Disney you say...

So how did my love (some may call it obsession) of Disney come about?

When I think back Disney has always just 'been there' in my life. I remember as a child growing up in the UK we would watch 'Disney Time' a movie clip compilation show that would appear on the TV at special times of the year. 

I have a vague memory of one of my very first trips to the cinema being to watch 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks', although I can't be sure this was during its initial cinematic release as I would have only been about 4 years old. But growing up in the 1970's and 1980's Disney was simply a part of the pop culture we were exposed to.

I very recently re-discovered an album that I still own to this day and which was probably bought for me as a child, it's dated 1975.

Then in November of 1990 during a trip to London we made a point of visiting the then brand new Disney Store on Regent Street; it had only opened that month and was the first Disney Store outside of the US. I have this photo of me wearing the Mickey ears that we had bought. I remember them being of a very hard, shiny plastic and that they dug into my head so hard it meant wearing them for anymore than a few minutes just wasn't doable! Oh how times, and ears, have changed!

Then in 1991 Simon and I made our first trip to Orlando, Florida which was kind of by accident. We had originally intended to go on vacation with my parents who were planning a trip to Austria but I'd gotten the dates mixed up and had booked the wrong weeks off from work. It was also the time of the Gulf war and the rumours were that flights to the US were 'going cheap' so we decided to take advantage and book a Florida vacation. However, when we came to make the booking we soon found out that the rumours of cheap flights were just that, rumours! But as we had chosen where we wanted to go we decided to book the vacation anyway staying in a hotel on International Drive.

On 30th July 1991 we made our way to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World for the very first time and stepping onto Main Street USA I just knew I was 'home'.

Taken 30th July 1991, waiting for the fireworks.

Since then there have been numerous trips to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris, one trip to Disneyland, one Disney cruise and Simon has been lucky enough during work trips to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. I have lots of books and memorabilia, handbags, clothes and just the odd one or two Disney themed tattoos! Oh and I co-host a Disney theme parks podcast with my very good friend Michelle, called the Disney Dream Girls.

So yes Disney plays a big part in my life and I think it always will. 

There is something in the ethos of Walt Disney and the company that he created that draws you in. But it is still hard to explain what it is exactly that drives this love of all things Disney and the indiscernible magic that it creates. It's in the story telling, the attention to detail, the characters, the customer service, the ability to leave the real world behind for a little while and for everyone no matter what age or background to enjoy something together. 

Some will look at Disney and the theme parks and assume it's 'just for kids' but it is so much more than that. And to use a quote attributed to Walt himself from the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and then immortalised in plaques at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom...'here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy'...oh and remember 'adults are only kids grown up anyways'!

Reflections and Moving Forward

So as is customary at this time of year I thought I would take a look back at 2015 and see what's on the horizon for 2016.

So 2015 has been rather a tough year to be honest. As those who read my blog will know early on in the year my mum very suddenly passed away and this left rather a big hole in my life and had a big impact on this year. It has been hard going at times but with amazing support from Simon and friends I am 'getting there'.

We did manage a short trip to Disneyland Paris back in February and I've wrote a number of blog posts that cover the trip as well as general overviews on eating at Disneyland Paris and Disney's Sequoia Lodge resort. Being able to visit a Disney park was great fun although it did make me miss Walt Disney World even more!

I have continued to record the Disney Dream Girls podcast with my very good friend Michelle and have enjoyed watching and listening to Michelle's trips to Disneyland this past year - she is even there now as I type this...the lucky thing!!

Simon and I have continued with our cosplay creations as we get ready for Star Wars Celebration in London next year. I have discovered that I am a very good assistant when it comes to moulding things with a heat gun and using a hot glue gun is quite good fun too. I've even used a sewing machine for the first time in my life!  I will endeavour to do a blog post in the New Year cataloguing our achievements so far.

So looking forward what does 2016 have in store...well the main thing at the moment will be our trip to Star Wars Celebration in London in July. We have tickets for all three days of all things Star Wars which also means we get a great short break away in London...without the kids ;)

I will also be getting some new Disney ink completed this year; in fact only yesterday I was talking to my amazing tattooist Rachael Huntingdon (Rampant Ink) about making a start on what will be a full sleeve!

Will we make it to a Disney park this year? Who knows? It will be 25 years this year since I visited Walt Disney World for the first time so it would be lovely to think we could re-visit 25 years on but as I write this it is looking highly unlikely....but never say never!!

I hope that 2015 has been kind to you and yours and that 2016 will see you happy, healthy and having a ton of fun.

Happy New Year!!!

Only a few days to go...

Well it's not long to go now...one more day of work then it's a day of packing and getting ready before the travelling begins.

Through the Disney on-line community I have been fortunate to make lots of new friends one of whom has just returned from a visit to Disneyland Paris and was kind enough to think of me and send me through a little package...

A few park maps, a note written on Disneyland Hotel note paper (how geeky am I that I think this is soooo cool?!) and a few sweeties...

The great thing is that looking at the map has brought back a lot of memories about the layout of the parks and I can now see (and appreciate) where the changes have been made over at Walt Disney Studios since our last visit in 2006.

My daughter was chatting yesterday and counting up the times we'd been to 'Disney', she knew that I'd been to Walt Disney World eight times and that she'd been four times and that we'd all visited Disneyland just the once but when it came to Paris she struggled. She said 'well I know I've only been once' to which I could correct her and tell her she's actually been twice before...although she was only about 18 months the first time she went.  So this picture is just for Molly to prove she has been more than once...

Sorry Molly ;)

I think I'm going to get the old photo albums out now and have a look through (yes an actual album as this photo was back in 2002 before we'd swapped over completely to digital!).

So when we go in a few days time it will actually be our sixth visit (but Molly's third!).

Let's get planning!

As you will know we have not been to 'Disney' since August 2013, and by 'Disney' I mean any sort of Disney resort!  My 'go to' choice would always be Walt Disney World, although I think as my podcast co-host Michelle has spent an awful lot of time in Disneyland these past 12 months I will confess to a renewed desire to venture out to the West Coast once again.

But aspirations of a US visit are some way off at the moment and so in approximately 34 days time we will be off to our closest Disney resort; Disneyland Paris.

Having gone for over a year with no vacation, let alone a Disney vacation, the whole family was starting to show the signs of why taking time away from home, work, school and the usual daily routine is a good thing!  So when I started seeing adverts for 'extra days and nights free' at Disneyland Paris, and then realised that our school break in February seemed to be at a slightly different time to the majority of the country resulting in slightly cheaper rates, it was a no brainer - let's get booked!

So we are all booked and getting ready to go...so what exactly are we doing? Where are we staying? How are we getting there? Let me explain...

So let's talk travel. On our previous visits to Disneyland Paris we have either flown or used the Eurostar train service.  We had been fortunate previously to get flights to Paris from our local airport (only a few miles from our home!) and then transfer to the resort by way of coach, but when flights started to become tricky to come by we changed tact and used the Eurostar.

Now the direct Eurostar train service starts off at London St Pancras and travels straight to the doorstep of Disneyland Paris; it is literally a 3 minute walk fromthe train station to the main Disneyland park.  This service makes only a couple of stops en route at Ebbsfleet (just outside of London) and Ashford in Kent (on the Southern UK coast line).  Previously we have driven to Ashford (about a 5 hour drive) in order to pick up the train and go straight to Disney but this year we are picking the train up from Ebbsfleet which will only be about a 3 hour drive for us.  The option of going from London for us just wasn't viable as to get a local train to London would have been more expensive than using the car to drive to Ebbsfleet and we would then need a hotel in London for the night before we travel which would have been another expense.

So we are going to drive to Ebbsfleet, stay overnight in a cheap hotel (booked!) so that we will be ready for the Eurostar train the following morning.  We will park the car in a long stay car park (already pre-booked) and simply jump onto the train where we can sit back and enjoy the journey to the other side of Paris in just over 2 hours.  We will be able to check into our hotel and receive our park tickets on the train and then use the Disney Express Luggage Service when we get to our destination.  This means that we can take our luggage to the special Disney Express counter in the train station and our luggage will be taken straight to our hotel, leaving us free to head straight into the parks.  And when we come to return home the system operates in reverse - we drop our luggage off at Luggage Services within our hotel, we can go and make the most of our last few hours and then we simply collect the luggage from the Disney Express counter at the train station before getting on the train home.  This has worked brilliantly for us in the past and is one of the main reasons for choosing the Eurostar service.  It may not be the cheapest way to get to Disneyland Paris but it suits us, it gives us the knowledge that we can make the most of all days of our vacation and it saves us long check-in times for planes and a very long drive if we were to get there under our own steam!!

Next is the hotel; now for us we wanted to have the full on Disney experience and stay in a Disney hotel.  There are lots of other hotels within close proximity to Disneyland Paris and most of which operate some sort of shuttle service to and from the parks but for us it had to be a Disney one.  There are seven hotels to choose from; Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Hotel New York, Disney's Newport Bay Club, Disney's Sequoia Lodge, Disney's Hotel Cheyenne, Disney's Santa Fe and Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch.

We have opted for Disney's Sequoia Lodge which is one of their mid-range hotels (comparable to a moderate resort in WDW) and one we have stayed in once before. We have also stayed in Disney's Hotel Cheyenne on a number of occasions which is themed around the Wild West and was great for when our children were much younger.  The Sequoia Lodge, as the name implies, is themed around North American forests with a cosy mountain retreat vibe going on.  There's plenty of log fires which I think will be very welcome visiting in early February!! It is on the perimeter of Lake Disney, within close distance of Downtown Disney and only a 15 minute walk away from the parks.

And as I said before one of our main reasons for going is that by booking a package with Disney we are getting 2 nights and 2 days for free which means we are going to be able to spend nearly 5 full days in the parks and really explore everything that Disneyland Paris has to offer. Really starting to look forward to it now :)

Love is in the Air

So I've had a bit of a hectic few days (hence no blog post for over a week) which culminated in good friends getting married.

Now I have to admit to loving a good wedding and this one was a bit special because Simon had been asked to do the artwork for the wedding invitations and even had his artwork turned into cake toppers!

Hayley & Kieran comic book style!

As you maybe able to tell from Simon's artwork our friends love comics and computer games and the wedding took on a 'geeky' feel and it suited them down to the ground.

Now whenever I am lucky enough to attend a wedding it always makes me think to back to my own nearly 24 years ago...and always seems to get us talking about what we would do if we were getting married now!

Back in 2010 as we approached our 21st anniversary we were lucky enough to renew our wedding vows...and we renewed them in style...Vegas style!

So there we were all booked for my first visit to the West Coast USA, and more importantly my first visit to Disneyland.  As part of our vacation we had booked some nights in Anaheim, some in Las Vegas and some in San Francisco and as we got into planning mode we started joking about getting married in Vegas.  Now it was something that we had always joked about over the years but here we were actually going and it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.  Now we couldn't get married but we could renew our vows, but where??  Well, there was only ever going to be one choice of vow renewal and it had to involve Elvis; my parents (who were with us on vacation) are massive Elvis fans and I had been brought up with his music.  We then embarked on a bit of online research and found the original Graceland Chapel and picked their Blue Hawaii package.

But before we got to Vegas we had a few days staying in Anaheim and visiting Disneyland and Disney California Adventure and whilst there we did a bit of obligatory Disney shopping :).

Disneyland :) 

This is where I came across a ring that I now where most days, a very simple silver ring that only cost a few dollars but one that came in very handy when renewing our vows!  I didn't want to remove my current wedding ring so decided that a new ring would be rather nice, but as the expensive kind were out of the question a Disney ring seemed the next best, and most appropriate, option.

The ring - it has 5 Mickey's and 4 'sparkly' gems

How I wear it most days :)

Once in Vegas we met up with our close friend Alex who had flown in from New York to join us and set about enjoying the sights and sounds of Vegas!!

We got ourselves ready, suitably attired in Hawaiian inspired prints, and made our way, via limousine, to the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

Our limousine outside our hotel

Living it large inside the limousine

The original Graceland Wedding Chapel











We had the most fantastic time renewing our vows with Elvis, we danced, sang and laughed our way through the short ceremony.  I can wholeheartedly recommend anyone to do it, it was such a fun experience and created memories that we will treasure forever.

With Elvis!!!

After the ceremony with our Lei's 

But what to do after the ceremony?  Well, we were in Vegas so we had no shortage of options, the limousine took us back to our hotel where we decided to go for ice-cream!! Then we got in our car and headed out of town, only taking a brief stop...

The infamous 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign

...before playing...

Miniature golf!!

...indoor, glow in the dark, Egyptian themed, miniature golf...in full wedding outfits with Hawaiian Lei's!!!  It seemed the most appropriate thing to do after renewing our vows...!!!

When we got back to our hotel later that night we couldn't resist getting our photo taken...

So if you ever get the chance to renew your vows, or even get married in Las Vegas, I would say 'go for it', it maybe one of the most surreal things you'll ever do but it'll be one of the most fun, happiest things you'll ever do.

Running...nowhere!

I thought it was about time to put finger to keyboard and write another little post.  Now ideally I would like to be telling you all about my running, how far I've been, how many times I've been out running all that sort of thing...but unfortunately I have nothing to report.  So without wanting to turn this post into a weather report lets just say that the British weather has not really been favourable to running.  This has been my view up and down my road for nearly 2 weeks now.





And although I have some lovely cold weather running gear to keep me warm it's not going to help keep me on my feet!!  So, for the moment, the running is on hold but I promise first chance I get I shall be out there.

I really enjoyed reading all the tweets over the WDW Marathon weekend (10th - 13th January) and the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend in Disneyland (18th - 20th January). They were truly inspiring and conjured up some wonderful images of running down Main Street USA and around Epcot in particular.  Now whilst at the moment running a half marathon never mind a full marathon are outside of my comprehension I think that a 5K would be within my grasp, and if that 5K were in a Disney park what better motivation could I ask for?!  Now I don't think that's going to happen any time soon but I am looking to see if there is something closer to home that I could run, and perhaps raise some money for charity at the same time.  It would be nice to help the 'Make-A-Wish Foundation' as Simon and I have previously supported the WDW Radio Show's Dream Team Project in their endeavours to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.

Ironically the next time we are in a Disney park there will be a Disney running event happening but on the opposite coast to where we are!  Oh well, I shall just have to add it to my list of Disney wishes :)

Besides I will still be able to complete what was my initial target of running around Lago Dorado at Coronado Springs Resort!

My Family and Other Vinylmations

Due to having a very talented husband myself, family and friends now find ourselves immortalised in Vinylmation form.

Vinylmations are a plastic figure, in the shape of Mickey Mouse that have been painted to represent all sorts of themes and characters and are available from Disney in their parks and stores.  They have become a collectors delight and have a huge following amongst Disney fans.  They are issued in sets and are bought blind, so part of the fun is trying to get a complete set and then 'swapping' or 'trading' any duplicates.

Over the course of our last few visits to WDW and Disneyland we have, ourselves, purchased the odd one or two.....in fact our son has enjoyed the challenge of finding those knocked down in price and then 'trading' duplicates in order to get the illusive full set!

And for the artistic amongst you there are blank, plain white, vinylmations to buy and 'decorate' yourself.  Now for Simon this was too big a challenge to pass up, as soon as we saw Vinylmations for the first time in the parks he started talking about how fun it would be to paint one and then low and behold we discovered the blank ones!

Initially Simon decided to paint me and him;

Me and Simon with the stack of 365 Mickeys Project

When Simon posted pictures of these online he was 'hassled' by fellow Disney fans to recreate them in plastic form.....so as a compromise (and not wanting to infringe any Disney copyright) Simon created a couple of 2D drawn images for friends Christy & Emma.

But Simon couldn't stop there and after a friend in Japan had sent us a Vinylmation all the way from Tokyo he decided to repay the favour and re-create our friend, Nana, Vinylmation style.

Nana

Along with a special commission from Emma

Emma

And after the success of creating Simon and I in plastic form our two kids were keen to see themselves as 3 inch high figures, so with a weeks holiday presenting itself Simon set himself the task of creating the rest of our family;

The four of us, and me with new eyes - Simon decided to re-do them!!

Not bad going, the detail is amazing and likenesses are uncanny!

The Attraction & Dilemma of WDW, from a UK Perspective!

It's an annual dilemma for most, where shall we go for our vacation this year?  Friends will contemplate which country to visit, where they can afford to go, when and with whom!

Whereas for me it's easy, in fact it's a no brainer, I can answer without hesitation, or deviation, and say WDW every time.

I think my friends now accept this is always going to be my preference but I know for a while I was looked upon as a little strange.  After all, why did I want to visit the same place not just once or twice or even a third time but time and time again?

Now I have to admit that as the years have gone by my choice has widened....to include Disneyland Resort Paris and Disneyland and I am still trying to figure out how to get to Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea....but do you see a theme?

And in all fairness even the years when we ventured to other Disney resorts my heart was at WDW; comparing parks, attractions, rides, weather, food and queues.  However, living in the UK does have one big obstacle to visiting WDW as often as I would like.....the Atlantic Ocean!

Also over the years life kinda got in the way what with career changes, house moves and oh yes, the arrival of 2 children, all forced a vacation re-think and for a number of years we enjoyed the closeness of DLRP (that's Disneyland Resort Paris, for you Muggles!). 

Having the children in particular has had a big effect; vacations become a lot more expensive, not just the getting there but all the extras whilst on vacation, then there's when to go, as school has to be taken into consideration and couple all that with a 9 hour transatlantic flight and any sane person will tell you that your choice of vacation destination has to be well considered and well thought out.  So there was a period when we waited till our youngest was 3-and-a-half before we ventured to WDW, this meant a gap of 8 years between visits and a lot of visits to DLRP instead.

Now don't get me wrong DLRP is great but it's not quite WDW or Disneyland, and to be honest, as the years have gone by visiting DLRP for a 3 or 4 night stay has not been an option purely from a value for money point of view.  Visiting the US for a longer period (usually 2 weeks for us Brits) although expensive, is waaaay better value for money.  It may come as a shock but, for someone from the UK, visiting Paris is three times more expensive per night, than a visit to Florida!

In addition, the weather is far better, and Disney just feels better or 'right' in the US.  I'd always thought I could satisfy my Disney fix by taking a trip to DLRP in between visits to WDW but the expense eats too much into our savings for the 'main event'.  So despite my desire to visit WDW at least once every year I have to be happy with every 2 or 3 years - money, school and work allowing.

That said, it does make our trips to WDW far more special and memorable, and it does mean that there is more new stuff to see and experience every time.