Ho Ho Ho!

Hi Guys, happy December! Hope you're all starting to feel festive and have lots of super fun Christmas activities and time with friends and family to look forward to. I decided I'd like to do my part to spread a little extra Christmas cheer by looking at some of my highlights from this years festive entertainment at my happiest place on Earth, Disneyland Paris!

So today we start with "La Parade de Noel Disney" or if you prefer "Disney's Christmas Parade", travelling the main parade route in Parc Disneyland its performed twice a day (Usually 11:50am and 1:15 pm) and is the perfect way to get you in the mood for Christmas right from the word go.

Now if you visited the park last year during the Christmas season, there's probably not a whole lot new going on to surprise you, other than a new song. Now I'm really sad to see the Toy Land song go, but fear not Christmas fans, I can confirm it is in use elsewhere this holiday season, and it's replacement "Christmas is here" is absolutely fab, in fact I'm listening to it now while I write this and it's so festive and I really love it, it's a great successor.



The parade starts with Goofy and his troop of toy soldiers leading out the first float, I love Goofy's outfit for this as it reminds me so much of Timothy Mouse from Dumbo. The first  float has no other than Mickey, Minnie Donald and Tinkerbell, in her first parade appearance since Magic on parade ended in March. The float has a giant Christmas tree with Tink at the top, and Donald playing the drums beautifully at the bottom, Mickey and Minnie have centre stage in the middle of the float with their hymn sheet.



Next the Gingerbread Mickey's and their candy dancers lead out a Mrs Claus' kitchen/Gingerbread House themed float with Chip, Dale, Clarice and Daisy Duck. In particular I love the girls outfits, they're gorgeous and totally compliment their sassy styles and personalities. The boys look adorable as ever in their little chef outfits and as always are ready to cause trouble.



Next up the 100 acre wood gang have decided to help deliver all the Christmas post, and I don't think they've ever looked more adorable! I really love these outfits/accessories even though they're so simple, and being on foot the 100 acre wood gang are probably your best bet of getting interaction which I love. Tigger noticed Katie H's orange scarf and came bouncing over to give her a hug which was really sweet! The postmen and women with them are also super interactive and came over to see Duffy and I which we love!



The toy factory float is the next up. This was a new addition to the Christmas parade in 2016 and is now home to Donald's 3 nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. Now this float really is huge, I mean I don't know who designs DLP's floats at the moment but they clearly believe that bigger is better, as in the same way all the Stars on Parade floats are huge the toy factory float is just phenomenal! I like how colourful and bright this float is, especially as winter days can often be dark and overcast it's really nice to have something so bright to contrast with it. However what I don't like so much about the float is that the nephews are so high up that if you're watching from the front by the rope (because where else would you find me during a parade?!) it's difficult to get a good view of them and even more difficult to get any sort of decent photo, my only complaint really.



Next the 3 Little Pigs - Fiddler, Fifer and Practical pig - lead out the toy story float. I've fallen a bit in love with the three pigs since meeting them at Run Disney, so it was lovely to see them out again causing mischief, and I loved the dancers with them who were squirting bubbles at us! The toy story float follows and as much as I love Toy Story (I mean who doesn’t right?!), I’ve got to be honest and say I don’t really feel like this float fits in so much with the rest. But I'm not gunna turn down the chance to see my favourite cow girl and all her friends and I do like the Christmas wrapping on the bucket of toys!



Some dancers dressed as toys follow the toy story float. The boat is my absolute favourite and I do think these outfits are particularly cute and clever. They lead on to what I can only describe as a snow mountain float, which has Max and Clarabelle at the front, Pluto at the top in his little snowy dog kennel and Horace on the back. This was another of the new floats from last year and I really like it, although I don’t think I’ll ever get over how high up Pluto is! What a brave pup! Around the side of the float are snowmen that light up and the float as a whole makes such a good impression. It’s such a big part of the parade for me and you can see it coming before it gets to you and I love that.



And of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas at all without an appearance from jolly St Nick, which brings us to the last float - Santa’s magical sleigh. Some beautiful Christmas tree dancers lead the way and the flying Reindeer follow pulling Santa’s sleigh where we find not only the king of Christmas himself, but two of his cheeky Elves too.

And in my opinion who better to close the Christmas parade than my favourite fluffy friend Duffy Bear in his adorable Christmas outfit. He’s on the back of Santa’s sleigh waving to all the boys and girls and blowing kisses to everyone.

This really was one of the highlights of my Christmas trip and one I'd definitely recommend making time for at least once if you're visiting during the Christmas season. If however you're not visiting, or you're like me and just can't get enough of it, why not check out this video from our friends DLRPFans on Youtube.

Hoodsie xxx

Special thanks to PennieK and DavidAtDisney for letting me use their photos - Find them on Twitter

Hey pals!

Wow OK, so this is probably going to be a tough one for me to write, but at the same time, I felt compelled to say something, I'm not sure I have the right words to tackle this delicate subject, and I must stress that anything here is solely my own opinion from the news stories I've seen online.

So where do I start? If somehow you've been living under a Disney free rock for the last few days you may be confused as to what delicate subject I'm about to stick my foot in like a clumsy elephant, so just to clarify, reports have surfaced this week originating from the Hollywood Reporter from a leaked memo to Disney staff from the Chief creative officer of Disney's animation division and Pixar co-founder John Lassester, in this memo he announced that he is taking a 6 month sabbatical after becoming aware that some of his staff may feel disrespected or uncomfortable following some missteps by Mr Lasseter himself.

He later goes on to apologize if they feel he had over stepped the line through unwanted hugs or other gestures, and insures it was never his intent to cross anyone's personal boundaries. Disney haven't as yet said a huge amount on the issue, other than their acceptance of the apology and their support for John going forward.

First of all for me John Lasseter has by my hero for probably, well the best part of my life, as I've touched on before Disney has always played some role in my life, but Pixar was what really ignited my passion, Toy Story and Cars are probably 2 of my favouirte film series of all time and I have always admired the work that Pixar have created, as well as the story of how they came to be, even when things were stacked up against them. So this news comes as not only a huge shock to me, it also feels like such a disappointment, that something I am so emotionally invested in, could suddenly feel so dirtied by these allegations.

Honestly right now I still don't know what to make of it, he's obviously made a statement himself where he admits to doing things wrong, but the actual facts of what he's admitting to are scarce, reports go from overly long hugs, which could be deemed inappropriate but hey they're not the end of the world, to allegations of groping, which of course is totally unacceptable. So what do I believe? Well that's a toughy, I desperately want to believe he's a good guy who perhaps likes to hug a little too long and is a bit over friendly all in an innocent way. But I fear that's not the case, a six month sabbatical for some longer than comfortable hugs does seem like cracking a nut with a sledge hammer no? And I have no reason to disbelieve anyone who has spoken out against him.

So do I think John will ever come back to Pixar/Disney? I desperately hope so, but only if the "Missteps" mentioned in his memo turn out not to be the serious things he's being accused of, no matter how great the artist he is, I don't think welcoming him back to that position of power with open arms would be the right move.

And whats next for Disney's Animation Division? Honestly I'm not worried, sure short term the effects of this could effect Disney negatively, financially and in terms of shares if nothing else, but John isn't the only name that's responsible for the successes at Pixar and Disney over the last few years and I'm confident the studio can continue to excel without John at the helm if his actions are proved to have been inappropriate.

Coco has arrived in the US and most of Europe and is already doing well, Lee Unkrich has the lead directing credit and also a writing credit for the film, he's also credited on other success films including Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc, Toy story 4 and Finding Nemo to name a few, He is a huge up and coming name at Pixar and I'd love to see him progress to take on John's role when the time comes.

On the Disney animation side, Ron Clements who wrote and directed Last years box office hit Moana, also has credits for other Disney hits including princess and the frog, Hercules Aladdin and the Little Mermaid. this leaves me confident that there's plenty still to celebrate in Disney's Animation Division, and if we cut John Lasseter from the picture, it's still OK to enjoy Pixar and Disney animated films, and praise the many other individuals who have put so much into bringing these stories to life and to the silver screen.

So John, you may have let me down, though I'll always cherish the work you did and the environment and company you introduced me to, I'll always be thankful Pixar came to be and for the films and characters it's given me, but I think more than ever what you've made me realize is how important it is to speak out when something isn't right regardless of how big the name is, your story needs to be heard not just for yourself but for anyone else going through the same who can't speak out for themselves.

What are your thoughts? What do you believe really happened, do you think we'll ever find out for sure, and will you continue to support Pixar and Disney?

Hoodsie xx

Ahoy pals!

So I'm not long back from my Halloween trip and I thought rather than jumping straight in to another 5 day trip report I'd cover off some other things first, and one i really wanted to give it's own spotlight to, was the hotel I stayed in for most of my trip, the Newport Bay club has been somewhere Duffy and I have been dying to try, and we thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on this amazing hotel!


So I checked into the Newport bay early in the morning on the 28th of October, it was around 8:15 am by the time we had checked out of the Kyriad and got an Uber to Newport Bay so our rooms weren't ready but we were able to complete most of the check in process, get our Hotel Easy pass and leave our bags for the day so that we could get back to the park.

One of our first stops was actually the hotel shop and it had a really great range of stuff, a lot was generic parks merchandise which you could get in any of the stores, they they sell some more specific hotel stuff (toiletries etc) and they had some mugs which I think were exclusive to the Newport Bay hotel! The shop was really open and bright and beautifully decorated, it had quite a good selection of items and had a separate photo pass counter too which was great for getting your photo passes sorted when you're not in the parks early in the morning on late in the evening, I guess it also gives you the chance to check all your photos are there before you check out to go home which is super handy!

Each morning there's also one of Mickey's pals, or sometimes Mickey himself in the hotel lobby waiting to meet you and have photos, the queues can get quite long, but it's a great way to get your favourites in their traditional outfits, the queue runs along the side of the shop in the lobby, and when it's your turn you are taken through to a little room at the back of the shop for a private little meet, which is super cute!

We went to the park for a few hours and came back in the afternoon to have a rest as the room was ready from 3pm. For our first night we had a ground floor room in the west wing (or as I call it the only wing ;) ) and although it was quite a walk from reception, I mean I was honestly surprised the rooms even went round that far, the room itself was beautiful and so worth the walk.


We went for a standard room rather than a compass club one, but still our room key card allowed us to have 4 free hot drinks per day from the vending machines, there is supposed to be one on every floor, the ground floor one for the west wing took us ages to find, its actually at the pool, after we eventually did find it, it was out of order so we popped up to the second floor, which had a much more visible machine and were able to get our free drinks there, which were actually really nice!


For the first night I shared with Sophie and Sophie and Katie Snow, they then moved to the Disneyland hotel for the rest of their stay, and I moved into a new room at the Newport Bay, I must point out here that there was nothing at all wrong with our room,we had lovely doors that opened out, a view of the outdoor pool, and despite being a bit of a walk from reception, it was perfect. The reason I changed was that I had made a separate booking for the last 3 days of my stay and this was in a Lake side room, so I really wanted to take advantage of that. My room wasn't ready until 3pm again but this wasn't an issue and I was able to use the hotel luggage storage again for free, this is really handy.


I went back around 8pm on Sunday evening after our meal at Bistrot Chez Remy in the Studios park and was able to get my room with no problems, this time I was on the 3rd floor in the East wing, my room was just as lovely and even had a little sofa pull out bed on top of the two doubles, more than enough for little old me and the baby bears.

My lake view was actually really lovely, in an ideal world I would have liked to have been situated more centrally in the building so that my view was directly towards the hotel New York, but my view from the East wing was just as nice over the lake and across towards the sequoia, unfortunately because of the way the windows open, it was quite difficult to get a nice picture of the view which was the only disappointment with the whole room.


Unfortunately there were a few things I didn't get time to do during my stay, I didn't find the time or energy to use the fitness and swimming facilities, however everything looked really clean, and the staff at the pool were super friendly and helpful when we asked about the drinks machine. The bar was actually closed during my stay due to unforeseen issues, and that was a little disappointing as that's now 13 trips to DLP and I still haven't tried the famous Glowtini, again from what I could see the facilities looked really nice, and it's on my list to go back and try again. Finally I didn't try eating at the restaurant, I had such a short stay with so much to fit in and a tight budget that saw me mostly eating fast food there just wasn't an opportunity on this trip sadly.

Over all though I loved everything the Newport Bay club has to offer, the location the theme the beautiful rooms. I personally can not wait to book another stay here!


Hope this insight into the hotel has be interesting and if you have any questions I’d be happy to try and help just drop them in the comments!

Hoodsie xxx

Hi Guys =D

I'm a mixture of happy and sad writing this, it's the final day report from my amazing September trip for Run Disney, and reflecting back on everything that happened over the 5 days makes me realise how truly lucky I am to get to visit the place I want to call home so often.

So before I get too snotty and sad, lets crack on with day 5, my solo day of the trip!

Woke up on my last morning at the Hi park and packed up all my stuff and did a last sweep to make sure neither of us had forgotten anything, check out was nice and easy and I actually had a really nice stay, our room was one of the most basic ones which meant we had a sofa bed rather than a proper bed, and our room wasn't cleaned, towels weren't replaced etc, but for what we paid, and the amount of time we actually spent in the room I thought it was brilliant and would definitely stay again, we even had a view of the outdoor pool from our room!

After Checking out I got the shuttle bus to the parks, the walk is actually really short and quite pleasant, and I always felt safe doing it, but with the amount of running/walking I'd already done over the weekend, and having my case and park bag too, I decided to wait the few mins for the free shuttle which stops right outside.

Now I always find solo park days a little weird, anyone who knows me well will tell you I'm not the biggest fan of my own company so at times I do feel a little lost, having said that, when its only one day of a trip, being alone can be quite nice as it lets you  be really selfish and do all the things you want to do without compromise. First up was the end of EMH so I went to meet Donald in his amazing 25th outfit, in the queue I met a lovely couple who also had a Duffy and Shellie May, and between talking to them and the really friendly CM who was minding the queue, the time passed quickly!


After Donald there was a Photo pass photographer on the hub by the castle, so of course i got a photo with my medals here too (got to make the most of them) and then it was over to Adventure Land for a meet with Genie, I was hoping to see Abu as I still don't have his autograph but the CM said he wouldn't be out that day, and Genies queue was short so i went for it.


I got some photos of Duffy in his Peter Pan costume in Adventure Isle and headed back to Town square to meet Daisy duck in her Blue 25th dress, I am such a sucker for their new costumes, and compare to the weekend the queues were very manageable so I made the most of it, I showed her my medals and we talked about Donald for a while, she's always so much fun to meet.

Next I decided to see who was in the princess pavilion, the queues here can often be quite long so it's not something I do every trip, but if the queues aren't bad and depending on the princess it is nice to do and the photos are always lovely. On my way to the pavilion I spotted Pinocchio and Geppetto were meeting outside Bella Notte, and again it was a very short queue, who am I to turn down a character hug so off I went to join the back of the queue, while waiting patiently for my turn Goofy Max and all their friends walked past as they made their way to the castle stay for the Happy Anniversary show, so that was pretty cool! And not long after, all the princesses and their princes ready for the waltz, apparently I was just in the right place at the right time.


It was Aurora in the pavilion once I arrived and the queue was about an hour, she's probably my joint favourite princess along with Anna, so I was very happy to queue and meet her, plus my 10 KM medal had Flora, Fauna and Merryweather on so I wanted to show her, as always in the pavilion I got some great pictures on my photo pass and it was really worth the wait.


After i went back to adventure land to meet Baloo as although I've met him before I've never had his autograph, plus Duffy likes meeting other bears and Baloo gives excellent cuddles, then it was round the corner back into Frontier land for a late lunch at the Lucky Nugget Saloon, and guys, I finally managed to catch one of the puppet shows! Only took me just over a year since they started in May 2016 the day after we went home, have to say, I'm glad I went and finally saw them, the entertainment in there is so so good, and I love the weird mix of quick service/counter service it made for a really pleasant meal at a good price, I would definitely recommend this restaurant, especially if you're on a budget but want something that doesn't feel as rushed as some of the other quick service options.

After lunch I went back over to Discovery land where I rode Star Tours, Buzz's lazer blast and I met Darth Vader at the star port, it's certainly one of my favourite meets just for Vader's character and the way he interacts with you, one day I'll get him to give me a cuddle I swear! After that I had time for a little shopping and to take some photos before my last Stars on Parade of the trip, I cannot get over how much I love this parade, and though I do miss elements of Magic on Parade, I'm really enjoying everything Stars on Parade has to offer.


And that brings us to the end of my trip! It was such a lovely, incredible and exhausting trip, I am so proud of Sophie for running her first 5 Km and getting her medal, for all my friends who finished their races too, being able to stand in front of that castle with 4 beautiful (and rather heavy) medals round my neck was a really really special feeling, and you can be sure I'm going to train even harder to come back stronger next time.

Hope you've enjoyed our journey, if there's anything else you'd like to know about my trip or Run Disney please drop me a comment and I'll do my best to help!

Hoodsie xxx

Hi Guys!

As promised I'm actually back this time and ready to finish of the report of how my Sunday unfolded after the Half Marathon! Now this is something I can't wait to share with you guys as we did some really fun stuff as it was Sophie's last day, so lets jump right in.

After finishing the race and getting my medals, I headed back to the expo, via a quick stop for a finisher photo, now at this point I owe Sophie a public apology because apparently communication was not my strong point and I left her waiting in Fantasia gardens for me with all my stuff and all of her own while I buggered back off to the expo, sorry again Sophie!

Once we met back up at the expo after Sophie dropped her bags at concierge we did a little shopping, now a pro tip I found out at last years expo, is that after the half marathon has been run, a lot of the merchandise gets reduced to 50% off, typically this will be any dated merch other than the pins! So I picked up an I did it half marathon top for myself and an I did it 5 Km top for Sophie and they were only €9.99 each before AP discount which is a bargain! And I was super proud of how much Sophie achieved given how late she decided to sign up especially, she deserved that top! I also picked up the last 2 Run Disney pins, the plain Mickey and Minnie because apparently I have some sort of pin addiction now, oopsie.

After expo we took a slow walk back to the main park as we had about an hour or so before our lunch reservation, we took some really nice photos of our medals in the village, Fantasia gardens and outside the castle, my favourite is the one of both me and Sophie and this is now my home screen on my phone =)

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Once we were done with our impromptu photo shoot it was time for lunch, and this was something I had been looking forward to for pretty much the whole trip, we had booked the Character Brunch in Inventions restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel, it's around €70 per person for adults, and €35 per child from ages 3-11 but it is so worth it if you are a character enthusiast, in addition, if you are an annual passport holder you will get your restaurant discount on top of this.

On a Sunday the lunch meal is a themed Brunch instead of the usual more common characters, and this means you see lots of either rare characters, or unusual outfits and this is why it's so popular, the themes aren't made available in advance in case they need to be changed short notice for any reason however personally I haven't had what I would consider to be a bad one yet. Some themes can be guessed by the time of year (Easter, Christmas etc) and the others are repeated throughout the year.

We were really lucky and we had a good idea what the theme might be for our weekend and thankfully we were right so we were really dressed for the occasion and this just made character interaction even better. We had the Neverland theme and met 9 characters in total, Peter, Wendy, Hook, Smee, Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Donald. The VIPs (Mickey etc) were all in amazing pirate themed outfits and Peter and the gang were in their standard park wear. As we're both pretty big Peter Pan fans (though I must admit Sophie gets the crown on this one) we were wearing our custom ears from Queen Ursula UK, Sophie had a Wendy bound and I had my favourite Neverland top from Hot Topic, and of course the Bears weren't left out of the fun, Duffy wore his Peter costume, My Shellie May was Tinkerbell and Sophie's Shellie May was Wendy in a dress Sophie made herself!

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After brunch we didn't have all that much time before Sophie was due to go home so we decided to watch Stars on Parade from town square as it was running early all weekend, I can't explain how much I love this parade, more than I ever thought I would and more and more every time I watch it, It was the perfect end to the time I shared with Sophie on this trip, and I'm so grateful she came.

After the parade I took Sophie to the train station to catch the TGV home and then went into the park for a few solo hours, I did small world, Dumbo, Peter Pan's flight and Pirates before getting a great spot for Illuminations just before it started. After Illuminations I took a slow wander up Main street and took some photos in the dark and then walked back to Hi Park for my last night, over all, it was a really relaxed afternoon after all the running in the morning, but it was perfect, and somehow I still managed over 45,000 steps that day!

So that's the end of Sunday, which leaves just one more day of my trip left to cover, which hopefully should follow pretty soon as I still have all of Halloween to cover, and by the time you're reading this I'll be getting ready for a very brief Xmas trip too!

Once again thanks for following our adventure, Duffy and I love reading all your comments so if you have any questions etc just shout!

Until next time, Hoodsie xx

Hi again guys!

So it would appear no matter how hard I've tried, sticking to a schedule the last month or two just hasn't happened, and believe me I'm super sorry!

However I'm back from my Halloween trip to DLP and have a small window before I go back again for Christmas, so I'm hoping I can stay motivated enough to finish up this trip and write up most of Halloween and get it all scheduled!

So Back to where I left off, you can catch up with the end of Saturday, and then that brings us nicely to Sunday morning, and another super early start ready to walk to the start line, today's outfit was the most simple out of the three as I was conscious running more than double the distance in a more complicated costume could be quite difficult, so Aurora was my costume of choice, and to be honest, I was really happy with it.

I got to the corrals a little later than intended, and although I still managed to get quite close to the start of my corral, I couldn't find Steven, so I ran the full 21.1km solo, at least this way I didn't have to worry about holding anyone back or leaving anyone behind, it was just me and the course and I was ready to throw my all into it, one last push.

The corral wait always feels quicker than it actually is, and once again I managed to stay quite warm which was a pleasant surprise, soon we were off, and a whole spectrum of emotions came over me, excitement, fear, exhaustion, relief.

The half marathon course started outside Vapiano/Five Guys the same as the 10 Km the day before, and then went through the studios park, where there was an option to cut through from the backstage near Rockin Roller to meet Spider-man, I decided to skip this one in the hope of finding some slightly more rare characters further along the course, we then went through the back of tram tour where the cute flower set up from the previous races finally had a character present, when I got there it was Alice, so again as she's not a particular favourite of mine I carried on looking for something more unusual, but if I had run slightly quicker or slower I could have met Tinkerbell there instead, which honestly is a little upsetting as there's no other way to meet her in Paris, but hey ho, that's the way it goes, win some lose some.

Carrying on full steam ahead the course looped round backstage and brought us out at th back of Frontier land by Cotton wood creek and the Frontier land station, as we ran towards Big Thunder Mountain, the next character stop came up outside the Fuente del Oro restaurant, this is the first meet I stopped for along the course and I'm so glad I did as to fit perfectly with the Mexcian theme of the restaurants, the three Caballeros, Donald, Jose and Panchito were meeting! This is a meet you can get quite easily in WDW however it isn't one I've ever seen before in Paris, they were really fun and their costumes looked great, a perfect start!



We then ran through the rest of Frontier land towards Phantom Manor where we were able to cut through to town square at the bottom of Main Street, here at the Gazebo Mickey and Minnie were meeting, now this may not sound particularly special but they were both in their 25th outfits, making this one of the very few times you've been able to properly meet mickey in his blue and silver best the queue was quite long but luckily it moved really quickly and I was just so happy to get a photo with Mickey in his blue to match the rest of the VIPs.



Next it was time to run up Main street towards the castle, on the left hand side the pavement was full of cast members who were so supportive, and on the right friends and family of the runners who were able to get access to enter the parks to cheer their runners by collecting a wristband from the expo. About half way up Sophie was waiting for me with Duffy, and though it's such a simple thing that extra support is such a huge boost, thank you again so much Sophie =)

Once we reached the hub at the castle end of main street we took a left into Adventure land and round past the Hakuna Matata restaurant, Timon and Rafiki were meeting but they were due to swap any min so I joined the queue and let a few people in front of me while we waited for the change, why was I so keen to wait for the swap you ask? The Hyenas! Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, they are pretty much never out, and although I've not met Timon yet, I know he'll be meetable on a future visit where I couldn't guarantee the Hyenas would be.



After the Hyenas we ran past the tree house, past pirates and into fantasy land, I believe Chesh or some of his friends may have been meeting outside the labyrinth at this point but I didn't stop, we ran through the castle, which is always one of my favourite parts, and then past castle stage where Scrooge McDuck was meeting in his 25th anniversary blue and silver, and on towards the small world gates.

Outside the gates 2 of the horse and carriages from Stars on Parade were parked up, and with them were Rapunzel and Flynn and Snow White and her prince, I have never met Flynn or Snows Prince before, and as I was dressed as Aurora I decided to take a few mins to get a Princess Squad photo with them, it would have been rude not to right?



We headed down towards Casey Junior and the story book boats and did a small backstage loop where we got to see the finding Nemo float from stars on parade up close, and then this brought us out in the back of Discovery land for the last 2 character meets of the run, and they really did save the best till last!

Outside the Discovery land theatre, previously home to Honey I shrunk the audience, and Captain EO our friends from Zootropolis/Zootopia were taking it in turns to meet, I got Judy Hopps and I was really happy with that, she's probably the one I wanted most, and as a character that isn't normally in DLP it felt really special to meet her, and I loved her backdrop.



After Judy I knew already who was waiting outside the Hyperion Cafe for the last meet (friends in all the right places eh?) so I literally sprinted around the back of Hyper Space Mountain and Nautilus past the entrance to Autopia and straight into the queue for Sadness from Inside out! It's one of those films I've adored from the moment I first saw it, and one of the things I was regretting most about not going to WDW with my friends that weekend was not getting to meet Joy and Sadness, so being able to meet one of them made me so very happy, and I really like sadness because she reminds me so much of Eeyore and I just wanted to give her a big cuddle. I love my photo with her, and it might be one of my favourite ever Photo Pass pictures from DLP1



We then left the park via a backstage exit to the right of Autopia for the portion of the race that isn't on Disney property, I like that they changed the route slightly this year to give more time in the parks and cut out a big section of off property running, the only part I didn't like was the loop of a lake somewhere in Val D'Europe which was also present in the 2016 edition, like really it feels like the never ending lake when you're running around it, yet it looks so small on the map etc, very deceiving.

Credit where it's due though, the support along the course outside of the parks was incredible, so many locals out clapping and also various artists and performers who gave up their Sunday morning to provide entertainment on the course, you guys are the real MVPs, thank you, from not just myself but every single runner, it makes such an incredible difference, especially if you're on your own or struggling.

Once we got back onto Disney property it was a lap of the outside road of the Santa Fe hotel, and a cut through the middle of the Hotel Cheyenne, and this is where I really started to struggle around 17 Km I was just so exhausted and I could so easily have given up, thankfully my friends were right at the end of the phone to remind me they'd disown me if I gave up ;)

After a run round Lake Disney (why does it feel so much longer when you run it than when you walk into the parks from your hotel!?) we headed through Disney village and back into the studios towards the finish, as I ran through the tiny bit of Fantasia Gardens Sophie was again waiting for me with Duffy bear, who she'd even got changed ready for our park day! This girl is my hero, she was so supportive throughout the entire weekend and seeing her so close to the end when I needed someone most really was the icing on the cake!

Just before the finish we ran through the stunt show where we had the change to have a photo with the 25th Blue family of honour car, the queue was short, and weirdly I really wanted this photo so that was my last stop of the morning!



It was then just a sprint to the finish line and that was it, I'd done it! 1 weekend, 3 races, 4 medals, 36.1km covered and a million memories I'll hold on to for such a long time. Getting those final 2 medals round my neck was a moment I never truly believed would happen for me, is it weird to say I was proud of myself? Because amongst 100 other emotions, that's the one that sticks out. Pushing myself to train and to run those races started out as a crazy idea, and ended up being the best decision and best experience, and in truth, I'm a little sad it's over until next September.

So that was the half marathon, at least from my eyes, did you run? How was it for you? Would you like to try Run Disney in the future?

I'll be back soon (no really this time I will) with the remainder of Sunday and Monday and then this trip is all wrapped up, thanks as always for following along!

Hoodsie

Hi guys!

Don't forget to catch up on the last post in this series the 10 km race this will carry on from where I left off, I seem to have loads of this trip left to cover so lets jump straight in!

After the 10 Km race I was lucky enough to be able to head back to they Cheyenne with Steven to use the shower in his room to save me going all the way back to the hi park, this was so much more convenient, and re affirmed my love for the Texas rooms in the Cheyenne hotel, they truly are beautiful, it's a great hotel.


After a shower and a quick change, apart from staying in my running shorts because Sophie forgot my jeans, it was time to head back to the parks, we decided to do the studios first to see Mickey and the Magician as I  hadn't seen it since November last year, the show has had a few tweaks and updates for this season, as well as a new cast, but I'm pleased to say it hasn't effected the overall quality of the show, it really is a very special show and deserves all the praise it gets.


After Mickey and the Magician I wanted to get some photos in my ratatouille top from Pop corn clothing and with Duffy in his chefs outfit, so we headed over to Place de Remy, I think the plan was to grab something from the food and wine type stalls, but it was just really really busy, we got our photos and were making our way back through the Studios when we saw Sulley was out on the scare floor, his queue was closed but the lovely CM told us what time his second set would be, so we got some food in Studio one then headed back to join the queue for his second set.


After meeting Sulley there wasn't much else we were desperate to do in the studios so it was park hop time, I wanted to grab some pictures in front of Dumbo in my other top from Pop corn clothing, and then we stopped off to meet Chip and Dale in their gorgeous new costumes in adventure land round the side of the Pizza Outpost, as always they were super cheeky and really fun.


We popped round to fantasy land and stopped to see the princes and princesses on their way back from the waltz on castle stage and by this point I was really struggling from a combination of being tired, and pain in my calves from the 10 km. We headed back to the Expo in Disney village where I was able to get a free massage, which made a big difference!

Then it was back to the main park so catch Stars on Parade, honestly I know this parade gets a lot of mixed reviews, but I love it more and more every time I watch it, a real highlight for me. By the time parade finished I was 100% exhausted and done for the day, so we headed back to Hi park and i took a nap for a few hours while Sophie went shopping near by, I hate that I missed so much park time but honestly I just couldn't keep going at this point, with the half marathon the next morning too it was just better to play it safe this time and get some rest in.

We did pop back to the village in the evening, as I forgot to collect my bag from concierge, and we got a 5 guys to make the trip back worth while, but I'm afraid it was a rather unexciting and early evening for us.

Will be back soon with the next part of the trip, the half marathon! Until then speak soon!

Hoodsie xx

Hi guys,

Catching up from where we left off at the end of the Run Disney opening party, after a very short sleep at the Hi Park it was 5 am and my alarm was going off to tell me it was 10 Km day! I eventually got up and ready and before I knew it I was making the walk back to the parks!

Race day morning atmosphere is always super weird, at least in my experience anyway. It has a weird buzz, a mix of excitement, nerves and definitely a weird wired awake feeling, where I know I'm exhausted but I also feel a strange kind of couldn't sleep even if I tried thing.

After going through security at Newport Bay (which has made me even more excited to stay there soon!), it was a quick stop in the expo to drop off my gear bag, then straight to the corrals to try and find Steven. Despite it being super early and pretty dark out, things were starting to fill up but a combination of being small and polite helped me to navigate through the building crowd and get to Steven which instantly made me feel more relaxed. as the 10 km and half marathon start lines followed the format of the previous year and started outside Vapiano/Five guys, this meant the stages with the big screens were back, and though I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to a lot of what was going on, it certainly sets up a good pre-race atmosphere.


Before we knew it it was time to start, this would be the first course of the weekend that encompassed both parks, and being the first 10 Km race every at Paris, it was really exciting to see how many characters would be out, and to experience the route for the first time.

The course first took us through Studio 1, and into the Walt Disney studios park, where out first meet was outside art of animation again, the three little pigs! Fiddler Fifer and Practical pig, don't ask me which is which because honestly I just haven't got a clue! But what I do know is these guys are pretty rare to meet, and apart from the occasional farmers brunch in Inventions, meeting them is a real treat, I guess I don't need to tell you how happy I was to see them, it's written all over my face!


After the three little pigs it took a while to get to our next character, but once the characters started they just didn't seem to stop and kept getting better, so it was worth the wait! The course took us back out of the studios, through fantasia gardens and up main street, at this point it was just starting to get light out, and how I wish I had taken a photo of our castle against that beautifully perfect pink and blue morning sky, it really was something incredible to see.


Once we got to the top of main street we took a right turn into Frontier land, and ran through to Adventure land and this is where the character meets started again, As we rounded the corner into adventure land I could see Genie and Prince Ali, I think I was pretty much set on stopping for them, when to my delight they switched out for Jasmine and Sultan! Now if anyone remembers, last year I just missed the Sultan and Jasmine on the half marathon as I was next in the queue when they got swapped out, so I was so so happy to get my photo this year, I'll really treasure this one.


After adventure land we cut back into fantasy land round to the Carrousel de Lancelot, where Pinocchio and his guide Jiminy Cricket were meeting guests, this was really cool and though I would admit I'm not particularly a Pinocchio fan, the idea of meeting Jiminy was really cool, as an avid character hunter, anything out the ordinary was going to impress!


After Pinocchio and Jiminy it was time for one of the best parts of run Disney, running through the castle! Its such a small thing but it's the perfect touch, I just wish there was a photographer to catch the moment, after the castle we ran past castle stage, where the giant steam punk Maleficent from Stars on Parade was blocking the walkway to Fantasy land towards small world, meeting in front of it were the three fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, I have a recent obsession with all things sleeping beauty, so even though the queue was long, we decided to wait, after a few mins the CM came over to tell us the fairies would be leaving soon, but that Aurora and Philip would replace them, and although a little disappointed as the fairies are a more rare meet, it was still good enough for me to stay in the queue, Steven was very kind and agreed to stay with me, and our friend Seb joined us too.


After Aurora and Philip it was round to Discovery land where we had been told Stitch was meeting, this was someone Steven really wanted to meet so it was full steam ahead, when we got there, Angel experiment 624, was with stitch and i think its clear from the pictures I was very very excited to see her, even though I must admit I did feel a little bit bad meeting her without my good friend, and total stitch fanatic, Shouls, who was holidaying in WDW.


Next was a quick run around the Back of Space mountain, and down the path that take you to the Fantasy land gates next to Small world, here the first float from Magic on parade was parked up and the Fairy God mother and Merlin were meeting with it, now in hindsight, this is probably one of those things I am going to regret skipping, but, we'd been told Bullseye was out with woody and well, I needed to try and see that, so we carried on a loop around the back of story book boats and Casey Jr to bring us out to run around the labyrinth, I think Chesh and White rabbit may have been out, but if they were we skipped them as we'd met them before, we stopped quickly outside Dumbo to get a photo of my costume with the 25th board then into adventure land and another backstage loop behind Indiana Jones.


This brought us out to the back of Frontier land by the Chapparel theater and towards the cowboy cookout, sure as anything Woody was there, Jessie was with him but unfortunately we'd missed Bullseye, Steven had run ahead to try and get in the queue for us, so we met back up with him, as I still wanted a photo with my Toy Story favourites.


We then carried on towards Phantom Manor where Jack and sally were meeting, and I'm honestly gutted to say the queue had already closed when we got there so we couldn't meet them, this was a real shame as I personally haven't met the two of them together since 2012 and its only Jack that meets during the Halloween season, at least I'll get to see him really soon!

The course then cut back across to the Studios park with a loop of catastrophe canyon and a run round the tram tour and through the stunt show, I believe Remy and Emile were out again, but same as the 5km the queue was already too long for me to have time to meet the rats, so it was straight to the finish line and to get our second medal of the weekend!


A huge shout out to both Steven and Seb for running with me, when i started to feel in pain around Km 7 they never left me or gave up on me, and it was an absolute pleasure to cross the finish line and collect my medal with them.

So that was the race, I'll be back soon with my round up of how I spent the rest of my Saturday.

Hoodsie xx

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