3rd and Final Disneyland Day!

Well, you know what they say.....time flies when you're having fun. We were certainly having heaps of that! So the final day was upon us and it was even more magical than usual because we were celebrating Fiona's 24th birthday!

We got up early, packed everything away and got ready to go straight to the parks after dropping off our bags. We made friends with the very friendly bag man who sang happy birthday to Fiona....a common theme from the Cast Members we encountered throughout the day! 

We decided to head straight over to the Studios park to do the rides that we hadn't had time to do on the first day, and because Orla was desperate to go back on Crushes Coaster (my fave, hmm)

We arrived before the park opening time and were able to have a wander round before the rides and show opened. This gave us a chance to make the most of some of the movie set things they had set up and get some photos! Orla had spotted the umbrella under the rain the previous day and was SO excited to have her picture taken under it. What happened next is sort of partly my fault for getting carried away while directing Orla to get a great shot (think Austin Powers type enthusiasm) and Orla's.....for being a massive clutz! I told her she should jump so that we got a picture of her holding the umbrella whilst mid air. Unfortunately Orla jumped in the wrong direction and head butted the handle of the umbrella. I got a brilliant action shot, but Orla got a huge lump and bright red mark! Thank goodness for concealer! 

She recovered quickly and Fiona and Orla headed off to Rockin' Rollarcoaster. It wasn't until they had left that it occurered to me that a pretty epic bump to the head at 9am in the morning, probably wasn't best treated on a fast paced rollarcoaster that goes upside down twice.....but she lived to tell the tale!

Once we were done in the studios, we headed over the main park for some last minute fun! We went on all of the rides we wanted to do for a second time and I came very close to going on an upside down coaster (nice try Orla)! 

The highlight of this day was definitely getting time to meet all of the villains who were out in force for Halloween! Fiona was desperate to meet characters, little did she know, Orla and I had a trick up our sleeves that was going to make sure that happened. We met Captain Hook first, then Jafar and Maleficint. Followed closely by The Shadow Man and Cruella De Vill. The real highlight was Gaston. He took a liking to us because we reminded him of the three blondes from the film who adore him. He actually wouldn't let us leave until we had done their signature sigh/swoon for him! he sang Happy Birthday loudly and enthusiastically for Fiona and we had LOADS of pictures with him! 

After the character excitement, we moved on to the Birthday surprise for Fiona! We left the park and went over to Cafe Mickey in Disney Village. There we had booked lunch with the characters! Fiona got to meet the main man himself, Mickey, Donald, Chip & Dale, Gepetto and Pinocchio. After our meal the whole restaurant went crazy as Chip & Dale presented her with a cake that Orla and I had arranged. The whole restaurant was on their feet and singing. It was a very magical way to spend a birthday.....until Dale tried to steal the cake anyway! 

Feeling full and tired, it was time to bid farewell to Disneyland Paris. We had such an amazing time, we're already figuring out when we can go back! 

All it takes is faith & trust.....& a little bit of dust! 

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Day 2 - Well Rested & Raring To Go!

Day 2 of our Disneyland Paris adventure began rather early. We wanted to make sure that we were able to spend as much time as possible in the main park as this was going to be our only full day in Disneyland.

 As soon as we arrived at the gates, all thoughts of tiredness evaporated! Fiona and Orla were completely taken in by the Halloween decorations, which made the park look even more magical than usual! Main Street station was covered with Mickey shaped pumpkin heads, lonesome ghost families for you to pose and have pictures with and a sea of autumnal coloured flowers and leaves. As soon as we got through the station, we were greeted by a band playing some Disney favourites but with a spooky twist. I adored this and is something I’ve never seen in Paris.

We continued down Main Street and were ushered to one side as the Halloween Mickey Parade was on its way! This was the perfect way for Fiona and Orla to enter the park and their first experience of a Disney Parade! This was also the first time the girls had seen any characters up close and cemented that they had to meet some of them while they were there. Warning – If you are lucky enough to go to Paris this season, be aware that you will be singing the Parade music ALL DAY! It’s very catchy and all three of us found ourselves humming it at various points of the trip.

We started in Fantasyland and headed straight for Peter Pans Flight. This is pretty much my favourite Disney ride. I know it’s for kids but it is so pretty! You get in to a pirate ship that flys through scenes from the film. My favourite part is where you fly over London and then Neverland (make sure you look down!)  We moved straight on to Alice’s Labyrinth (Orla’s second favourite Disney film after Peter Pan). We spent ages getting lost in the maze, painting roses red and generally losing our heads! We then moved straight on the Mad Hatters tea cups, carousel and the Pinocchio ride! After seeing everything we could there we moved over to Adventureland to explore the caves and see what the Pirates were up to. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which I’d somehow completely forgotten. (Totally surprised that it’s a water drop ride!) It’s a lovely setting when you pass diners at the Blue Lagoon restaurant on the boat though, so well worth doing if you get the chance.

We made our way across the rickety bridge and had jelly legs by the time we made it out of the other side! It was from here that Orla spotted Fontierland in the distance. This was made up to look very Halloween like. We hot footed it over towards Phantom Manor because another of Orla’s favourite characters was out and about. Jack Skellinton was haunting over behind Big Thunder Mountain. We got in line and met our first Character of the trip. He was scarily like Jack in the film and we had a long chat with him about what was terrifying us most in the park. It was actually this meeting that inspired our Halloween Sally make up tutorial that will be on YouTube soon!

After we’d done all of the rides in Fontierland, we headed on over to Discoveryland to shoot Zurg and save the planet on the Buzz Lightyear ride! We went round to see if we could eat at the Pizza Planet restaurant.....Orla has literally never been so excited! It didn't even bother her that it was closed! Fiona and Orla very bravely went on Space Mountain….I stayed behind to hold the bags, obviously!

No sooner had they landed back on earth was it Parade time! Since it had been raining heavily beforehand, we weren’t sure if the parade was going to happen. We hung around anxiously hoping that it would, thankfully the familiar music started and Fiona and Orla got to experience their first full Disney Parade!

We’d packed a lot in to the day already and decided to grab dinner in the park before Dreams started at 8pm.  To say we were excited about Dreams is possibly the understatement of the century! It’s fair to say that no one does fireworks quite like Disney. The projections and storytelling on the castle were just amazing and unlike anything we’d ever seen before. My personal favourite part was the Rapunzel and Flynn part of the show. It was very magical….

After all of that excitement we headed back in the rain to a very warm and cosy room, ready to do it all again the next day!

 Keep your eyes peeled for our final instalment of our Disneyland Paris blog in the next few days! 

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A Magical October Trip to Disneyland Paris!

On October 8th 2013 Twice Upon A Blonde set off on an adventure to Disneyland Paris with Pascal, our trusty mascot and Fiona, Orla's sister who would be celebrating her 24th birthday whilst there!

This was my 5th trip to Disneyland Paris but Fiona & Orla's first experience of a Disney holiday. This was a slight first for

me too, as I've never been during Halloween before! 

Orla and Pascal chillin' en route!

We were booked on to a Eurostar that was due to leave at 6.50am (who's bright idea was that!) so we were up at 4.00am to be ready for our taxi that was due at 5.00am! As we're sure you can imagine, this left us feeling quite dead by about midday! At least we could sleep on the train though, right? WRONG! Excitement kicked in as soon as we set foot on the train and by the time we started to hit a wall of tiredness, it was time to catch our connection. The poor businessman who was sat on the table with us looked extremely relieved to bid us farewell! Three excitable girls en route to Disneyland Paris was certainly not what he had bargained for! 

Showing Pascal the love he deserves.
He wasn't impressed with the 4am wake up either!

So, an hour stop over in Lille, complete with a little bit of filming for YouTube and we were on our way again! This time on a double decker train straight to the magic. It was just over an hour before we arrived at 11.50am. 

We were staying in the Wild West themed hotel, Cheyenne. It's recently been refurbished and is such a fun place to stay! Orla was totally absorbed by the decor, exactly like I was the first time I stayed there. Every little detail is considered and it really makes you feel like you're part of the storytelling that Disney parks allow you to be a part of, even before you get to the gates!

We had a quick costume change out of the clothes we had been wearing to travel in and headed straight out to the parks! We decided to go to Disney Studios as it's the smaller park of the two and as this was Fiona and Orla's first time in a Disney park, we thought it would be better for them to see the castle and main park after a good nights sleep, when they could fully appreciate it! 

Once we were through the gates we headed straight for Toy Story Playland. This is a slightly newer section of the park and makes you feel like a toy with everything around you being oversized. So, I should probably explain at this point that I'm not a great lover of rides.....Orla and Fiona on the other hand, really are. I'm ok with most things, but heights and sudden drops are not on my list of favourite things. You can imagine my delight when the first thing they wanted to go on was the parachuting soldiers! I've done this before and absolutely hated it, mostly because it incorporates my two least favourite things. I did it anyway and the girls enjoyed it, Orla was VERY surprised at how high it actually was (yep, told you)!.....rather helpfully once at the top, Fiona told me I didn't have to go on any rides I'd they scared me.....information that would have been helpful 20 minutes earlier! It actually wasn't so bad, I have been on much worse! 

Fiona and Orla headed off to the RC ride. I very happily stayed behind to film their terror/delight. I knew I'd made the right choice when I saw a boyfriend encourage his girlfriend to get on the ride. She clearly didn't want to but she did it anyway. As soon as it started she pulled her hair and scarf over her eyes and sobbed. A sure fire way to ensure you're not spoken to for a few hours. They did not walk away looking happy! The girls came off looking delighted though, and both agreed that the ride would have been my idea of hell.....it certainly looked that way! 

We did some of the smaller rides afterwards which were a lot of fun. Whilst still being taken in by the theming, it's hard not to be! We did the backstage tour and Stitch Live which was fab as ever. Mid week in October is clearly a good time to go, the longest queue time was no more that 25 minutes! 

Just before we called it a day on day 1 of our adventure, Orla spotted Crushes Coaster. This is a Finding Nemo themed roller coaster that is in the dark. The information you read before you get on the ride highlights that it's a fast, spinning,coaster with sudden turns and drops. I've always refused to do this ride in the past, but thought I'd have a crack at being brave and go on. As we got into the ride, I repeatedly told Orla that I was unsure about why I was doing this and then off we went. Too late to turn back. The beginning of the ride was great. A few small drops and a nice little journey through the reef. Beautiful. No sooner had Orla opened her mouth and uttered the words, we haven't done any spinning yet, did we start being flung around and spun in the dark, not knowing which way we were going. Orla was screaming with delight and I was squeezing her hand so tightly (she actually told me she didn't want to be there if I ever needed support during labour....sorry about the hand)! When I get really scared, I tend to go silent on a ride. Orla was quite concerned that I'd passed out due to how quiet I went. To be honest, the whole second half of the ride was a blur and I had my eyes closed. I was quite sure that I didn't hate it though......a good sign at least. 

With that, it was time to leave the park and head over to Annette's Diner for some dinner before hitting the hay. 

All in all a very successful and fun 1st day in Disneyland Paris. All three of us were in bed with lights out by 8pm.....we are that rock and roll! 

Keep an eye out for the second installment of our Disneyland Paris blog! We can't wait to share what happened when we went to the main park!

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We Haven’t Abandoned You……

We have just been in the most magical place in Europe for a few days and unfortunately, we didn't have any internet access! Look out for a blog coming in the next few days once we've had a time to sort through photos! We've got lots of videos and clips to share of our time away and cannot wait for you to see what we got up to!

While you wait for our pixie dust filled blog post, why not check out our video of last weeks charity/thrift store haul? Please like, comment and subscribe if you like what you see!

Have a magical Friday!

<3 Twice Upon A Blonde 

Please check out these other fun ways to connect with us -Twitter - @TwiceUponBlonde, Instagram - TwiceuponBlonde & YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKztQ7sRCbFQZeGXdQOMEOw

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