if there is any Zootropolis presence within the park. It's still a relatively new and current film and has been really popular so it disappoints me that Disney haven't picked up on that and made it possible to meet Nick and Judy. I can't even decide which one I want to meet most, they're both so soft and cute and are great characters. I think Judy would just edge it for me, but honestly I just want to snuggle their beautiful fluffy faces.



So that's my top 5, but what about you guys? Do you want to meet any of these characters or would you like us to borrow someone else? Please let me know tweet me or drop me a comment below, I'd love to chat!

Hoodsie xx



All pictures used taken from IMDB

It's a tale as old as time, but is everything what it seems?

As I'm writing this its March 17th 2017 and across the UK Disney fans and film fans are going in their masses to watch Disney's latest film offering, a live action remake of Beauty and the Beast.

Now I don't need to go into huge details about the plot as I'm pretty sure if you've stumbled across this corner of the internet, you've seen the original, but just to recap, thankless ungrateful rude prince gets cursed and turned into a beast, his servants are turned into household objects. He has an enchanted rose which is wilting and losing petals, when the last petal falls the prince will stay a beast forever, unless he can learn to love someone who loves him in return.

So I guess you're all asking whats different in this version, first we should note that Lumiere and the gang all have new looks and I'll be honest, Mrs Potts in particular still hasn't grown on me, I do think they fit their surroundings beautifully, but shes just creepy! However Lumiere and Cogsworth's looks have really grown on me and I loved how they looked in the film!



The soundtrack has some new songs too, now I must be in the minority here because I didn't listen to any of the sound track before I saw the film and I'm really glad I didn't now, the new tracks are brilliant and feel like they could be classics already, beast even gets a song of his own and it really helps to build his character and make him more likeable.

From the original soundtrack my favourite song and accompanying scene is probably be our guest, and I can honestly say the new version did not disappoint at all. It was every bit as much of a magnificent and magical spectacle as its animated counterpart. I honestly couldn't take my eyes off it, it was truly enchanting and a total highlight of the film for me.

Beast and Belle also have their own new looks, and I'm a huge fan of beast's new suit, it's really stylish and not over the top, it's probably my favourite costume of the film. I wasn't a fan of Belle's new village dress, but I did like her gold ball gown, she also has a wedding dress now, which is white with flowers, and though it's not something I would ever wear myself in a million years, it fitted the scene perfectly and look elegant and effortless, which lets be honest, is ultimate princess goals!



With live action remakes, I always worry about any plot changes they make, and my pet hate is unnecessary ones that don't add anything to the story (point in case, Maleficent, why is Aurora's dress gold now? It doesn't enhance the story in any way so why change it?) but I need not worry. Of course there have been some plot changes or additions, but I felt it was done well, and added to the existing story and characters beautifully. Especially in the case of Belle and Beast, in the earlier stages of their blossoming love, some additions to the plot bring them closer and really soften Beast's character to win the audience over.

The only plot change I felt a little disappointed with was LeFou's "gay moment", after all the hype from the media I guess I was expecting something a little more prominent than the literal fleeting moment we got, but most importantly, it was done tastefully and is a step in the right direction. I also like the extra attention to building LeFou's character throughout the film and giving him more substance than his animated namesake. Josh Gad played the role wonderfully, with a perfect mix of comedy and heart felt moments, though I must admit I couldn't help but think of Olaf when he spoke!

Over all, I really enjoyed this movie, I was really sceptical about Emma Watson taking on the role of Belle, and though I'm still not entirely sure she was the best choice for this role, she annoyed me a lot less than I thought she would, and I was really pleased with how well it worked, Dan Stevens as the beast was wonderful, the character was well played and really brought a lot of emotion to the film. Out of the whole cast I must say Luke Evans as Gaston was really a stand out for me, he was every bit the way I envision Gaston's character to be and was a pleasure to watch. I enjoyed the new musical numbers, and more than that I loved what they did with the original score.



If you are a fan of the original film I honestly believe you have nothing to worry about with this remake, it's a beautiful and respectful retelling of a story we know and love, the attention to detail with the castle and it's decor is phenomenal and I was really impressed with how well they recreated the scenes to replicate the animated ones so closely, the film really is a visual masterpiece.

And if you're not a huge Beauty and the Beast fan, who knows, maybe there's something there that wasn't there before?



Hoodsie xx



Photos taken from Disney's Beauty and the Beast site.

Hey guys!

So I guess the title on this one is pretty self explanatory really, as the official anniversary celebration inch ever closer I'm looking forward to trying to find new characters to meet, character interaction is one of my favourite things to do in the park, but even more so when it's a character I've not met before. So what better way to count down to the big day than a count down of 5 characters I would love to meet during DLP's 25th year?

Please note: I went for characters that I know are in and do come out in DLP already, lets not re-invent the wheel just yet!

5. Max Goof - Now this is probably one of the least likely ones for me to meet as he very rarely seems to be anywhere other than at an Inventions Brunch, and as they no longer announce the themes my chances of catching him there probably aren't great, having said that he has been spotted on a concept art for April 12th. I really love meeting goofy but find because he's so tall and I'm so little its super difficult to get a good picture, meeting max would be the perfect solution.



Photo Credit - Mad Madam Gaetane - Instagram - Blog 
4.Emile - It's no secret I'm a Pixar fan, and Ratatouille is no exception, I was lucky enough to meet Emile's brother Remy on a trip to DLP in 2012, but Emile continues to evade me unfortunately, having run the Ratatouille themed 5Km at DLP last September I was really hoping to finally get a pic with the little fuzz ball however the queues were insane and snaked right the way around place de Remy and out towards crush's coaster. Missed him again! Would love to see him come out around the 25th, and given they have a whole area of the studios dedicated to the film it seems silly not to have these two gorgeous brothers out more often, please!



Photo Credit - Fantillusion - Twitter - Youtube



3. Piget - As a child I loved Winnie the pooh, though when I say child, I was about 9 or 10 when my love was at it's peak, my dad would buy me all the VHS tapes as they got released and I would watch them over and over. Now Piglet isn't my favourite, honestly rabbit was, but I do appreciate how little he is and that's super cute. Out of the 100 acre wood crew that you can currently meet in the park Piglet is actually the only one I haven't been able to meet yet, I've had some brilliant interaction with him during Parades, but a picture with him would really be the icing on the cake! Rumours and photos have surfaced online recently indicating that the new character breakfast at Plaza gardens will be Pooh and friends so I'm really hoping this does turn out to be the case!



Photo credit - Mitchell Disney - Youtube - Twitter
2.Timon - Now this will probably come as a surprise to a lot of people because I'm really not the Lion king's biggest fan at all, however, other than Scar and Nala neither of which you can meet, Timon is probably one of my favourite characters from the film, he's funny he's sarcastic and basically he's adorable. I love seeing him on Magic on parade and he looks like he'd be really fun to meet and really soft to cuddle so what's not to like? The most frustrating part is that he always seems to be out the week after we get home, it's the worst possible luck. Hoping 2017 will be more successful for finding this little guy, if you have any tips please let me know!



Photo Credit - Fantillusion - Twitter - Youtube



1. Berlioz and Toulouse - Now I know what you're thinking, that's two characters not one this must be a top 6. And I guess yes technically you'd be right, but I don't think I've ever seen these kittens separated, so if I am lucky enough to find one, the chances are the other won't be far behind! Anyone who knows me well will know I really like cats, so the Aristocats is up there as one of my preferred Disney films. I've been lucky enough to meet Marie already and she was great, so finding her elusive brothers would be the best experience. Unfortunately they don't come out very often, and now that invention brunch themes are no longer announced in advance, finding these guys is going to be tough, but I know if i ever do catch them it will be totally worth it! The kittens are adorable, playful and judging by Marie some of the softest characters you'll ever meet, which is basically my idea of a dream meet, plus they're kittens!



Photo Credit - Mad Madam Gaetane - Instagram - Blog 



So that's my realistic top 5, what about you guys? Have you met any of these characters, are there any that come out in DLP that you've always missed and are trying to find this year? Drop me a comment I'd love to chat!

Hoodsie xxx

Hey Guys!

Following on from part one here's some more wonderfully Disney things I picked up or was gifted during February, hope you enjoy!

First on my list is this incredible painting by the fabulous Lauren! you can check her twitter or her etsy store for more incredible paintings. I love sorcerer Mickey, which is a weird one because Fantasia is by no means my favourite Disney film, it's just my favourite Mickey costume to date, and reminds me dearly of DLP. I was gifted this painting by a friend for my birthday but if you'd like to pick one up for yourself art on Lauren's store starts from around £5 and each piece is incredible. Thank you so much Lauren, I'm really going to treasure this and can't wait to get it on my wall!



Next is this awesome London Tsum tsum set which is from the Disney store i believe they currently retail for £10, i love the display box and their London themed costumes, the range also includes french themed, Rome and Chicago as well as a few others. This was a very thoughtful gift from my friend Sophie and it reminds me of all the Disney friends I've met up with in London. As the box is too cute for words I don't think these will be coming out to join the others so I'm currently working out where they're going to live, oops!



Pin trading is still fairly new to me, well i say pin trading, in reality i don't really part with my pins and I'd be far too nervous to ask a CM to trade even if i wanted to, so it's more like pin hoarding for me! In February I picked up 3 new pins, the season of the force pin, which Katie picked up in DLP for me, you can find her YouTube channel here  and then of course I finally added some Duffy pins to my collection which I managed to pick up on a Facebook selling group for a really great price!



Continuing with the Duffy theme check out these incredible Duffy ears from my amazingly talented and wonderful friend Shouls! She's recently opened an Etsy store to sell ears and other Disney head wear, and going by the quality of these I would be silly not to recommend her! I was so surprised to get these in the post and honestly I cannot wait to wear them in the parks, they are so so unique and I'm hoping they'll get some good reactions.



Finally, what sort of Month would it be if there were no new Duffy and Shellie May outfits to show you?! I swear those bears are far better dressed than me! So heres some new outfits we've picked up this month. The Sulley costume I got on Ebay at an absolute bargain, I really like the fur suit style costumes and we already have a few others. next up a Spiderman suit from Build a Bear workshop, I love that their clothes fit Duffy and Shellie as it provides me with so many extra costume options at really affordable prices! When we met Spidey at DLP in September he really took a shine to Duffy, so I'm hoping for some good interaction from this costume. Finally we have a costume for Shellie May which was a gift from the lovely Sebastien, this princess Leia costume is from DLP and I adore it, I looked at it a few times during my January trip but as I was only flying with hand luggage I decided not to bring it home, so imagine my surprise when it turned up just after my birthday! Doesn't it look amazing.

  



So that's it for my February Disney Purchases, as I'm trying my best to save for my DLP 25th visit in April I'm not sure there will be much to show you at the end of march, but i might surprise myself so check back soon!

Hoodsie xxx

Who would believe it's March already?! Honestly where is this year going? As the all important 12th of April draws ever closer, it's almost impossible not to reflect on our memories of Disneyland Paris over the years, I have been lucky enough to have so many great experiences over my 9 trips since 2010 and it's so difficult to narrow it down to a few stand out moments.

But without further waffle from me, here's my top 5 Disneyland Paris moments!

5. My first trip - I think everyone can agree your first trip to the magic will always hold a special place in your heart, getting to experience everything for the first time is so incredible, I'm pretty sure I spent the entire 4 days in awe of everything that was going on around me, and not entirely believing this was all happening for real!

My first visit was in 2010 during the new generation festival, I went with friends using holiday vouchers I had won at work, up until that point I had always thought a Disney holiday would be out of my reach financially, so to finally walk through those gates was a huge moment.

    
We stayed at Santa Fe, and spending was on a rather tight budget, we'd done little to no research and were pretty much winging it the whole time, but we had the best holiday, and I knew then I'd found something special in DLP.

    

4. Meeting Peter Pan - Believe it or not, this moment only happened on my 5th trip, and I haven't managed to meet my favourite lost boy since. I think we can all agree there are certain characters we hope to meet every trip, and for me Peter is pretty high on that list, I adore the film and for me there's something about his never grow up attitude that strikes a chord with me, so meeting this lost boy was a huge goal of mine.

It wasn't until I started to take more of an interest in the online Disneyland Paris community or fandom that my dream of meeting Peter became more of a reality, I got to grips with where was best to get information from, where to find the park program before I arrived and was able to start planning my days and knowing where I needed to be.

So it was on my May trip in 2016 that I finally got my chance to meet Peter, we arrived at his meet location in Frontierland around 20 mins before his meet was due to start to ensure we were nearer the front of the queue, I had my autograph book ready and was wearing my Peter jumper and top, so imagine my disappointment when the meet started and everyone's favourite Cod Fish Hook showed up! We decided to stay in the queue and meet him anyway, and the interaction was great, when we got nearer the front of the queue I was able to ask one of the CMs if Peter would be meeting at all that day, and luckily he was due to come out about an hour later.



We met hook rode small world and came back in time to get in the queue so that we would be near the front when it changed to Peter and boy was it worth the wait. I had the best interaction with him and it was so worth waiting 6 years and 5 trips for. He was so fun and friendly and I loved his autograph in my book, not only this but Hook came back out to join Peter so we got to see him again which was really special.

[gallery ids="364,363,362" type="rectangular"]

And the best part of our Peter meet, at the end of the day when we headed to Main street to watch magic on parade, guess who remembered us! A truly special DLP moment.

3. Halloween 2016 - Now this trip was something really special, but perhaps not for the reasons you would expect. After deciding I wanted to get into blogging in March last year I realised the best first step was to get involved with the Disney community online, and honestly? That was one of the best decisions I've made, everyone has been so friendly and welcoming and I've made some of the best friends.


So Halloween 2016 I finally got to take a trip to DLP with some of the people I'd met through the community. This was huge and not something I could have predicted when I started talking to people but I'm so glad i did it. Sharing the trip with so many Disney fans who were just as excited as me was an incredible experience. And the Soiree was something else entirely. I have so many amazing memories from this trip and feel so genuinely lucky to have been able to share it with so many people I consider friends.


Highlights from the trip include meeting Duffy for the first time, thanks to Alyssa and Gaetane, Inventions on the first night with a whole bunch of great people, and eating at Auberge with Steph, Kelly and Gabi. Everyone I met on that trip made it special and I look forward to taking more trips with you guys! Here's some of my favourite photos!

           
2. The "Early" night - Now maybe this one is a cop out choice, because its part of the Halloween trip I mentioned in my last moment. But this night was so special I wanted to give it a mention of its own.

It was the last night of my Halloween trip, and having spent the afternoon with Kelly and Steph we had promised ourselves we'd get an early night in ready for our last day in the parks and to make sure we were there for extra magic hours, so the plan was to leave once dreams started at around 10. It was getting late so we decided to take the opportunity to ride Buzz lazer blast while the queue was short, and as we came off the ride and headed towards the hub dreams was just starting!

As it was the end of the October half term for most people the park had really emptied out after Magic on Parade earlier that day, so the view we had for dreams was actually really good despite turning up right at the last min. We decided to stay and watch with the rest of the group of stragglers that were still going strong, and boy am I glad I did! I don't often stay out for dreams, I try to fit it in once a trip, but to be honest with you, I don't like fireworks and I really like sleep, but watching it on the last night of my trip, with a bunch of the kindest most lovely people I'd met through our mutual love of Disney, was something special, I was close to tears at times.

After dreams the majority of guests left the park really quickly, as we'd already stayed out later than planned we decided to wait and take some shots of the castle and an empty main street, as we slowly worked our way up and stopped for more pictures in town square it quickly became apparent that we were the only ones left in the park, as we moved closer to the exit security followed us, they were really great and didn't rush us out, just ensured we didn't go back further into the park.

        
Once we'd taken a whole bunch of photos in the park we stopped in Fantasia Gardens to appreciate the lit up fountains, we slowly made our way through the village popping in and out of each shop and then walked back to the hotel. We finally got back around midnight, and though it wasn't the early night I had planned for it was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable evenings I've spent at DLP and I'm so glad I shared it with so many friends!


1. Run Disney - Not only was this perhaps my favourite DLP moment over the 7 years I've been visiting, but this is perhaps one of my favourite ever moments so far. This was something that to begin with seemed like too crazy an idea to ever be able to pull off, it was a year in the making and pushed me to limits I didn't know I had, but hands down it was the most rewarding experience, and honestly I can't wait to get out there and do it again!

I won't go into a huge detail about the whole weekend, you can check out my trip report starting here, but in short, what a weekend! So many fantastic experiences packed into a whirlwind 4 days meant this was a trip I'll never forget, I met 50 different characters, ran 26.1 kms and earned 2 Incredible medals, and better than that I did it all in the place I love best and met some incredible friends along the way.

     
Special shout out to Steven and his family for travelling with me and spending their weekend with me, and to Gaetane who encouraged me in the starting corral when I'd convinced myself I couldn't do it.

If anyone out there is thinking of taking part in a RunDisney event I honestly couldn't recommend it enough, the atmosphere was incredible every one was friendly and helpful and the whole experience felt special. And I can promise you, nothing will ever compare to crossing that finish line and getting those medals. Of course training is essential, there's only so far you'll get on faith, trust and pixie dust alone, but it was worth every single training mile.


Here's a whole bunch of pictures from that weekend, and rest assured I'm already training for this years races!

     

A special thank you to Deandre over at PlayWearTalkRed for letting me use some of his Halloween 2016 photos!

Thanks for reading, hopefully when DLP turns 30 I'll have a whole bunch more memories to share! What are your best DLP moments?

Hoodsie xx

Hey all!

This is a new monthly blog series I'll be writing to keep you all up to date with my personal journey towards the 2017 Disneyland Paris half marathon weekend! Some one you will remember I ran the Inaugural weekend in September 2016 and had the absolute best time, so signing up for 2017 has been a no brainer really.

After I ran last year a lot of people started asking about my running and training and wishing they could do it to, so this is my way of sharing what I'm doing and taking you all on the journey with me, I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I'm trying to, and if you have any questions please feel free to drop me a comment or a tweet!

So where am I at right now? After run Disney, I kept running, it's actually become a part of me and something I really enjoy so keeping it going hasn't been too much of a chore, however shorter runs were more favorable over the winter months, and the festive season definitely stopped play for a while.

In January training started to ramp up again ready for February, my first half marathon of 2017 and my first since Disney. On Sunday the 12th of February I ran the Barcelona half marathon, and boy was it tough! the course took you round some incredible sights in Barcelona and the support along the route was incredible, I really struggled after the first 10Km but i stuck with it and got my medal, although perhaps not a race I'll run again it was a good experience and I'm glad I can say I've done it. My finish time was 2 hours 37 mins 48 seconds, which is quite a bit quicker than my Run Disney time which is a good feeling.

 


Moving on from my half marathon February for me has really been about getting back to good habits, this means making more time for the gym and also getting back to park run! Park run is a huge part of why I enjoy running so much, it's more than just a run, it's a community and a sense of achievement every week, it's a goal to constantly push myself towards, and on top of all that? It's free!

My "home" Parkrun is Kingsway - Gloucester, it's not the closest to home but I love the course and right from my first run I was made to feel really welcome, so now I try to get back as many Saturdays as possible to start my weekend with a 5km run. it's great to try and beat my own time and each weeks results are E-mailed to you directly the same morning as the event, so it's really easy to keep track of your progress.

What was even more special about Parkrun this month, is that I was able to introduce my friend to it, I recently reconnected with my friend Jess through twitter (@jessicamason_x) and when she told me about her fitness journey she's recently started, I couldn't wait to share the Parkrun experience, Jess has now ran 2 Parkruns with me, and I think it's safe to say shes converted, if you'd like to know more about her experience as a first timer, you can find her blog post on it here.

 

If you're not already part of the Parkrun family, it's free to run every week so why not see if there's an event near you and sign up here!

So that's a quick over view of where things are at the moment, I'll try to come back and update you every month with what I've been doing and share any tips I have to help make your training a little easier. Are you running at DLP this year too? Or maybe you're looking to get into running or improving your fitness? Drop me a comment I'd love to chat!

Hoodsie xxx