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.

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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

 

Hi Guys!

I've had such a busy few months and I'm just getting back into updating my blog so I thought the best way to get back into things would be a simple update on some new Disney items I've added to my ever growing collection this month, as it was my birthday at the start of the month I am lucky enough to have lots to share with you all, where possible I have included details on where to buy, hope you enjoy!

Fist of all, it would be wrong not to share this wonderfully unique gift from my sister, its a custom Funko pop vinyl figure, which was made for me by a lady called Penelope in Canada. I was totally not expecting this at all, and as a huge collector of pop figures i was really impressed with the quality and detail, especially the little Duffy dressed as Stitch.

As it was a gift I'm not sure what the cost of this was, but if you'd like to look at more of her work she does have an Etsy store called Nerdmitage, which you can find here!



Next up is this beautiful Peter Pan ornament, which was a gift from my dad, again this was a totally unexpected gift but I am so happy with it, i was lucky enough to get a Peter Pan traditions figure for Christmas so it looks like I am building up quite the collection of memorabilia of my favourite lost boy. This is from a company called Nao, and each piece is made in Spain. It's not something I had ever seen before and not a style I may have chosen personally, but i think it's beautiful and something I will really treasure, its currently on Nao's website for £114.75 and can be found here!



As I mentioned before February happens to also be my birth month, so imagine my excitement when it not only fell on a Tsum tsum Tuesday, but that the theme this month was Pixar! The February tsum tsums were a mix of 2 Pixar films, A bug's life, and Wall-E, luckily I am a fan of both films, so couldn't resist the opportunity to take a trip to the Disney store on my birthday and collect the whole set, they are £3 each, and I was able to use my DLP dream Annual pass to get a 10% discount, so happy birthday me!



Two more Funko pops joined my ever growing collection this month, the Fantastic Kylo Ren from Star Wars, which was a gift from my friend Lottie, and this adorable Flik which I picked up at the Cheltenham True Believers Comic Festival, I am so happy with both of them, and though I'm running out of space to display them I cant wait to get the others from each series to go with them.



While visiting the True Believers Comic festival I was also lucky enough to meet a fellow Disney fan who is also an amazing Cosplayer, Tris Trinket, or @magicandmouse on twitter, it was so nice to meet someone with so many similar interests and someone fairly local too. Though we didn't get much time to chat we got on great and I was even gifted these two hair bows as a birthday present, thanks again so much! If you're interested in seeing what she gets up to you can find her site here.



Finding Dory was the one film i really wanted most for my birthday this year, luckily after being generous enough to pay for a custom pop figure, my sister knew how much I wanted this film and picked it up for me too. It was the sequel I felt Nemo deserved and although it was a long time coming it was definitely worth the wait. Out of the new characters in the series the baby sea Otters are probably my favourite, though I really liked Hanks character and what he brought to the film, can't wait to snuggle up and have a cosy night in watching this one.



Another purchase from the Disney store, a gift from my lovely friend Eleanor this animators plush of Kristoff from frozen, I had been eyeing up the animator dolls when they first came out with the frozen set but decided it wasn't something i had the money of space to collect, so when I got the chance to take this plush home it was an obvious yes, full retail price is £14.99 but I believe most stores have them on sale at £10 right now so a great time to grab one.



Another gift from my friend Mclovin is this beautiful Disney villains colouring book, the pages look amazing and I've picked out some of my favourites below, cannot wait to get cracking on this one.



And that's about it for now, there are some more items I will be sharing with you shortly, so if you like what you've seen so far be sure to check back for part two =)

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!