Hi Guys,

This should be a bit of a shorter one from me as we catch up where we left off at the end of the 5 Km race!

The opening party was something I wasn't 100% sure I'd do again, as last years had some teething issues to say the least! Luckily for me, a severe case of FOMO and a slight price reduction had me handing over my money to Run Disney in no time, I know I'm a sucker right!

Now I have to say overall I did enjoy the party, however in my eyes this was the main thing that left so much potential unfulfilled, so I'm going to try and give honest feedback on how the event unfolded in my experience, having said that, if the price is right for the next run weekend, I would definitely try again!

The party was on the Friday evening the same as last year, however this year that meant there was a slight matter of running the 5 Km first, the party and the race were also both held in the same park which meant people had to clear through the left hand side (Think Toon studio, Place de Remy and Toy Story Play land) before the party could start. It also meant the Left hand side (Rock N Roller side) couldn't open fully as runners were still finishing.

After Finishing the 5 Km and getting our medals, it would have been ideal to have been able to go straight into the party, however there was the small matter of our gear bags, once you stop running you get cold pretty quickly so i wanted my hoodie as well as my other personal items which I had left in my gear bag, the bag drop and collection however, was located in the expo tent at the back of Disney village, so yep that's right, I had to leave the studios to walk to the far side of the village and back to be able to have my stuff with me for the party. This meant the party had been going for a fair while by the time we got there!

On entry into the party there was no list/ schedule of what rides were open, or what characters were out, this was a bit disappointing as we had guides for the party last year and it meant we could prioritize what was most important and head there first.

Out in front lot Belle was meeting where we had seen Cinderella and Prince Charming during the race so we decided to stop as Sophie was dressed as Belle too, the queue was quite quick and Belle was ever so sweet!


We walked through Studio one, and found the Hunchback guys were still meeting outside Art of Animation, we got Quasi and Frollo during the run, and it was Clopin and Esmerelda out at the party when we arrived so we decided to take the chance to finish the set. Just after Sophie had her photo, they brought Quasi and Frollo back out ready to swap over for a while, but as I was desperate to meet Esmerelda, i managed to jump in quick and got a photo with all 4!


The only bad thing about this meet was the misunderstanding between guests and the photo pass photographer, they weren't scanning peoples existing photo passes and were instead just giving out the temporary cardboard passes, Luckily the following day we got these transferred onto our actual photo pass, so it was more of a slight inconvenience than anything!

We then found out the Aristocat kittens were meeting over at Place de Remy still, as you may have seen in my 5 Km post I really regretted not stopping for them during the race, they boy Kittens have been on my want to meet list for forever so I had to try. So off I went sprinting towards Place de Remy, the queue wasn't huge when I got there and I finally thought this would be my chance to meet them. And then it happened. we were a few people away from the front when the Cm said the Kittens needed to go in for their break and only Marie would be returning. I don't even think "gutted" covers it, in fact heartbroken is the word I would pick, I have wanted to meet those kittens for such a long time and I really thought this would finally be my chance, but it wasn't meant to be unfortunately!

However, all was not lost, as they left Toulouse (who just happens to be my favourite of the brothers) stopped on his way past, gabbed my hand and gave me licks/kitten kisses, and luckily Sophie was on hand to take a photo. Of course I'm still really disappointed to have missed them and not being able to hug them, but I think he could see how upset I was, and it did take the edge off a little. 

As we were so close to the front of the queue we decided to hang on and meet Marie anyway, I mean one kitten is always better than 0 kittens, and she was really loved and gave me the biggest cuddle!


We then go told by a friend (again no official program of events to be found, I don't know what we would have done if it wasn't for the tip offs we had) that some of the VIPs (Mickey & Minnie etc) were meeting in their Run Disney tracksuits outside rock n roller, so we made our way straight across to the other side of the studios, but when we got there the queue was already closed, more disappointment!


Our friend Chrissy with Mickey and the gang!

At this point we decided to call it a night, we were both tired, still needed to walk back to the Hi Park and I had the 10 Km race to get up for at 5 am so it was probably the right decision.

Overall, yes I did enjoy my time at the party, and it looked a lot better than last year, however I do think it had potential for so so much more, a guide of when and where the characters were out would have been useful, also having the party straight after the race wasn't, in my opinion at least, ideal especially for people starting in the last corral as you wanted to enjoy and stop for the characters on the race but also juggle that with getting back for the party, personally i would like to see the party moved to the Thursday.

I guess one of the biggest changes I would like to have seen was with the bag drop, some option to collect your bag without having to go back to the expo, perhaps some way of marking your bag if you're a party attendant so that they're transferred to the studios, this would have saved us a lot of time, and may have been the difference in us being able to meet the kittens!

So that was my experience, did you attend? What did you think? What was your highlight and what changes would you like to see next year?

Drop me a comment and I'll be back soon with my experience of the new 10 Km!

Hoodsie xx

Hey Guys!

Thanks for sticking with me through this trip report so far, its great to be able to re live everything and share the memories so hopefully you're all enjoying it as much as I am, remember if there's anything extra you wanna see or know about, please leave me a comment and I'll do my best to sort it!

To carry on from where we left off with Day 2, we had gone back to the Hi Park hotel for a quick rest and to get changed into our race outfits for the evening. It was a short walk back to the parks and this served as the perfect warm up, if only we hadn't had such a long wait in our corrals for the race.


I had been allocated Corral B and Sophie had been given C, as it was her first ever Run Disney event, and even more impressive her first ever 5 km, and I feel like I may have sort have influenced her decision to come, there was no way I was letting her start alone, so we got there nice and early allowing me to drop down to C but be right near the front ready to start.

 I think that's a top bit of advice actually, the further back your start corral, the earlier you want to look at getting there, its worth it just to get a head start on the character queues! Don't worry there's plenty of entertainment while you wait, and porta potties if you need them!

There were a few changes to the 5 Km race for the second edition of the DLP run weekend, firstly this was now an evening race on the Friday rather than a morning race on Saturday (which is obviously to allow for the addition of a 10 Km course), secondly the 5 Km course is now solely confined to the Studio's park, which I think is a real shame, especially for people who aren't running the other races, and children who won't get to run through our beautiful, iconic castle. All races now finish in the Studios park (I really love this change) and finally, the start line for the 5 Km is now around Lake Disney!

Because of the change to the starting place there wasn't really room in the corrals for video screens showing the pre race warm up, so instead the team were sent out on to lake Disney on a floating stage complete with speakers, I actually thought this was a really fun touch and it ensured everyone queuing around the lake had a chance to get involved.

After getting all warmed up it was time for the race to start, the route first took us through Disney village, now because of the 8pm start time on a Friday night, you can imagine the village was pretty packed, and although it created an amazing feel to run through, I'm not sure how practical it was in terms of guest flow within the village for non runners, a great deal of which I imagine booked their trips without even knowing about the races that weekend! Bet that was a bit of a surprise!

After Disney village it was into the studios, the first character stop was in front lot, when we arrived it was Cinderella and Prince Charming, however looking at photos others had on the course it looks like Belle and Beast were also meeting at this point too, It's a shame we missed them, especially as Sophie was running as Belle, but we were still happy just to be there. We decided not to stop for this photo op as the queue was quite long and we hoped we'd find someone better along the way.

We ran through Studio One and took a right towards toon town, outside Art of Animation was our second photo op for the evening and this was one I wasn't missing! It was Quasimodo and Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre dame, Frollo is often out at Halloween so I have managed to meet him before, however the rest of the Hunchback gang are very rarely out, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen Quasi in my 7 years of visiting the resort!


After our photo stop we ran past crushes coaster and the cars ride, where the cast member support was really really great - Thank you so much! We ran into Place de Remy, where the Aristocat Kittens were meeting, I seem to remember the queue for them being quite long when we arrived, but honestly, my biggest regret of the weekend is probably not queuing for them at this point!

We ran under the tunnel and into Toy story Playland, which honestly, looks it's very best at night time, and from there we ran towards the tram tour. The route took us on a huge lap of the tram tour and it was really surreal to run so far out but still not really be backstage. About half way round our next photo op presented its self, Gaston, looking like he was in the middle of the forest ready to hunt the beast! As Sophie was dressed as Belle, and we were making good time, stopping for Gaston was a must, and the queue was quite short and moving quickly anyway!


Close to Gaston there was another photo op but with no characters? It was a set with large flowers that I had a suspicion might be for use later in the weekend, but I guess it was a cool background and there were plenty of people getting a snap there!

We ran around the Catastrophe Canyon part of the tram tour which took us quite far out, and it was quite surreal to see it up close, the final photo op of the course was in the stunt show, where Remy and Emile were having photos with their Stars n Cars vehicle, this was a photo op I really wanted having missed them at last years race, and still having never met Emile. The queue was quite long but it was moving so we decided to chance it. Unfortunately we were just too late and by the time we were getting to the last 3rd of the queue the CM said that the rats had to go but we could stay and have a picture with the car.

We decided a photo with just the car would be too painful so skipped it, Sophie did get this photo of me with the rats in the background and I think it's clear how disappointed I was to be missing them again, fingers crossed one year I'll get there in enough time!


Aft the tram tour we ran the final straight past Armageddon towards the much missed Cinemagique! Crossing the finish line and getting your medal in any race is always special, but I think for me, this 5km is one I'll remember for a long time, running it with Sophie was amazing, and I can't tell you how proud I am of her!

 

So that's the 5 Km, 1 race down 2 to go, come back soon as I tell you all about the opening party!

Hoodsie

Back again!

If you need to catch up with Day 1 please do, otherwise lets jump straight back into the trip with day 2, Friday September 22nd.

5K day! As the 5 Km race has been moved to the evening this year, we still had a whole day of fun in the parks before we needed to think about running! As we knew we had a long day and a late night ahead of us we didn't rush to get into the parks for EMH and instead got to the studios around opening time, we stopped inside studio one to grab a 25th donut each for breakfast (healthy right?!) and then made out way over to meet Buzz Lightyear.


As I decided to run the 5 Km as Jessie again, I stuck to a Jessie bound for the whole day and teamed it with my Buzz Vans backpack from Asos, My custom ears from MakeWearPlay and My alien Toy story vans from Schuh Duffy dressed as woody to meet Buzz and later had a costume change into his Buzz suit to meet Woody and Jessie. The extra interaction gained from this was 100% worth it for me, and they are some of my favourite meets.

While we were in the studios we also checked out Cars Quatre Roues Rallye and Ratatouille, we were even lucky enough to bump into Simon and Lisa, who have a YouTube channel, who let us use their fast passes for ratatouille. Again thank you guys so so much for this gesture!


After the studios it was time to park hop and go back over to frontier land to find Woody who was lots of fun as usual, grabbed some more Halloween photos too, the decorations are really looking amazing, and although I am a bit sad most of Halloween seems to be confined to Frontier land this year, I can't deny they have made a really, really good job of it!


After meeting Woody there was a few hours break before Jessie was due out so this gave us chance to watch the Happy Anniversary show on castle stage which is one of my favourites, we also got waffles from the old mill in fantasy land to tide us over on the food front!


Soon enough it was time to go back to find Jessie, and her meet did not disappoint at all, she loved my outfit and all the toy story accessories, especially my alien vans which she tried to steal using "the claw" my only disappointment is that there's hardly ever a photo pass photographer here which seems like such a shame, but the CMs were more than happy to take photos on my phone to capture the moment!


After we saw Jessie we popped back to the expo at the back of Disney village to sort out our photo pass for the runs as you can't use your normal pass one and they have to be linked to at least one of your bibs, then we had a late lunch/early dinner at Vapiano for some last min carb loading before the 5km.

We walked the short distance back to the Hi Park and got ready for our first race and Sophie's first ever 5Km!


And on that juicy note, I'll leave you there for today, the race and opening party deserve a post of their own so that's whats coming up next, as always you can subscribe on the right hand menu so you don't miss the next part, and you can drop your comments down below because they make me really happy!

Hoodsie xx

Hi Guys!

I'm back again, trying to keep on a roll with these write ups before i start to forget everything that happened (if that's even possible on such a memorable trip?!). It was a real whirlwind 5 days and I still can't quite believe how lucky we were and that some of the things actually happened!

So here's what I got up to on day 1 of the trip, hope you enjoy!

Thursday September 21st, it was about 7 am when we left to get the tube to St Pancras to get our Eurostar and I was feeling super excited but a little nervous, we got a slightly later train than in August, but thanks to a shorter stop at Lille we still managed to get to the parks for about 1pm which left us a good chunk of time to explore the park.


We were super hungry when we arrived so after dropping out bags off we took a stroll down Main Street to Casey's corner for a hot dog, then we went across to Frontierland in search of Merida as she'd been out a lot recently despite not having an official meet in the program. As we entered Frontier land we were greeted with the amazing new Coco statues all around the land, they are really colourful and are way bigger than i expected and personally I think they are a great addition to Frontier land, and especial around the restaurant Fuente Del Oro in particular which I believe would hugely benefit from staying this way for the foreseeable.



We made out way towards the Chaparral Theater looking for Merida and were pleasantly surprised by an unscheduled appearance of Pluto and Goofy! I didn't manage to get a picture with Pluto but I did tell him what a good boy he was and gave him a pat on the nose, but I love my photo with Goofy from this meet, having the Train station in the background was a really nice touch!


As we left Cotton wood creek Merida had just come out so we were able to have a chat get an autograph and some photos and Shellie-May was wearing her Merida dress again so the interaction we got was amazing, I'm so so glad we took the time to go and look for this photo op as it really made my day.


After Frontier land a trip to meet the main mouse was on the cards, and as usual he didn't disappoint. The top I'm wearing is from the guys at Magical Thunder Press and not only do I love it, but Mickey loved it too, the ears are standard parks ears and are around €13.


After Meeting Mickey we got a few rides in and stopped to watch the Starlit Princess Waltz on castle stage before heading over to the Run Disney expo to pick up our Bibs and the pins we pre-ordered, stopped for a quick dinner in Disney village, back to concierge to grab our bags and then we got the shuttle to Hi park ready to check in and get some sleep before a very busy weekend kicked off!


So that's day 1, stay tuned and I'll try to make sure the rest of the days follow up quickly there's so much more to come.

Hoodsie xx

Hey guys!

So I'm back from Disneyland Paris, and to try and avoid the Disney blues setting in just yet, I've decided to dive head first into writing up memories of my trip, i'll hopefully have a few posts coming up over the next few weeks to take you through everything that happened and I can't wait to share it all with you!

For now though, I'm just going to take a moment to revel in the fact that I actually did it. I went out to Paris extremely nervous that perhaps I had just bitten off way more than I could chew, 36.1 Km over 3 days is a big ask, and with factors outside my control training hadn't gone exactly as I had planned.


But I gave it my all, and with a little bit of faith trust and pixie dust, I went the distance and I crossed all three finish lines with a smile on my face, after all where is more magical to run than Disneyland?

So apologies if this comes across as a major gloating post, because it's really not meant that way, and if you follow me on my other social media profiles, I'm sorry about the amount of medal pictures you'll be seeing, but really I'm just so happy I managed to achieve so much over the past weekend and I just want to share it with anyone who will listen!


Over the weekend I met 50 different characters (Not including different VIP outfits) and walked 161,348 steps, came home with 4 beautiful medals, and a bunch of memories that will last a lifetime, and I feel so genuinely lucky to have experienced it all.

Finally a huge thank you to everyone who's followed me on this adventure, supported me and encouraged me, I couldn't have kept going if it wasn't for all the kind messages you guys sent!

I'll go into more detail about each race and each day of my trip soon, but that's all for now!

Hoodsie xxx

Hey guys!

Following on from my trip reports from my August trip, I wanted to share the bulk of my purchases with you guys, given most of them came from one shop there's quite a theme here so I hope at least some of you like it.

Disney pin trading is something I've only recently become more interested in since becoming an annual pass holder, the idea is that you buys pins in all the different hotels and parks, display your favourites on your lanyard and trade the rest with others to get pins you love even more! Now i must admit. I haven't fully embraced the idea of pin trading, as I seem to buy plenty, but I never want to actually trade them! Maybe in time once my collection has built up a little more I'll decide to start trading but for now I'm happy just to keep adding to my collection with more pins that I love or than give me special memories from my trips.

Pins are available in most shops and hotels across Disneyland Paris, however if you're lucky enough to be visiting on a Saturday or Sunday and you'd like to get some pins I would highly recommend taking a trip to Pueblo's Trading post, which can be round near cowboy cookout in Frontier Land. For me this along with Harrington's is one of the best places for pins, and is also where new Limited edition pins get their initial release. Its quite a small shop so can feel a little crowded but its a treasure trove of pins and vinylmations and I love getting to visit.

This is where the most of my shopping happened this trip as there were a few items I was dying to get my hands on and this was the best place to try and get it all in one go.

The first thing I picked up was the blue 25th anniversary lanyard, now if you've read my other haul posts you may remember I picked up one of these in April when I visited for the anniversary day. Unfortunately it was faulty and didn't realize until i got home, I did E-mail to see if it could be replaced however it was out of stock, so this i the first chance I've had to replace it, I made sure I checked this one over carefully before I took it to the till and am happy to have it in my collection now, this retails for €9.99 before any discounts.

Next I chose this Illuminations pin, to celebrate 2017's new night time show, sure it's had mixed reviews compared to dreams, but I actually quite like the show and this pin is truly beautiful it was €7.99 and is an open edition so should still be available and restocked for a while.


I got 2 new Cars pins which have been released recently, the first features both Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramierez from the new film and was €6.99. The second just features Lightning which was €6.99 too, as cars is my favourite film I wanted these from the moment I first saw they were being released so I'm so glad I've been able to add these to my collection.


The final 2 pins I got this trip, I can't remember the prices for and unfortunately I no longer have the receipt but I'm pretty sure they were either €6.99 or €7.99 The first is this beautiful Marie pin with jewel detailing, I was torn between this and another Marie pin, but i think the extra sparkles on this one just edged it ahead for me, and knowing me, I'll probably pick up the other version on one of my trips this year.


The other was this Rainbow Mickey head, since seeing the Disney Store participate in the Pride events in London earlier this year I have been looking for some sort of rainbow Mickey pin to add to my collection and I'm happy to say this one is just perfect and I'm so proud to be able to wear it on my lanyard and know that Disney are supportive of this.


So that's my Pin haul for August, i have already pre-ordered some pins for my next trip in just over a week and I'm sure I'll find some more that I like on top, so there may  be another pin haul soon.

Until then, what are your favourite pins, any you want to pick up on your next trip? Let me know in the comments!

Hoodsie xx

Hey Guys,

Thanks for sticking with me, I swear it was the shortest DLP trip ever but its just taken me the longest amount of time to actually get everything down in writing! If like me you've kinda forgotten what happened on Day One, feel free to go back and catch up.

Day 2 started slightly later in the morning than day 1, I think the alarm went off around 6:30 am, which was actually quite pleasant compared to the day before, I was still totally shattered from the travelling and everything else the night before, and still feeling a little under the weather, eventually we got up with enough time to have some breakfast and get to the parks for EMH.

As we were trying to make this a budget trip, we didn't stay in any of the onsite hotels, instead we opted for the Explorers hotel, which is a nearby partner hotel of Disneyland Paris, this was my first time staying here, and though I wasn't there long enough to really form a full opinion, what I did experience of it I really enjoyed, the beds were comfortable, the rooms were clean and had all the basic things you need, the whole hotel has a pirate theme which I loved and seems designed to be really family friendly, the pool though I didn't have time for a splash looked amazing, and I would definitely consider staying there again!


After breakfast we had the most disastrous Uber ride to the park as EMH hours starts at 8 and the first bus doesn't start until 8, but eventually we got there in one piece, dropped our bags off at the concierge again, and we were ready for our 2nd day of magic. To start with we met Chip and Dale, now these cheeky chipmunks are nothing short of hilarious at the best of times, but that day they were on top form. I had decided to go for a Maleficent look for Sunday as I had these awesome official parks ears for a while and I really wanted to wear them, I matched them with a Maleficent dress from EMP, and my purple Vans, I then finished the look by dressing Shellie-May as Aurora with a cute dress from Build a Bear workshop! Once it was finally our turn to meet Chip and Dale they did not disappoint, they were so playful and naughty, and took the time to recognize how Shellie and I were dressed and make a point of playing along and interacting. We got to spend so much time with them, and though I do feel really bad for the people waiting in the queue behind us, I'd happily re-live that meet over and over again, luckily Katie P did manage to film it, so I can keep watching it when I miss the magic most.


After chip and dale we popped round to see the dragon under the castle, which I don't visit every trip but every time i do see it, I'm kinda in awe of just how good it is! I think we did the tea cups quite early on in the day too, nothing helps settle your tummy after breakfast like a spin with the hatter! After a little time in fantasy land we decided to take some time out to go over to the studios as we hadn't been there yet this trip, though I'm personally not so much of a thrill seeker when it comes to rides, a few people in the group I was with are much braver so Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster were on the list. As well as these two, I was able to do Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin and Parachute drop over in toy story play land, and got these great photos of my new pin I got recently.


We also did flying carpets and i got to see the new Lightning Mcqueen photo location that went in recently. We had planned to do Mickey and the magician too, however the showing we were going to go to got cancelled and we didn't really have time to wait for the next one as it was such a short trip. Luckily it should still be on during at least my next 2 trips to Paris, so I'll get another chance to see it soon!


After the studios we found time to have lunch at Hakuna Matata in Adventure land, saw Forest of Enchantment again, and this time we were able to get there early enough for Shellie to have a quick costume change and then briefly meet Merida in the queue which was a huge personal goal for me having not seen her since 2014.

We rode the carousel and saw both the 25th anniversary show and the starlit princess waltz over at the castle stage, and before we knew it, it was time to think about getting our places for the parade., Luckily as we did this with time to spare we were right at the rope in a fairly good spot in fantasy land just before the annual pass office, it was beautifully warm and sunny by this point, so we took it in turns to save spaces so that a few of us at a time could run over to Adventure land to grab Pineapple whips, Yum!


Now I'm really growing to like the new parade, Stars on Parade, it was introduced earlier this year as part of the 25th celebrations and has really mixed reviews. The music is a lot different to its predecessor, and a lot of the floats have come from other parks or are rehashes of old ones, but I'm really liking it, I know it's a bit more choreographed than Magic on Parade was and this does leave less opportunity for interaction, but trust me it's very much still there!

Now this was a parade I had been looking forward to for a while, and getting a rope side seat was no coincidence, yep I'm not ashamed to admit it, my goal was to try and get some interaction or at least acknowledgement from some of the characters, in particular, those from Sleeping Beauty, and I'm so pleased to say it went to plan, in fact it's probably my most memorable parade experience to date.

The interaction started from the steampunk maleficent float, where prince Philip noticed me, he wasn't able to come over due to the choreography, but just getting noticed was enough for me, then one of Maleficent's goons came over to see Shellie as she was still dressed as Aurora, then when the fairies came past I got shouted at by Merryweather. The final person to notice me and come over on parade was probably the most unexpected of all, as right at the end of the parade before the last float, Kristoff shuffled over nervously to ask if i was going to breathe fire! Honestly it was just so lovely to be recognised by so many and have those unique memorable moments which I truly cherish!

After parade there was just enough time to hit the last few shops and pick up some last minute merch before heading for the Eurostar home, it was such a crazily short trip, but at the same time it felt like we got to see and do so so much, and I left with a totally full Mickey shaped heart for sure!


So that's it for the August trip, as with last time, the wonderful Sophie Square'd have complied day two into a Vlog for you all to check out, so please like and subscribe over there too, I know they would be so so grateful!

Other than that there's now only 2 weeks till my next trip back to DLP so I really should start thinking about packing! Thanks as always for reading,

Hoodsie xx

Hi Guys!

Sorry again for the gap in posting, I am really determined right now to get back into a more regular pattern over the next few weeks, I have some ideas for posts already and with a few more trips booked before the end of this year I should have plenty to share with you all!

First of all I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on my recent weekend trip to DLP, it was a really quick trip and done on a budget but we managed to pack so much into the weekend and had such a good time that I wanted somewhere to put all those memories down in words.

Our journey started at about 5 am on Saturday August 12th where with tired eyes but excited hearts we caught the tube to St Pancras to get our Eurostar, the tube is pretty quite at this time of day, which is good for me as i do get anxious when it's busy, we got there in good time and printing our tickets was really easy and quick which is always a relief! We had time for a quick breakfast before boarding our train and then we were finally on our way, the train was one of the newer ones and was really nice inside, I'd love to tell you more about it and about the first leg of the journey but to be honest I slept pretty much the whole way.


Our train was indirect and we had a short stop over at Lille Europe, this is the second time I've travelled indirect and I can be quite nervous when travelling, luckily both times the change has been really easy and I've had no problems getting back on the right train, if you have enough time between trains, there's a shopping centre opposite the station where you can stretch your legs and have a browse, there's also a Primark for some last min Disney impulse buys!

We arrived at Disneyland at about Mid day, dropped our bags off with the concierge which was free with my Infinity Annual Pass, and then headed straight into the park to soak up as much magic as possible! Our first port of call after soaking up some main street atmosphere was Pirates of the Caribbean, it has no long re-opened after being closed for refurbishment for the first 6 months of the year, so we were all so excited to see what it was like, and its quite a popular ride amongst the group I was with as it's one we can all ride together and the ride photo is a great bonus. The queue wasn't too bad, and we were all quite excited and had plenty to talk about which helped make it go even quicker, we did have time for a quick outfit change for Duffy too so we could get some photos after the ride. In short, I really enjoyed pirates post refurbishment, though not everything was 100% (seriously how hard can it be to maintain a swinging pirate guys?!) it was nice to see everything looking so fresh, the majority of animatronics working and some new scenes. Of course it's no real spoiler to know Jack Sparrow appears in the ride now, and although I'm not a fan of the pirates film, he was enough to really impress me!


After Pirates the guys were going to hit Hyperspace mountain, which I probably would have taken as a chance to do Buzz or Orbitron (I'm still a bit of a coaster wimp) but on the way through Fantasy land we found out Belle was meeting at the old mill in her village dress, so the two Sophie's and I decided to stop and meet her while everyone else did a few rides and got fast passes to do Hyperspace mountain later. I felt a bit hungry in the queue for Belle, as we hadn't eaten properly since about 6:30 that morning while waiting for the Eurostar, so while Belle took a quick break we got some waffles from the old mill, they were about €4 and unfortunately you can't use your annual pass discount here, but despite not being Mickey shaped (which is something we totally should have please DLP!) they were so worth the money and really made waiting far more enjoyable!


After Belle we went to Discovery land to meet back up with everyone, and as the queue was short, and hyperspace was currently down, we decided to hop on Star Tours, I loved star tours before its upgrade, but now its just so much better and every time I surprise myself with how much I enjoy it, the changeable scenes also mean you never know exactly what you're going to get, and although I've seen some of them a few times now, I know from speaking to others there's definitely some I still need to see, that plus my determination to one day be the rebel spy means I'll keep riding for many trips to come!

After star tours, Hyperspace mountain was back up, so the group of us that weren't riding too the opportunity to have a quick break in Hyperion Cafe, this is one of my favourite fast food places in DLP but we didn't actually eat this time just take the weight off for a while and re charge the batteries. Then it was over to Pueblos for some shopping before a bite to eat and a trip into the Forest of Enchantment.


Now I haven't seen Forest since March 2016 as it is only on for short runs in the spring and summer, and since last year I had heard there had been some changes, though I wasn't the biggest fan the first time around, I'm so glad I gave it a second chance, the changes are subtle on the whole but it's really made so much difference, and in my opinion it's all for the better. I enjoyed it so much, and I'm a little sad that once again it's only going to be showing until the end of summer, it's such a quality show and deserves a longer run, it'll be a real shame to lose this from the park's entertainment offering.

After forest we rode phantom manor, and big thunder mountain, followed by the wettest ride on Dumbo I've ever had, then we took shelter from the rain in It's a small world, and 2 more rides on Pirates of the Caribbean before illuminations, Finally the guys had 2 more rides on Big thunder mountain and then it was time to head to the hotel, it had been such a full on and long day and everyone was looking forward to getting some sleep ready to do it all again tomorrow!

So that's the whirlwind that was day one! I'll be back with day 2 shortly, but until then, why not catch up with Sophie Squared's vlog of the day!

Until next time!

Hoodsie xx

Wow it's been a while since I wrote one of these!

I guess I fell off the wagon? I'm sorry it's not that I haven't been training, it's just that sometimes, and an awful lot for me recently, life seems to get in the way, and to be honest there's not been much to tell, I run a bit, lift some weights, rinse and repeat.

But I thought I'd let you all know I'm still here, and despite everything else going on, I'm still determined, still training and still trying to make the most of this opportunity.


There is some exciting news though, at least I was excited anyway, Run Disney pins. Now last year the pin situation was to put it nicely, a nightmare, the pins are produced in such small quantities that getting hold of them was always going to be tough, add on to that anyone being allowed into the expo to purchase even if they weren't running and face it there was little chance of getting them right from the start!

In the end last year I was lucky enough to get my hands on the I did it half marathon pin when I arrived on the Friday, however the 5 km version and the replica medal pins were already gone. As you can imagine, I was kinda dreading having to do it all again this year, and the pressure of getting there as early as possible on the Thursday to queue for the chance was making organizing travel quite difficult.

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So imagine my surprise when an E-mail turns up in my inbox telling me I can pre-order my pins this year ready for collection at the expo when I arrive! This was perfect and exactly the kind of solution I had hoped for, now Disney pin trading isn't, in my opinion anyway, that big in Paris, but it's something I've really caught the bug for recently, and since owning an annual pass my collection has really grown. So when it comes to limited pins like these, as long as I like the design or it has some relevance for me, I'm going to try my hardest to get them.

For the run Disney event there are a few different pin styles, there are some generic pins, a Mickey and Minnie in their running gear and a Run Disney logo pin, these were the ones I wanted least, then there is an I did it collection, one for each race length, 5 km, 10 km and half marathon, this is the one I got last year and the main one I was hoping to get again and I'm happy to say I've been able to secure all 3 this year, though I don't feel I necessarily needed an I did it for the 5 km, it was nice to have the full set.



As well as I did it pins, each race's medal has been made as a replica pin, I really liked the idea of these last year but didn't manage to get any and the resale values online have been so high that I just couldn't bear to part with that much money. As they were also eligible for pre-order this year, I've picked up the 4 replicas that represent the races I am doing, the 5 and 10 km, the half marathon, and then a replica of the challenge medal for running both 10 km and the half! The nice thing about these is i can represent my achievements in the park without having to carry my medals, a constant reminder of the weekend!





Now the only downside to the pre-order process is as an annual pass holder I would typically be eligible for between 10 and 20% discount on these items, however this isn't available online, there is also a €2.50 handling fee on each order which has made this a little more expensive than it would otherwise be. Though it is a frustration, personally I am happy to pay full retail price and a small handling charge in order to ensure I get the pins I wanted, so I have paid it, however for the photo pass and other items, I am happy to wait until we arrive in exchange for being able to use my discount!

So that's my exciting update for July, and hopefully I'll be back again soon to tell you more about what I'm doing to prepare for the big weekend!

Hoodsie xx

Hey guys =D

Yeah that's right, another trip is upon us, they happen so frequently now I'm not even sure they're worth a blog post of their own! But still I'm pretty excited, and as the countdown looms ever closer, I thought I'd share my plans.
It's going to be a bit of a whistle stop tour as it's only a weekend trip, its tricky sometimes to balance making the most of your annual pass and also balancing annual leave from work and other commitments, but a weekend trip seemed like a good compromise.

So on August 12th I'll be getting up at some ridiculous hour to get the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris for 2 magical days! And what could possibly be better than that? Oh yeah, I'm sharing my trip with 8 of my Disney friends! That's right 9 of us are travelling over for the weekend and staying overnight together, and I couldn't need it any more right now.


We're staying at the explorers hotel which is an offsite hotel a short distance away from the parks, as we all have annual passes we don't need to worry about park tickets so this worked out really well for us to be able to go on a budget. We booked indirect Eurostar tickets both ways to cut down on costs too, and if you book them early you can get a really really good deal. I've done indirect with a change at Lille Europe on the way there before, but never on the way back, so I'm a bit nervous about that but hopefully it should all be ok!

As it's such a short trip we haven't made any real concrete plans, booking dining reservations etc isn't a priority, and realistically to save both time and money, I'll probably end up going for quick service meals and snacks. I just don't want to be too tied down to anyone place, it's summer and a weekend, the parks are going to be busy, and sometimes that's when it's best to just go with the flow.


Of course there are a few things I'd like to fit into the trip;

• A trip to Pueblo trading post - Located in frontier land opposite Woody's meet and greet its a pin collector or Vinylmation fan's dream! It only opens at weekends and some odd extra days during peak times, so I don't get to visit half as much as I'd like to, but I'll make it my mission this trip.


• Forest of Enchantment - A show in the Chaparral Theatre in Frontier land, it's only running for the summer months this year July 1st to September 3rd, as this is my only trip within this period it would be nice to see it again, though I really wasn't it's biggest fan last year, it has had some changes and the 2nd run is getting a great response on the whole from fans, so I suspect I'll be taking a trip to see what's happening.


• Lightning McQueen photo op - Lightning McQueen the world's favourite race car is now ready and waiting to meet guests outside the entrance to Moteurs Action stunt show in the Studios park, and as it's my favourite film, and I've been begging for an opportunity to meet him, I can't possibly skip this one, having said that, as I'm in DLP again a few weeks later for Run Disney, depending on time we may have to bump him to the list of the next trip, fingers crossed I can get him though!


• Get a photo by Boo's door - You'll see why soon, but this is one of the cutest Pixar photo ops in the parks, and more than that sometimes if you time it right Sulley is out for cuddles too!


• Ride BTM - Big thunder Mountain, the ride that breaks down or is "interrupted" more than any other ride I've ever known! Add in to the mix it's popularity and going at peak time and getting on it might prove to be a little difficult, but it's always worth the wait so looks like we'll be running at rope drop to get on this one.


• Ride Pirates - The final one on the list (though really there's so much more I'd like to get done) is ride Pirates of the Caribbean, it closed in January for a major refurbishment and I'm so excited to see what they've done with it, I'm not a huge fan of the pirates films but i love the rides and I can agree it badly needed more than a bucket full of TLC. I know there has been some controversy over some of the scenes changing, but I'm going to try and approach it with an optimistic and open mind, and of course I expect I'll be reporting back here after.

So that's the main things I'm looking forward to, I have attempted to plan some outfits, and I have thought of some other photo ops I'd like to take advantage of if time and weather etc allows. But more exciting than all of that, I'm not going alone! As I mentioned before there's quite a group of us going on this trip, because everything is better with friends, and that includes some wonderful YouTubers, so if I could just finish by suggesting you go and follow these guys, I'm sure you won't be disappointed and I'm sure they will all really appreciate it!

Sophie K and Sophie G from Sophie Squared

Deandre from PlayWearTalkRed

And Katie from PennieK

Any questions about my August trip, or anything you'd like me to blog about when I'm home please let me know in the comments!


Hoodsie xx