DISNEYLAND PARIS V.I.P TRIP!

DISNEYLAND PARIS V.I.P TRIP!

Well for those of you who don't know, I won a V.I.P trip to Disneyland Paris with AttractionTix!!!

The moment I saw the post on their facebook page saying that you could win this trip I knew I had to put effort into attempting to win such an amazing prize.

The brief was to film a video with only 2 main components. Firstly, you had to say which Disney character was your favourite as a child and why. And then secondly, you had to do an impression of that character.

When I was around the age of 3, Snow White was my favourite character. She was the Princess I aspired to be and would re-watch the film over and over and over again. So she was the character I chose for the video. I brainstormed a few ideas on a Microsoft Word document. My first option was to make up a song (which I had done previously for a different competition to win a trip to Disneyland which unfortunately I didn't win!) I started trying to come up with some lyrics, but soon scrapped this idea. Then all of a sudden I had a brainwave, I was going to show how I was the complete opposite of Snow White and why I want to be like her, then I would magically transform into her and be able to do all the things I couldn't. I knew I wanted it to be humorous, as I thought this would stand out. 

I watched the film for the 100000th time and read her wikipedia bio. I wrote down 4 themes on paper.

1. Baking

2. Talks to animals

3. Cleaning

4. Likes apples

This was all I needed to come up with my final idea. I will leave the video below so you can see precisely what I am talking about.

Click Here to see my Competition Entry!

I waited anxiously all day during the day it was being announced. I had found a couple of other entries on YouTube and comping groups and was sure I hadn't won, even though I was actually really proud of my entry. About 7pm I gave up staring at the Facebook page and refreshed it to go to my timeline. When all of a sudden I spotted my video at the top of my timeline! I literally screamed!!! I was shaking, couldn't believe I'd managed it!

Okay so enough of all that, here is the really exciting bit! The prize details....

Firstly, Lucy, Pete and Disneyland newbie Meryn are coming on the trip with me, and I could not be happier!

We are travelling down on the Eurostar, which means that we get to spend a day eitherside in London too!

We are staying in the Newport Bay Hotel for 2 nights, which I am really excited about because I stayed there as a child and loved it!

We have the Disney Express Luggage Service added to the package which is great as I suffer from CFS and dragging luggage is the hardest part of a trip for me.

We also have the Full Board Plus meal plan which is truly amazing! We had a meal plan for my birthday trip in June and we adored it. This time we are going to try Bistrot Chez Remy which is somewhere I've always wanted to try!

As well as this, we have Plaza Gardens for a character dining Breakfast and Buffalo Bill's on our first night!

We have V.I.P Fastpasses for our trip and V.I.P Parade and Firework Viewing! Which is truly magical! I can't wait to see Illuminations close up.

Me and Lucy are going to be going on a V.I.P guided tour which has been a dream of mine since I first went to a Disney park, I love learning facts about the parks (although I probably already know them all!)

And lastly, there is apparantly going to be a Disney surprise in the room when we arrive!

I am literally freaking out about how amazing this prize is! We leave for London on the 13th of November, we're in Disneyland the 14th - 16th and then have the 17th in London again! If you're going to be in the parks let me know so we can say hi!

A-Z of Characters - The Letters X, Y & Z!

X,Y OR Z is for...

Absolutely nobody! I thought I'd stick the last 3 letters together as I haven't met anyone beginning with any of these letters!

A-Z of Character - The Letter W!

W is for...

Winnie the Pooh is one of my favourite characters to meet, he is so cuddly and just overall so cute!

Wreck-it Ralph, as said in an earlier post, he met in Hollywood Studios with Vanellope!

Woody Woodpecker was spotted randomly both times I have met him in Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure!

A-Z of Characters - The Letter U!

U is for...

I haven't met any characters beginning with U.

A-Z of Characters - The Letter T!

T is for...

I had never met Tarzan until 2016. I asked a cast member where to find him in Animal Kingdom and they pointed us in the right direction.

I have met Tigger on a few occasions so I am going to try and pull as many photos as I can find into this blog post!

Tinkerbell was really sweet. She got mad when she saw Wendy on my shirt until I pointed out that Tinkerbell was pulling her hair on the shirt! Then we discussed who could pull the funniest face!

I have met the Tweedles a few times over the years too, they are always really funny!!

A-Z of Character - The Letter S!

S is for...

Scrooge McDuck, this one was my friend Pete's main choice to meet at the Very Merry Christmas Party. Scrooge was really funny and was trying to steal peanuts from the set behind him! He met with his nephew Donald!

Sadness isn't one of my favourite movie characters, but as a character to meet she was amazing! She knocked my friend Lucy's ears off whilst hugging her and instantly slumped to the floor in...well...sadness! We had to pick her up and we tried to cheer her up by spinning happily with Joy!

The Sheriff of Nottingham was hilarious in Disneyland Paris. I was sat on a bench having a rest and him and a few other characters popped out of the gate and started messing around. He was chasing me around the area and getting right up in my face while I took photos!

Snow White I managed to meet in Disneyland Paris when I was 3. She was in the Disneyland Hotel as we were wandering through and at the time she was my favourite character!!

Sleepy and the rest of the dwarves were out in a very rare moment in Disneyland Paris when I was 3 and I was in awe!! 

I met Stitch in Magic Kingdom randomly when I was visiting with Lucy in 2014! He's always a fun character to meet!

Sulley was with his buddy Mike in Hollywood Studios in 2014!

Shaggy and Scooby Doo can go together as I have only ever met them as a pair!

A-Z of Characters - The Letter R!

R is for...

Rafiki, I really wanted to meet Rafiki as he looked like a fun character to meet! I got to meet him in Animal Kingdom aged 6 and again in 2016!

Rapunzel is one of my favourite Disney Characters and I have definitely wanted to meet her (I also wanted some tips on how to be more Rapunzel like!) I got to meet her twice in 2016, once with Flynn and once on her own. Both times we talked about Flynn's smoulder!

Robin Hood was a proper gentleman, at aged 6 he kissed my hand & gestured to say I looked pretty! 

Russell was really funny in Animal Kingdom, he was posing like a superstar!

A-Z of Characters - The Letter Q!

Q is for....

Nobody :( as I haven't met any characters beginning with Q. I saw the Queen of Hearts from a distance when I was 3 but was too scared to go near her!

A-Z of Characters - The Letter K!

K is for....

King Louie has always been one of my favourite character meet and greets. He is so funny and loves nothing more than to mess around. I met him in Animal Kingdom in 1998 and he kept knocking my cap over my eyes! Me and Lucy saw him in 2014 at Epcot and we then met him again in Animal Kingdom with his friend Baloo in 2016.

Knight Bus Conductor (or at least that's his name for this blog post!) To be honest I had a lot more fun talking to the shrunken head on the bus than the conductor!

Krusty the Clown. I don't watch The Simpsons but I know most of the main characters. I especially like Krusty as he is so colourful and made a nice colourful photograph!

The A-Z of Characters - Letter I!

I is for...

I haven't met any characters beginning with I! :'(

The A-Z of Character Meet and Greets! - The Letter C

C is for...

Chip of course! Obviously he always comes with his brother Dale. I got to meet them in their cute Western gear in Magic Kingdom in 2016. I managed to find a picture of just me and Chip! I also met them when I was 6 but I can only find a photo of me with Dale!

Cinderella I got to meet twice in 2016. Once at Akershus Breakfast in Epcot and then again at the 1900 Park Dare Dinner. She was lovely, very gracious and poised both times. These were also 2 of my favourite dining experiences!

Disneyland Paris 2016 Trip Report

Today is the day that I finally talk about our amazing trip to Disneyland Paris! I knew taking a Disney first timer would be amazing but seeing Joe's face as we stepped into the magical land blew me away. He uttered the words, "it's more magical than I thought it would be!" And those exact words made my heart flutter!

Not only had Joe never been to Disney before, he also had not flown in a plane before. So it was a holiday of whole new experiences for him. As we stepped aboard the Easyjet plane on September 12th 2016, the excitement just grew and grew! We had already planned that once we arrived we would check in at our hotel and then head to Disney Village; and that is precisely what we did. We checked into the Kyriad, which is a Disney partner hotel (this means it's still close to Disney but they do not own the property.) The hotel itself I find lovely, it has a good breakfast too which is always a bonus! It now additionally has a farm with cute little bunnies, llamas, sheep etc. We dumped our bags and headed straight onto the bus for Disney Village. I have wanted to try Earl of Sandwich for a long time now, so my goal was to get us to go there for tea. Somehow I managed it, considering Joe isn't the World's Biggest Sandwich Fan. He spotted a pizza and opted for that. It looked really tasty and was smothered in that French cheese that was going to be a recurring theme for the holiday. I chose the children's meal as my Burger King at lunch had filled me up, plus I didn't fancy trying to ask for my sandwich plain with the language barrier. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and a chocolate mousse. Both items were divine and I cannot wait to visit Earl of Sandwich in Orlando now! I love how neatly the items were wrapped in foil with a little sticker on. Such a cute touch. We did a little bit of shopping and Joe was excited to see Christmas items in the shop windows, then we headed back home to get some sleep before the exciting day ahead.

The first day at Disneyland was full to the brim of rides and shows. We visited the main Disneyland Park first as I wanted to truly show Joe how magical it can be. Our first ride (which is actually turning into a Disneyland Paris tradition) was Buzz Lightyear. This is a ride where you shoot at targets to earn points. I knew Joe would enjoy this as it is an interactive style ride, plus who doesn't love Toy Story. I remember hearing Joe say, "it's just like real life Toy Story!" After this we followed on by riding Casey Junior, The Storybook land boats, It's a Small World, Snow White, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, Mad Tea Party and so much more!! We tried the Market House Deli for lunch which was actually really nice, it's situated on Main Street. Lucy and Joe had toasties and I opted for a simple bag of crisps and a gorgeous cupcake. I love how soft their icing is. Joe was looking forward to seeing the Frozen singalong so we went there next, well after the 2 of them bought Elsa slushies. I believe Joe was very impressed with the show as he went to watch it again on our last day. Joe somehow managed to drag me on Space Mountain Mission 2! I hate going upside down and I don't know what crazy thought went through my head in that moment for me to agree to such things! However I braved it, I wouldn't go on it again though, I loved the speed of it but I got battered so much I had a bad headache and dizziness for the rest of the day! We then picked our parade spot the the most magical parade. We chose to sit in the immense heat outside the towers in Fantasyland for about 20 minutes, which felt like torture but so worth it. The temperature was 31 degrees!!! The parade was probably my favourite I've ever seen, not because of the floats but because of the character interactions. Me and Lucy were getting into the spirit by singing, waving and blowing kisses, and it really paid off. A lot of them noticed us and came over and talked to us which made for a great vlog. Phantom Manor had broken down so we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean which quickly became one of Joe's favourite rides. He even bought the souvenir photograph! We finally got to go on Phantom Manor after that which is one of my favourites, but that's because I love anything out of the ordinary and have a fondness for Haunted Mansion in WDW. We decided we wanted to visit Hakuna Matata for tea, we all got the spicy chicken and spicy waffle fries. It is a fond favourite of all of ours. The taste is very spicy so if you're not keen on spices this is not the place to visit. I also love the African decor. We picked our spot at the front of the park near the gazebo and staked it out for Dreams. This is the first time I properly got to watch it and it was truly magical, I can see why everyone adores it so much. Even Lucy joined in with enjoying it once she realised the fireworks didn't make a loud noise. It ended the night beautifully. <3