Hi guys!

So its quickly approaching the end of February already and that can only mean one thing, the Disneyland Paris 25th anniversary is now less than 50 days away! I'm sure im not the only one who is starting to get really excited now, and this week the buzz has started building in the parks to as the first of the new merch hits the shelves.

I've been keeping up to date with the merchandise through ED92 and Disneyland berry and thought it would be a good time to share my wishlist with you all, I'm sure more stuff will appear between now and April, and I'm equally sure I'll end up spending a LOT more than I intend to, but that's half the fun no?

Please note; the pictures used in this post are not mine and have all come from ED92 and Disneyland Berry!

1. 25th Duffy and Shellie May plush - Now I'm actually lucky enough to have known a few people who were in the parks on the first day everything went on sale, so I have secured a Duffy already and hopefully he'll be with me shortly, but I'm crossing everything that when i get to the parks in April there's still a Shellie May left for me, i adore their varsity style jacked and love the bright colours, I've recently got my hands on a 20th Duffy in the same style so can't wait to have them all together.

   
2. Autograph book - this one wasn't an automatic in for me, I spent a while convincing myself I needed it, having just got a new autograph book for season of the force which has plenty of space I was reluctant to shell out for a new one, but the more I look at it the more I'm convinced it will be one of my first purchases, basically it's just beautiful, I love steampunk Mickey and Minnie, and I'm a sucker for all things metallic/shiny/glittery, not sure how i'll decide which book to use when, but it's a certain purchase.



3. 25th T-shirt - I'm torn on this one, I know I want one, I'm just not sure which one yet, and I don't think I'll make my decision for definite until seeing them in person in April but these are the two that have really caught my attention, they're from the "sporty" range, and i really like the colours, I wear dress down at work every Friday and love to use it as an opportunity to show my Disney side, just wondering if grey is a better option for the office!

           
4.Photo Frame - Until 2016 I'd never bought a photo frame from DLP before, and now, well now I'm a bit obsessed with them! They're such good quality and great way to show off your treasured memories, I love the bright colours and the steam punk costumes so hopefully if i can get a good picture of Mickey and Minnie in their 25th outfits, this frame will be coming home with me.


5. Train set - probably the least realistic item on my list is the new train set, again its in the same bright blue colour scheme as the rest of the items I've chosen, and has images of the characters on the carriages. It's 129.99 and something I can't really explain why I need to own, i just do! I've been eyeing up the Christmas version for a few years so maybe this will be the year i finally crack, though getting it home may be a problem.


What about you guys? Got any of the new 25th stuff on your wish list? Drop me a comment and let me know what you're thinking of buying on your next trip!

I'm really lucky that I have so many people in my life I can share my love of Disney with, but one of the people I enjoy sharing it with most is my Niece! And it's not only Disney we share an interest in, we're both big Lego fans, so recently bought the Lego Princess Anna and Kristoff's Sleigh play set and built it together.

The set retails for around £19.99 - £24.99 in most toy stores and supermarkets, but due to a miss labelling we managed to pick it up in our local branch of Toys R Us for £16.67, bargan!

The set was quite simple and features Oaken's trading post, Anna Kristoff Sven and his sleigh, and has approx. 175 pieces, it's kit number 41066 for anyone who's interested, in total it took about 30 mins to construct with my niece doing most of the work, so a great little set that's not too complex for younger master builders.

Here are some pictures of the finished article.

 

If you'd like to see how we put the set together, click here to check out our first construction video!

What do you think? Are you a Lego fan, or a Master Builder yourself, I'd love to hear from you what sets you're building or wishing for!

Welcome back to the third and final part of the Run Disney series for 2016's inaugural Disneyland Paris half marathon weekend if you've missed them, you can catch up with parts One and Two using the links!

Sunday September 25th, the big day was finally here and again I was greeted with another painfully early alarm! As it had worked so well for the 5Km I again set up everything the night before so everything was ready to go and I could get to my corral nice and early, unlike the 5 Km the half was chip timed and had a pace requirement, which was something I was pretty anxious about. Luckily from following the US run Disney races I knew the pacers would only start after everyone had crossed the start line, so the closer to the front of my corral I could get the more time I would buy for myself to get clear of the pacers.



On my way to my corral I saw my friend Gaëtane who's content you can check out here; Blog & YouTube who was nice enough to come and join me, I had arrived a lot earlier today so the wait in the corrals was a bit longer and I was a lot more anxious so having a friend to distract from everything else going on was a massive help. The corrals were set up in the same way as the day before but with an additional corral added to reflect the higher number of participants. The race started a few mins late, but before we knew it it was our turn to start.


The course for the Half took us through the studios first and then on to Disneyland park before leaving at the back by the Indiana Jones ride to run round Val d'Europe before re entering Disney property at the Hotel Santa Fe. Not only was the course different, there were a lot more character photo ops and they were much better managed than the 5K, so Thank You to the run Disney team who listened to the feedback and made the changes so quickly!

We didn't stop for every character as we had already seen some that weekend, so Missed Spider-Man and Captain America at the start of the studios we also skipped Chip and Dale and Marie from the Aristocats.

The course first allowed us to run through the Light Moteurs Action stunt show, and through the back of Studios tram tour, and this was such a unique experience that you really wouldn't ever get any other way, seeing everything up close was incredible and I'm so glad we got to do this! we then ran round the back of Studio One and then doubled back to run through the studio, through toy story play land and Place de Remy and then towards the Disneyland Park, stopping quickly for this photo with Mr and Mrs Incredible, which as a HUGE Pixar fan I couldn't resist.


Once in the Disneyland Park the atmosphere was again amazing, made even better this time by the friends and family who had lined the right hand side of main street to cheer everyone on.

The route took us straight into discovery land from the bottom of main street and round behind space mountain as before, when we got to the Jedi Training academy it was the turn of Vader and 2 of his troopers to meet runners.


Again the course cut through the backstage area behind Buzz Light-year's Lazer Blast and brought us out in Fantasy land by the small world gates, where the path splits to go towards the castle stage the story book float from Magic on Parade was parked up and Royal couples were taking it in turn for Photos, we timed this just right and got to the front in between change overs and got to meet Cinderella and Prince charming as well as Belle and Beast, it was great to get so close to a parade float I've admired for years!


Further through fantasy land the course took us past Alice's curious labyrinth where we got to join the most wonderful tea party with most of the Alice crew! Being able to meet Cheshire Cat before his Halloween debut was pretty special, but to have the March Hare turn up as well was totally unexpected.


The course then went through to frontier land, where we found this handsome chap, Robin Hood, unfortunately my photo pass pics have gone missing so I don't have a brilliant picture with him, but meeting him was an experience I'll remember for a long time even without the pictures!


In adventure land we met Aladdin Genie and Abu having literally just missed Jafar, Jasmine and the Sultan, and then at the back of adventure land we met Dug Carl and Russell, again for a massive Pixar fan this was a huge moment for me, they were better than I had imagined.


Once we left the park there was still plenty to see and experience with lots of live music along the course, this was the bit I had worried about most but actually there was so much support, regular water stops and so much entertainment that the kilometres seem to stack up fairly quickly. When I got to Kilometre 15 I happened to look across from where we were running and saw the top of the Sally and Lightning billboard on the Hotel Santa Fe, that was it we were nearly there, I was actually going to do it.

Once we got back to Santa Fe there were about 5 or 6 Kilometres to go until the finish and although they seemed to go on and on forever the support from cast members, guests, friends family and runners who had already finished was incredible and really made those last kilometres achievable!


Again at the end Mickey and Pals were waiting for us, and then we got handed the most incredible medals, that moment made each of the 21.1 Kms worth while, I got my finisher photo and went for a well deserved afternoon at Inventions with friends.


I cant believe its been over 2 weeks since that run, the more time I have to reflect on everything I experienced and all the great people I met that weekend, it honestly was the best experience, I'm so glad I did it despite all the training and anxiety every kilometre really was magical, and if they'd let me, I'd already be in my corral for next year!



So that's the Run Disney experience, or my experience at least, did you run, do you wish you had or are you signing up for next year, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments!

See you at the start line?

Hoodsie xx

Welcome back everyone, this is part 2 of 3 of my Run Disney experience attending the inaugural half marathon weekend at Disneyland Paris, if you missed part One you can catch up here!

Saturday September 24th 2016, an early start in the hotel Santa Fe, my alarm went off at around 5:45 am ready for the 5km race, luckily I had the common sense to get all my rce stuff ready the night before so all my clothes were out ready, my gear bag packed and my race bib pinned in place, no one wants to be messing around with safety pins when they're still half asleep!

Now I'm not a breakfast person, especially when I run, which I know is really backwards but that's how I've been running up until now and I've had no issue yet so we're just going to work with it. I did grab a few snacks to put in my gear bag for after the race and one pan au chocolate for before hand, I got ready and left my hotel room read to walk to the start.

Th walk from the Santa Fe to the parks is actually quite short and remarkably simple, this was actually the first trip where I had ever walked to the parks before and I was surprised just how easy it was, even more so as I was in one of the last blocks at the back of the Santa Fe right by the bridge to cross from the Cheyenne! It felt very strange to be up and about so early in Disney and even more so to be walking to the parks in the dark, but the closer I got to the village the more runners I started to see.

First a quick stop in the expo hall to drop off my gear bag, this is a clear plastic bag you're given when you collect your race bib which has a space to put a sticker with your bib number on it, its a drawstring bag a bit like the JD sports ones which you can fill with anything you want stored during the race, for example I had a few post race snacks, a sports drink and my hoodie I'd worn for the walk down, these were then kept on racks in the expo hall for you to collect after your race free of charge which was a brilliant idea and enabled you to get straight into the parks after your race.

In the expo hall I caught up with Axel, you can check out his content here and then went out into the holding area which had porta potties and pre race photo ops, this was directly behind the Newport Bay Club hotel, and I did think the music was rather loud considering how close we were, if you were stopping in the hotel and we disturbed you I'm very sorry! From the holding area there were 3 lanes with lit up inflatable markers to show which entrance to use for each Corral, you were assigned a corral on your bib and could move down a letter to run with friends but weren't allowed to move up a letter. Each pathway took you through towards the start line into the final holding area to wait for the race to start at 7am.


The wait for the 5 Km race to start didn't seem too long, there was a bit of a buzz and everyone was really excited to see what was ahead of us, at the start line was a stage with 2 race presenters helping to motivate people and tell us what was going on and count us down to the start, and further back in the corrals were big screens showing what was happening on the stage. In hindsight, I wish I'd got to my corral earlier, the sooner you get there the closer to the front you'll be, and although people were squeezing through to get closer to the front, if you turned up late this wasn't an easy job.



Before we knew it our turn came to start running, the course left the Disney village to run through fantasia gardens and down main street, and from the moment we stepped into that beautiful Disneyland park the support from the cast members and volunteers was incredible. Honestly they're support alone would be enough to push you round the support, considering the early start time it was a little overwhelming to see just how many cast members were out clapping and cheering, so if you were one of those cast members - Thank You!

As you reached the bottom of main street the photo opportunities began, the course took you past the castle stage where Jafar, Cruella and Hook were waiting for photos, then back up and past the Annual Pass office where you could have your photo taken in front of the castle.


Next the course took us through Discovery land, round the back of space mountain to the first Kilometre marker and round to the fenced off star tours, once you got round to café hyperion Chewbacca and R2-D2 were outside the doors to Jedi academy with a photo pass photographer.


From there a short back stage section took you to the small world gates of Fantasy land where Pooh and friends were taking photos outside bella note, and through fantasy land to see Mary Poppins and Bert near the carousel. The course then gave you the chance to run through Sleeping Beauty's castle which honestly was exactly what I had been waiting for!

After Fantasy land came frontier land, which is one of my favourite parts of the park at the moment, as we ran round the corner I saw woody was meeting and knew I had to stop, it was only once I got closer I realised Jessie was with him too, honestly a dream come true. The queues for characters weren't too long on the whole, but I didn't feel they were very well managed, lots of people were taking a long time with the characters and it really slowed things down, it also meant character queues had to be closed and re opened to ease the flow of runners, another reason to get in your corral early! Once I got to the front meeting Jessie, while dressed as Jessie was an incredible experience and as you can see the photos came out great!


After frontier land another backstage passage brought you into the studios where roger rabbit was meeting guests in Toon town and Remy, Emile and Linguini were meeting guests in Place de Remy and then the course cut through toy story play land and then finally past the tower of terror and past rockin roller coaster before leaving the park toward the finish line.


At the finish line the Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto were taking it in turns to meet the runners for Hugs and High 5's dressed in their finest track gear and runners were presented with their Medals and a goody bag of snacks.


So that was the 5Km and what an amazing experience it was, I cant wait to come back and do it again next year!

"Take a magical run on the most enchanted course on earth!"

September 23rd - 26th 2016 saw Disneyland Paris host its first ever Run Disney weekend, a race series designed for everyone to enjoy regardless of age or ability. Run Disney started in 1994 with the first Walt Disney World marathon and has grown from there bringing together the Disney community and the running community over 9 themed weekends a year, the focus of the races is on the magical moments and memories you will create on the course and is an experience not to be missed.

I was lucky enough, or stupid enough, to sign up for the first Run Disney event in Disneyland Paris this year and this is my experience of the race weekend from the perspective of someone who hasn't been to a Run Disney weekend before.



I arrived on Friday at around mid day having taken an indirect Eurostar that morning, our first destination upon arrival was the Expo which was held at the back of Disney Village, this is where you could collect your race bibs, party wristbands and also buy race merchandise, the expo hall was huge, and luckily for us relatively quiet by the time we had arrived though i hear a much different story from those who queued to get in at 3pm on Thursday when it first opened! My only frustration was having to queue in so many places, there was a different queue for your 5Km bib to your half marathon bib, then 2 more queue for your free race top one for each race, then a queue for merch, and a queue for photopass! Not ideal when you've got all your luggage still with you.

 
The merchandise is a bit of a sour point of the weekend, compared to the US race weekends Paris had a much smaller collection of merchandise available, I would have loved a hoodie or jacket to commemorate the weekend, but settled for a T-shirt instead. Limited pins were offered but in such small quantities they sold out in no time, i was luckily able to get the pin I wanted most, but other than the logo pin these were the only ones left by the time we arrived on Friday, no replica medal pins for me =(

 

After getting everything sorted at Expo I popped over to the Santa Fe where I stayed for the weekend to check in and drop off my luggage, my room was already ready for me so i was able to leave everything safe and just take a park bag out for the rest of the day. My room was situated right at the back of Santa Fe right by the river which worked out perfect for me to walk to and from the races each morning.



Back into the parks and a chance to Finally see Mickey and the Magician and then hop over to catch magic on parade and ride small world. Before we knew it it was time to head over to the studios for the kick off party, a ticket only event for runners and their friends and family. The even started at 7:30 but by 7 there was already quite a queue forming outside, once the turnstiles opened things started to move quickly and we were each given a special park map with a list of what was open for that evening, We saw Sulley was meeting guests on the scare floor so as a huge pixar fan this was my first stop!

 

Having seen how heavily photo pass was being promoted at the expo, and knowing how sparse photo pass photographers usually are at DLP i was impressed to see sulley ready and waiting with a photographer, the run weekend Photo pass was €40 and covered all of your race photos for up to 6 bib numbers as well as your park and ride photos from Friday until Sunday, unfortunately for anyone like myself who owns an annual photo pass you run photos could not be added to this so if you wanted them you were forced to buy a new photo pass which is a shame, but due to the number of bibs you could add i was able to split the cost with a friend and get my annual pass discount, which made it less of a pain.



After Sulley we ran round to back lot to meet Captain America, this was his first ever appearance at DLP and we were expecting it to be busy, we got there about 10 or 15 mins before his set was due to start and joined what was already a busy queue. This was the one meet of the night that in my opinion could have been better organised. Cap was due out only for 3 30 min slots, although the cast members did stop the queue once it got to a set length there were already more poeple than Cap could see in the allotted time. He did stay out and finish the queue but by the time we got to him 10 mins after his first slot should have ended he was looking rather warm and sweaty! Also i asked a cast member if Cap would be signing autographs and told no, however we saw him sign for multiple people before us in the queue, luckily I still had my book and pen with me, as i got a lot of comments over the weekend from CMs who saw his autograph at the front of my book!

 

After cap we got some food from Studio one, the food was included in the ticket price for the party and you could go up again for a 2nd meal if you wished, there were 3 meals to choose from though when we got to the till we were advised they were having issues with the pasta dish, so burgers all round, I know quite often the food in studio one gets a bad wrap, but honestly it was very enjoyable and i would eat there again.

After food we rode ratatouille as it was a walk on, the cast members were fantastic and even stopped the ride at the last second to make sure Duffy got some 3D glasses to enjoy the experience too! After ratatouille the rides and meets started to close, this was a little disappointing as it was only around 10pm and the party was advertised as running till 11:30, As i had already managed to do all the things I wanted to in the studios we took a quick trip to meet Spider-man and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for Saturday's early start.

     

I think it's safe to say, every hotel in Disneyland Paris is pretty special in its own way, and of course everyone is going to have a favourite, this post is about my favourite DLP hotel, Santa Fe and the reason for this is that I've been hearing a lot of people say bad things about it recently, so it's time for me to stand up for something I love.

The Santa Fe is one of Disneyland Paris' 2 key or 2 star rated hotels and is just across the river from the Hotel Cheyenne, if you don't want to drive to and from the parks each day, these 2 key hotels are the budget hotels you've been looking for, its about a 15 min walk from the hotel to the park or if you prefer a free shuttle is provided. The hotel has approximately 1000 rooms and these are split into a range of 1, 2 and 3 story blocks, to help navigation of these blocks there are 4 main sections. The hotel also has a large restaurant with a bar, a shop, an arcade, luggage storage and laundry facilities.



My first trip to the Santa Fe was May 2010, it was my first visit to Disneyland Paris and I traveled with 2 of my close friends, when we booked our trip none of us had ever been before, but my 2 friends were both on a budget, we didn't want to drive which ruled out Dave Crockett Ranch for us, so Santa Fe was the next cheapest hotel, we figured we wouldn't be spending much time in our room and it was saving us money we could spend elsewhere on food and merchandise so this was a compromise we were happy to make.

The hotel at the time had a Mexican theme, with hints of route 66 painted across the front walls, pictures of mickey in a sombrero were on the hotel logo and the documents we received at check in, the restaurant was name la Cantina, the shop was the trading post and the games room was the pow-wow, the theme was fantastic, and the cast members were all dressed accordingly, at this time characters still met guests daily in the lobby/reception area and they had outfits in-keeping with the theme too, we were really impressed.


Overall our first trip to Santa Fe left us very impressed, the rooms were clean, tidy and had all the basic things you would expect, the theme from the hotel and the main building was carried through to the hotel rooms with themed furniture and bedding, the TV's were basic and had a few English channels but were more than sufficient for the amount of time we actually spent in the hotel, the bathroom was clean, complimentary toiletries were provided and replaced each day (because face it, soap with mickey mouse on it, who's not going put that in their bag to bring home!) and there was a hair dryer in the room, plenty of towels were provided in a number of sizes and the room was cleaned daily.

Yes breakfast was busy, but in a hotel with up to 1000 guests where breakfast is provided included in the price, I can't think why you would expect anything else, on check in we were asked to select a time slot for breakfast and given a card for each day with our time slot on in an effort to ease breakfast related congestion and over all this wasn't the horrific experience some people make it. Again same for the shuttle buses, they do get busy, there are a lot of people going to and from the parks each day, and its a quick, convenient free option, so it's well used, but we never experience issues with people getting pushed out the way or stood on or any of the other horror stories I've seen, of course I can only speak from my personal experience but over 4 stays at various different times of year, its not been something I've ever encountered.



When it came to my next DLP trip in October 2012, budget was again a factor for me and my partner at the time, again not feeling confident to drive in France DCR was out, and as I had no complaints from my previous stay, and felt more confident with something i already knew, Santa Fe was again our perfect option. Because I had stayed before and knew what I wanted, I don't remember doing any research into this trip, I didn't spend time looking at the hotel online or in the holiday brochure, so when we arrived to find the hotel being refurbished with a cars theme, I was pleasantly surprised!

Now it is no secret that I am a huge Pixar fan, and even less secret is cars is my favourite film, yes not my favourite Pixar film, or even my favourite Disney film, it's my favourite film, I have no shame in saying I've watched it in excess of 200 times, spend more money than I care to count over the years on merchandise and I live and breath for the world of cars.

So of course a re theme to cars was always going to go down well with me, what I can't praise enough though was just how well this was done, as a huge cars fan, the worry with something like this for me is that they won't do it justice, but i didn't have to worry, my 2012 stay fell mid refurb so there was plenty left to finish but i was still left impressed, when i returned in December 2014 the refurbishment was complete and I am so happy with the result.

From the moment you arrive at the top of the driveway to Santa Fe you are now greeted with a giant billboard of Lightning and sally looking out over carburetor county and this is above the walkway between the reception and the luggage hold, it sets the theme perfectly and it's the sight that makes me feel like I'm home, the route 66 painting still runs along the outside wall of the reception right the way round to the bus stop, and is one of the original features that fits perfectly with the new theme. The reception area is bright and welcoming and has framed cars pictures on the walls. Once checked in you'll be given a pack which includes a basic map of the hotel which is split into 4 groups of rooms you'll stay in either a Lightning, Sally, Mater or Luigi room and the signposts outside will feature these graphics as well as the number plaques on the doors of each hotel room.

 

In each hotel block there are road marking graphics on each entrance door and the carpets are fantastically themed with little caution cones and lighting bolts. However its once you step inside your room that the real magic happens, the best have cars themed covers again with caution cones, lightning bolts and road markings on, on the wall a frame cars print, and above each bed a cars themed light made up of 2 cones and a license plate. around the walls is a cars border with characters from the films, and on the chest of drawers there's a lamp made to look like a cone, and a shaped mirror with metal backing plate. The TVs have been upgraded to a flat screen and feature more English channels than previously, and all rooms now feature free Wi-Fi! The bathroom is also fantastic, a cars themed shower curtain complete with checkered flags is teamed with a giant mirror surrounded by lights and checkered wall tiles to complete the look.

 

What I like most about the changes? Of course any cars fan like myself is going to be massively impressed with the theme but it's not so in your face that you average Disney fan, or even your average holiday maker, is going to feel like it is too intrusive. The rooms are light and bright with just the right amount of themed items to give the cars feel. even though it is a budget hotel the rooms don't feel cheap or tacky and it provides just enough Disney magic touches to make you still feel part of the magic when you go back to your hotel to rest.

So what would I like to see next for the Hotel Santa Fe?

Evening entertainment in La Cantina would be a nice touch for the out of season trips when the park some times closes early into the evening, this would also bring across people from other hotels to visit the Santa Fe, and as someone who has never eaten there other than the included breakfast, may bring extra revenue in from the restaurant.



A cars character meet or photo op, like all the Disney hotels characters used to meet guests in the lobby each morning, however this was removed when the characters moved to the parks for extra magic hours. Currently there's nowhere in either park to get a photo op with the cars cast without standing in front of a fence which doesn't make the best photo, a photo location with lightning and mater would be great for cars enthusiasts, failing that, i'd love to see mickey and pals in the cars pit crew outfits, I can dream right?

A Disney pay per view service, now this one actually goes for all hotels not just Santa Fe, but seriously why when I go back to my hotel in the evening can I not pay a few euros to be able to watch my favourite Disney films in my hotel, would be easy money.

So that's my view of Hotel Santa Fe, i hope that inspires any of you who haven't been, or perhaps haven't visited since the refurbishment to check it out and maybe give it a try on your next trip? If you have any questions please leave them below and I'll be happy to try and answer as honestly as possible.

So here it is, the final day of our May trip =(

We took a bit more time in the hotel this morning, making sure everything was packed up and ready to go and that no one got left behind before dropping our bags off at reception ready to pick up later, then it was time for our breakfast reservation at Cafe Mickey.

Now I went to Cafe Mickey for the first time back on my March trip this year, I had heard really mixed things prior to my visit so was apprehensive but I really enjoyed it in the end, I had heard from a lot of people that the breakfast was better, so was quite excited and thought it would be a good way to round off such a brilliant holiday. Believe me when I say it did not disappoint! Which was a big relief, we saw Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Tigger and Chip and Dale, the chipmunks were our favourites by far. We were seated in the conservatory section, which although it is much brighter than the main restaurant I did not enjoy as much as kids passing by kept peering in the windows which felt a little weird when we were trying to eat. But the selection of breakfast food is good, and it's nice to have the option of hot food if you've been staying at the budget hotels all week!

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After breakfast we spent the day we watching our favourite shows, goofy's garden party and Minnie's spring train, as well as re-riding some of our favourite attractions, Orbitron, Phantom Manor, small world, Casey Junior etc. We had lunch at Bella Notte before finishing up on our shopping and heading back to the hotel to get the magic shuttle back to the airport!

For me the highlights of my trip were probably the Character dining experiences, and the character meets, we were lucky enough to each fill our autograph books and get some great photos which will make great memories for sprog as she grows up.

My next trip to DLP is already booked and I'll be back in the magic at the end of September ready for the inaugural Disneyland Paris half marathon so I'm starting the countdown to that to keep the Disney blues at bay!
Thanks to everyone who has followed our trip, please as always leave any comments or questions below!

Hi guys,

Once again sorry for the delays in keeping these posts up to date, I really must find more time in my week to write. Without further delay though I'll pick up where i left off, here's day 4 of my May DLP trip! =D

Thursday morning we got to the park for the 2nd hour of EMH and our first job was to meet Mickey and Donald, we had already seen Mickey this trip, but Donald is a character I hadn't managed to meet in any of my 4 previous trips so this was an obvious choice, they were meeting outside the plaza gardens restaurant so when we arrived at the park we took the opportunity to use the main street motors to travel down main street, this had also been on my wish list for some time so it was good to cross that off. By the time we got to the meet the queue was getting quite long so there was a bit of a wait, but still much less than when the park fully opens at 10, for anyone staying on site, or any AP holders I would 100%  recommend getting into the park as early as possible for EMH if you want to do the character meets.

Despite the wait this was a great meet, Mickey and Donald are so playful and fun and they really play on their rivalry, with Donald signing our autograph books "Donald Duck #1" just to annoy mickey. Sprog was dressed as Merrida that day and Donald and Mickey both did a bow and arrow pose with her which was really cute!

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After the meet we decided to head to Discovery land as this was closest and Sprog really enjoyed Orbitron and Buzz lazer blast so wanted to ride them again, Buzz lazer blast is one of my favourite rides so I really didn't mind this at all, we also took the opportunity to ride autopia when it opened at 10 before the queue got too busy, sprog loved being able to control the car, and actually wasn't a half bad driver, I also enjoyed the ride more than when I last rode it on my first trip in 2010 so was pleasantly surprised!

After doing a few rides we decided to spend some time character hunting and took a walk over to Adventure land ready for the Peter and friends meet, peter was one of the characters I wanted to meet most on this trip, so when the line started moving at 11:15 i was a little bit disappointed to see it was Captain Hook that had come out to meet, we stayed in the queue anyway as both sprog and myself still wanted a photo and an autograph but when we got near to the front of the queue I was able to ask the CMs if Peter would be out at all that day, lucky for us he was due out at 12:30 which gave us exactly the right amount of time to meet hook, pop over to Fantasy land and ride small world for the hundredth time and then get back and join the queue, this worked out perfectly and we were only about 4th or 5th in the queue when Peter came out! Meeting Peter was everything I had hoped for which is always a big gamble, I was so glad that I had asked if he would be coming back out as I would have been gutted to miss him, especially as I was wearing my Peter Pan jumper!

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After Peter we popped further down Adventureland to see who was meeting at the Aladdin and friends meet, it was Jaffar, one of my favourite villains, so we jumped in the queue, unfortunately Jafar went to relieve himself not long after we joined the queue and was replaced with Genie which was a shame, but Genie was really cool and we both enjoyed meeting him!

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After Genie we decided to stick with the character hunting theme and managed to get over to Fantasyland in time to meet Alice and the queen of hearts and Alice showed sprog how to correctly greet the queen which was very cute! We then walked over to central Plaza to watch Minnie's little spring train as sprog loved doing the bunny dance, and took a walk round fantasy land, just as we were walking out of princess pavillion who comes out the door? Merrida, she was clearly in a rush so no photo or autograph but she stopped on her way to tell sprog how much she liked her dress, it was a truely magical moment!

We stopped for a late lunch at McDonalds and then took a walk around the studios and village and did some shopping before heading back into the main park in time to catch the end of Magic on Parade! This was my favourite time watching magic on parade as we managed to get a good spot by main street motors, saw the whole parade, and then as Hook's ship came past, the Peter who we met earlier was on our side of the road and spotted us, he shouted to say he remembered us and blew kisses and waved, it is the little moments like this that really make all the difference!

After magic on parade we managed to fit in a few more goes of some of our favourite rides, and got this amazing picture of me and sprog riding Pirates of the Caribbean! I mean honestly, have you ever seen a more excited happy mini Merrida?



We then headed back for our final night in the hotel ready to pack and sleep before making the most of our last day in the park! =(

Will write the last day report this week, until then, please leave your questions or comments below!

Dont forget to check out my instagram for more pics of our trip!