Planning our first trip to Walt Disney World, Florida

Planning a holiday is always exciting, but when it's a holiday of a lifetime it can be pretty overwhelming as well. This summer, we will be taking our children on their very first trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. Long term readers of this site will know that we are a family of huge Disney fans, so this really is the ultimate dream for us all. My husband has been three times before as a child but for myself and our two children, it will be not only our first visit to Disney World but also our first time in the United States!

We did take the children to Disneyland in Paris a few years ago and although they had a fabulous time and made some cherished memories, I found it a very stressful trip. Therefore I want to do as much forward planning as possible this time, to make sure I share the magic with them!

We have already booked our advanced dining reservations for the meals we will be having on site, booked our eight year old a princess makeover slot at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Magic Kingdom and of course linked up our tickets in the My Disney Experience App.

Top Tips for your first Disney World Trip from UK Family Travel Bloggers

Having just passed our double digit day I feel like I can really get into geeky planning mode now, we've started to buy bits and pieces ready to pack and we have our 30 day Fastpass+ day marked on the calendar! To help me get prepared I thought I would pick the brains of some fellow bloggers and WDW fans. I've pulled together some of the top tips that they have shared with me below:

Angela who writes a fabulous family travel blog filled with Disney themed content - Life of Spicers - says we should enjoy everything that you are doing and don't worry about what you're not doing, as it's impossible to do everything!

Amy from Livvy Bird Adventures advises her top tip is to get everyone in the travel party to choose one MUST for each park. Then treat everything else as extra. Whether you go for one or three weeks you still won’t get everything done. Do check out her Instagram for lots of Disney memories!

Karen from That Lancashire Lass took her family to WDW in 2017 and she tells me that fast passes are brilliant for minimising queuing time when you have young children.

Louise from A Strong Coffee to Go suggests that if you don’t get a fast pass for one of the really popular rides such as Flight of Passage, either go for rope drop on a day without early magic hours or get in the queue just before closing. Once the fast passes have stopped going in, the queue will go down much faster than the time that was shown. Thanks Louise, I shall remember that one!

Emma Read has written a great post sharing what she learnt from being first timers at Disney World, it's full of great advice and I would recommend popping over and reading it, but one tip I will definitely be taking on board is to take our own food and drinks into the park. As a vegetarian I am expecting that the choice will be limited and I know that eating on park will be expensive too. We have a couple of character meals booked but other than that we fully intend to take packed lunches and water bottles to refill with the free iced water available!

Steph from Steph's Two Girls wrote a great tongue in cheek post sharing her Top Ten Tips for a Florida Disney Holiday following her last visit in 2015. In this she says, 'Stress over planning your days out meticulously if you want to, but be prepared to scrap all those plans and go with the flow every day as soon as your first FastPass+ ride breaks down.'

I think that is the perfect piece of advice to leave this on, we really can plan everything down to the last detail but sometimes things don't go to as we expect, rides may break down, storms may happen or little ones may just get too tired. If you do plan, you also have to allow for things to change and be prepared to just go with the flow!

I'd love to hear your top tips!

Have you been on a holiday to Disney World in Florida? Do you have any tips to share with us as first timers? If so please do leave me a comment as I would love to read them!

Disney on Ice Dream Big brings Moana to Manchester Arena!

Regular readers will know that we are a family of Disney fans and we having been going to watch Disney on Ice every year since the children were tiny. Over the years we've enjoyed seeing all of our favourite characters perform spectacular acts on the Ice and retell much loved stories in an amazing fashion!

This year Disney on Ice presents Dream Big, featuring everyone's favourite Wayfinder all the way from the island of Motunui. The brand new production brings together a collection of the most inspiring Disney Stories of late and allows audiences to set sail with Moana and Maui, fly with Aladdin, dive with Ariel, dance with Beauty and the Beast and experience sisterly love with Anna and Elsa in Arendelle.



This latest line up on the ice is all about courage and adventure, Disney fans of all ages can find the inner strength that comes from kindness and determination with Belle, Aurora and Cinderella as they watch them triumph over adversity.

Plus audiences should arrive early to celebrate 90 years of Walt Disney’s true original, no other than Mickey Mouse! Disney On Ice presents Dream promises to be an experience your family will never forget and I can't wait to watch it with mine!

The spectacular show will visit Manchester Arena from 10th – 14th October 2018. Tickets are
available from www.disneyonice.co.uk and priority customers can take advantage of the pre-sale to get their hands on the best seats by heading to www.prioritycustomer.co.uk.

Disney On Ice presents Dream Big will also be skating into Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham and London until 6th January 2019. For a full list of tour dates, head to
www.disneyonice.co.uk and dont forget to follow on Facebook, Twitter, #DreamBig, YouTube,
and Instagram.

Disney On Ice presents Passport to Adventure at Manchester Arena - Review

On Wednesday we visited the newly re-opened Manchester Arena to see Disney on Ice Presents Passport to Adventure, it was our sixth time watching a Disney on Ice show and my Disney mad daughter declared that it was the best show ever!

We donned our Disney themed clothing to get into the spirit and jumped on the tram after school to head into the City Centre to Manchester Arena. It was our first visit to the venue after the terrible events that took place in May and it felt quite emotional to be there again. However, the staff were all fabulous, super friendly and made us all feel very safe. The security was fantastic and handled really well, taking note of the information on the arena website, we took very little with us so passed through the airport-style scanners quickly and easily.

Both children were super excited to have the very special opportunity to have their photo taken with Mickey Mouse before the show. (OK, I admit it I was excited too!) We soon found our seats and took our places ready to enjoy the Disney magic!

Before the main show began, we were treated a Fit to Dance pre-show warm up with the stars of Zootropolis, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. It's definitely worth arriving early to give your children the chance to see this extra segment and join in the dancing!

It wasn't long before the much-loved characters, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy came out onto the stage ready to start the show, their costumes were amazing as always and perfectly themed with the 'Passport to Adventure' title, they even had their suitcases ready!

The world tour of Disney delights started with a beautiful display of costumes from around the globe, skating to It's a Small World, which my daughter loved as it took her back to our Trip to Disneyland Paris earlier this year and her favourite ride!

I don't want to reveal too much but the first half continued to take us on a whistlestop world tour, stopping at  Africa in the Pridelands and getting us all dancing to 'I Just Can't Wait to be King', then London and Neverland on a magical adventure full of Pixie Dust with Peter Pan.

After a short interval where I successfully veered the children away from the rather shockingly priced merchandise (but did treat them to a box of popcorn each for £4), we headed Under the Sea to visit with Ariel and friends, which involved some amazing skating that had the audience oohing and ahhing throughout.

The final destination we visited was Arendelle, where we were treated to a mini-retelling of the Frozen story including all the much-loved characters and favourite songs! We've Frozen featured in Disney on Ice previously, but I think this may have been the most entertaining yet, we just wanted to sing along!

The spectacular finale brought all of the stories together and ended the show with a sparkly bang!

Each segment had something unique to offer and our whole party were enchanted throughout the show, however, one had us just squealing with delight and that was Peter Pan! It's long been a favourite of both my children and everything from Tinkerbell, Peter and the Darling children flying high across the Arena to the wonderful costumes of the lost boys and of course those pesky pirates led by my son's favourite, Captain Hook!

We thoroughly enjoyed the show and had a wonderful family evening! 

If this has got you singing your favourite Disney tunes and ready to dance along why not book your tickets now?

The tour continues at the following venues: 

Arena Birmingham - 18th -29th October

SSE Arena, Belfast - 3rd - 5th November

Citywest Hotel, Dublin - 10th - 12th November

FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield 15th - 19th November

The O2, London - 20th - 30th December

You can book tickets and see the full schedule on the Disney On Ice website.

Check out what We're going on an Adventure, The Brick Castle and Red Rose Mummy thought of Disney on Ice presents Passport to Adventure too!

We were invited to attend Disney on Ice at Manchester Arena free of charge for the purpose of review, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Disney On Ice presents Passport to Adventure at Manchester Arena

Disney On Ice will be returning to the Manchester Arena this year with Disney On Ice presents Passport to Adventure. The show will run from 11th to 15th October 2017 as part of the tour that started in Glasgow and visits Newcastle, Birmingham, Belfast, Dublin, Sheffield and London before the end of the year.

Disney fans young and old can join Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as they take audiences on a fun-filled journey to the most memorable Disney destinations with all of the favourite characters and classic tales that have captivated the world.

Manchester Arena is a place close to my heart, I attended my first music gig there as a teenager in the nineties, and have been to many more since as well as taking my children to a variety of shows and experiences at will what be always known to me as the M.E.N. Arena.

The terrible event that took place earlier this year scared me and made me think about all the times I had been stood in that foyer with my children. However, it has not put me off returning there with my children as we are Manchester and we are tougher than that.

As you will know from reading past posts, we are a house full of  Disney fanatics and this will be our sixth time watching Disney on Ice; it's looking like it may be the best one yet! 

We're looking forward to exploring the African Pride Lands with Simba, Timon and Pumbaa, voyaging deep under the sea to Ariel’s mystical underwater kingdom and touring London with Peter Pan and Wendy, before flying to Neverland to meet up with Tinker Bell. That's three of our favourite Disney movies covered there!

My daughter is also super excited that Frozen will be featured again this year as she absolutely loved last years Anna and Elsa themed show. 

There will be lots more excitement, including the pre-show party! Families arriving early will get to take part in the Fit to Dance pre-show warm up featuring Zootropolis!

We were treated to a sneak peek of this last month when we attended an exclusive Fit to Dance workshop in Manchester, led by the Disney On Ice Skaters and hosted by leader of dance troupe Diversity, winners of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, Ashley Banjo himself!

So if this has got you singing your favourite Disney tunes and ready to dance along why not book your tickets now?

You can book tickets and see the full schedule on the Disney On Ice website.

Making Frozen Snowflake Jewellery

My daughter loves anything Frozen themed at the moment (show me a four year old that doesn't!) so when we were sent the Craft Box Snowflake Jewellery Kit from Interplay to review I knew she would be delighted! This simple jewellery craft set is aimed at children aged four and above and contains everything you need to make ten pieces of sparkly child friendly jewellery that looks great with an Elsa dress for fun dress up play.

As with all Interplay kits, the box contains everything you need to get started, with an easy to follow illustrated instruction booklet, over 300 colourful beads, 10 beautiful snowflake charms, plastic stretch cord and 5 plastic clasps.

Elizabeth was thrilled when she saw the kit and couldn't wait to get started. Although the set is not Frozen branded as such, the colours and snowflake theme, immediately make you think of the hit Disney film and my daughter declared she was making an Elsa necklace and bracelet to wear with her Elsa dress when we go to see Disney on Ice later this month!

The beads included in the set come in a variety of shapes and colours, all with an icy feel to them. Elizabeth carefully chose the beads that she wanted to use and then settled on one of the ten metal charms to finish it off. I measured and cut the thread for her and after that she didn't need much more help until it came to tying the knots at the end. 

She really enjoyed the activity and was proud of herself for being able to create something that she really liked. I was impressed at her threading skills and would recommend a set like this for any child to practice their fine motor skills with. 

Elizabeth has decided to make some more bracelets for her friends and has promised one for me too!

The Craft Box Snowflake Jewellery Kit from Interplay offers great value with a lot of  play for the price and at the end you get a lovey keepsake. It is available for just £7.99 from Amazon
 and other good toy stores. This would make a great gift for a Frozen fan and a few kits would make the ideal activity at a Frozen themed birthday party!

The lovely folks at Interplay have given us another kit to giveaway to one of our readers, so if you think your little one would love to make some Snowflake bracelets then follow the instructions below.

Good Luck!

Win a Snowflake Jewellery kit

LEGO Frozen Disney Princess: Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle Review

Our family love LEGO and we have become rather engrossed in Frozen fever too so when the lovely folks at House of Fraser asked if we would like to choose something from their extensive toy selection to review, it's no surprise that we quickly decided on the one thing that encompasses both of these! The LEGO Disney Princess 41062: Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle set has a suggested age range of 6 - 12 years and has a recommended retail price of £34.99. 

We have a frozen mad four year old daughter, but also a LEGO crazy seven year old son who was also very interested in this set, (not to mention two 30ish year olds who can often be found singing along to Let It Go and playing with minifigures... ) This is hopefully going to be a set that the whole family enjoys together. 

When the box arrived I admit I was surprised at how small it was, the set contains just 292 pieces and I would compare the size to other LEGO sets we have that have retailed at around £24.99, however this is the first Disney Princess set we have owned and I guess that branding does come with a price tag. Hopefully it will also come with some extra special pieces!

What's in the box?

On opening the box we found 3 bags, two instruction books, a shiny sticker sheet and a 8x16 base plate.

Instruction book one 

Instruction book two 

Anna, Elsa and Olaf Minifigures

My daughter loves these and would quite happily play with these Disney Princess mini dolls and their LEGO snowman friend for hours even without the rest of the castle set. I have to admit even as a 30 year old woman, I think they are pretty awesome! The detail in their dresses, the fabric cloaks and even the freckles on Anna's face just make them that extra bit special. Olaf is constructed rather than a minifigure as such but still rather cute and very distinctively Olaf, buckteeth and all! I would have loved to see Kristof and Sven included too but maybe them being left out means there could be another LEGO Frozen set to come? Or that could just be wishful thinking on my part!

Constructing Frozen...

Following the instruction sheet the first section you put together is Olaf's picnic blanket, which includes a sandwich and a cookie and makes reference to the 'In Summer' song from the movie which Olaf, Anna and Kristof sit on a red checkered blanket!

The next part to construct is the Sleigh. The Sleigh also has a cute little ice slide, together these form their own little playset which my daughter loved! The are also some adorable accessories including a pair of ice skates that you can fit on to the Anna minidoll to play ice skating.

Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle

It's difficult to know where to start when describing the castle, the. re is just so much attention to detail and beautiful finishing touches including special blue glittery pieces that I've not seen in LEGO before.

The Sparkling Ice Castle itself took us around 30 minutes to build, working together a family, although it may take a child on their own longer. 

The suggested age range for this set is 6 - 12 years and I would agree with that for putting it together as we did this as a family but once it was constructed my four year old has had so much fun playing with it that I would say that it would be a suitable gift for Frozen fans aged four and above as long as an adult is happy to help with the construction.

LEGO Disney Princess 41062: Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle has an RRP of £34.99 which is high for a LEGO set of this size but is justified in play value and I can see it becoming a very popular and sought after set.

We love it!

Like this? Check out our other Frozen posts:

Disney Frozen Anna Dress

Singalong with Sing-a-long-a Frozen

Frozen Elsa's Magic Snow Sleeve Review

Post contains an affiliate link.

Frozen Elsa's Magic Snow Sleeve Review

We love Frozen in our house, we recently went to see Sing-a-long-a Frozen and are very excited about the planned sequel in a few years and of course the special short; Frozen Fever that will be in cinemas alongside the new Cinderella Film from 27th March 2015! This bite sized follow up  will see our favourite characters; Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Olaf reunited to celebrate Anna’s birthday and it will also feature an exclusive new song that i'm sure my children will soon be singing along to!

My daughter Elizabeth loves to dress up and although she can often be seen dressed as her favourite Marvel superheros she also loves to play princesses. She has had a beautiful Anna dress for a while and you can see some lovely pictures of it in our review, so she was delighted when we were sent a stunning Elsa dress from Rubies along with Elsa’s 2 in 1 magic snow sleeve from Flair!

The Dress comes with a detachable lace cape covered in snowflakes that is really very pretty. The dress itself is great quality with lots of detail including long transparent sleeves, sequin trims and a Queen Elsa motif on the front. Elizabeth usually wears age 4 - 5 clothes and the 5 - 6  (M) fitted her really well. Although not too baggy or loose it had plenty of movement for running round and playing in!

Of course as soon as it arrived we had to have a play!We added a tiara from our dressing up box and Elizabeth insisted I plaited her her 'just like Elsa's!' I even treated her to blue glittery nails to match... (she *may* have insisted I had coordinating nails too!)

Elsa's 2 in 1 Magic Snow Sleeve is the perfect addition to an Elsa dress up outfit to make princess play even more fun! In the box you get a stunning fabric sleeve with lace trim, a can of Frozen Snow Spray (essentially white silly string), a blue plastic water bottle decorated with snowflakes and the snow snow sleeve contraption itself, which is decorated with pretty patterns and the name Elsa.

The snow sleeve has two functions; the magic snow can can be attached and squirted out to create fun messy play or alternatively the pump action water bottle an be used in it's place for water spraying fun, perfect or hot sunny days!

We started off with the snow spray. The can fitted easily onto the mount which strapped on to Elizabeth's arm without any trouble, with the combination of the plastic and the can I worried that it may be heavy or uncomfortable on her arm, but it wasn't at all.  She was soon running around the front garden singing Let It Go at the top of her voice and lifting her arm to spray snow into the air!

It was lovely to see how excited she as to 'be just like Queen Elsa', all she had to do was lift her fingers and out came snow!

When the silly string runs out or if you'd rather have some water fun, you can easily replace this with the blue bottle provided filled with water. This has a pump action release so the water squirts out in short bursts rather than the longer streams of the silly string. Elizabeth did need to use more pressure to make this work than the can but she didn't mind and had great fun soaking me! I can see some interesting battles between Queen Elsa and my son's super soaker water gun coming up this summer! 

This set is aimed at children between 5 and 8 years old and I agree with that age range. Elizabeth will be five in a few months time and I would say that children younger than her may struggle to lift the 'trigger' with the back of their figures while children older than eight may find the straps tight on their wrists. (I *may* have attempted to try it on my own wrist to find this out...)

At an RRP of £29.99 this is a toy that is definitely worth it's price in play value, it will be the ideal gift for a little Frozen fan who would love to spray snow out of her fingertips just like Elsa! One thing I would mention is that the Snow spray runs out very quickly (around five minutes of continuous play) so you may want to factor in the cost of a few more cans of Silly String.

You can see the Elsa Magic Snow Sleeve in action in this two minute video we made:

 


Like this? Check out our other Frozen posts:

Disney Frozen Anna Dress

Singalong with Sing-a-long-a Frozen

LEGO Frozen Disney Princess: Elsa's Sparkling Castle

These products were sent to us for the purpose of this review. Contains affiliate links.

Singalong with Sing-a-long-a Frozen

Like most children, my two are huge fans of Disney's hit movie Frozen, they especially love the songs and we can regularly be found singing along to the sound track CD in the car!

You can imagine how delighted they were when we were invited to the attend the Singalong Frozen show at the Lowry Theatre this half term.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the production, I knew we would be watching the movie and joining in with the musical numbers, but what we actually got was so much more!

When we arrived the theatre was rather predictably full of very cute little Annas, Elsas and Olafs, we were shown to our seats where we each found a free 'prop bag' containing a variety of goodies to help us enjoy the show.

The performance started with an introduction and warm up from our lovely host who gave us instructions on using our props and introduced two very special guests: Princesses Anna and Elsa of course!

The movie was shown in two halves with a twenty minute intermission ( ideal for toilet trips for little ones. ) As well as the song lyrics being shown on the big screen, the hostess and princesses would also come on stage for the songs to encourage everyone to sing along. The whole thing was really interactive and children were encouraged to boo, hiss and cheer as the different characters came on. It was far from the atmosphere of the cinema where we first watched Frozen, this is the ideal way for young frozen fans to see the movie on the big screen and be as noisy as they like!

Sing-a-long-a Frozen is aimed at children aged 5 + however I would say it is fine for younger frozen fans. I would warn though that the show does last a total of 2 hours 40 minutes including intermission so little ones may get a bit tired by the end...

Both my 4 year old daughter and my seven year old son thoroughly enjoyed the show from start to finish and have been talking about it none stop since! I would highly recommend the Sing-a-long-a Frozen showing to any Disney loving family as a really fun treat, ideal for half term! The show continues at The Lowry until 8th March and tickets start from just £12 per person when booking for a family of four. The show is also touring the country, find out when it comes to your nearest town on the Sing-a-long-a Frozen website.

Like this? Check out our other Frozen posts:

Disney Frozen Anna Dress

LEGO Frozen Disney Princess: Elsa's Sparkling Castle

Frozen Elsa's Magic Snow Sleeve Review

We were invited to attend the show as guests of the Lowry.

Frozen Anna and Elsa Dresses Review and Giveaway

 Like a lot of children her age, my daughter LOVES Disney's Frozen and I have to admit I'm quite a fan too! Her birthday is coming up next month and one of the first things she asked for was an Anna Dress. Just like I did as her age, she loves dressing up and already has rather full dress up box including Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Sofia, pirates, a couple of witches and a frog!

So it was perfect timing when the lovey folks at Otley Run Fancy Dress offered us the chance to review one of the beautiful Frozen dresses they have just started stocking. 

They have two Frozen themed dresses available; a gorgeous ice blue Elsa dress with sheer sleeves covered in glittery snowflakes and a beautifully regal green coronation style Anna dress with gold trimmings. Both dresses are available in sizes ranging from 2 - 3 to 9 - 10 for just £18.99 with £3.75 delivery. 

Elizabeth of course chose the Anna Coronation dress which arrived well packaged in just a few days.

There was no way I could keep it from until her birthday so we popped round to the grandparents house to have a photoshoot in their garden...

You may or may not be able to tell that I spent around forty minutes trying to perfect an 'Anna Coronation Day' hairstyle, I don't think i'll be giving up my day job!

The quality of the dress is lovely, as I mentioned above we have quite a collection of dress up costumes and this is much more comparable to the ones purchased from the Disney Store than the cheaper supermarket princess ones we have. (Although just for clarity I do want to mention that this dress is not Disney branded in any way, the label shows the brand of 'baby shop'.) 

The bodice is a velvet like material with a printed design in pink and green and has a gold fabric trim and a shaped gold plastic disc stuck on to the neckline. The sleeves are a vibrant jade green and puff out over the shoulders. The skirt has a straight underskirt and then a full sheer skirt in a pale green colour with printed pink gold and green pattern.

We ordered the age 4-5 and this is a good fit on my skinny almost 4 year old, it is a full length dress on her which reaches the ankles and I can see her having plenty of room to grow and play in this for a good time to come.

Overall I would say this is a great quality dress up costume that although not Disney branded is instantly recognisable as an Anna Coronation Dress from Frozen. At £18.99 it's a competitive for what is probably one of the most sought after fancy dress costumes for girls this year!

 My daughter loves it and has declared that she will be wearing it when we go to see Disney on Ice later this month...   I'd better get practicing my Anna hair styles!

The lovey folks at Otley Run Fancy Dress are offering you, my lovely readers the chance to win the other Frozen themed costume that they stock. This would make a wonderful gift for any little Frozen fan! 

Like this? Check out our other Frozen posts:

Singalong with Sing-a-long-a Frozen

LEGO Frozen Disney Princess: Elsa's Sparkling Castle

Frozen Elsa's Magic Snow Sleeve Review

Please note: prize is dress only - no accessories included.

For your chance to win the beautiful icy blue Anna dress in your choice of size (subject to availability) simply follow the rafflecopter instructions below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you'd like to win an Anna Coronation Style dress like the one we reviewed pop over to the lovely Emmy's Mummy who has a giveaway coming up soon. - Competition closed.

Terms and conditions

One winner will receive a a frozen Elsa costume in the size of their choice subject to availability. The prize will be provided by Otley Run Fancy Dress. No cash alternative. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery of prize. 

Entrants must reside in the UK.

Winner will be chosen by blog owner using rafflecopter which uses random.org after the closing date and will be emailed and announced on the widget.

Winner must supply a postal and email address which will be used only to send out the prize.

Multiple entries will be disqualified.